[Organizers] follow up to family dance questions

Wed Oct 18 18:42:41 PDT 2017

Generally, it’s ages 2 to 7.  We get a few occasionally ages 8 - 11

Middle school kids around my area just play video games, sports, or hang out.  But they do not come to any dances, contra or family.   Well, actually, we sometimes have a few middle schoolers at our community dances.

I want to remind everyone that community dances are a great alternative for folks who feel too old for family dances and do not want to get into the contra scene with all the fast moving, flowing, unforgiving figures

Paul Rosenberg
Albany, NY
www.homespun.biz

> On Oct 18, 2017, at 7:46 PM, Claire Takemori via Organizers <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> 
> Paul and all, 
> 
> I’m curious what the child age ranges are for the family & community dances? It sounds like they are young?  So then all the middle school kids and older go to regular contras? 
> 
> I’m hoping to start a dance in SF bay area in CA, but not sure if it should be a family dance series, an old time square dance series,  or?  
> 
> Thanks Emily for getting this conversation going 
> 
> Claire Takemori 
> SF Bay Area
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2017 23:47:18 -0400
> From: Paul Rosenberg <paul at homespun.biz>
> To: Emily Addison <emilyladdison at gmail.com>
> Cc: organizers shared weight <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] follow up to family dance questions :)
> Message-ID: <6928B4B1-F53F-470E-992D-03CB7E80DC6D at homespun.biz>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
> 
> Hi Emily
> 
> I?m curious:  what were the two dances that DeLaura led at Ogontz?
> 
> My series has been going since 1994.  Generally it?s monthly from November through April.  I am the regular caller.
> 
> In the early years, I was inspired by seeing Peter Amidon and Andy Davis leading family dances, and I used a lot of their repertoire:
> 
> Zodiac
> Chimes of Dunkirk
> Bridge of Athlone
> Black Joke
> Sweets of May
> Sasha
> Galopede
> Circassian Circle
> Old King Glory
> Brandy Rump Bump
> Gramma Moses
> Head and shoulders
> Down in the Valley
> Little Johnny Brown
> Step it Down
> Chee Chee Cha
> Heel & Toe Polka
> 
> As the years went on, I learned more and more fun unique dances.  Another factor in my repertoire change was my change in attitude.  I became disenchanted with the evolution of the contra scene, with dance evenings becoming monotone.  Contras only.  No more circle mixers or squares.  No more chestnut contras.  Very few easy contras.  Choreography that is ?unforgiving?. So I quit calling at contra series and for the last ten years or so, all of my dances are family and community dances.
> 
> I find that lots of contra callers seem to want to groom the children to become contra dancers, and their choice of dances at the family dances are generally just simple contras.
> 
> My goal is to provide a fun, exciting repertoire of dances appropriate for young children.  Some may be a bit like contras, and some dances are totally different
> 
> We have several dances that children request at most of the family dances:
> 
> Spiral
> Hoe Ana (Polynesian sit-down canoeing dance I learned from Sanna Longden)
> Old Dan Tucker (longways dance I learned from a PE teacher)
> Zodiac
> Any dance with a ?Peel the Banana? figure, like Virginia Reel, Sweets of May, or Bridge of Athlone
> Funga Alafia (West African dance)
> Sasha
> 
> Other dances the children love, but don?t request necessarily:
> 
> Zemer Atik (Israeli dance)
> Looking for a Friend aka Hang Peng You (Chinese)
> 7 Jumps (Danish, learned from Marian Rose and many other sources)
> Mi Cuerpo Hace Musica (Puerto Rican)
> Dance du Castor (Quebecois)
> Baanopstekker (Dutch dance)
> Can?t Jump Josie (American singing game)
> Clap Your Hands (American)
> Buffalo Gals (Square)
> LaRaspa
> Chay Chat Koolay (West African)
> Yan Petit (Catalonian)
> Cshebogar (Hungarian)
> Le Bus (Quebecois)
> Damat Halayi (Turkish)
> Penguin Dance (I forgot where I got this)
> Marching Through Georgia (Square)
> 
> 
> Paul Rosenberg
> Albany, NY
> 518-482-9255
> www.homespun.biz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Oct 17, 2017, at 1:37 PM, Emily Addison via Organizers <organizers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Paul, Perry, Jeff, Chrissy, and David, AND others too!
>> 
>> Thanks so much for all the feedback. :)  I wasn't online for about four days so I've just been catching up and am learning SOOO much!
>> 
>> I'm going to follow up with a few of you regarding some additional questions that your posts peaked.  
>> 
>> I'm curious though about PROGRAMMING for FAMILY DANCES.
>> 
>> This is something that Jeff and David both brought up... the idea of perennial favourites and consistency.
>> 
>> I'm wondering if there are specific dances that your family dance series LOVES or goes over really well.  For instance, I remember two that DeLaura Padovan did at the Ogontz family week that kids just went crazy for.  And they clearly had done them previous years... everyone was SOOO into them.
>> 
>> I hadn't thought about the idea of consistency and kids being able to ask for dances they really liked etc until Jeff and David raised these ideas.
>> 
>> Having a repertoire of some super awesome crowd pleasers would be great.
>> 
>> Thoughts????
>> 
>> Emily
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Organizers mailing list
>> Organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
>> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
> 
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: <http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/organizers-sharedweight.net/attachments/20171017/570b6fc5/attachment-0001.html>
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Subject: Digest Footer
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Organizers mailing list
> Organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> End of Organizers Digest, Vol 34, Issue 6
> *****************************************
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Organizers mailing list
> Organizers at lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sharedweight.net/pipermail/organizers-sharedweight.net/attachments/20171018/ced41c1b/attachment-0001.html>