Jeremy,
I enjoy shadow swings.
Greg
********
>Chris Weiler wrote:
>
>
>> Once again, frigid New Hampshire was home to another warm and special
>> Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. It was great to see people from all
>> over the country who came to dance and learn. The SharedWeight lunch
>> gatherings were a couple of the high points for me.
>
>
>. . . and Chris did an excellent job calling a fun dance he co-wrote. Will you consider posting it on SharedWeight, Chris?
>
>During the same open mike session, I enjoyed dancing Nils Fredland's "Head of the Bed" to Dave Eisenstatter's calling, and it got me thinking. I've called dances with shadow swings infrequently, because in the back of my head I think about the following excerpt from Cary Ravitz's notes on contra choreography: "Watch out for excessive trail buddy interaction. People don't choose their trail buddy and they are stuck with them for the entire dance. . . . Trail buddy swings are not allowed."
>
>However, Cary also emphasizes that those are his personal preferences, and others' preferences may vary. So I'd appreciate others' thoughts on this -- are shadow swings as strongly negative an issue for you as they are for Cary? Clearly they were not an issue for Nils when writing "Head of the Bed" or Seth T. when writing "Meg's a Dancing Fool," for instance.
>
>Thanks,
>Jeremy
>
>Jeremy Korr
>East of Los Angeles
>
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Friends,
Jerome wrote:
>One other thing I might mention about bringing Modern Western Square moves
>into Contra crowds: ...
Then there is also the other, more basic, discussion about both the advisability of this course and the responsibilities it entails.
The contra dance tradition, as it currently stands, is still one of the most effective means of bringing a roomfull of people with widely varying skill levels together in a joyful evening of social dance to live music, without the requirement of separate lessons.
For some of us this is the most attracive quality of contras. An effort to increase the number of calls and the skills necessary to participate at any evening of contra dance is a bold course that could do violence to the traditional role of contras. An effort to do so should be pursued with caution. Each step in this direction should be precluded with a series of questions:
- How will this addition affect the confidence level of first-time dancers in the hall?
- How will it affect their ability to participate and the likelihood that they will return?
- How should I characterize this addition to make it clear that it varies from the basic tradition of contras?
- What is the appropriate venue to introduce this kind of variation? (Dance camps, special events, festivals, or regular contra dance series?)
- Are my variations significant enough over the course of the evening that I have a responsibility to distinguish this event, in the publicity, from a regular evening of contras?
- Would I like to see this variation become a part of the contra dance tradition?
Just a thought,
Greg McKenzie
Rickey,
One other thing I might mention about bringing Modern Western Square moves
into Contra crowds: Contra dancers will try to put balances where they are
used to putting balances, even if you don't call them. For example, most
contra dances using square thrus use a balance, pull by, pull by sequence (8
counts). Repeating the balance, pull by, pull by would complete a square
thru four places. (total 16 counts)
A MWSD crowd would just pull by twice in 4 counts (square thru two), three
times in 6 counts (square thru three) or four times in 8 counts (square thru
four). No balances. Many MW dancers don't know what to make of the balances
that contra dancers love so much.
In the same way, contra dancers are habituated to putting balances before a
Box the Gnat, and I've had to remind dancers in certain dances that there is
no balance before the Box the Gnat.
On the other hand, I have had good luck explaining the swing thru. From a
wavy line of four with the ladies in the middle holding left hands, I teach
neighbors allemande right halfway, men allemande left halfway. I explain
that I will prompt those allemandes as "swing thru."
Find a dance (or adjust it) so that you don't have to teach more than one or
two "new" moves.
-- Jerome
Yes, I know "thru" is actually spelled "through."
On Jan 23, 2008 7:41 AM, <callers-request(a)sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:06:27 -0500
> From: "Tepfer, Seth" <LABST(a)emory.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] [trad-dance-callers] What did he say !??? MWSD
> To: "trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com"
> <trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com>, "Caller's discussion list"
> <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID:
> <
> 65633D79D8703F46AD8D95203BA286EE9C00176805(a)EXCHANGE11.Enterprise.emory.net
> >
>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> One of the cool things about MWSD is that they have singing squares to
> many fun songs of the past 50 years. Beatles, stones, salsa, C&W, you name
> it. The downside is most are using the jargon of MWSD. This is why they have
> 40 weeks of lessons.
>
> You have two choices - replace the given moves with ones that put the
> dancers in basically that place but with moves they already know, or teach
> all those moves in other dances earlier in the evening.
>
> Square thru dancers know from contra.
> Swing thru appears in some contra dances (see Manga Tak by Ron Buchannan
> or Southern Swing by Steve Zaikon Anderson) (it's basically - from a wavy
> line - all allemande Right ?, centers allemande left ?).
> Eight chain 4 I've seen in a couple of squares by Colin Hume (check out
> his Squares with a Difference - singing square O Bla Di, Oh Bla Dah)
> Spin the top - um .... Here you go:
> http://www.remus.dti.ne.jp/~jsda/sdtext/sdtextdata/basicpro10-eng.html#57<http://www.remus.dti.ne.jp/%7Ejsda/sdtext/sdtextdata/basicpro10-eng.html#57>
>
>
> From: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com [mailto:
> trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Rickey
> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 12:43 PM
> To: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [trad-dance-callers] What did he say !??? MWSD
>
>
> Hi,
>
> Found two incredible singing squares. One is to Everly brothers' "Dream,
> Dream, Dream" and the other to the Beatles' "Money Can't Buy You Love". We
> might like to try them for our Valentine's Dance, but they use calls from
> Modern Western Square Dancing. So........... What do these terms mean? (I
> tried http://www.ceder.net <http://www.ceder.net/> , but could not find
> them.)
>
> Square thru
>
> Square thru go three (three quarter 'round now)
>
> Square thru (count it four hands 'round)
>
> 8 chain 4
>
> Swing thru
>
> Spin the top
>
> O.K. I have done a square through but before I teach it (and any
> variations
> in this list), I need review.
>
> Thanks to those who know.
>
> I don't.
>
> Singing in New Hampshire
>
> Rickey Holt
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> __._,_.___
>
--
Jerome Grisanti
660-528-0858
660-528-0714
http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
Really!
When I asked recently about the transition in the first move of a Beckett
from circle left ¾ and do-si-do neighbor (or pass through and do-si-do the
next neighbor), I was interested in differences in the experience for the
man and the women. Try these two figures. To simplify this description I am
thinking of the couple who are together in the line on the callers left
(i.e. the couple who in setting up the Beckett with Hands four, Actives
Cross over and all circle left one place to the left, started out as the
active couple).
(1) As the first move in a Beckett again, or at least from that home
position, circle left ¾ and pass through to the neighbors above, or the next
neighbors above that.
(2) Starting as before, circle left ¾ and have the man go down and pass
through and do-si-do the next neighbor below, while the woman goes up and
passes through and do-si-dos the next neighbor above. This last figure I
have worked into a dance.
Still Surprised in New Hampshire.
Rickey Holt.
Hi,
Found two incredible singing squares. One is to Everly brothers' "Dream,
Dream, Dream" and the other to the Beatles' "Money Can't Buy You Love". We
might like to try them for our Valentine's Dance, but they use calls from
Modern Western Square Dancing. So........... What do these terms mean? (I
tried http://www.ceder.net <http://www.ceder.net/> , but could not find
them.)
Square thru
Square thru go three (three quarter 'round now)
Square thru (count it four hands 'round)
8 chain 4
Swing thru
Spin the top
O.K. I have done a square through but before I teach it (and any variations
in this list), I need review.
Thanks to those who know.
I don't.
Singing in New Hampshire
Rickey Holt
Hi,
Preparing to call, I just walked through a dance where I wanted to know
where each man and each woman would be. It was a move we do very (!) often
now: from Becket formation the first move is circle left ¾ and pass
through. In this case you pass through to new neighbors and do-si-do there.
For the men this is a very smooth move. The circle left ¾ leaves them
facing in the direction they need to go. But it seems that the women have to
turn around (????!!!!) if they are to progress to new neighbors in the same
direction as the men. Women, is this true? Who knew!? The women knew. If
it is true, how do you manage it? When I tried it I was not (!) graceful.
Slow and Surprised in New Hampshire
Rickey Holt
Hello everyone,
Once again, frigid New Hampshire was home to another warm and special
Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. It was great to see people from all
over the country who came to dance and learn. The SharedWeight lunch
gatherings were a couple of the high points for me. We had fascinating
discussions about style, teaching, stubborn minded dancers, stubborn
minded callers, psychology, choreography and so much more.
Both Beth Parkes and Nils Freidland's caller's workshops made us think
and philosophize this year. Beth's on what it means to be a
"professional" caller. And Nil's on why we dance, why we call and what
virtues we want and need to bring to the stage with us.
The retrospective video about Ralph Sweet by David Millstone was great!
Fun and funny and informative, David again shows his talent for
storytelling.
It would be great to hear from other people about their favorite parts.
It was great to see everyone who came!
Happy Dancing!
Chris Weiler
Hi Chris and all Shared Weights,
It was good to see those folks that I see but once a Year!
Though I was in attendance for Part of the RPDLW,
I did miss the callers workshops.(the outside world
held sway) I would be grateful if folks who were in attendance
would provide a brief synopsis of the workshops.
Aside from the aforementioned Wkshps my favorite parts of the
Weekend are Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Both sessions
are very relaxed esp. Sunday! The session could be called hot
without walkthroughs, and it lacks the manic aspects of a more
crowded dance.
Thanks in advance for the workshop synopsis º
See ya Dancing,
Gale
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