Contra Callers January 2010

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Re: [Callers] Squares - Boston area - tonight - caller(s) needed

by David.Millstone＠VALLEY.NET

Sorry, Beth and Tony... already booked for tonight. Good luck! David

15 years

squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers?

by Jeff Kaufman

I'm looking for some squares to learn to do at house parties. The dancers would probably be contra dancers who haven't done many squares, but squares work a lot better in kitchens. Easy stuff that wouldn't need to be walked would be best. Looking online (probably not in the right places) I'm mostly finding pretty complicated squares or ones with lots of easy-for-square-dancer stuff like "separate, go around two". Any suggestions? Jeff

15 years

Re: [Callers] Grand Square

by David.Millstone＠VALLEY.NET

Jack asked for additional variations on a grand square: 1) Do two changes of a grand square and then swing the one you're with (orig. opposite; heads will now be at sides); repeat to get reunited with partner in opposite position 2) Diagonal: head gents take corner to center and back, other corners turn to face each other: from this position, grand square on diagonal. The head gents and their corners will start by moving forward, the others, who are facing each other and relatively close, will start by backing away. Repeat for side gents and their partner. David Millstone Lebanon, NH

15 years

Re: [Callers] squares for contra dancers, singing?

by David.Millstone＠valley.net

--- Tina wrote: I've been wanting to add singing squares to my contradance eve repertoire, but keep finding either ones too difficult for contradancers to easily enjoy... --- end of quote --- Bob Dalsemer's two albums of recordings {Smoke On the Water and When The Work's All Done) are full of great material. They're now available from Hanhurst's Tape and Record Service: http://www.dosado.com/cgi-bin/lib/shop-wrapper.pl?page=smoke&shop=dosado and there's also Ralph Sweet's wonderful CD, "Shindig in the Barn," which contains a dozen of the squares that he's helped make popular throughout the northeast. Available from him or from CDSS. David Millstone Lebanon, NH

15 years

Re: [Callers] squares for contra dancers, singing?

by Tina Fields

Hi folks - Great thread; very useful. Along these same lines, I've been wanting to add singing squares to my contradance eve repertoire, but keep finding either ones too difficult for contradancers to easily enjoy, OR ones aimed at boy scout groups, which they'd likely find dull or too corny. Can you cross-over callers offer suggestions? Thanks! Tina

15 years

Re: [Callers] squares for house parties

by Martha Wild

There's a fun "square" for five couples, I'm not sure of its name or origin. Nice if you have 10 people, so everyone gets to dance. You might need a good-sized kitchen. It's a good dance for kids, weddings, and "one-night-stands", too: Number the couples 1-5 in a circle to start. All couples circle left. Number 1 couple into the center and swing, others circle right. Number 1 couple face the "sides" (all couples stop, square up on the outside, #1s choose to face a couple - they are now facing one couple in the square with another behind them) Dip and dive across the set (Number one's make an arch and the couple they are facing dives under it, dip and dive across the set) All back home, face the other sides (Number one's dip and dive with the couples they didn't yet) Number 1s swing, all forward and back (Outer couples form a circle and go forward and back while the 1s swing) Into the middle and make them stop! (Outer couples go forward and mash the 1s so that they stop swinging- this is not as dangerous as it might sound, I've never seen any problem, just a lot of laughter as everyone presses in) All join hands and circle left. (The 1s join in the circle - it really doesn't matter where as long as everyone remembers their number) Dance repeats with the 2s etc. Can end with an everyone circle left, and everyone swing. You could throw in a grand right and left break at some point if you wanted, but the dance is usually long enough as is. If anyone knows its name or origin, I'd be interested. Martha

15 years

Re: [Callers] Callers Digest, Vol 65, Issue 11

by Tom Hinds

You can't beat First Night Quadrille by Bob Dalsemer A1 Heads go forward and back Heads circle left. A2 Heads circle right. Heads star right. B1 Allemande left corner, grand right and left. B2 Swing partner and promenade. Repeat for the sides, the women and the men. Of course if they are experienced contra dancers, you shouldn't need to walk it through for the sides, women and men. Part of the fun of this dance is being surprised. On Jan 17, 2010, at 12:00 PM, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote: > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > callers(a)sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > callers-request(a)sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > callers-owner(a)sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers? (Jeff > Kaufman) > 2. Re: squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers? > (Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing) > 3. Re: squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers? > (Jeff Kaufman) > 4. Re: squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers? > (Jack Mitchell) > 5. Re: squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers? > (Richard Allen Fischer) > 6. Re: squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers? > (Richard Allen Fischer) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:15:07 -0500 > From: Jeff Kaufman <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu> > To: Shared Weight <callers(a)sharedweight.net> > Subject: [Callers] squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers? > Message-ID: <20100117021507.GA29640(a)melfpelt.swarpa.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > I'm looking for some squares to learn to do at house parties. The > dancers would probably be contra dancers who haven't done many > squares, but squares work a lot better in kitchens. Easy stuff that > wouldn't need to be walked would be best. Looking online (probably > not in the right places) I'm mostly finding pretty complicated squares > or ones with lots of easy-for-square-dancer stuff like "separate, go > around two". Any suggestions? > > Jeff >

15 years

Re: [Callers] squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers?

by Jeff Kaufman

Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing wrote: > > Not what you were asking, but if the reason you want to do this is > space limitations rather than an interest in getting into square > stuff, why not do triplets? They're aimed at contra dancers > already, and they take up even less room. > Triplets are good too. Squares just allow another two people to dance in the same kitchen. Jeff

15 years

Music for contras

by Tom Hinds

I too have concerns about the type of music that is played for contra dances. It's not hard to not see a trend when looking at the last 50 year of contra dance music. What I think happens is that there's competitiion between bands. If a band want gigs, especially gigs playing for dance camps, their music has to stand out. So, over the years the music tends to get wilder and wilder, and at the same time straying from what the dancers really need. I peronally know several fiddlers whose only concern is to wow the dancers. They have absolutely no awareness of what's going on on the dance floor. They are really not dancers themselves!!!! If there's good phrasing and a good beat it's often the result of chance. Likewise, the music at many of the dance camps I've called to often don't seem to support the dancers which is a shame. I usually enjoy calling to the 'lowly' workshop bands more than with the featured act. But the bands that play wild and crazy stuff get the good gigs. That sends a message to the others for sure. It is possible to play exciting music and at the same time support the dances. We all probably know of many musicians who can do this. I've toyed with the idea of interviewing many of these fine musicians and making an instructional video. But, would the other musicians watch it? The whole thing driving the contra dance revival is the dancers themselves. Their tastes and inputs are a compass not only for the music but the choreography as well. I'm thinking that those who value good solid music are in a minority. The majority of the dancers like what they hear but may not connect good solid music with good dancing. My experience is that folks who have called, played or danced for a significant amount of time tend to come to this same conclusion about what makes for good dance music. It's also my experience that some of our dances and dance camps are run by relatively inexperienced dancers. So the question is, how to spread some wisdom around? Tom On Jan 12, 2010, at 12:00 PM, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote: > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > callers(a)sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > callers-request(a)sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > callers-owner(a)sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances > (Mark Hillegonds) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:30:56 -0500 > From: "Mark Hillegonds" <mhillegonds(a)comcast.net> > To: "'Caller's discussion list'" <callers(a)sharedweight.net> > Subject: Re: [Callers] Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances > Message-ID: <008e01ca9348$6b95d3b0$42c17b10$@net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Hi all, > > As a dancer with a wide range of musical tastes, I enjoy dancing to > a wide > variety of music. As a few of the respondents said, as long as > there is > clear phrasing and an appropriate, steady tempo, I'm happy contra > dancing to > just about anything. I actually prefer really interesting music > instead of > the same tune played the same way at the same volume for the entire > dance. > > As a musician who plays for contra dances, I also enjoy playing a wide > variety of music. My band ranges from celtic to classical to old- > timey to > Eastern European to jazz and blues and swing. We tend to stray > quite far > from the original melody. Having said that, as three of the > members of the > band are also callers and dancers, we are extremely aware that we > need to > clearly define the 8 bar and A1, A2, B1, B2 phrases for the > dancers. On the > occasion that we get feedback from dancers that they had to count > during one > of our tunes, we assume responsibility for adjusting our playing > such that > we restore any missing structure to our tunes. > > On the other hand, we've had many dancers say they sometimes forget to > concentrate on dancing because they so enjoy the music we're > playing. Even > though it's a compliment, we try to reserve those moments for our > concert > performances and not in dances. People come to a dance to dance > and not > listen to us give a concert. > > Great conversation. > > Mark Hillegonds > Phone: 734-747-7148 > Cell: 734-756-8441 > Email: mhillegonds(a)comcast.net > > > -----Original Message----- > From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net > [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Marian and > Parker > Mann > Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 10:54 PM > To: callers(a)sharedweight.net > Subject: [Callers] Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances > > I'm looking for comments on a trend I've noticed in contra music, > specifically, bands playing music far removed from pieces > traditionally > associated with the form. The catalyst was a mid-December dance > in the > northwest where "as a special treat" the band shifted to rock music > during > the next-to-last contra. The caller had stopped and we were left > to our own > devices. The A/B parts and the beat were hard to pick out, and the > dance > began breaking down as people had to guess when one move ended and > another > began. I was there with a group of experienced dancers and our > opinions > were uniformly negative. This was not the only time the band's > selection of > tunes was hard to follow, just the most excessive. > > Over the last few years I've seen bands play "unusual" music in > several > locations across the country and at both regular dance series and > dance > weekends. There are some good examples in Youtube (links provided > offline.) IMHO, contra music is an integral part of the dance, > cuing on a > nearly subconscious level the changes between figures. Having to > concentrate excessively on the timing takes emphasis off both the > flow of > the dance and the interaction with fellow dancers. > > Part of me can sympathize with the bands. It must be incredibly > boring for > talented musicians to play, say, Jefferson Reel over and over. On > the other > hand, they are hired to play for dancers, not each other, and some > of the > extreme examples smack of self-indulgence. > > I assume that essentially all of the members of this list are > dancers and > that a number of you are also musicians. I wondered what the group's > feeling was on this and whether anyone felt it was a positive > development. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > End of Callers Digest, Vol 65, Issue 8 > **************************************

15 years

Caller's opinions on non-contra music at dances

by Marian and Parker Mann

I'm looking for comments on a trend I've noticed in contra music, specifically, bands playing music far removed from pieces traditionally associated with the form. The catalyst was a mid-December dance in the northwest where "as a special treat" the band shifted to rock music during the next-to-last contra. The caller had stopped and we were left to our own devices. The A/B parts and the beat were hard to pick out, and the dance began breaking down as people had to guess when one move ended and another began. I was there with a group of experienced dancers and our opinions were uniformly negative. This was not the only time the band's selection of tunes was hard to follow, just the most excessive. Over the last few years I've seen bands play "unusual" music in several locations across the country and at both regular dance series and dance weekends. There are some good examples in Youtube (links provided offline.) IMHO, contra music is an integral part of the dance, cuing on a nearly subconscious level the changes between figures. Having to concentrate excessively on the timing takes emphasis off both the flow of the dance and the interaction with fellow dancers. Part of me can sympathize with the bands. It must be incredibly boring for talented musicians to play, say, Jefferson Reel over and over. On the other hand, they are hired to play for dancers, not each other, and some of the extreme examples smack of self-indulgence. I assume that essentially all of the members of this list are dancers and that a number of you are also musicians. I wondered what the group's feeling was on this and whether anyone felt it was a positive development.

15 years

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Contra Callers January 2010