-------- Original Message --------Hello callers!
CDSS Caller's Liability Insurance forms and fees for they year beginning May 1 2011-2012 are now online at http://www.cdss.org/callers-liability-insurance.html. Please, if you have events you need covered in the first three weeks of May, use the e-mail form/pay by credit card option. Fees for basic insurance have not been increased this year, but there is now a $10 fee per additional insured.
Thanks,
Jeff Martell
Sales and Group Services Manager
Hello from Seattle! I'd love to hear your thoughts on what separates
good callers from great callers? Is it their selections of dances?
That they call their own dances? Their ability to compose an evening
of dancing? Their personal charm? Their connection with the band?
Their intimate knowledge of how the dance, the music, and the dancers
all flow together?
I'm especially interested to hear from dance organizers what they look
for when they consider booking a caller? I suspect this second
question may have a separate answer from the first :-)
Curiosity abounds as my mind begins to explore the calling space :-)
Will "now, from Seattle!" Kruse
This is a fun one where people make circles and baskets of any size -
very friendly. I usually start them in a big circle and balance it.
http://chrispagecontra.awardspace.us/dances/index.htm
Thanks for a great dance, Chris.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 &
07802 940 574
http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive Events, Instructional DVDs and
Interactive Maps
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Contra Dancing in Kent
Hi Everybody,
I tried a simple grid contra that Bob Isaacs gave me at our dance last
Saturday. It was a great success. It was easy to teach, and the dancers loved it.
It's really more like calling a contra than a square.
We didn't have a big grid as we only have 24 dancers,
but the movement around the floor was still interesting for the dancers.
I'd been in communication with Bob Isaacs after I saw the
grid squares videos taken by David Millstone of the grids session at
Dance Flurry. For a long time, I've been interested in the way such dances
move people around the floor, so Bob's dances intrigued me.
Here is a video of the dance we did
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnXvIiDLYCQ
My post of a few days ago was my attempt to get a thread going,
but maybe I came across a bit snide. I'm sorry if I did, I was attempting
a bit of humour by alluding to the previous post and my own 'geekiness'.
Cheers, Bill
Hello callers-
Many of you will be at the new England Folk Festival this weekend. Well guess what--
NEFFA has gone mobile! Festival schedule, maps, alerts, more on your iPhone/Android.
Use your mobile to get the free app from Conventionist
http://cvi.st/getit
I look forward to seeing you at the Thursday contra and then at the Festival.
Lisa Greenleaf
I have settled on using Google Docs spreadsheet to manage my dances. For
the most part, it works really well. The only limitation I've encountered
is I can't search the entire document, only one tab at a time. Each tab is
a different dance and I have a format for entering the dance and the
teaching script. As a fairly new caller, I thought it was important to
write out my teaching script word-for-word concentrating on clear and
concise. It has been a great help! I'm really good at reading so it
doesn't sound like I am reading it word-for-word and now that I have called
a while, my clear and concise script is committed to memory for the basic
moves.
I can also share my google doc with bands and other callers I am working
with. I can call it up on my netbook or smart phone if I'm in a situation
where I need to call a dance unexpectedly.
I do not use the netbook or phone to call from except in an emergency. I
print them out on a full size sheet of paper and put them in a three ring
binder in order for the evening, back-ups are available in a pocket in the
binder. I place the binder on a music stand so I can be hands-free and only
glance at it when needed. I can make notes all over the piece of paper and
then go home and update the spreadsheet so the next time I print it off, it
will have my most current notes.
I also use a google doc for keeping up with the programs I've called, when,
where, what, band, pay, etc.
If anyone would like to see my google doc, I'd be glad to share.
JoLaine
Hi all,
I'm calling a couple of community dances this summer for a non-profit
that mentors adult artists with varying developmental disabilities. A
high proportion of the dancers will be their clients, or other
similarly-disabled clients of the parent organization. The mentors
and other agency staff will be on hand to dance as well. We're all very
excited that this is happening, and I want to be sure it's a successful
experience for the dancers, especially those with disabilities.
Thanks for generous suggestions thus far! I wanted to clarify that these are not primarily folks in wheelchairs. Their disabilities include Down Syndrome, autism, and mental illness, and the parent agency's mission is to assist adults and children with disabilities
to obtain a full and inclusive life in their chosen community.
I'm working on this with the agency staff too, but also wondered if any of my caller peers had direct experience with creating a successful dance experience for folks with such disabilities.
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, ME
Hi all,
I'm calling a couple of community dances this summer for a non-profit that mentors adult artists with varying developmental disabilities. A high proportion of the dancers will be their clients, or other similarly-disabled clients of their parent organization. The mentors and other agency staff will be on hand to dance as well. We're all very excited that this is happening, and I want to be sure it's a successful experience for the dancers, especially those with disabilities.
Has anyone on this list done anything similar? If so, do you have any specific suggestions as I prepare? (On or off-list. Content or approach.)
Thx!
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, Maine
To those who have explore technological options for organizing your
dances, what have you come up with? I'm starting to see more laptops,
PDAs, tablets, and smartphones* at dances so does anyone know how
that's working? What software are you using?
Will
* At an open mic session last weekend a friend decided to call at the
last minute and pulled the dance up on his smartphone. I was
tremendously tempted to pull out my phone and call him when I dropped
out at the bottom of the set. I resisted the urge :-)
In order to get experience as a caller I started my own dance series
(mostly for a beginning crowd). On occasion I would hire another
caller who also was inexperienced. You've never heard of this woman.
She wasn't polished. Some of her dances were dorky, her timing so-so
etc. BUT she was the greatest caller I've ever seen. She had a
talent for interacting with people that was incredible. She got them
laughing, yelling and screaming with joy with her style, kidding and
dances. The dancers were glad they came dancing. And they had a
reason to come back. I've never seen any other caller do what she
did. I wish I could copy her style but can't- this is something
that's unique to her.
I've begged her to keep calling but she's not into it.
Tom
