We are currently adding on to our house and when done will have a 50’ x 20’
family room/dance hall. Ultimately we want wood flooring, but our starting
point will be finished concrete. I am looking for advice on and
experiences with installing wood floor over concrete.
Thanks
Jim Hemphill
Arcadian35(a)gmail.com
I think my A.D.D. has helped give me a good perspective on the role of the
caller.
I see a dance as being like a three-legged stool. The band, dancers and
caller are the three legs. It is primarily the caller's job to keep things
level. This is how it usually works. However, the band and dancers must also do
their part. I have led dances during which the energy and enthusiasm of the
dancers kept me level. I have also led dances where the band kept us level
through its choice of tunes, playfulness, and musicianship. It is a true joy
when the three legs keep each other level.
I have been an organizer/producer for several series, the sound guy, a
dancer, and a member of the band. I have tried to remember that even those who
don't get the "glory" have an important part in making a dance successful.
The caller may get the thanks, but all of us make things happen.
John B. Freeman, SFTPOCTJ
I can think of some others:
Present a program consistent with the vision of the producer. If this means for example "one chestnut per night", then so be it.
Raise the dancing level of the crowd a wee bit each time.
Be as prepared as you can be.
Dan
Callers fill one of many roles required for conducting a successful contra
dance and building a dance community (along with dance organizers,
musicians, dancers, etc.) and therefore have their own unique set of
responsibilities to fill that role.
If you accept this view, what would the unique duties/responsibilities of a
caller be?
Some possible caller responsibilities:
- Responsible for preparing and selecting dances to match the dancers
and enhance their enjoyment of the event
- Responsible for coordinating with the musicians to match tunes and
dance selections
- Responsible for managing the dance program timing to meet organizers'
schedule
- ?
What do you think?
-Don
As a beneficiary of Bob and Martha's Calling parties I can't think of a
better environment to learn calling skills. They combine practice with
live dancers, instantanious feedback on what you are doing right and what
you can improve upon and access to several really good mentors. Thanks
Martha, Bob, Dale, Karen and the other callers who occasionally drop in.
I developed an interest in choreography when I began calling, and as Martha
said, the calling parties are the ideal environment to try out new dances.
If you would like to see the process in action, check out the link below.
http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/contra/contra-modern/298-the-square-engli…
Jim Hemphill
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: New choreo list / traffic volume (Martha Edwards)
> 2. Re: Mentorship for Choreographers (Martha Edwards)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 13:34:29 -0500
> From: Martha Edwards <meedwards(a)westendweb.com>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] New choreo list / traffic volume
> Message-ID:
> <CAJjmMcNf=kM+GFbGsCCA7+PxTwO9qia6JW23wj-a5UYKD9SZEg(a)mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> I'm definitely in favor of one list, and yes, list-serve ettiquette demands
> deleting everything except what is relevant to your post. Also,
> remembering to make the subject line actually reflect the discussion is
> key, although I'm not really happy to see discussions bifurcated when
> someone makes a small change to the subject line.
>
> Perhaps what could help is a code word in the subject - like a tag -
> "newdance", say, or "choreo" or whatever. Those of us who use email
> filtering could then use our email settings to automatically delete the
> posts in question, or, like me, automatically file them in a special folder
> for later viewing.
>
> M
> E
>
>
> On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 9:42 PM, Paul Wilde <zenyente(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I totally agree w/ Chrissy, John, & Hilton,
> >
> > Please delete everything that has already been posted which is not
> > absolutely essential to your new post.
> >
> > Thank you everyone,
> > Paul
> > _______________________________________________
> > Callers mailing list
> > Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
> >
>
>
>
> --
> As you set out for Ithaka, pray that your journey be long, full of
> adventure, full of discovery...
> May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, with what joy,
> you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time.
> ~Constantine Cavafy, "Ithaka" 1911
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 13:57:01 -0500
> From: Martha Edwards <meedwards(a)westendweb.com>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Mentorship for Choreographers
> Message-ID:
> <CAJjmMcN6Vu3GN7vQ7NABspTuHnKen2wD1xPJAc1733PrQctUFQ(a)mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> I've said this before, but this may be a good thread on which to repeat it.
> One of the unexpected delights of our Calling Parties, set up to give us a
> place to call dances in private before we call them in public, to find out
> where the trouble spots might be, has been the development of dance
> writers.
>
> And not just our dance writers.
>
> A select group of people from around the country send us dances, and we try
> them out at our Calling Parties, take videos of the Good, the Bad, and the
> Ugly and send them back to the choreographer, who can tell where and why we
> went wrong, and whether we enjoyed it, both of which we often do. Voila!
> Instant mentorship, straight from the sorts of people who will be doing the
> dances, namely, dancers.
>
> You could do the same thing. Buy a camera (ours is a Zoom, since we first
> wanted a pretty good sound recorder) and a gorillapod/tripod and invite
> over some people, call your dance and see where it needs to go back to the
> drawing board. I've seen some dances go through ten or more revisions over
> several months - but in the end, they turned into a dance for the ages.
>
> If you do this, you will never have to waste dancers' time at a regular
> dance with something that just doesn't work. Or, if it does work, but just
> needs better calling, you'll have a place to make that happen, too.
>
> Start having Calling Parties!
>
> M
> E
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
In your calling career, do you now or have you ever had a mentor? If so, who was
it and what specific things did they do to help you grow as a caller and a
person?
thanks,
Lynn
Hello SW callers,
I finally caught up on my e-mail and have read the discussion about
starting a new choreography list. My thought is that most if not all
callers would want to be on both lists, so why not have them be the same
list? My only answer that I could think of why not is if the callers
list volume is getting too heavy for some people.
So I would like to know is if there are many people who would _not_
subscribe to a choreography list?
Also, what do you think of the traffic volume lately? If you think that
the volume is too heavy lately, would you rather have it divided into
two lists to increase the signal to noise ratio?
Thanks to everyone for your interest and participation, even if it's
just lurking.
Chris Weiler
Your friendly neighborhood SharedWeight moderator.
Craftsbury, VT
Gee, Alan, it sounds like you're ready to to be a mentor! It's a relationship that enriches both sides. Often the mentor learns as much from the mentee (is that a word?) as the "student" from the "master". I use quotes because I think the true master always feels a bit of a fraud just because they know how much they don't know.
Rich
----- Reply message -----
From: "Winston, Alan P." <winston(a)slac.stanford.edu>
To: "'Caller's discussion list'" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] mentorship
Date: Mon, May 7, 2012 5:49 pm
Part of me would still like to get formally mentored; part of me thinks that might be kind of emotionally
Difficult when I've been calling for 27 years and am (in some ways) pretty good, and in a fair amount of
demand (when you add up the ONS, Regency, Civil War, English, and contra, I gigged about 50 times last year
and seem to be on track to do that again this year). I know I don't know everything, by a long shot.
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
Hi all,
I haven't followed the whole thread, so I apologize if I am repeating
something.
I can't speak for everyone here, but I know that this applies to some of
us. I have been calling for over thirty years. I am now on "emeritus" status,
but am still very grateful to all of the callers, dancers, and musicians who
mentored me. Some of these callers are still active: Glen Morningstar, Tony
Parks, Larry Edelman, Fred Parks, and my hero, Bill Alkire come to mind.
Each of these callers made a huge impression on me through classes,
observation, and in their willingness to discuss our craft. Some of my early
influences have passed on: Ted Sannela, Gene Ward, Bud Pierce, Dean Wooden, and my
dear friend, David Park Williams are some of those I remember.
How many of us have shown how much we appreciate what others have shared
with us? I sometimes wonder. David Park Williams was past his prime when I met
him, but his enthusiasm for dancing and his willingness to share continued
until his death at 86. I thought it was important for others to see how it
used to be, so I had David share the microphone with me at most of my public
dances. I know that he was grateful. He went out of his way to mentor a few
newer callers at our Grange's monthly family dance. I know that David
enjoyed the after dance discussions we had. Several new callers were thus able to
learn from him and to continue to share with a new generation of dancers. I
was able to pick Ted's brain at Pinewoods in the early 90s. I still am
mindful of some of his tips when I call these days. Several of us often went to
dance to Gene Ward's calling at the late Webberville, Michigan Square dance.
This was a very different culture than the dances we were used to! I was so
thrilled when Gene called his version of the "Northern Lights" square at my
wedding reception.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that we should be mindful that it's really
important to remember that what we are doing is part of a long living
tradition. Sure, some of us get left behind by change. I wouldn't recognize a "Mad
Robin" if it bit me on my rear. Remember those who helped you get to where
you are, and do your part to make sure that this continues for generations to
come.
John B. Freeman, SFTPOCTJ
I agree with the comments of John Sweeney (copied below - after deleting unneeded material).
Hilton Baxter
607 651-8768
> I would rather have a single list.
>
> I would also love to cut down on volume.
> But not by reducing the number of posts.
> By, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, reducing the SIZE of them.
> Too many people just do a "Reply", type what they want, and then press
> "Send".
>
> There is one other crucial step. Before pressing "Send" check what it
> is that you are sending and delete all the material that is not required
> or not relevant.
>
> Happy dancing,
> John
