Hi,
I am wondering if you have any dances for low numbers of dancers (perhaps 6
or less), when most or all of the dancers are beginners and adults. I am
also wondering if you have any dances (presumably different dances), that do
not require choosing a partner and are good openers for beginner adults.
Thanks as always to all,
Rickey Holt.
I can only speak with reference to calling at NEFFA, as I have never applied to DownEast. As some of you may know that Linda Leslie is NEFFA's program chair, I will note that the program chair does not select performers for contra sessions.
Regarding NEFFA 2007, the following notice is now posted at http://neffa.org/perf_app.html - The Program Committee is not prepared to take your application at this time, since it is too late to apply for this year's NEFFA Festival. Please note that the application to perform is always available during the month of September, with a deadline in October. If you'd like to get an e-mail notice of application availability, send a blank e-mail to NEFFA_Performers-subscribe(a)yahoogroups.com
So you can note on your calendar that September is a good time to check the NEFFA web site, and also arrange for a notice to pop up in your e-mail.
The NEFFA application invites you to come up with a briefly-described theme for your session, with a title of 20 characters or less. IMO, use your own judgment as to how important the theme is. If you are offering a concept that's really meaningful to you, don't be afraid to describe it. If what you really want to do is just call some hot contras, then IMO I wouldn't go overboard on the theme.
Unlike Northwest Folklife, callers and bands apply SEPARATELY to the New England Folk Festival. And I believe that this is a very good thing for beginning callers who hope to have a chance at getting onstage. This mix-and-match policy gives a fresh perspective for experienced performers, and can be an eye-opening experience for newcomers who may get to work with seasoned veterans. I will never forget calling at NEFFA with Northern Spy, a band that has worked with caller David Millstone for 25 years. And where was David during this session? Out on the floor, happily dancing to the music of his own band. NEFFA's selection process made that wonderful hour possible for me.
For what it's worth, the first year I successfully applied I asked for a "Festival Orchestra" slot, which means that instead of calling a themed, hour-long session I called two dances in the Main Hall with the assembled orchestra and then got off the stage as the next Festival Orchestra caller had a turn. IMO, the key here (as well as in submitting a session proposal) is to choose dances that you know by heart, can teach well, fully believe in, and love to share with a crowd. You don't want to have second thoughts as you approach the microphone.
If you're wondering why performer applications are required so far in advance of a festival, note that NEFFA may have 1700 performers, many of whom perform in multiple sessions (perhaps performing alone, and with a participatory dance group, and also with a concert performance group!). You can't doublebook a performer (or larger groups to which she may belong), you have to give her time to move from one venue to another, plus a bunch of other scheduling etceteras that would drive me loony to contemplate further. How scheduling was done in the days before computers is beyond me.
--
Robert Jon Golder
164 Maxfield St
New Bedford, MA 02740
(508) 999-2486
I try and call the dances of Rich Blazej whenever I can and this one's a
Halloween favorite, re-done as "Werewolves and Zombies".
*Garfield's Escape* -- circle of couples PLUS ONE EXTRA in the center
(Garfield)
A1 All into the center EIGHT steps and back, menacing the Garfield
A2 Circle left, circle right
B1 Women (werewolves) promenade single file to the right, while men
(zombies) "star" by the right -- each man puts his right hand on right
shoulder of the man in front - including Garfield.
B2 Caller hollers "Escape!" ("Boo!", or maybe "Braaaiiins") and all men
run to the outside and swing with a woman in the outer circle. A new
Garfield remains in the center.
Rich himself named this after Garfield the comic-strip cat, way back when
he was cynical and funny (the cat, not Rich).
"The single man remaining at the end of the dance is entitled to a pan of
lasagna and some fresh kitty litter".
My favorite normal tune for this is the minor jig Coleraine, played at a
slightly slower lurch-y tempo, but if I'm lucky the band'll do the Alfred
Hitchcock theme.
Have fun, just thought I'd share -- and I'd love to hear how it goes if you
do it, and what variations emerge.
Cheers,
Amy
Sure they're all fun (we hope). I'm looking for a few dances that are particularly playful, quirky, silly....something that typically gets the dancers laughing.
Some examples would be "Over the Hill and Still Chased" with the lady round two/gent cut through figure, or Beneficial Tradition when the dancers throw their free arm up and shout "Wooo!"
You get the idea. What are your favorites?
Sue Gola
Princeton, NJ
Hello all,
Linda Leslie's suggestion of gyre as a replacement for gypsy bubbled around
in my brain and a new (I think) dance percolated up. It has a twist that
isn't the gyre (which I consider just new nomenclature); women casting out
of the swing to travel from one minor set to another (similar to gent's
movement in Scoot by Tom Hinds).
I haven't gotten to test it with dancers yet, as I just finished running it
through with pegs on my desk; but I wanted to share it in support of a new
term.
A Gyre for Linda
by Luke Donforth
Contra/Becket-CCW
A1 -----------
(4) Pass through to an ocean wave (ladies left, catch right with partner)
(4) Balance the short Wavy line
(2) Walk forward
(3) Shadow gyre right 1/2
(3) Gents gyre left 1/2 in the middle
A2 -----------
(16) Neighbor gyre right and swing
B1 -----------
MEANWHILE FIGURE:
(8) Men allemande Left 1-1/2 WHILE women cast cw around whole set one
woman’s place
(8) 1/2 Hey, passing partner by right shoulder
B2 -----------
(16) Partner gyre right and swing at home
As for the other aspects that have been discussed:
I pronounce it with a softer g sound. For reasons unclear to me, gyre has
different accepted pronunciations; but (to my knowledge) gyration doesn't.
As for using the term (which I clearly support); it costs me nearly nothing
to switch and helps make the dance more accessible for some; both in
dropping a term some find offensive and making the name more descriptive of
the move. My job as a caller is to help share the joy of dancing, and if
this does that I'm in favor of it.
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
I wanted to share a contra written in honor of Linda Leslie - it was called
this weekend in a session with the Youth Festival Orchestra at the 2018 New
England Folk Festival to a nice reception. Full details at
http://veino.com/blog/?p=1990 .
May it bring dancers joy - as did she.
-Don
*¡Que Linda! - DI - Don Veino 20180211*
*A1*
Neighbor Balance & Swing
*A2*
Long Lines Forward & Back
Mad Robin CCW 1+1/4x (Ladies through center 1st, to Wave/4 across)
[N by LH, Ladies RH center]
*B1*
Balance Wave, Neighbor Allemande Left 1/2x,
Gents Pass Right to cross, Partner Swing
*B2*
Circle Left 3/4x, Ring Balance & CA Twirl
I was recently thinking about star to star transitions. There are lots of
great dances that go star 1x to opposite hand star 1x (such as Lisa
Greenleaf's "Poetry in Motion", Robert Cromartie's "Al's Safeway Produce",
Linda Leslie's "Burlington Spirit"...); and then there are the star -> same
hand star dances (Mike Richardson's "Star Trek", my "Voyager", Dugan
Murphey's "The Next Generation"...)
Are there dances that use star just half way -> with next, opposite hand
star 1/2 way? I'm envisioning something with a bit of a zig-zag feel, but
that could be done in crowded dance halls where you don't want folks
swooping out laterally (like John Coffman's "Boys of Urbana"), but more
connected than a single file promenade snake like Cary Ravitz's "March of
the Coffee Zombies".
Are there already dances out there like this?
Switchback Stars
Improper, single progression
A1
With #1 Neighbors, Left Hand star 1/2x
With #2 Neighbors, Right Hand star 1/2
With #3 Neighbor, left shoulder gyre 1x
A2
With #2 Neighbor, right shoulder gyre and swing (now current neighbors)
B1
Circle Left 3/4
Partner Swing
B2
Ladies chain across to neighbor
Long Lines forward and back
If so, how do they handle the timing?
And for that dance (assuming it doesn't already exist), would you prefer it
as written above, or shifted to put the progression in B2?
Switchback Stars + 16B
Improper, single progression
A1
With Neighbor, right shoulder gyre and swing
A2
Circle Left 3/4
Partner Swing
B1
Ladies chain across to neighbor
Long Lines forward and back
B2
With #1 Neighbors, Left Hand star 1/2x
With #2 Neighbors, Right Hand star 1/2
With #3 Neighbor, left shoulder gyre 1x
come back to Neighbor #2, now current neighbor
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
Luke I think you've come up with something original. The only dances I know of that have a series of half stars were written by Rod Linnel. He came up with a figure (i believe) he called grand star and used in a double square.
Sent from my iPad
Hi folks,
This is a pretty simple dance without a neighbor swing. Anyone recognize it
as already existing?
A1
Neighbor Allemande Right 1 1/2
Gents Allemande Left 1 1/2
A2
Partner Balance and Swing
B1
Long Lines forward and back
Promenade across set with partner
B2
Ladies chain back to neighbor
Left hand star 1x
Thanks
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
>Yoyo Zhou
<https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=callers@lists.sharedweight.net&q=from…>
Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:19:18 -0400 (EDT)
<https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=callers@lists.sharedweight.net&q=date…>
>Thanks, all. I've found that the first dance (? 1), as I noted it, isn't in
>any of your collections, because it doesn't work:
This is an old thread, but I was searching for an easy introduction to an
alle/orbit figure and landed on it.
I have made a fix to Yoyo's original transcription that, as he described,
resulted in couples swapping sides and, my guess, cycling back and forth
within one place of the starting point forever!
The fixed dance is as follows and has a CCW progression. I swapped a LL for
the R/L and juggled a figure here or there in A. the only hiccup is the
slight grinding of gears (i.e. reverse of momentum) for the ladies
transitioning from a swing to a chain (but not a biggie and it occurs often
in the repertoire).
*A1*
*(8)*
*LL F & B*
*(8)*
*Gents alle L 1.5*
*A2*
*(8)*
*N Swing*
*(8)*
*Ladies Chain*
*B1*
*(8)*
*Cir L 3/4; pass thru*
*(8)*
*New ladies alle L 1.0*
*Gents orbit CW*
*B2*
*(16)*
*P Bal & Sw*
I've discovered this is very similar to Cary Ravitz's "Amy's Harmonium"
leading me to think that Yoyo might have had that dance in mind.
https://danceminder.com/dance/show/amysha
*A1* LLFB (partners roll away w/half sashay on the way back)
Gents allemande right 1 3/4 8
*A2* Neighbor balance and swing 8
*B1* Ladies chain across
Circle left 3/4, Pass thru (up/down) to new couple 8
*B2* Ladies alle lt 1x while Gents orbit 1/2 CW(left)
Partner swing
I like Cary's better for flow (his balance/no balance swings are a better
fit) BUT the roll-away is an extra thing to throw off novices. On the other
hand, there's no reason that, in the first version, partners couldn't flow
right into a 16 beat swing (or dancers' choice), foregoing the balance.
