AI is invading our lives, but can sometimes be useful — for example,
ChatGPT is pretty good at reformatting contra dances!
In Philly we have mostly multi-caller evenings, where the coordinator gets
dance submissions from many callers (in many formats), creates a program,
and sends out the result. Sometimes the program looks like a fruit salad of
formats, but (OCD?) I like everything to be concise and uniform.
See example below, where ChatGPT unifies dances in 4 formats — Callers Box,
one posted here, my website, and Bob Isaacs’ format. It took a few tries to
refine the instructions (and I only tried this one output format), but in
the end it’s a pretty amazing result from minimal instructions in plain
English.
Rick
=========================
My Instructions to ChatGPT
=========================
Please reformat the contra dances below as follows:
Format dance headers as e.g. “Title (Author) Formation”
If formation is omitted, use “Duple Improper”
Format part names as e.g. “A1: ”.
Eliminate beat counts for figures (like “8”).
Put a part’s figures on one line, separated by commas, no period or spaces
at the end.
And this is important — format as plain text, do not format as markdown.
Centrifugal Hey
by Gene Hubert
Permission: full License: CC-BY-NC
FormationBase: Duple Minor
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#duple-minor>
- Improper
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#improper>
Progression: Single
Figures:
A1
(8) Neighbor allemande
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#allemande>
right
1 & 3/4
(8) Men <https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#men>
allemande
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#allemande> left
1 & 1/2
A2
(16) Hey
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#hey>
(PR;WL;NR;ML;PR;WL;NR;ML)
B1
(16) Partner swing
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#swing>
B2
(8) Right and left through
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#right-and-le…>
with
partner
(6) Circle left
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#circle-left-…>
3/4
(2) Pass through
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#pass-through>
along
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#across-along>
(NR)
Stars are Aligned
by Lisa Sieverts
BECKET, CCW
1.
LH Star
2.
RH Star
3.
P Do Si Do (on side)
4.
P Swing
5.
Whole Set Oval Left
6.
Whole set Oval Right
7.
F&B
8.
LH Star, on to the next, partners moving along the line
*Trip to Trillium* Bob Isaacs Becket-L
A1. 8 Circle L ¾
8 w/Partner weave the line past
two (1)
A2. 8 w/N3 square through three
8 N2 swing
B1. 8 Robins chain to partner
8 ½ hey (RR, N2L, LR, -)
B2. 4,12 Partner balance, swing
Fluidity
By Rick Mohr; September 2017
Contra, BecketCaller's Box
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=18477>
Level: Easy/Intermediate
A1:
3/4 Hey *(larks pass left shoulders to start)* (12)
Robins allemande left (4)
A2:
Gypsy and swing neighbor (16)
B1:
Right and left through (8)
Circle right (8)
B2:
*(With next couple)* Circle left 3/4 (6)
Swing partner (10)
=========================
Output from ChatGPT
=========================
Centrifugal Hey (Gene Hubert) Duple Improper
A1: Neighbor allemande right 1 & 3/4, men allemande left 1 & 1/2
A2: Hey (PR, WL, NR, ML, PR, WL, NR, ML)
B1: Partner swing
B2: Right and left through with partner, circle left 3/4, pass through
along (NR)
Stars are Aligned (Lisa Sieverts) Becket CCW
A1: Left-hand star, right-hand star
A2: Partner do-si-do, partner swing
B1: Whole set oval left, whole set oval right
B2: Forward and back, left-hand star on to the next, partners moving along
the line
Trip to Trillium (Bob Isaacs) Becket Left
A1: Circle left 3/4, with partner weave the line past two
A2: With N3 square through three, N2 swing
B1: Robins chain to partner, half hey (RR, N2L, LR)
B2: Partner balance, swing
Fluidity (Rick Mohr; September 2017) Becket
A1: Three-quarter hey (larks pass left shoulders to start), robins
allemande left
A2: Gypsy and swing neighbor
B1: Right and left through, circle right
B2: With next couple circle left 3/4, swing partner
I've got a dance in my collection with no title and chunks of the dance
that I can't read. The author appears to be Dean Snipes, but I can't
find it in any of the usual places (ContraDB, Callers Box, arbitrary web
search, contra videos, etc.)
Improper
A1. N. Dosido; N allemande R. to put Larkes in the middle
A2. Balance wave by left (??) to Star Promenade N to butterfly whirl [1]
B1. Robin pass R to swing partner
B2. Promenade across; circle L 3, pass thru
Anyone happen to have this one or know somewhere else I can find it online?
Thanks,
Sam
[1]: I have no idea what most of A2 says either. This is why I normally
type/print my cards instead of writing them by hand, I think this is
more or less right, but something must be wrong because I don't see how
this could work from a wave to the star promenade.
--
Sam Whited
sam(a)samwhited.com
Hi All,
What do _you_ call your neighbor's partner in a 4-some when teaching a
lesson?
e.g.: "This is your partner, that is your neighbor, and that is _______."
-Amy Wimmer
Seattle
What it says on the tin—I want more four-face-fours in my collection (not
least because I’m calling a session of them at NEFFA 😅), drop your
favorites here! Accepting recommendations of any difficulty level.
Thanks all!
- Maia (Brooklyn, NY)
--
Maia McCormick (she/her)
917.279.8194
>
> From: Taco van Ieperen <tacovan(a)gmail.com>
> To: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
>
> Related, I find the most annoying figures to call are 1.5 figures. There's
> just no way to say
> "New Neighbor Allemande Left Once and a Half" in four beats. Also,
> beginners struggle parsing 1.5x as trading places, especially across the
> set.
>
There are lots of other thoughts on this thread about your other questions,
but I will jump in on this specific one. Bear in mind here that you are
talking about two different things (1) what move the dancers have to start
at the top of the phrase, and (2) where they have to end up when they are
done with that move. Those two pieces of information do not have to be
presented in the same call, and in fact it may be easier for newer dancers
to sort things out if you separate the two. For example:
5 NEW
6 NEIGH-bor
7 LEFT
8 alle-MANDE
1 go ONCE and a
2 HALF to
3 TRADE
4 PLA-ces
5 ROB-ins
6 to the MIDdle
7 for a RIGHT-hand
8 CHAIN
1 do a COURTesy
2 TURN and
3 FACE
4 acROSS
etc.
Now, I am sometimes more pattery in my calling and use more words than
others might. Put in whatever words work for you, and obviously you can
reduce the number of calls as the dancers become more comfortable with the
figure. But the point is that there is no need to tell the dancers how many
times they have to allemande before they start. They need to know where to
go and what move to start doing. You have time to add the additional
information later.
David
Hi All,
I've been thinking a lot about calling for beginner dancers. I've seen big
changes in the last few years where our dances now often have more than 50%
newcomers.
As a relatively new caller. I have some observations and ideas, and I'd
love perspective from people who are more experienced.
Walkthroughs:
With experienced dancers, you can do an efficient walkthrough and teach a
figure in the context of the dance. With beginners, I've seen walkthroughs
fall apart because by the time you've explained a move and dealt with the
group that has gotten all scrambled, the dancers have completely forgotten
where they are in the walkthrough and where they started the dance. This is
leading me towards the idea of isolating new figures *before* the
walkthrough: If it's the first time doing a move, teach the move first, and
then do the walkthrough that includes this move. "This dance has a new
figure called a Robin's Chain. It works like this.... <chain stuff>. That
looks great. Now let's learn the dance...."
Also, with experienced dancers, people "get it" during the dance, so you
can do two walkthroughs and even if some people are confused ii will
straighten itself out. With new dancers it feels much more important that
everyone succeed in the walkthroughs because confusion can get worse
instead of better. But at some point you can't keep doing walkthroughs. My
gut instinct is that if I teach the figures before and can't explain the
dance in two walkthroughs then I need to get better at walkthroughs or
teach easier dances.
Thoughts?
Caller Style:
I really like making each call four counts as it provides
predictable rhythm to the calling:
1,2,3,4, WITH your | PARTner | BALance and | SWING
For some calls I can give the destination location, or the destination
person:
"Robins, Chain, Across the, Set"
"Neighbor, Dosido, to NEW, Neighbor"
vs
"Robins, Chain, To your, Partner"
"Neighbor, DoSido, Once and a, half"
To your partner seems more clear, but I can also see that having two
different people in the call could create confusion. Does one format work
better in your experience?
Related, I find the most annoying figures to call are 1.5 figures. There's
just no way to say
"New Neighbor Allemande Left Once and a Half" in four beats. Also,
beginners struggle parsing 1.5x as trading places, especially across the
set.
It seems like a lot of callers drop the Allemande and just shorten it to
"Left" or "Right". Which probably is fine after two clear walkthroughs.
So, which do you prefer? Do you have other ideas?
Robins, Allemande, Left, Across
Robins, Left, to Trade, places
Robins, Left, Once, and a Half
Robins, Left, to Your, Partner
Robins, Do si, do, across
Anyway, just thinking aloud and curious what other peoples thoughts are.
Taco
A couple of suggestions. Caveat: when I used to call regularly, I didn't
have 50% newcomers.
If the first or second dance was written with a right-and-left, I would
often substitute a promenade-across instead. In a right-and-left, the
couple seconds of separation tends to throw off first-timers when they
try to "reconnect" on the opposite side of the set for the courtesy turn.
With a promenade, they are already in position for the turn. When giving
credit at the end of the walkthrough, I'd then say "This is a variation of
[name of dance] by [author of dance].
Second, for those times where one or two isolated foursomes were having
real trouble "getting it" in the walkthrough, I would do the usual two
walkthroughs and NOT bring them back to place. The idea here is to get
those dancers dancing with people who got it right off the bat. I'm not
sure how well this would translate to sets with widespread newbie
confusion, but it may be something to consider.
Mark Widmer, retired caller :-)
Paris, TN (formerly of Princeton, NJ)
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Taco van Ieperen <tacovan(a)gmail.com>
> To: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:01:21 -0600
> Subject: [Callers] Calling Clearly for Beginner Heavy Groups
> Hi All,
>
> I've been thinking a lot about calling for beginner dancers. I've seen big
> changes in the last few years where our dances now often have more than 50%
> newcomers.
>
> As a relatively new caller. I have some observations and ideas, and I'd
> love perspective from people who are more experienced.
>
> Walkthroughs:
>
> With experienced dancers, you can do an efficient walkthrough and teach a
> figure in the context of the dance. With beginners, I've seen walkthroughs
> fall apart because by the time you've explained a move and dealt with the
> group that has gotten all scrambled, the dancers have completely forgotten
> where they are in the walkthrough and where they started the dance. This is
> leading me towards the idea of isolating new figures *before* the
> walkthrough: If it's the first time doing a move, teach the move first, and
> then do the walkthrough that includes this move. "This dance has a new
> figure called a Robin's Chain. It works like this.... <chain stuff>. That
> looks great. Now let's learn the dance...."
>
> Also, with experienced dancers, people "get it" during the dance, so you
> can do two walkthroughs and even if some people are confused ii will
> straighten itself out. With new dancers it feels much more important that
> everyone succeed in the walkthroughs because confusion can get worse
> instead of better. But at some point you can't keep doing walkthroughs. My
> gut instinct is that if I teach the figures before and can't explain the
> dance in two walkthroughs then I need to get better at walkthroughs or
> teach easier dances.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Caller Style:
>
> I really like making each call four counts as it provides
> predictable rhythm to the calling:
>
> 1,2,3,4, WITH your | PARTner | BALance and | SWING
>
> For some calls I can give the destination location, or the destination
> person:
> "Robins, Chain, Across the, Set"
> "Neighbor, Dosido, to NEW, Neighbor"
> vs
> "Robins, Chain, To your, Partner"
> "Neighbor, DoSido, Once and a, half"
>
> To your partner seems more clear, but I can also see that having two
> different people in the call could create confusion. Does one format work
> better in your experience?
>
> Related, I find the most annoying figures to call are 1.5 figures. There's
> just no way to say
> "New Neighbor Allemande Left Once and a Half" in four beats. Also,
> beginners struggle parsing 1.5x as trading places, especially across the
> set.
>
> It seems like a lot of callers drop the Allemande and just shorten it to
> "Left" or "Right". Which probably is fine after two clear walkthroughs.
>
> So, which do you prefer? Do you have other ideas?
> Robins, Allemande, Left, Across
> Robins, Left, to Trade, places
> Robins, Left, Once, and a Half
> Robins, Left, to Your, Partner
> Robins, Do si, do, across
>
> Anyway, just thinking aloud and curious what other peoples thoughts are.
>
> Taco
>
>
>
Thanks, Taco, for posting this question, and for all the helpful answers so far!
I’m about to try to start a dance in my new home (Bowen Island, British Columbia, off the coast of Vancouver) and these responses will be very helpful to me. Thanks, everybody!
The only thing I would add is that I think I will begin with dances that have no chains in them. I’ve watched a million beginner’s lessons and the only move (typically covered in a beginner’s lesson) that completely befuddles newbies is the robin’s chain. Recently I tried to dance a lark’s chain and I was completely befuddled myself! I’ve been dancing MANY years but being asked to do that complicated non-symmetrical move without any muscle memory undid me! It was a great window into how confusing a robin’s chain can be for dancers new to contra.
I’ve heard folks say that with all-beginners dances they’ll start with dances without swings, but I think I’ll probably keep swings (because contra without swings just seems too SAD to me!) and I’ll probably start my first dance without chains instead.
I keep saying I’ve moved to Paradise, but how can it be Paradise without contra?
Anyway, I’m soaking up the great advice. Thanks, everyone!! Love this list!!
Becky Liddle (formerly of Toronto & "All Hands In" online dancing)
Scene: Beantown Stomp, dancing with another caller, Alex D-L on stage.
Dance has a balance ring, pass thru to ocean wave.
Me, to my partner: "How stupid would it be to have a balance, Mad Robin
across the set?"
Her: "Do it!"
It's across a musical phrase. And I was skeptical that space was available,
but, if you can balance and pass through to an ocean wave, you can Mad
Robin facing up and down, it turns out.
Called last night in Philly, positive feedback after, band picked music
that worked with the cross-phrase.
Mad Robin Across
Julian Blechner
Becket (CW)
A1. Circle L 3/4 (8) (with "next as a typical Butter progression)
NS (8)
A2. LLFB (8)
Robins Chain to P (8), form ring of 4
B1. Bal Ring (4)
Mad Robin Across (8)
Larks catch LH early, Alle L 1x (4)
B2. P R. Shoulder 'Round and Swing (16)
Notes:
Larks catch left hands about 3/4 the way through the Mad Robin, so their 1x
allemande is 6 beats of music. Telling Larks they will catch LH early is
important.
I assumed dancers would arrive early to the B2, and made it a Right
Shoulder 'Round instead of a balance. However, perhaps with the timing of
the music being not super sluggish, dancers seemed to arrive with timing
that would have worked for the balance.
Will likely call something with this at NEFFA, but the dance is tested,
danced, and I'm confident in it.
In dance,
Julian Blechner
He/Him
Western Mass, USA
Hi Shared Weight Contra Callers,
Just a quick final reminder that Puttin' On The Dance 3 is less than a
month away.
Registration closes April 15th.
We still have a bit of space left and a few scholarship!
See below,
Thanks :)
Emily in Ottawa
======================================================
Dear POTD email list members 🤗
This is a quick final reminder that Puttin' On The Dance 3 is happening
soon in Belfast Maine!
*🌟Registration closes **April 15th** at 11:59pm .🌟*
We're super excited that there are so many folks who have never been to
POTD who are participating this time around. The schedule is really coming
together - we've got some fantastic sessions based upon community input and
there's lots of space for the informal conversations as well. Plus some
dancing of course! 🪅🪅🪅
*If you're available May 2-4 and would like to join us, check out the
registration information: https://www.puttinonthedance.org/
<https://www.puttinonthedance.org/>*
We even have a couple of scholarships left.)
Cheering y'all on - So grateful that we're each doing our bit to bring joy
to others and make the world a better place.
♥️♥️♥️
The POTD3 organizing team
Emily Addison, Chrissy Fowler, and Patty Giavara
--
puttinonthedance.orgfacebook.com/PuttinOnTheDance
*You're on the POTD email list because we think you're interested in
conferences for dance organizers. Let us know if you want your address
removed. *
