Contra Callers

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35 participants
4386 discussions

Identifying Dances (Was "Anyone know this dance?"]

by Jeremy Gmail via Callers

There are occasional requests on this forum for a dance to be identified, which got me thinking. As with, I’m sure, many callers, I have a number of dances that I’ve come across, often at dances, where I know neither the name nor the author. I like to honour the choreographer by mentioning their name and the name of the dance when I call it, but I can’t do this if I don’t know it. It is usually relatively easy to find the author if you know the title, using Michael Dyck's excellent Contradance Index, but without a title it becomes a much bigger task. An “obvious” solution would be a magical web page that lets you put in the dance and to reward you with the name and author. Apart from the massive logistical challenge of creating and maintaining such a database, this seems morally dubious as some authors prefer not to publish their work. So what can we do? We could all ask on [Callers] but we’d soon get fed up with the forum being taken over. I wondered about a “please identify this dance” (sub-)forum, similar to the many ”ask the expert” forums (fora?) you see in the IT community. Do members have any thoughts about this? Will it work? How do we get people on it? What are the issues? Is there a batter / alternative approach? Over to the Hive Mind. Jeremy http://barndancecaller.net/SocialDance.html

9 years, 8 months

Anyone know this dance?

by Ann Fallon via Callers

I learned this dance from George Marshall at the Charlottesville, VA, Fall Festival, 2014. Can someone tell me the name of the dance and its author? Thanks. Improper Contra A1 Half-pousette around Neighbors, women push Swing Neighbor A2 Men allemande L 1 1/2 Meet P and pass R for half a hey B1 Gypsy and swing P B2 Women chain Circle RIGHT into half-pousette >

9 years, 8 months

CALLER NEEDED FOR SPECIAL DANCE IN POUGHKEEPSIE

by Eric Gidseg via Callers

At the last minute Bob Isaacs had to cancel calling for our double contradance on November 21.just a few days away. This is a double dance with the amazing Jay Unger and Molly Mason. The afternoon dance is from 3-5 for experienced dancers followed by a potluck and an evening dance from 7-10:30. We can provide lodging if needed. Please contact me ASAP: egidseg(a)optimum.net Eric Gidseg For Hudson Valley Community Dances <http://hudsonvalleydance.org/> http://hudsonvalleydance.org/

9 years, 9 months

Caller Needed This Saturday - Poughkeepsie, NY

by Bob Isaacs via Callers

Hi All: Passing this on from the organizer. I hate to cancel any gig, especially so close to the date, but a business trip got extended into the weekend. Any help is greatly appreciated - Bob At the last minute Bob Isaacs had to cancel calling for our double contra dance on November 21…just a few days away. This is a double dance with the amazing Jay Unger and Molly Mason. The afternoon dance is from 3-5 for experienced dancers followed by a potluck and an evening dance from 7-10:30. We can provide lodging if needed. Please contact me ASAP: egidseg(a)optimum.net Eric GidsegFor Hudson Valley Community Danceshttp://hudsonvalleydance.org/

9 years, 9 months

Caller needed this Sunday, Framingham MA, 4-5:30, private gig, pays decently.

by Amy Cann via Callers

Hi folks. I need to hand off this gig to be at a memorial service. This is a dance celebrating the installation of an old student and dear friend of mine as the new pastor at the Framingham UCC church. Expect 150-200 people to be at the installation in the sanctuary; how many choose to dance afterwards in the church hall and for how long is a question mark -- probably 75 for the first dance, 50 for the second, 30 for the third/fourth, and 16 close friends of the brand new Reverand for the final one, if I had to guess. Community/family dance repertoire, not hard-core contra. Budget is 400; I'm willing to pitch in 50$ of my own to bring it up to 150 each. I'm very sorry to be missing this, but the memorial concert for a colleague who recently, suddenly, and sadly passed away has to take precedence. I'd welcome suggestions for family-dance-savvy callers within reasonable driving range who might not be regularly reading this board. Thanks, Amy

9 years, 9 months

square dancers who are contra callers

by Judy Greenhill via Callers

The 20th Canadian National Square and Round Dance Convention will be held in London ON July 19-21, 2018. http://www.squaredance.ca/2018/ Why am I mentioning this on a contra callers list? Because I have been asked to coordinate the contra programming. I'm hoping there are a few contra callers out there who dance MWSD, who might be interested in attending the Convention. Price goes up January 2016, and it's in Canadian dollars so a double good time to think about it! I've been promised at least 8 hours contra programming, and there will be a live band available for at least part of the time. Judy Greenhill --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

9 years, 9 months

Fwd: Josefins Dopvals (Waltz)

by Martha Wild via Callers

All, This is Josefins Waltz. Chris Peoples provided me with a copy. It is a very beautiful and fairly easy waltz to play (not many eighth notes). If you get a chance, play through it, and see what you think. We could add it to our repertoire and try it this week - thoughts from other fiddlers? I know Drew, Chris, and Michael know it already. I know slightly different chords but for now we can stick with these so mando/guitar/dulcimer folks etc. would all be together. Martha > > > >

9 years, 9 months

Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend Scholarships Available

by via Callers

The 29th Annual Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend is January 15 - 17, 2016 on the UNH Campus in Durham, NH. Providing scholarships to aspiring callers and dance musicians has long been an important part of our event. There are 2 scholarships for callers and 2 for musicians. Should you know someone who would be interested, please have them visit the website: http://ralphpage.neffa.org/ and look at the "Scholarship" link. The application couldn't be easier! Application deadline is Dec. 5. Thanks! Sandy Lafleur RPDLW Committee

9 years, 9 months

Radio stations

by Brooks Hart via Callers

Hello all. Does anyone know of a radio station that plays contra dance music and streams online? Thanks, Brooks

9 years, 9 months

Use of the term gypsy

by Bengtson, Lissa via Callers

Thank you for the clarification from the Voice of Roma. Having learned the dance move and the term, and used it in complete ignorant innocence, I feel sad that it's leaving. But I'm sentimental about the Confederate flag, too and sad that my high school's arch-rival will no longer be Robert E Lee High School. I've just been living my life in a pool of ignorance and not realizing I'm offending people right and left. Lissa Bengtson San Antonio Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 4, 2015, at 3:01 PM, via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > callers-owner(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Fwd: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances - > Response from Voice of Roma (Martha Wild via Callers) > 2. Re: Fwd: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances - > Response from Voice of Roma (Winston, Alan P. via Callers) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2015 19:43:31 -0800 > From: Martha Wild via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> > Subject: [Callers] Fwd: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances > - Response from Voice of Roma > Message-ID: <E9D55526-AB98-4C9C-AA56-DD67DACF5AF4(a)sbcglobal.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > All, I have received the following response from a representative from the Voice of Roma. This seems to be a pretty definitive response to whether the term is insulting or not to the Roma people. > Martha > > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: Carol Silverman <csilverm(a)uoregon.edu> >> Subject: Re: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances >> Date: November 3, 2015 7:28:00 PM PST >> To: Martha Wild <mawild(a)sbcglobal.net>, Voice of Roma <voiceofroma(a)gmail.com> >> Cc: Petra Gelbart <petragelbart(a)gmail.com> >> >> Dear Martha, >> Sani Rifati, President of Voice of Roma forwarded you message to me. Although I am not Romani, I am on the Board of VOR and we do care deeply about the terms used for the people we represent. >> A large number of Roma (but not all) are offended by the term Gypsy, especially with a small g. To ?gyp" someone means to steal and swindle; plus the word connotes a false history? it a short for Egyptian whereas Roma are from India. Roma have faced centuries of discrimination, and today are subject to deportations and racial profiling; this would be an opportunity to teach your community a little about their history. >> >> So whatever the history of the dance step, I know that names can be changed by sensitive callers like you. I would urge you to change the names and seize and educational moment! >> Sincerely, Carol Silverman >> PS Check the VOR webs page fro my information: http://www.voiceofroma.com/culture/gyp_vs_rom.html >> >> >> >> >> >>> From: Martha Wild <mawild(a)sbcglobal.net> >>> Date: Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 1:56 AM >>> Subject: Use of the word "gypsy" in various folk dances >>> To: voiceofroma(a)gmail.com >>> >>> >>> Hi, >>> I am a folk dancer - I do a lot of contra dancing and English Country dance and I call the dances as well. >>> >>> Recently a newcomer who came to a dance at another venue brought to our (a group of caller's that talk about such subjects on a list) attention that we have been using the word gypsy for one of the dance moves in both types of dance. This dancer (not a Roma) came to one of our dances and was upset that we used the term "gypsy" for this dance move, as they felt that the word was insulting to the Roma people. >>> >>> I would like to know if this is the case, as we have never intended to be derogatory to anyone, but lots of dances have this move, and dance names even contain the name, like "The Gypsy Star" and others. >>> >>> The move in question is a move where two people walk around each other and back to place, while facing each other. There is some confusion about origin of the term, but the best guess is that there was an English Country dance called "The Spanish Gypsy" that was written over a hundred years ago, and it was the first to include this move of people walking around each other while facing (prior to that people generally did a "back to back, or what is also called "do-si-do". The move was not called a "gypsy", but because this dance used it and other dances copied it, people called it a "gypsy" because it was the same move that was in that dance. >>> >>> I've been calling these dances for over 25 years and have used this term to indicate this move, never intending anything by it other than as an established name for a dance figure. I am hoping that some of the folks at Voice of Roma could give me an opinion as to whether you find it offensive or not for us to continue to use it. We've been discussing on the web whether we should try to find a different name, but if you feel that this use of the word gypsy is not an issue then we can stop arguing over words like "eddy" or "swirl" and continue to use it. If you do find it offensive, however, I will gladly alter my dance cards to something else so as not to continue to be offensive. >>> >>> Thanks for your input, >>> Martha Wild >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Sani Rifati >>> 707/823-7941 >>> http://www.voiceofroma.com >> >> Carol Silverman >> Professor >> Department of Anthropology and >> Folklore Program >> University of Oregon >> Eugene OR 97403-1218 >> Office 541-346-5114 >> Fax 541-346-0668 >> csilverm(a)uoregon.edu > >

9 years, 9 months

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