Contra Callers

contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net

20 participants
4374 discussions

by Amy Wimmer via Callers

I called a dance last night in the town where I grew up (Bellingham, WA). It's always great to go back and see people with whom I learned to dance. Calling there makes me a little nervous, though, because I didn't start calling until I left there about 11 years ago. Anyway, keeping in mind the recent discussion about clapping for the band, I did my utmost to make sure last night's band was well appreciated. They are a really good home-town band, and very fun to work with, so I didn't feel a need to fake it. After the first dance there was a smattering of applause, so I said, "It is customary to applaud the band after each set." This sort of stopped them in their tracks and they responded well. The band was grinning at me. I then said, "I have also heard that bands perform better when they know they are being appreciated." This brought even more applause. I said they were dancing to the playing of "Northern Contraband" and I'd introduce the individual members later. During the evening I smiled broadly at the band members, they responded with the same; I applauded at the ends of each dance, while looking and smiling at them; I whooped when it was appropriate (they threw in some really cool stuff, off the cuff) and the dancers joined in. All-in-all the band was very well-received and appreciated, they responded well to the attention, and the dancers were consistently appreciative the rest of the evening. I introduced the individual band members twice - once in the first half and once in the second. It helps that I know them and didn't have to read their names. I mentioned the sound person a few times, too. Everyone was smiling and happy. It was good. I hope I can spread the joy at other gigs. -Amy

10 years, 1 month

Dance length/dances per evening

by Maia McCormick via Callers

Just polling the masses here--how long do you generally run your dances (in times through the dance, time take, couples going up and back, etc.)? How many dances do you generally manage to fit into a 3-hour contra evening? I've heard different wisdom from different folks and am curious to add some more data points! Cheers, Maia

10 years, 1 month

New ECD Weekend at Timber Ridge in WV

by via Callers

Kappy Laning and I have organized a new all-ECD weekend at Timber Ridge camp, May 23-25 (Memorial Day weekend), 2015. Scott Higgs, Gaye Fifer, Tom Spilsbury calling. Eight fine local musicians. The camp is so eager to make this a success that they have lowered their price to us. NINETY Dollars, all inclusive -- we start at 2 pm on Saturday afternoon (so no fighting the Friday holiday weekend traffic) through Monday afternoon, all means included (and we'll celebrate CDSS's 100th anniversary with a grand tea on Sunday). I'd be happy to provide more information. If you already dance ECD, or have always wanted to try it -- the cost is trifling!! Website is AnEnglishTrifle.org. April Blum

10 years, 1 month

Applause or Not...

by Kalia Kliban via Callers

On 4/22/2015 7:08 PM, Erik Hoffman via Callers wrote: > Hi All, > > There are several places where almost no applause occurs after a dance. In some communities, when I've been subjected to that experience, I've asked, "were we off tonight?" The reply usually is something like, "no, the dance was fine (or even great), we just head for our next partner..." I know sometimes it's just the night. Sometimes, though, it's the community's habit. I spoke with a renowned musician the other day, who will no longer play for a certain series. One of the reasons: lack of applause -- lack of that palpable sense of appreciation. > > I think dancers don't often know that applause really makes the band and caller feel better. If they feel better they play better. And, as a dancer, applause usually makes me feel better, too. Any ideas on how to encourage applause? Or, if you're in one of those communities where applause is minimal, does it bother you? I had that experience a while back at one of our local contras, when I was calling with a really hot band. We'd finish a dance, get a few claps and then just crickets. It was really depressing and upsetting. The dances were going ok, the music was smoking and then... nothing. I've just looked back into my dance log and the comment I wrote later that night was "I don’t know what was up, but it felt bad-weird from the stage." Applause really does make a difference. Kalia

10 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] Difficulty rankings?

by Dugan Murphy via Callers

Hi Maia, I used to organize my dance cards by difficulty, but currently, I use categories in my box that are largely based on dance-defining figures (Petronella, star promenade) and types of progression (slide left, circle-pass-through). I find that system of organization to be more useful when writing out a program for an evening. Dugan Murphy dugan(a)duganmurphy.com Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 13:53:01 -0400 > From: Maia McCormick via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > To: "callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net" <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > Subject: [Callers] Difficulty rankings? > Message-ID: > <CAHUcZGPHaCuWAZv+d+6EX1aJ7D25CDSvJUFD= > VLYV8g43Fyr6A(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > As I overhaul my contra deck and realize that my difficulty ranking system > is super incoherent, and most of my dance rankings are from way before I > had any idea what actually makes a dance easy or hard, I've been thinking > of scrapping this difficulty ranking system and just starting over. So I > was wondering: if you rank your dances by difficulty, what is your system, > what are your benchmarks for various difficulty levels, what sorts of > things do you consider when determining the difficulty of a dance? If you > DON'T > rank your dances, why not? > > Cheers, > Maia > > *************************************** >

10 years, 1 month

ANNOUNCE Contra in Exeter, UK Friday 15th May

by Jeremy Gmail via Callers

Second Dance: Friday 15th May, 2015. Following the success of the first event (see <http://barndancecaller.net/exetercontra.html> http://barndancecaller.net/exetercontra.html), the next Contra Dance will be held at The Kenn Centre, Exeter on Friday 15th May, 2015. Beginners tuition at 7:30pm, main dance 8pm to 10:30pm. Cost is only £4 per person. The Kenn Centre ( <file:///\\www.kenncentre.co.uk> www.kenncentre.co.uk) has a lovely modern large hall with ample parking. It's just a few miles outside Exeter and is easily accessible from the M5/A30/A38/A380. Satnav: EX6 7UE The caller is Jeremy Child ( <http://barndancecaller.net/index.html> http://barndancecaller.net/index.html), an experienced contra caller who has recently returned from a calling tour of South Eastern US. You may have seen him and his rather bright orange shirt calling at Willand, Sidford and Bridport. We will be using recorded music, so you can dance along to your favourite English bands such as Vertical Expression, English Contra Dance Band, Arden Folk, Blowzabella, Fiddlin' Around and The Night Before, as well as some of the top American Contra Bands such as Yankee Ingenuity, Wild Asparagus, Contraforce and Perpetual e-Motion. There will be a short interval for tea / coffee at around 9:15. Soft drinks, tea, coffee and biscuits will be available f.o.c. but there is no bar. For further information or to be added to the Exeter Contra mailing list, please email <https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=ContraExeter@gmail.com> ContraExeter(a)gmail.com. You can find more information, including photos and videos from the first dance, at <http://barndancecaller.net/exetercontra.html> http://barndancecaller.net/exetercontra.html and the Facebook page at <https://www.facebook.com/events/1009884862357972/> https://www.facebook.com/events/1009884862357972/ Jeremy

10 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] When the dancers aren't paying attention

by Erik Hoffman via Callers

On the question of paying attention: A while back, in one of these e-groups, someone pointed out that we contra dancers keep talking about "community." This post pointed out that we contra dancers go to a dance, and, often forsaking applause (yet another topic...), run off to find our next partner and line up for a dance. This posting compared that to country-western dance, or swing dance, where they would sit around a table and talk, get to know others through chatting, and not dance every dance, but have other social things happen. It got me to thinking: Often, after people have lined up, they talk with each other, their partner, their minor set, or other people around them. Often callers strive to get everyone to shut-up so they can start the dance. I've come to believe this time of conversation is the main time we get to know a little about each other and is thus a "community building time." My practice now is to say into the mic in a regular talking voice, "Are you ready?" If the general banter keeps going on, I wait a couple beats, and say, again, "Are you ready?" After two to four times of asking the question, someone will say, "Yes!" Then another might do a loud, "Shhhh!" When people finally quiet down, I teach the dance. ~erik hoffman oakland, ca On 8/4/2014 10:26 AM, barb kirchner via Callers wrote: > sometimes when dancers aren't paying attention, it's because there are > too many other things going on in the hall. > > sometimes it's the band warming up or sound checking, but i've seen > all kinds of things going on - bake sales, people on their mobile > devices, a group of beginners coming in who don't yet know dance > etiquette, or maybe the dancers are having trouble hearing you. > sometimes musicians talk loudly behind the caller (i'm a musician and > a caller) and it's hard to understand the caller because the chatter > can be heard through mics or pick-ups. > > you can't fix some of those things, but you can address retail events > in the hall, cell phones, sound system, etc > > are your experienced dancers modelling good dance etiquette? are you > teaching efficiently, or are you spending so much time talking that > people lose interest? > > sometimes, i just start the walkthru anyway. as soon as people > realize that most people are starting to swing, they get a little more > interested :-) > > cheers, > barb > > > > Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 13:05:57 -0400 > > To: maia.mcc(a)gmail.com > > CC: callers(a)sharedweight.net > > Subject: Re: [Callers] When the dancers aren't paying attention > > From: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > > > It depends why the dancers aren't paying attention. Are there lots of > > experienced dancers, such that the walkthrough isn't really necessary? > > Are they ignoring walkthroughs the first time through because they > > know there will be a second one? Are they just having a lot of fun > > with their friends and prioritizing that above listening to the > > caller? How does the dance go once it starts? > > > > A few strategies I might try: > > > > * Not bother with the walkthroughs entirely. If the crowd is ignoring > > the walkthroughs because as a whole they don't need them, then just > > call the dance. This means only picking dances that can be called > > no-walkthrough, but there are still a lot to choose from. > > > > * Give the dancers a bit longer between dances before starting the > > walkthrough. If they're chatting with neighbors and catching up, let > > them do that for a bit. Then once you start the walkthrough go > > quickly. > > > > * Ask the band for rolling starts, where they play music under the > > walkthrough. This makes it harder for people to talk and feels more > > like dancing. You don't have time to explain complex things, so you > > have to give that up, but it's much more forgiving than straight-up > > no-walkthrough. > > > > > > > > On Mon, Aug 4, 2014 at 11:08 AM, Maia McCormick via Callers > > <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > > At Falcon Ridge this weekend, I saw a couple of different styles > of dealing > > > with that frustrating state of affairs when 50%+ of the hall just > isn't > > > paying attention to the walk-through. I'm curious if you all have any > > > particular strategies you employ here, thoughts on how to deal > with this, > > > how to get the attention of the hall, etc. > > > > > > In dance, > > > Maia > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Callers mailing list > > > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net

10 years, 1 month

dance request

by Laur via Callers

Does anyone have "Fannie's Alarm Clock" to share? Thanks - Laurie PWest MI ~ When I dance, I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole, that is why I dance. ~Hans Bos~ ~

10 years, 2 months

Projecting That "It's All OK"

by Jerome Grisanti via Callers

One of the lessons I learned in a Bruce Hamilton workshop was that the caller's attitude is a tool and it must be kept sharp. He mentioned the example of Bob Dalsemer always projecting a strong sense of well-being, everything is going just fine. I realized that while my stage presence often did this, too often I also projected the tension of my worries about the dance -- whether I would be able to teach something, whether the dancers would "get" it, whether I could fix a problem if it developed. So I became more intentional, identifying callers who projected well-being and trying to copy some of those things they did. I realized it is about awareness, and about decision-making, and about preparation (knowing the dances, knowing the music, the band, the crowd...). Fast forward to yesterday. I was calling an English dance, the music was going, the room was quiet except for the band (glorious!) and the movement of the dancers, when a baby -- the several-months-old grandchild of one of our dancers, began babbling. Not crying, just making noises over the music. And the part of me that saw it as an interruption was itself interrupted by the part of me that said, "hey, he's in the right key." So I said that. And maybe it was only for me, but it made everything OK. Thank you Bruce and the many others who teach this lesson. --Jerome Jerome Grisanti 660-528-0858 http://www.jeromegrisanti.com “Dance like no one is watching... Because they are not... They are checking their phone.

10 years, 2 months

Re: [Callers] Difficulty rankings?

by Jerome Grisanti via Callers

Erik and Alan make good points. I also think it's worth the exercise to try to rank dances, and individual figures, by difficulty as a way of thinking about what makes a dance hard or easy. For example: Which is easier to teach (or to learn): chain, hey, right & left through? That analysis is worthwhile, even if sorting your cards by such rankings is problematic. --Jerome Jerome Grisanti 660-528-0858 http://www.jeromegrisanti.com “Dance like no one is watching... Because they are not... They are checking their phone.

10 years, 2 months

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Contra Callers