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~
~
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.
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.
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
Hi folks,
In the midst of a discussion with some dancers during the break at a recent
gig, this dance sequence came up. Has anyone seen its like?
Allemandery, My Dear Watson improper
A1 1-4 (New) Nbrs alle R 1-1/2
5-8 Gents alle L 1-1/2 (end in front of and facing
Ptnr)
A2 1-4 ½ hey (PR, WL, NR, GL)
5-8 Ptnr swing
B1 1-4 Women alle R 1-1/2
5-8 Nbrs swing
B2 1-4 Balance ring; pass by Nbr (pass thru backwards)
L-shoulder and turn back L to
5-8 (Old) Nbrs alle L 1-1/2 (to next cpl)
Thanx, Ric Goldman
Hi Kalia,
As written, at the beginning of B2, folks come out of the nbr swing - 1s
below, 2s above. The balance ring gives folks a chance to reorient (1s
facing up, 2s facing down). The pass-by L (and turn L around to face the
"normal" direction) flows into the subsequent allemande L 1-1/2. Another
possible alternative for the pass-by might be a L-shoulder gypsy, which
might flow into the nbr allemande L more easily (a "gypsy/allemande
meltdown"?)
However, going the other way with a normal pass-thru and turn to the R
brings the L hands around to connect (perhaps with a clap) for the
allemande:
B2 1-4 Balance the ring; pass thru (and turn back R into)
5-8 Nbrs allemande L 1-1/2 (to new cpl...)
This avoids the counter intuitive pass-by, and while not as smooth a flow,
might be an exciting contact point for the dancers. Definitely worth
considering :-)
Thanx, Ric Goldman
-----Original Message-----
From: Callers [mailto:callers-bounces@lists.sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of
Kalia Kliban via Callers
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 3:52 PM
To: Caller's discussion list
Subject: Re: [Callers] Anyone seen this sequence?
I'm not entirely clear on what's happening in B2 1-4. One possible
stumbling point, though, is that pass-throughs are almost always by the
right shoulder, so you'll need to come up with a really strong way to teach
that it's left (LEFT, no, the _other_ left).
Kalia
On 4/16/2015 3:32 PM, Ric Goldman via Callers wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> In the midst of a discussion with some dancers during the break at a
> recent gig, this dance sequence came up.Has anyone seen its like?
>
> Allemandery, My Dear Watson improper
>
> A11-4(New) Nbrs alle R 1-1/2
>
> 5-8Gents alle L 1-1/2 (end in front of and facing Ptnr)
>
> A21-4½ hey (PR, WL, NR, GL)
>
> 5-8Ptnr swing
>
> B11-4Women alle R 1-1/2
>
> 5-8Nbrs swing
>
> B21-4Balance ring; pass by Nbr (pass thru backwards) L-shoulder and
> turn back L to
>
> 5-8(Old) Nbrs alle L 1-1/2 (to next cpl)
>
> Thanx, Ric Goldman
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
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OK, I've got a few dances here (actually more than a few but I'll start with a few) that I don't have attribution for. I'd appreciate any help, thanks!
Number 1
4 face 4
A1 Forward and back
Swing corner
A2 Heads right and left through
Sides right and left through
B1 Men star left
Do-si-do the one you swung once and a bit more to see partner
B2 Balance and swing partner
Number 2
Duple Improper
A1 Allemande right neighbor 1 1/2
With NEXT neighbor, left shoulder do-si-do once
A2 Swing original neighbor
Lines forward and back (note, this is how I took it down but in practice I would probably rather Balance and swing original here)
B1 Circle left 3/4
Swing partner
B2 Women chain
FULL and zesty square through
Number 3
Duple improper
A1 Wave balance with the MEN in the middle (left to partner, men right), men do Rory O'More move past each other to partner
Swing partner
A2 Women chain
Women pull by the right and allemande left neighbor 1X to form a wave with the women in the middle
B1 Wave balance, women Rory past each other to neighbor
Swing neighbor
B2 Pass through across the set to an ocean wave and balance (women in the middle)
Step forward and with new neighbor facing you, allemande left 1 1/2 to form a wave with the men in the middle
Number 4
Duple improper
A1 Lines forward and back
Swing neighbor
A2 4 in line down the set, turn as couples
come back up
B1 Circle left
Swing partner
B2 Men allemande left 1 1/2
Star promenade, butterfly whirl
That'll do for now. Thanks in advance!
Hi Don,
As has been said, you really need to find out what they think they
mean and what they are hoping for. As an example:
Irish people dancing Waves of Tory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsDw57nqUrk
English people dancing Waves of Tory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1qtN-kw6Mg
Note how the timing, styling, speed are all completely different, especially
on the Dip 'n' Dive - the Irish take their time, the English rush through
it.
You need to know which they are aiming for!
Even the waltzing is different. I did a gig for an Irish group
recently, The older ladies kept demanding higher speeds - their idea of
waltz was 50% faster than the average at a contra dance!
Good luck!
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
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