Aahz wrote:
> Despite your admonition that the caller is responsible for
> everything (which certainly is worthwhile as general advice), I think
> that placing the onus for the sound system also on the caller is probably
> going a bit too far.
>
Actually,…I don’t think anyone should place an onus on anybody at a social
event. Unfortunately the fact is that sometimes onuses just “fall” in the
dance hall. Nobody knows where they fall *from* but I suspect they are up
there—perhaps somewhere near the light fixtures.
Often the onus falls upon the dancers. That’s not good. Onuses are not
attractive and dancers don’t like them. I try to keep those guys off the
dancers if at all possible.
I think that having onuses falling in a dance hall is a bad idea. When an
onus falls on a dancer, for instance, it can be very disturbing for the
dancer and makes it harder for them to concentrate on anything else but
that damned onus. Once an onus gets on a dancer they are not easy to get
rid of. And, fact is, that there are a lot of folks who won’t even want to
dance with you once you’ve got an onus on you. And who could blame them. If
one onus falls then it’s a good bet that there’s another one up there,
lurking, and the critter is likely to fall on the same dancer again. It is
safer to stay away from a dancer who has an ornery onus on them. Some
folks even stay away from the spot in the hall where an onus fell on a
dancer on account of there are probably more of them up there.
Once onuses start falling in a dance hall everybody gets a little edgy. Nobody
wants an onus to get on them. Onuses can hurt when they hit a dancer.
But the caller can do something about the onuses. A good caller can catch
an onus before it falls on a dancer. A live microphone is an effective
onus-catching device. By being a leader the caller can take responsibility
and apologize for whatever the onus is about and that is how the caller can
catch the onus before somebody is injured or hurt.
I was not calling before we had microphones. Back then maybe leaders could
catch onuses without a mike…if they had a strong voice. But the pa system
sure helps with onus catching. Masters of Ceremony have to catch onuses
all the time. It’s part of their professional responsibility
The caller can catch most onuses before they hit the dance floor. Even
better they should catch them before one even hits the stage, where the
musicians are. And they should certainly try to catch an onus before it
hits a sound engineer.
Years ago I saw a rock performer drop an onus on a sound engineer and it
was an ugly thing. The singer was inebriated and didn’t like the sound he
was getting so he dropped a particularly onerous onus smack dab on the
sound engineer’s head. Man! When that onus hit him the guy lost it. He
shut down the pa system, screamed a few descriptive words at the singer,
and stomped out of the hall in a huff. It took a half hour to get the
sound system working again and the singer’s performance was not well
received after that.
I would never drop an onus on the sound guy.
The night I attended my first contra dance the lovely woman who dragged me
there told me that I should not worry because, if anyone makes a mistake
everybody knows that it’s always the caller’s fault. That’s when I
realized that the caller is the Chief Onus-Catcher in the hall. The caller
catches the onus by stepping up, taking responsibility, and being a leader.
But it’s not just the caller’s professional responsibility. It’s also the
smartest thing a caller can do.
When the dancers realize that somebody is catching the onuses they can
relax and focus on dancing and having fun. The dancers are not stupid
either. Some of them will realize that the caller has a high opinion of
the dancers and expects more from them.
If you want to be a true “Folk Hero” start catching falling onuses at the
dances you call. The dancers will love you for that. Some will follow
that example and take more personal responsibility themselves. And many
will work harder to make the caller look good.
Everybody wins when the onuses are kept out of the dance hall.
- Greg McKenzie
West Coast, USA
Hello fellow callers,
I'm theoretically calling the Glen Echo (MD) dance on Friday, but as many
of you know, this is National Park land. If the Congressional standoff
continues, it may very well be that the gates will remain closed.
While things are obviously in flux, there is a possibility that I might
either calling at Glen Echo or at an alternate venue. In either case, I'd
like to incorporate some shutdown-themed dances for our DC folks.
So, in the event that I call, I'd love some ideas for dances themed/titled
around shutdowns, openings, bickering, childishness, etc. What have you
guys got? Any suggestions are happily welcome!
-Sargon
This is maybe a silly question, but in an allemande to a star promenade, is
it assumed that the allemanders will keep their allemande until they've
brought the promenade-ee across the set?
On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 10:58 PM, Eric Black <eric(a)mirador.com> wrote:
> At 12:48 PM -0700 10/3/13, Alan Winston wrote:
>
>> Not to hijack this completely, but dancing a man's role in a
>> men-allemande star promenade is also often really unsatisfying. Something
>> like 20% of the men I run into line (in the SF Bay Area) just let go of me
>> as soon as they've picked up their partner; 70% hold on but stop giving
>> weight either immediately or before the promenade part is omplete, and it's
>> no more than 10% who give me a satisfying connection all through the
>> promenade and a positive push off at the right time.
>>
>> (And in star promenades with the neighbor lady, I find that about half of
>> them step ahead. Good star promenade, according to me, is like this
>> }
>> {
>> and what happens half the time is more like this
>> Z
>>
>> I find them pretty frustrating to do most of the time, and wonderful when
>> they work.)
>>
>> -- Alan
>>
>
>
> Two important points I was taught long ago (~1982) by Sandy Bradley:
> - star promenade is an ARC, not "straight across". The outside person
> MUST walk the outside of a circle, and not just head straight across.
>
> - the outside person needs to match timing and velocity exactly as the
> allemander comes to pick them up. The image was docking with the Space
> Station. Don't be early, and don't be late. Be moving exactly at the
> right speed exactly as the rotating station comes around so you can
> dock.
>
> And then walk in an arc!
>
> I sometimes say that if the outside person starts out early so that the
> allemander is empty-armed, it's like taking a shower with your socks on.
> You might accomplish your goal OK, but it's completely unsatisfying.
>
> -Eric
>
>
> ______________________________**_________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
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>
Came up against this question while writing a dance the other day: women
leading men into a star promenade and butterfly whirl? Does this happen?
Are there compelling reasons for me not write it into a dance, or would it
be a fun bit of genderswappery? (I imagine that as far as genderswappery
goes, it's still less confusing for all involved than a gent's chain...)
Cheers,
Maia
How about a dance that progresses backwards? Or has up-the-hall instead of down-the-hall?
On Oct 3, 2013, at 7:05 AM, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Shutdown-related dances? (Sargon de Jesus)
> 2. Re: Shutdown-related dances? (Donna Hunt)
> 3. Re: Shutdown-related dances? (Greg McKenzie)
> 4. Re: Shutdown-related dances? (Greg McKenzie)
> 5. Re: Shutdown-related dances? (Richard Fischer)
> 6. Re: Favorite mixers? (Jacob Nancy Bloom)
> 7. Re: Shutdown-related dances? (Yoyo Zhou)
> 8. simple dance identification (Ron T Blechner)
> 9. Women leading a star promenade? (Maia McCormick)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2013 12:37:15 -0400
> From: Sargon de Jesus <sargondj(a)gmail.com>
> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
> Subject: [Callers] Shutdown-related dances?
> Message-ID:
> <CAD0K=j+iFPEjXOVTpeErfMcASBfZVMe8n=ey5hHfO=juTUXnUA(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hello fellow callers,
>
> I'm theoretically calling the Glen Echo (MD) dance on Friday, but as many
> of you know, this is National Park land. If the Congressional standoff
> continues, it may very well be that the gates will remain closed.
>
> While things are obviously in flux, there is a possibility that I might
> either calling at Glen Echo or at an alternate venue. In either case, I'd
> like to incorporate some shutdown-themed dances for our DC folks.
>
> So, in the event that I call, I'd love some ideas for dances themed/titled
> around shutdowns, openings, bickering, childishness, etc. What have you
> guys got? Any suggestions are happily welcome!
>
> -Sargon
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
This one fits the theme. The men really get the run around in A2.
Jim
Communist Plot by John Coffman approx 10/10
Duple, Improper
A1 ½ Hey {men pass left shoulders to start}(8)
Neighbor Swing (8)
A2 Men Pull Across with Left Hands (2), Partner Allemande Right 1X
(6), Men Pull Across with Left Hands (1), Neighbor Allemande Right 1X (6),
Men Pull Across with Left Hands (1)
B1 Partner Balance and Swing (16)
B2 Ladies Chain (8)
With New Neighbors, Allemande Right 1 ½ (8)
Given the recent discussion about the role of the list, and the comment
that it was originally intended for beginning callers, I have an absurdly
newbie question to ask: how do you go about putting together a program for
a full (or partial) evening of calling?
I know this is a broad question, but I'm curious to hear everyone's
approaches! (I can certainly specify the question if it's too much as is.)
Cheers,
Maia
(Williamstown, MA / New York, NY)
Shutdown dances:
Take All of the Credit and None of the Blame
A1 DSD N to a wave (8); Bal the wave (4), N allm Rt 0.5 (2), men pull by
L (2), face P
A2 Bal P (4), half hey (8), Bal P (4)
B1 Half hey (8), P Swing (8)
B2 RL Thru (8), W chain to N (8)
Anyone know of this? I threw it together as a simple beginner's lesson
teach-the-basic-moves dance, and I assume it, or something very similar, is
already out there. No response from the first bunch of callers I emailed.
-Ron Blechner
(title unknown / untitled)
Improper
A1: N ____ + Swing (16)
A2: Circle L 3/4 (6)
P S (10)
B1: LLFB (8)
Star L 1x (8)
B2 P Alle L 1x (8) (forgiving)
Ladies Chain (to N) (8)
Here's the mixer that I've used many, many times.
Redwing Mixer
Written by Sybil Clark and the McLain Family (Bickie, Raymond, Raymond Jr.,
Alice, Ruth)
Gents progress one place to the right each time.
A1 Ladies forward and back,
Gents go forward, turn right, and go to next lady on right
A2 Promenade with new partner,
end in ballroom position with joined hands pointing to center of circle
B1 With the foot nearer center of circle, touch heel, touch toe, and take
two elegant slides into the center
Do the same thing with the foot away from the center to return to place
B2 Abandon all pretense of elegance and do the same thing in double time
Heel, toe, heel, toe, slide slide slide
Heel, toe, heel, toe, slide slide slide!
Above is the way I've always called this dance, but I believe it was
originally written with no promenade. The A1 had all going forward and
back twice, and the A2 had the ladies going forward and back, and the gents
going forward and on to the next.
Some groups get a kick out of having everyone call the "heel, toe, slide"
part of the dance out loud. And, if you've got a big enough circle and a
daring band, it's fun having the band playing in the middle of the circle.
Jacob Bloom
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 11:11:13 -0400
> From: Michael Clark <michael.clark(a)wmich.edu>
> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject:
>
> Re: [Callers] Favorite mixers?
> Message-ID: <0MTW00JAK7J4H600(a)mta01.service.private>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
> Thanks Kalia for getting this discussion started. You and others
> might be interested in going back into the Callers archives for a
> couple of earlier discussions on mixers, one in March 2012 started by
> David Millstone, I think, and one on waltz mixers in October 2010
> started by Chrissy Fowler. It looks like there's some overlap between
> now and the earlier discussions, but not a lot.
>
> Here's a mixer I use fairly often that I don't think has come up
> recently or in the earlier discussions. It's a reordering of one I
> learned from the English caller John Turner when he was over here in
> the mid-90's. (As he presented it, the promenade was the end of the
> sequence.)
>
> A1 Partner balance and swing
> A2 Promenade
> B1 Ladies to the center and back (clap on count 4); gents the same,
> end facing your partner around the ring (i.e., gents face CCW, ladies CW)
> B2 Allemande Right partner (=#1) once and a half, Allemande Left the
> next (=#2) once and a half to face the next (=#3, your new partner)
>
> I always think of this as "John Turner's Mixer," but I wrote him some
> years back to see if he had title and author information on it. He
> calls it "Grand Chain Allemande" but couldn't remember where/when he
> had collected it or who might have composed it. I wonder if John
> Sweeney or any other English dance leaders who read [Callers] might
> know something about it.
>
> Mike
>
> At 02:42 AM 9/28/2013, Martha Wild wrote:
> >I have a big circle mixer I really like, I'm not sure who wrote it
> >or the name of it, perhaps if someone else recognizes it they can
> >help me out there. I just call it the Balance and Pass mixer so I
> >know what it is.
>
