As a new caller, I've received lots of advice on this topic, and I want to
make sure I've been doing it right.
I generally try to have an arc of difficulty, starting with an easy dance,
getting gradually harder, peaking around the 2nd or 3rd dance after the
break, then ending with a simple dance as a cool-down. The actual
difficulty you start and peak with is dependent on the skill level of your
local dance. I also try to have a few extra options if I find the dancers
on a particular evening are newbie-heavy or experience-heavy. In my
programs, that generally means having an extra dance in the arc, then
skipping either an easy dance early on (if there are not many newbies), or
a harder dance later on (if there are lots of newbies).
I also put all my dance cards next to each other and try to make sure that
I don't put very similar dances consecutively, and that I have a good
variety of figures throughout the evening.
More experienced callers: feel free to tell me if this strategy is good or
bad.
Cheers,
Ben
(Houston, TX)
#3 is Seven Sevens by Jim Kitch. It *is* a lovely, smooth mad robin dance!
Christa
>________________________________
>
>
>Message: 2
>Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 10:33:40 -0400
>From: Maia McCormick <maia.mcc(a)gmail.com>
>To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
>Subject: [Callers] More unknown dances!
>Message-ID:
> <CAHUcZGNum=YYONn57pw2qLUTcA81DxG=zcM18UwsQ2T0L9Zqxg(a)mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>While we're at it, here are some mystery dances I've been assembling. (For
>those curious, these come mostly from Dawn Dance and a little from FRFF,
>but there's also one from the Berkeley dance that I copied down from Warren
>Blier, who has had it down in his cards as "unknown petronella dance!"...)
>Your collective wisdom is appreciated!
>
>1) ??????, becket
>A1: circle L 3x; neighbor swing
>A2: ladies* chain left diagonal; L hand star with these 4 (i.e. away from
>partner)
>B1: square through 2x
>B2: partner balance and swing
>
>*when I wrote this down, I said "ALL chain" and I don't have any idea what
>that's supposed to mean...
>
>2) ??????, imp. (caller noted that this was "one of the sexiest dances ever
>written)
>A1: women forward into wavy line and balance; women fall back, men walk
>forward, and men turn to lead a single file circle (L?)
>A2: ...circle file circle... on lady's side, partner gypsy 1 1/2
>B1: ladies start half hey by L; partner swing
>B2: circle L 3 places; neighbor swing
>
>3) ?????, becket ("super smooth mad robin dance")
>A1: circle L 3 places; swing neighbor
>A2: R/L through across; star left to new neighbors
>B1: with new neighbor, balance and box the gnat; mad robin (gents in front
>first)
>B2: gents pass left to partner gypsy; partner swing
>
>4) ?????, imp. ("cool shadow dance")
>A1: new neighbor balance and swing
>A2: ladies bull by right to allemande partner L 3/4; shadow allemande 1 1/2
>B1: in wavy lines w/ ladies facing out, balance, spin right to partner
>(like a half Rory O'Moore); partner swing
>B2: circle L 3; do-si-do neighbor 1 1/2 to the next
>
>5) ?????, imp. ("unknown petronella dance!")
>A1: petronella; partner swing
>A2: petronella; neighbor wing
>B1: down the hall; turn alone and come back
>B2: circle left all the way; balance and CA twirl
>
>
>
>
2 looks like Ramsay Chase by Joseph Pimentel. 5 is Cure For the Clap by Bob Isaacs.
Perry
Sent from my Galaxy S®III
-------- Original message --------
From: Maia McCormick <maia.mcc(a)gmail.com>
Date: 09/15/2013 10:33 AM (GMT-05:00)
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] More unknown dances!
While we're at it, here are some mystery dances I've been assembling. (For
those curious, these come mostly from Dawn Dance and a little from FRFF,
but there's also one from the Berkeley dance that I copied down from Warren
Blier, who has had it down in his cards as "unknown petronella dance!"...)
Your collective wisdom is appreciated!
1) ??????, becket
A1: circle L 3x; neighbor swing
A2: ladies* chain left diagonal; L hand star with these 4 (i.e. away from
partner)
B1: square through 2x
B2: partner balance and swing
*when I wrote this down, I said "ALL chain" and I don't have any idea what
that's supposed to mean...
2) ??????, imp. (caller noted that this was "one of the sexiest dances ever
written)
A1: women forward into wavy line and balance; women fall back, men walk
forward, and men turn to lead a single file circle (L?)
A2: ...circle file circle... on lady's side, partner gypsy 1 1/2
B1: ladies start half hey by L; partner swing
B2: circle L 3 places; neighbor swing
3) ?????, becket ("super smooth mad robin dance")
A1: circle L 3 places; swing neighbor
A2: R/L through across; star left to new neighbors
B1: with new neighbor, balance and box the gnat; mad robin (gents in front
first)
B2: gents pass left to partner gypsy; partner swing
4) ?????, imp. ("cool shadow dance")
A1: new neighbor balance and swing
A2: ladies bull by right to allemande partner L 3/4; shadow allemande 1 1/2
B1: in wavy lines w/ ladies facing out, balance, spin right to partner
(like a half Rory O'Moore); partner swing
B2: circle L 3; do-si-do neighbor 1 1/2 to the next
5) ?????, imp. ("unknown petronella dance!")
A1: petronella; partner swing
A2: petronella; neighbor wing
B1: down the hall; turn alone and come back
B2: circle left all the way; balance and CA twirl
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
While we're at it, here are some mystery dances I've been assembling. (For
those curious, these come mostly from Dawn Dance and a little from FRFF,
but there's also one from the Berkeley dance that I copied down from Warren
Blier, who has had it down in his cards as "unknown petronella dance!"...)
Your collective wisdom is appreciated!
1) ??????, becket
A1: circle L 3x; neighbor swing
A2: ladies* chain left diagonal; L hand star with these 4 (i.e. away from
partner)
B1: square through 2x
B2: partner balance and swing
*when I wrote this down, I said "ALL chain" and I don't have any idea what
that's supposed to mean...
2) ??????, imp. (caller noted that this was "one of the sexiest dances ever
written)
A1: women forward into wavy line and balance; women fall back, men walk
forward, and men turn to lead a single file circle (L?)
A2: ...circle file circle... on lady's side, partner gypsy 1 1/2
B1: ladies start half hey by L; partner swing
B2: circle L 3 places; neighbor swing
3) ?????, becket ("super smooth mad robin dance")
A1: circle L 3 places; swing neighbor
A2: R/L through across; star left to new neighbors
B1: with new neighbor, balance and box the gnat; mad robin (gents in front
first)
B2: gents pass left to partner gypsy; partner swing
4) ?????, imp. ("cool shadow dance")
A1: new neighbor balance and swing
A2: ladies bull by right to allemande partner L 3/4; shadow allemande 1 1/2
B1: in wavy lines w/ ladies facing out, balance, spin right to partner
(like a half Rory O'Moore); partner swing
B2: circle L 3; do-si-do neighbor 1 1/2 to the next
5) ?????, imp. ("unknown petronella dance!")
A1: petronella; partner swing
A2: petronella; neighbor wing
B1: down the hall; turn alone and come back
B2: circle left all the way; balance and CA twirl
Last time I checked, dance sequences were not copyrightable. The physical description of the dance sequence is copyrightable, and you couldn't just take the author's published description and put it in your own collection w/o permission. You, on the other hand, could describe the dance with a different notation.
In every instance I have seen, publishers of dance collections have gone the extra step of getting permission from the dance author to include their dance. I'm not sure any of those Creative Commons licenses map exactly to this situation.
Dan
RE: Dances licensed with CC or similar
Hi, I've written quite a few dances. There may be a few that appeared in California Twirls that are licensed via that publication, but I've never bothered to license any others - I like the idea of a dance living on after me in the community, and so I'm happy to let them go without restriction. It's been fun to see my "Mad, Mad World" dance showing up in various You-tube videos of contra dances (though I admit that without Chris Page annotating, they rarely mention the name of the dance or the composer). I doubt I'd make much money on them. Am I missing some positive aspect of licensing them?
Martha
On Sep 13, 2013, at 9:00 AM, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote:
> Send Callers mailing list submissions to
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Dances licensed with CC or similar (Sam Whited)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 11:59:19 -0400
> From: Sam Whited <sam(a)samwhited.com>
> To: sharedweight-callers <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Callers] Dances licensed with CC or similar
> Message-ID: <52333657.5090103(a)samwhited.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi all:
>
> Does anyone here know of any dances that are licensed under an open
> (free as in freedom) license or have fallen into the public domain (it's
> hard to find dates for a lot of older dances)?
>
> I'm already using a few of Seth Tepfer's dances which are licensed under
> a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0) license [1] (Thanks Seth; I owe you a
> beer or something!) and wondered if anyone else had licensed their
> dances in a similar fashion?
>
> I know that most callers don't mind if people include their dances in
> non-commercial teaching materials or call them at dances (implicit CC
> licensing is sort of ingrained in the culture), but I'd like to stick
> with things that are verifiably in the public domain or have explicitly
> been released under a CC or similar license.
>
> These would be used as example dances in the typesetting project that I
> mentioned recently (which will hopefully be published sometime next week).
>
> Thanks,
> Sam
>
> P.S. I always wonder why more callers don't do this; lack of knowledge
> that such things exist?
> P.P.S. As a matter of public record: All of my dances are _always_
> released under CC BY-NC 3.0 license unless otherwise marked or stated. I
> also waive the noncommercial restriction for the purpose of calling them
> at a dance.
>
>
> [1]: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
>
> --
> Sam Whited
> pub 4096R/EC2C9934
> https://samwhited.com/contact
>
>
Hi Caller Listservers :)
I've been collecting dances over the last few years and there are a few
that I'd like to add to my box but for which I don't have a name. I've
listed 11 below. If anyone has the brain (or computer program!) to help me
out, it would be much appreciated!
Authors are awesome too and a few have question marks as to the actual
moves. (I can test the move issues with our callers group here but it's a
small group without a way to look up names).
Much thanks :)
Emily in Ottawa
*
*
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 1: IMPROPER*
------------
N B&Sw
------------
LL F&B
L Gyp 1.5
------------
P B&Sw
------------
L Chain
Star L to next couple
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 2: IMPROPER*
------------
LL F&B
N Swing on the side
------------
CL 3 places
P Swing
------------
G Al ???which hand??? 1.5
G face N to start half hey
------------
Promenade up & down set (G inside/mid)
Turn (wheel as a couple) and come on back
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 3: IMPROPER*
------------
N Bal & Sw
------------
LL F&B, G roll L away with half sashay
LL F&B, L roll G away with half sashay
------------
L in for Al L 1.5
P Swing
------------
Ladies Chain
LH Star
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 4: IMPROPER*
------------
L in 4 steps & Bal Wave
L out, G in & Bal Wave
------------
G Al L until see N
N Swing
------------
CL 3 places
P Swing
------------
LL F&B
Ladies Chain
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 5: IMPROPER*
------------
N B&Sw
------------
LLF&B
L Al L 1.5 (or Right???)
------------
P B&Sw
------------
G DSD 1 X
Cir L 3/4 & pass through to new Ns
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 6: IMPROPER*
------------
LLF&B
N Al R once around (fast)… L Al L ½ … with R to P to make a wave
------------
Bal wave & slide to R (face to face)
Bal wave & slide L (face to face)
------------
P B&Sw
------------
Cir L 3 places
N Swing
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 7: IMPROPER*
------------
CL 1X
Couple DSD
------------
N DSD
N Swing
------------
G Al R 1.5
P Swing
------------
Cir L 3/4
Bal Circle & Cal Twirl
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 8: IMPROPER*
------------
N B&Sw
------------
LLF&B
L Al R 1.5
------------
P B&Sw
------------
Ladies chain
LH Star (look for new neighbours)
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 9: IMPROPER*
------------
N B&Sw
------------
La Chain
Ladies back in, lead R shoulders for ½ Hey
------------
P B&Sw
------------
La Al R 1X … P Al L ½ … G Al R ½ … N Al R once and a bit onto the next N
(keep flowing)
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 10: IMPROPER??? BECKETT?*
------------
Cir L 1X (all the way)
R&L Through
------------
La Chain across
La Chain on L diagonal (TO SHADOW)
------------
Bal Ring + Petronella
Bal Ring + Petronella
------------
Turn to B&Swing your Partner
???not sure if I have this dance right
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 11: CIRCLE MIXER*
------------
Cir R (8 steps)
Cir L
------------
Forward 4 (with clap) & back
Corner???? Al L 1X
------------
P Al R 1X
New N DSD 1X
------------
New N (now your partner!) Swing
Promenade to R
Speaking as a dancer here and not a caller, I enjoy a square now and then
but I really don't like it when the caller calls two squares back to back.
If I sat out the first one, that generally means I have to sit out the next
one too. The last time that happened in our community, one of the dancers
complained that he had driven two hours to get there and had only gotten
two dances in the second half because the caller had called two squares
back to back and took a really long time to teach both of them. In my
experience, the main reason contra dancers don't like squares is that it
takes a long time to get set up, there is a chance you will get left out if
you're slow to find a partner and then can't get enough other people to
make a square, and that it often takes more teaching time. I don't think it
has anything at all to do with the dance itself.
So my advice is to call one square in the first half and one square in the
second half and find something that can be taught quickly and is
interesting and fun. I will happily dance those squares!
JoLaine
Hello all,
I've started to become aware of a few trends in the community around the
Shared Weight Callers list:
1. The list volume has increased
2. The subject matter is increasingly focused on tiny details of the
calling experience, usually only of interest to someone who has been
calling for many, many years. And these details are debated at length
(increasing the volume of the list).
3. People are leaving. Not in mass droves, but a noticeable amount. And
some are telling me that the list does not serve their needs.
This list was started 9 years ago (next week!) with the express purpose
of supporting and encouraging the newer caller. An open forum where the
most basic of question was not only tolerated, but celebrated. We
succeeded in creating that community for many years, but lately, that
vision seems to have been lost along the way. It would be a shame to
lose that part of what made this group special.
Seth and I started this list, but all we did was start the ball rolling.
This is your community, your forum for discussion. I will support
whatever this list wants to become. I just want us to be conscious and
deliberate about deciding what it will be.
So, let's start a discussion about the Purpose of the List and the
future of Shared Weight. Here are some thoughts to consider:
A. Since there seems to be a split in the discussion, should we split
the list? On one side is experienced callers discussing master-level
details of calling, programming, teaching and history. On the other side
is the mentoring of newer callers who need help at the apprentice and
journeyman levels. We could start a master-callers(a)sharedweight.net list
quite easily. People could change their subscription based on their
interest.
B. If we keep this list as-is, how do we make it easy for someone to
determine what will be relevant to their level of interest? How do we
know when to ask someone to take their debate of a trivial issue off list?
C. How do we keep the experience of the list useful and relevant to the
most number of people at the widest range of experience levels?
Thanks to all of you for your participation, whether you post, or just
lurk. I love being a part of the traditional dance community and
especially part of our subset of dance callers.
Happy Dancing,
Chris Weiler
SharedWeight Founder/admin/moderator
Craftsbury, VT
Personally, I like to dance and call squares as much as contra dances, but in many locales there is a strong preference for contras. If you were going to program a square or two in an evening otherwise devoted to contra dances, which ones would you pick? Or what would be the characteristics of squares that you think would make the contra devotees say "That wasn't so bad after all"? (This is assuming you have asked and the organizers haven't told you they expect all contras).
I am programming this Friday's Tallahassee dance right now, so this is not just an academic question.
Richard Hopkins
hopkinsrs(a)comcast.net
850-894-9212
850-544-7614 cell
Sent from my iPad
