Contra Callers

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12 participants
4406 discussions

by Tom Hinds

Laurie, I think it's a keeper and is called Kate's Departure. Kate Brady, was a dance organizer in C'ville until she moved to Colorado. Tom

12 years, 7 months

Re: [Callers] Suggestions for particularly flirty contra dances?

by Jerome Grisanti

Alan, Since the move called Mad Robin has been mentioned so often, I hope you consider calling the eponymous English dance (billed as such, of course, don't want to cause riots). Easy enough for dedicated contra dancers but different enough (proper, and with 2-hand turns instead of swings) to offer variety. And if people want to substitute swings, they may. And how they end that swing can offer some other interesting variations. Frankly, I find that an occasional two-hand turn in a contra offers plenty of potential for flirtation (with room for it to remain merely friendly). --Jerome -- Jerome Grisanti 660-528-0858 http://www.jeromegrisanti.com For the good are always the merry, Save by an evil chance, And the merry love the fiddle And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats

12 years, 7 months

is this dance new?

by Tom Hinds

I just wrote a dance and wanted to know if it's unique. I'm pretty sure the A1 is borrowed from another dance. D-imp A1 Circle left. Mad Robin (face partner and do-si-do neighbor). A2 Hey, women pass left shoulders B1 Women pass left shoulders and swing partner B2 Ladies chain, forward and back. Tom

12 years, 7 months

Re: [Callers] Callers Digest, Vol 104, Issue 3

by Jim Hemphill

5. Re: Suggestions for particularly flirty contra dances? (Maia McCormick) Another flirty dance originally written for Valentines day. It's not a simple dance but the Poussette - "Cupids Hey" sequence is very flirty *Cupid's Hey* improper by Jim Hemphill A1 Long lines forward (4) then poussette* (6), Start Cupids hey (6), A2 Partner Gypsy and Swing B1 Promenade Ladies Chain B2 Ladies allemande right once around Neighbor swing *Teaching notes: A1 The Poussette is not quite a half way around, starting from the center, gents start backing, ladies forward, clockwise around the other couple. As couples come back towards center in poussette, drop hands as ladies backing across pass each other. Cupid's hay; While maintaining the face to face orientation of the poussette, looking cross set at your partner, couples slide to the side, ladies left/gents right so ladies pass each other face to face, gents will see the back of their neighbor as they slide by in front. Couples then step, ladies back gents forward, and slide to the side the other way, ladies right/gents left so gents pass face to face, then continue across into a gypsy. ------------------------------

12 years, 7 months

A Unique calling style

by Michael Fuerst

I just returned from Pigtown Fling dance weekend outside of Cincinnati, with featured caller Susan Petrick, who has a unique, effective style for teaching dances. During walk-throughs she never stops talking. The time callers often pause and wait for the dancers is instead filled usually with her telling about either the position the dancers will be after the figure, or advice about a flourish or end effects. Thus very few dances, even the more intricate ones, required a second walk-through. Susan noted her pleasant surprise rarely needing a second walk-through, noting the collective skill of the dancers, but her technique contributed. Even if during the walk-through dancers are chatting and miss the figure, they know where they should end up and correctly position themselves. I speculate that if Susan had realized what the collective skill level of the dancers would be, she might have chosen a slightly more challenging set of dances for the two general sessions (Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon) she called. This contrasts with Colin Hume's equally distinctive and effective style of making very witty remarks while teaching a dance to hold the dancers' attention. Callers can usefully copy Susan's technique. I doubt many callers can mimic Colin. Michael Fuerst 802 N Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217-239-5844

12 years, 7 months

Bree's question

by Tom Hinds

> > Hey Tom,I don?t have your personal email, so hope you check this > list often. You posted this dance in January. I?m considering > calling it soon and would love to know if it has a name. Bree, It's called Kate's Departure. Kate Brady, one of our wonderful dance organizers is leaving C'ville to start a new life in Colorado. I and other callers have tested it out and I believe it's a keeper. T > Thanks,Bree KalbCarrboro, NCTom Wrote:I just wrote a dance and > wanted to know if it's unique. I'm pretty > sure the A1 is borrowed from another dance. > > > D-imp > A1 Circle left. Mad Robin (face partner and do-si-do neighbor). > > A2 Hey, women pass left shoulders > > B1 Women pass left shoulders and swing partner > > B2 Ladies chain, forward and back. > > > Tom > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > End of Callers Digest, Vol 103, Issue 17 > ****************************************

12 years, 7 months

Booking Ahead - (was ideas for callers about sidelines)

by Ron T Blechner

You know, I just realized, regarding the "sidelines" discussion ... no one's yet mentioned "booking ahead". In the context of getting-new-dancers-partners, I thought it might deserve its own thread. Simply put: Booking ahead is a big threat to including new and/or infrequent dancers. When I was a newer dancer, and finally getting known as a fun dance partner with enough people, there was the inevitable "I want to dance with all my friends!" tendency that most newer dancers get. I booked ahead, sometimes two dances ahead. I never booked *all* of my dances for the night, and I did seek out and dance with people I didn't normally, on a regular basis. Still, once I reflected upon it, it limited my dance partners somewhat. I cut down to only booking "next dance". Then I cut down the number of times in a night that I do that. Now, I will never book ahead as a rule, but allow exceptions, usually for out-of-towners that I don't get to see often, or a dancer that I simply haven't had the chance to dance with for several weeks. I've found that I don't sit out any more often, I'm still dancing with friends for about half my dances in the evening, and I'm having just as much fun. At the same time, I don't have to worry about remembering who I booked, nor about offending anyone by, "Sorry, got the next one booked already!" Nowadays, I'm a pretty okay dancer. And there are some dances I can walk into, and people are super-friendly and I have no problem finding a partner. Yeah, me being a kilt-wearing, name-button-sporting dancer with decent dance shoes usually is an extra tip-off to people, too, in the same way that if I saw a lady walk in that I didn't know, but she was wearing a big multi-colored twirly shirt and dance shoes, I'd probably assume she would be a good dance partner. But... there are dances where it's difficult to find partners if you don't know anyone. And then for introverts (which makes up a surprisingly high percentage of the contra dance community), it's an even more difficult task. When a dance finishes, and you blink, and everyone's partnered and lined up within 30 seconds ... you know it. People have to be booking ahead. Frankly, booking ahead can be viewed by new dancers as unfriendly behavior. At the head of my list of dance values is that contra is meant to be a community dance. I believe that booking ahead, more than a few times in an evening, is contradictory to this primary value. If I had to speculate, I would hypothesize: 1. Dance organizers are very aware of who does this at their dances, already. 2. Dance organizers are afraid to speak up about it, because they're afraid of scaring off their "cool, hip dancers". 3. This can't possibly be a new problem. Haven't there been good solutions to this in the past? Haven't there been dances that have realized they're exclusive, and wanted to change, and successfully done so? What approaches have they taken that are successful? 4. A dance community has to *want* to change this. They need to state "inclusion of new dancers" as a value that they hold high. I don't have a solution, but I do think that this ought to be a priority discussion with dance organizers and callers. Also, I'm optimistic that even one good dancer changing their behavior, and clearly stating *why* they stop booking ahead, can have a strong influence on other dancers. It was a couple of other dancers stating that they stopped booking ahead at all that made me really reconsider my own booking ahead; when I tell people that I don't book ahead, I have had some good discussions stem from it, and I think I may have influenced a dancer or two in that they can tone down how often they book ahead. In dance, Ron http://contradances.tumblr.com

12 years, 7 months

What dance is this? (round 97)

by Tepfer, Seth

Do you know the title and author of this dance? A1: gents into center to a long wavy line of gents, bal; Ladies into center of line of ladies, bal; (Gents wait for them) A2: W A R 1x; PS b1: down hall, turn as a couple B2: C L 3/4, N S Seth Tepfer ________________________________ This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message (including attachments).

12 years, 7 months

sidelines -- ideas for callers

by jill allen

I have attached a document (I hope that works) with a list of ideas for callers to help foster equal dance opportunity. This springs from the recent thread called "Sidelines" or something like that. I took your ideas, some of them verbatim, and compiled this list. Please use it, adapt it for your community, and respond if you see something questionable or missing. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and ideas. I learned so much from this little project. Jill

12 years, 7 months

sidelines - ideas for callers

by jill allen

It is fine with me to put the document on your website. That is what it's fior! Jill Allen

12 years, 7 months

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