Contra Callers

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8 participants
4417 discussions

by John Sweeney

Thanks for the answers, Alan. Alan wrote "If you play it like a contra dance tune, you won't get an English dance out of it." Ah - but I don't want an "English dance" - I just want a dance that is fun :-) so I would ask the band to funk it up or play any tune they like. And I have no objection to adding twirls in "English" dosidos. I really don't believe that the 17th and 18th century dancers were as staid as some people would have us believe. I have studied the history of many dance forms and constantly see improvisation and innovation - these are all living traditions. I also don't believe that the dances were done only to specific tunes, except for the ones that have a really strong connection to the dance or are strange lengths. Too many elements get fossilized by people who think that it should only be done the way they learnt it 50 years ago. Your "Trash English" (or xEnglish - eXtreme English - as some people are trying to re-brand it) sounds great - some of us have been doing it for decades! Shame that we need to pigeon-hole dances - it is much more fun just to do everything :-) Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

14 years, 4 months

First Time Dancers

by John Sweeney

Hi Greg, Your definition: "open public dances, with live music and a caller, that are sponsored and hosted by a group of dance enthusiasts" is basically any dance community - specifically contra in your case since you added "primarily featuring duple contras". As to how many new dancers turn up at such contra dances in the UK? Well, there are less than 10 active contra dance clubs in the UK as far as I know - they are listed at http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/Links.html, and some are quite small. So it is difficult to provide any sensible statistics based on such a small sample. There are a few big successful ones like the monthly London Barndance Company dance in Cecil Sharp House (never billed as a contra, and not guaranteed to be, but generally at least 90% contra dancing to great contra dance bands and with great contra dance callers). Usually around 80 to 150 dancers I believe, peaking to 300 for special events. Most attendees are regulars; I suspect the number of new dancers is well under 10%, but sometimes boosted by a party (literally - someone brings their birthday party guests along for a dance) - however the party members very rarely ever come back for another dance. There are of course countless community dances (One Night Stands - weddings, birthdays, fund-raisers, etc.) but in my experience it is very rare to get one of those attendees to come to a dance community event. There is a Modern Western Square Dance community with around 150 clubs - see http://www.uksquaredancing.com/page5.htm. I don't know how they do, but in the southeast (where I live) it has virtually died out. There is a Ceilidh community, who dance relatively simple dances with lots of energy and stepping (hornpipe step-hops, rants, skip steps, skip-change/polka steps, etc.) to great bands who are experimenting with lots of musical influences (a similar evolution to the contra dance music one, but exploring different musical genres) - lots of information at http://www.cix.co.uk/~net-services/ec/ and http://www.webfeet.org/ - there are usually around 10 big ceilidhs around the country each weekend. Sadly none in my area, so I have no idea how they are doing at getting new dancers. There are also lots of ceilidhs at all the big folk festivals with lots of attendees. This is the dance community that attracts the most younger people in the UK. There are no ECD clubs in the UK (well there might be one that calls itself that) - but lots of Folk Dance Clubs and other groups which have a lot of similarity, but who are normally prepared to try any dance. Sadly the average age is quite high at many of these clubs and so the dances chosen, and the style in which they are danced, reflect the physical ability of the dancers. They will happily dance contra dances, but generally without the twirls and spins that Americans add. Many of the clubs are quite small, but as you can see at http://www.setandturnsingle.org.uk/ there are hundreds of them, and lots of open dances at the weekends and at festivals. Sadly, the percentage of new dancers is, I believe, very small. Again, the word "club" above is not intended to imply a closed group - just a regular event open to anyone, but attended primarily by regulars. So, sorry, no specific answers, but I hope that helps a little. Note: this is my personal perception of what is happening in the UK - if anyone can add to it please do. Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

14 years, 4 months

Re Alternate Formations

by John Sweeney

Hi Greg, Sorry, I used the word "club" in a very generic way - I meant any form of regular gathering, series, dance or session where contra dances are danced. My note was a response to your words: "The term "contra dance" as an event name seems pretty clear." Your response seems to agree with my understanding, i.e. that the term is not well defined and is used by anyone running a dance to mean what they want it to mean, just like the terms "barn dance", "ceilidh" and even "square dance" are used over here. We often get people asking us to run a square dance when they want simple dances in any formation, and never notice if I don't call a square all night! And, strangely, they often dress up as cowboys and cowgirls even though we are doing English dances to English tunes. Ah, the power of the media! Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

14 years, 4 months

Re: [Callers] Firedancing/ Hooping while calling and other possible future Burning Man innovations

by John W Gintell

> > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:05:16 PDT > From: "Brian Hamshar" <bhamshar(a)yahoo.com> > To: callers(a)sharedweight.net > Subject: Re: [Callers] Firedancing/ Hooping while calling and other > possible future Burning Man innovations > Message-ID: <761638.47077.qm(a)smtp105-mob.biz.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > I was just thinking the same thing...we could integrate lighting signals into "techno" contras to help reinforce the dance phrasing as an alternative or adjunct to the extensive vocal cueing that is often called for with this music. I'm looking forward to exploring this idea. > > Brian Hamshar Note this discussion about calling with lights started by Jeff Kaufman on Google+ http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/08/cbr/news/2011-08-07.html

14 years, 4 months

Re Alternate Formations

by John Sweeney

Greg said: "The term "contra dance" as an event name seems pretty clear." Hmmm. What is a contra dance? Is it the American pronunciation of the French "contre danse" which was their version of the UK English words "country dance", and therefore encompasses all forms of traditional dance? Or does it mean a dance where you are opposite (contrary to) someone else? Even if you limit it to the latter, then does it have to be a longways set for as many as will, or can it be a three, four, five, or whatever-number couple dance? Can it be a Sicilian Circle where the longways set is bent to avoid end effects, but you are still opposite someone? Historically I believe that you would often find many different formations at an event billed as a "contra dance", varying depending on the decade, the country, the state, the organiser, the caller, etc. I guess most Americans who have only been to a limited number of clubs would expect all (most of?) the dances to be: - longways for as many as will - first couples Improper, or Becket formation - flowing choreography - no-one stationary for more than 16 beats (e.g. First Couple Balance & Swing, finish facing down to make Lines of Four) - containing at least one swing - 95% of the moves to be from a set of well-know moves that they know already Have I left anything out? But I have been to lots of contra dance clubs where other formations have been used, especially in England where we tend to be exposed to a wider variety of formations and styles at a single club. Are you allowed to do Proper dances at a "contra dance"? Or a four-couple dance that has all the other characteristics listed above? Or a Sicilian Circle (space allowing)? There are many types of square dance. I use simple ones like Cumberland Square Eight at One Night Stands, and I wouldn't call a Modern Western Square Dance with hash calls at a contra dance. But there are many great squares which are much closer in style to contras, using the same figures with only a couple of new things to learn. I suspect many of the people at contra dances have never experienced the full richness of the tradition, and would be very positive to some alternate formations if they were introduced carefully, and didn't deviate significantly from their basic expectations. So anyway, what is a contra dance? :-) Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk <http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/> for Dancing in Kent

14 years, 4 months

Re: [Callers] alternate formations

by David.Millstone＠valley.net

I'm stepping ever so cautiously onto a soapbox. Though I'll strive to maintain a civil tone, my biases will certainly become clear in what follows... Mac's original question was "I would be interesting to hear how other callers incorporate other formations in their programs and how they and the dancer feel about it..." Most of the responses, mine included, spoke to what we as callers do in our programs and why. Embedded in our answers is the reality of being hired professionals at the mercy of the dance organizers and subject to local customs. For example, Joy wrote: "My region is not very square-friendly, at least not at a contra dance. ... So given the local atmosphere, I stick to mostly improper and Becket contra dances." The Big Question hidden behind all of our responses so far is, "To what extent should callers select a program based on the wishes of the dancers?" Granted, unless one meets those expectations at least in part, one will have a hard time getting hired again. I'm well aware of that reality. Remember the words of Polonius in Hamlet? "To thine own self be true." What does that mean for us as callers? Phrased differently, is the caller's role to follow the dancers or is it to provide leadership? This might take the form of presenting a program that is slightly different from the norm. It might mean taking a little more time to bring out style points, or to discuss safety on the dance floor, or to illustrate through example a particularly interesting / challenging transition, or even in the middle of a walkthrough to remind dancers of some basics that may never have been learned or that need refreshing-- "A ladies chain across takes eight counts, four for the two women to cross the set and four for the courtesy turn. The same timing applies to right and left, four to cross and four to turn." It might mean calling more often than is the norm; several times I've been quietly thanked by dancers who note that most callers only call a few times and how stressful this has been for them trying to learn a dance. I highly recommend Bruce Hamilton's little booklet, "Notes on Teaching Country Dance," published by CDSS. Although Bruce's background is Scottish and English country dance, much of what he says also applies in the realm of contras and squares. In his section on "Leadership and Social Aspects," Bruce writes: ---quoted material follows: It is crucial to understand this: people accede to your authority because that's the shortest way for them to get to dance. Generally speaking, they do what you say, not out of respect for your experience, because they think you know more than they do, because you have a big voice, because it's a habit they picked up in school, or anything like that. They do what you say out of enlightened self-interest. ---end quoted material He goes on to say that because the caller has been given this authority, it is important to exercise it. The most common example today in "our" dance community is the contras vs. squares divide. It's important to remember that we are part of a long and braided chain, that these two country dance forms have been in and out of favor at different points of time. The longways dances of the late 1700s and into the 1800s were pushed aside by the quadrilles, and then both forms were abandoned on ballroom floors and replaced by couple dances such as the polka and waltz. Contras were, for much of the last century, appreciated in only a handful of communities while squares were enjoyed by (literally) millions of dancers. We get excited because 700 people are dancing contras in the main hall at NEFFA? Modern western square dance callers remember occasions when they called to 700 squares. Callers such as Ralph Sweet who tried to interest their square dancers in contras found a closed audience: "Contras? Boring! You do the same thing over and over again. What's the fun of that?" And today, in this mostly contra-centric universe, the wheel turns again as we see the rise of communities of young dancers who are enthusiastic about southern Appalachian old-time music and squares and want nothing to do with contras. People like what they know. If callers only give dancers what they already know, how will they discover the delight to be found in other dance styles? Does this mean that an event advertised as a contra dance, one should only present a program of polkas and tango? Scarcely. But keep in mind that an evening billed as a "contra dance" is a new phenomenon; the first such events date back only about 35 years, to the Boston area in the mid-1970s. My home dance bills itself as a contra dance, but I think of it as a country dance, and that term in my mind encompasses more than long lines. Even within the strict contra designation, there are proper and improper dances, duple and triple minors, and I believe that each has a valid place in a program. I remember a dancer who started at our local dances and then, after several years, went cautiously out into the broader world, to one of the more distant hot (or cool) venues. She reported that she had had a great time and then added, "There one thing I don't understand. All they did, the whole evening, was hands four improper or Becket dances. The whole night!" David Millstone Lebanon, NH

14 years, 4 months

Re: [Callers] Firedancing/ Hooping while calling and other possible future Burning Man innovations

by Brian Hamshar

I was just thinking the same thing...we could integrate lighting signals into "techno" contras to help reinforce the dance phrasing as an alternative or adjunct to the extensive vocal cueing that is often called for with this music. I'm looking forward to exploring this idea. Brian Hamshar -----Original Message----- Date: Sunday, August 07, 2011 11:12:34 am To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net> From: "Dorcas Hand" <handd51(a)tekkmail.com> Subject: Re: [Callers] Firedancing/ Hooping while calling and other possible future Burning Man innovations I've never done techno, but this lighting plan sounds well suited to some of that. So interesting. Dorcas Hand -----Original Message----- From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Greg McKenzie Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2011 10:09 AM To: Caller's discussion list Subject: Re: [Callers] Firedancing/ Hooping while calling and other possible future Burning Man innovations I can understand Jolaine's hesitation. But the "Look at ME!" part of the caller's ego has always been a factor at contra dances. Like Jolaine I also feel that the caller should "fade into the background" as soon as possible, but I recognize that I am in the minority of callers and I am willing to let others experiment. I also recognize that burning man is a unique venue with extreme considerations for anyone attempting to call a contra dance there. If we learn from our mistakes then those organizing the burningman contra will learn much. I wish I could participate. I hav

14 years, 4 months

Firedancing/ Hooping while calling and other possible future Burning Man innovations

by JoLaine Jones-Pokorney

I applaud Mark for all his efforts to spread contra dancing. But I have to ask what is the purpose of firedancing/hooping while calling? I would argue that this is an unnecessary distraction and puts the focus on the caller instead of on the dancers. Am I supposed to watch this person firedance/hoop while I am trying to contra dance? I hope that organizers will ask if this "innovation" is really making the dancing more enjoyable, or simply for the sake of being "different." My personal opinion is that the caller should be as invisible as possible - call clearly and get out of the way of the dancers. There are certainly callers who contribute beyond the calls such as Beth Molero and Nils Fredland's with their wonderful singing voices and other callers who may clog or play spoons or some other contribution to the experience. But firedancing/hooping is a distraction from the dance, not a contribution to it. May Burning Man contra grow and thrive for years to come! JoLaine -- JoLaine Jones-Pokorney "We are as gods and might as well get good at it!" - Stewart Brand

14 years, 4 months

Firedancing/ Hooping while calling and other possible future Burning Man innovations

by Mark Stowe

A little while ago I posted a call for a replacement caller for our contradance at Burning Man. In that post I misidentified our caller who is planning to firedance up and down the side of the lines while calling - it is Tracy Wilkins. In the future we might also try to combine hooping and calling (it took a youtube search to make me aware how amazing hooping can be). Now that we have several replacement volunteers, I must drop off of this list for lack of time. But I thought before I go that I would present some of the ideas that we hope to explore many of which are relevant to this group. I should also say that we will be looking for adventurous experiment- friendly callers (and to generally spread the word to dancers/callers/musicians) into the indefinite future. There is also a nascent Western Square Dance camp at the festival (I don't know how experimental they are going to be.) The Vision Beyond all the usual magical music, dancing and camaraderie, I hope organizing this event will allow me to 'give something back' to contradancing. I hope first that we will attract a significant number of new young dancers at this huge heavily under 30 festival and that this will snowball (CA is one of the parts of the country that is graying and needs more young dancers). I hope we help broaden the contradancing subculture as a whole with new moves and dance structures - see my remarks here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/burningmancontradance/message/13 I hope that we expand musical styles and technology. I hope that our use of video (looping slomo views from the side and from above with L and R labels of the relevant hands/ shoulders , etc) to enhance and speed up contradance instruction is perfected and spreads. I hope we can come up with ('tastefully' flashing or varying) reactive lighting that will reinforce the AABB structure of the music and give new dancers more cues to pick up on for their timing. And maybe we can solve the problem of finding a kind of lighting that is easy enough for older eyes to see with, but has the magic and romance of darker venues. At this year’s dance we will be providing water at both ends of all the lines – couples who are waiting out can reach up to a dangling tube with a beer tap and direct a flow of water into their mouths (the beer tap and nozzle will be inside a glowing silk flower so that no one puts the nozzle in their mouth, the whole system is NSF/ approved for potable water). There will be new dancers drawn in by a non-traditional approach who are then hooked and learn to love and support the long term survival of old time/traditional contradancing.

14 years, 4 months

Etymology of "Sicilian Circle"

by John Sweeney

Thanks to all those who responded. I now have enough information to give the Sicilian lady a different answer every week and thoroughly confuse her :-) I sent the request to four discussion groups - I have listed them at the bottom of the note in case anyone wants to join the other groups. Here are the replies to the question: Why is the formation known as a "Sicilian Circle"? = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Tim Brooks: Cos' it's a dansa you canta refusa? = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Hanny Budnick: I have no idea where I read it, but apparently the "Sicilian" circle started out as "Caecilian" circle, named in honor of St. Caecilia, the muse of music. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Ramsay John Martin: I don't KNOW the answer, but I do have an hypothesis. English dances had men on the left and ladies on the right. I was told in Sweden that this is a custom which came from the practice of the men taking the warm south side of cathedrals during gatherings with the women relegated to the cold north. Thus, after marriage, and the newlyweds turned to face the congregation, the man was on the left and the lady on the right. Regardless of the reality of this reasoning, the English dances did have the sexes divided. The Spanish waltz instead had the alternate pattern-what many of us call a Sicilian Circle formation. Several dance manuals in the last half of the 19th century referred to that formation "as in the Spanish dance" in contrast to the English pattern. I hypothesize that Spain and Sicily may have seemed similar to some English dancing masters. Today we call the "Sicilian" formation or as it had been earlier dubbed the "Spanish" formation by the modern designation of "improper." = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Alan Winston: I looked into this a while back; the stuff from the 1820s is my possibly messed up version of stuff Susan de Guardiola told me about. Executive summary: - There's nothing Sicilian about it. - There's nothing Circassian about it. The "Spanish Dance" formation (duple improper) seems to indeed have come from Spain but been adopted by English-speaking dancing masters. Dancing master G.M.S. Chivers turned that longways into a circle of couples-facing-couples in the 1820s and called it a "Chiversian" circle. [Much detail omitted here about weird variations.] That name wasn't particularly popular. I honestly don't know whether "Sicilian" and "Circassian" are misprisions of "Chiversian", but I haven't seen anything from, eg, 1840 using any of those words. So things go along from the 1820s to the 1870s and dances in that formation (including a specific dance sequence called the Spanish Waltz, rather than the genre of English dances of that name, which may have been longways dances anyway). The English dancing masters of this period liked to assign an exotic foreign origin to the stuff they were teaching, when they weren't proudly proclaiming themselves the inventors of it. In the 1860s, a specific dance in that formation called "Sicilienne Circle" was published, with the dancing master claiming that it was formerly popular but had fallen out of favor because of bad behavior from dancers. (That was in Hillgrove, 1865; he was an Englishman but published in the USA, so I don't know whether he's saying it was popular in England or in the USA.) I can't draw a clear line from that to the formation being called "Sicilian Circle", and I have no evidence about how popular "Le Sicilienne" was, but at some point after that - and it might be some time in the mid-20th century, for all I know - that was the established name for the formation. Hope that helps! Full Posting at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trad-dance-callers/message/3039 What Elias Howe has to say in 1859: SICILIAN CIRCLE (form as for Spanish dance) 100 steps All balance, swing four hands-ladies chain-balance to partners and turn-right and left-all forward and back, forward and cross to face the next couple. So note that this is Howe calling a specific dance "Sicilian Circle" and identifying it as "form as for Spanish dance"; to Howe, "Sicilian Circle" isn't a genre. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = English Ceilidh Discussion Group: http://www.cix.co.uk/~net-services/ec/#bp Callers' Discussion List http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers Traditional Dance Callers List http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trad-dance-callers ECD mailing list http://www.bacds.org/mailman/listinfo/ecd = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk <http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/> for Dancing in Kent

14 years, 4 months

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