Hello everyone,
It's been a while since I've written one of these, and a lot has
happened in my calling career since the last one. I had my debut at the
Scout House in January, calling for the 2nd Saturday dance. I've called
for the Monday night dance there as well. I've been booked to call
another Monday night dance and this time the band is Notorious! The Mill
City dance has been on hiatus for various reasons (hall unavailable,
storms, festivals) and will return in May for our 1 year anniversary!
Lots of wonderful opportunities.
But this report is about my session at the Down East Country Dance
Festival a couple of weeks ago in Maine. If you haven't been, this is
one of my favorite festivals. So many wonderful sessions, great people
and a strong community. I call up there semi-regularly now and it's
great each time to visit with my Maine friends.
My session was titled "Neighborly Contras". I had no idea what I was
going to do with it when I applied, but worked it out over a few weeks
after I found out that my application had been accepted. What I decided
was that I was going to push the boundaries of modern urban contra
dancing by breaking a few of the rules. For example, I planned on
calling dances without partner swings, unequal movement (1s are more
active than the 2s) and mixers. The last one turned out to be the most
problematic. David Millstone sent me a contra mixer that I liked very
much, but didn't quite meet the vision that I had for the session. In
the end, I decided to write my own. The weekend before, I tried it out
on some willing test subjects at a dance called by Lisa Sieverts and
discovered that the gents progressed and the ladies stayed in the same
spot each time through. After some re-work that week, I was ready for
the session. The new dance is copied down below.
The session was at 11am on Saturday. I arrived a little after 10am,
hoping to attend Chrissy Fowler's caller's workshop, but ran into the
band in the hallway. I had worked with Calliope a couple of times before
on visits to Maine, so it was nice to be familiar with them. They were
putting together tune sets, so we were able to plan out the session, get
the feel for each dance set and pick the tunes ahead of time. This made
things very easy on stage. We started late, so to fit in 4 dances turned
out to be very tight. Having the tunes picked let me focus on keeping
the walkthroughs short and the dancers dancing.
To be fair to the dancers, I provided a disclaimer at the beginning of
the session warning them that they wouldn't see their partners too much.
I even jokingly mentioned that the waltz session was across the hall if
they wanted to make goo-goo eyes at their partner. 8^)
Here are the dances that I called:
Essex Reel
duple improper
Tony Parkes
A1: neighbor do-si-do, neighbor swing
A2: 4 in line down the hall, turn as couples and come back
B1: Circle Left, Circle Right
B2: Right Hand Star, Left Hand Star
I had a choice between this dance and another with unequal choreography,
but this one fit better with the session as a whole.
No use crying over...
becket mixer
Chris Weiler
A1: Partner balance and swing
A2: Circle Left 3/4, pass thru, neighbor #2 swing
B1: Long Lines (notice 3rd neighbor next to you)
Neighbor #3 allemande left 1+1/2
B2: Ladies Chain
Left hand star, turn away from your star and face your next partner
I had some great positive feedback from a few people after the session.
People did want me to call it all the way through. One person pointed
out to me that there are no anchors in this dance, no partner to turn
to, no shadow, nothing consistent. Another person figured out that if
you mess it up, you can grab just about anyone and start over. It taxed
their brains a bit, but it was early in the festival and people were up
for the challenge.
I had asked Calliope to play easy, happy reels for the first two dances
to keep people's spirits up while doing unfamiliar choreography.
Calliope loves to play jigs, so the next one they set to a nice bouncy
set. I also took pity on the dancers and called some more conventional
dances to finish the session.
Black Bird in the Night
duple improper, waves (neighbor right, ladies, left)
Don Flaherty
A1: balance wave, rory-o-more slide right
balance wave, rory-o-more slide left
A2 neighbor balance and swing
B1: Ladies do-si-do 1+1/2
partner swing
B2: long lines, circle left 3/4, pass thru to new waves
The last dance, I asked for driving reels and Calliope picked some great
rip-roaring ones!
Sleepless at Pinewoods
duple improper
Bob Isaacs
A1: Neighbor #1, pull by right, #2 pull by left, #3 pull by right #4
allemande left once
#3 pull by right, #2 pull by left
A2: Neighbor #1 balance and swing
B1: Circle left 3/4, partner swing
B2: Ladies chain, left hand star
I had a lot of fun calling the session and working with Calliope. It
felt great to have almost everything that I wanted to do succeed so
well. I look forward to calling at more festivals in the future!
I'd love to hear how other people are doing (especially the people who
are newer to calling)!
Happy calling and dancing!!
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH
I do say that in the walkthrough. That's the most satisfying part of the dance in my opinion.
Good point Chris, and a great dance.
Rich
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Chris Page" <chriscpage(a)gmail.com>
> On 4/12/07, richgoss(a)comcast.net wrote:
> > Bevy of Butterflies - Bob Isaacs and Chris Page Improper
> >
> > A1: (Next) Gent alle left 1 1/2, Scoop up partner
> > w/Partner Star prom across, butterfly twirl
> > A2: Ladies gypsy right 1x
> > Partner swing
> > B1: R/L thru across, Ladies alle right 1 1/2
> > B2: Ladies Scoop up Neighbor (with lady's arm on top)
> > Star prom, across, Neighbor swing
>
>
> Technical note on the B2:
> The original intent was
>
> B2: Women star promenade neighbor to other side (women's left arm
> above man's right arm) [4]
> Clockwise butterfly whirl [4]
> Butterfly whirl melts into a neighbor swing [8]
> (explaining why the woman's arm should be above)
>
> Who knows what folk process will do to it, though....
>
> -Chris Page
> San Diego
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
Jeffrey,
Here you go:
Through the Looking Glass Wendy Greenberg
REVERSED
PROPER [all cross over]
A1: Neighbor Same Sex Mirror Allemande 1 1/2 (ones split twos)
TWOS swing [end facing down - the current neighbors]
A2: In a Ring of Four, Balance, Circle Left 1/2
Partner Balance, Ones Cast Out & Down WHILE Twos Two-Hand Turn Left
1/2
B1: Ones Turn Contra Corners [Men with men corners, women with women
corners!]
B2: Ones Balance & Swing
I got the dance directly from Wendy in Texas, perhaps at the Ted Sannella
weekend where she called it in the "local callers" session. She since moved
with her husband Mark to Bemidji, Minnesota. Note that they are NOT the
parents of a baseball player who was hit on the head a year or so ago.
(That was the first hit when I just googled Wendy.)
Somehow I've never gotten around to calling the dance. Where di you happen
to hear of it?
William
On 4/12/07, Jeffrey Petrovitch <jeffrey.petrovitch(a)verizon.net> wrote:
>
> Looking for some help... Looking for interesting contra dances with a
> star promenades.? Also wondering if anyone has the dance sequence
> "Through The Looking Glass" by Wendy Greenberg.
>
--
wjw1961(a)gmail.com
William J. Watson
Hi Chris, Thanks for the session at DE! I really had a ball.
It was good to have that session early in the day, as it required
More brain power (esp. No use crying over...) an excellent
Dance that I aspire to call some day (thanks for the calls)
Caller needs to be on top of it all the way through.
You melded well with the band.(can't go wrong with
Calliope!)
It was good to hear you in the Medley as well.
Your calling style is evolving in a positive direction. Very enjoyable!
I'm calling my 1or 2 dances (literally) a month working on timing and
voicing. Refining my dance book, knocking the wheat form the chaff.
Waiting for that big gig (may have to go to Saskatoon to get it ;-))
Thanks keep the good works
Gale
Thanks to everyone who so generously sent me suggestions for easy dances to use in the fourth slot that I, as a new caller will call at our Toronto Country Dancer's dance that Bev Bernbaum will be calling next Saturday.
I have attached a Word document that has all the dances, some of which are annotated with teaching notes.
I have two requests: I need the details of two dances: First Hey by Paul Balliet, and "Kiss of a Lifetime" bu Peter Stix (I could not find either through an internet search. [A suggestion: Please post the info to the whole list, so once someone has sent the info, others need not bother. Thanks!]
The other request is for suggestions on how to teach a hey. (I am a little bit terrified.)
Please note, that I have not chosen a dance yet, but need to do so by tomorrow, so I cam open to suggestions from the list I sent (including the two above) and any other dances that you think are suitable. [Note: If I am too terrified to teach a Hey, then Bev has graciously offered that I can choose another easy dance, so I am open to suggestions on that front as well.]
Thanks for 'Sharing the Weight', and helping me out! I have learned a lot from you out there in List Serve Land so far, and I am looking forward to more!
Jillian Hovey
Facilitator of Sustainable Community Planning and Design
The Sustainable Living Network
& Sustainable Living Books
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
416-410-7581; fax 416-654-8917
Draft Web Sites:
www.sustainablelivingnetwork.orgwww.sustainablelivingbooks.comwww.jillianhovey.com
email: jillian(a)permaculture.net
Here are the moves for Mood Swings:
Mood Swings - Sue Rosen Improper
A1: Long lines forward and back
on your way back roll away w/1/2 sashay
(ladies rolling to the right of their Ns along the set)
Gents allemande left 1 1/2
A2: Partner balance and swing
B1: Circle left 3/4 and flatten (see note) into a
1/2 hey (Start pass N by rt sh)
B2: Neighbor balance and swing
After the circle left 3/4 in B1, use two counts of good connection to bring the Gents to the outside of the set facing in and the ladies to the center facing out, ready for the half hey. This action makes Mood Swings a particularly satisfying dance.
Hey Everyone!
I remember "Mood Swings" by Sue Rosen, being a great contra dance, but
unfortunately, I can not remember it.
Can someone help?
Thanks,
j_petro
Hi Folks
Just had a great time at Downeast! the lineup was fantastic!
Learned lots from Rick Mohr and his 'whining walk-throughs
If you've never been to a Rick dance, drop what your doing and go....
now to the task at hand. Does any body have the calls for Shades of Shadracks? I created a dance based on Shadracks
and I dont wish to step on any toes.
(+ its a dance I wish to collect!)
Thanks
Gale
I have B2 as
Ladies chain, star left.
Very different feel.
-ag
> Date: 26 Mar 2007 15:50:54 EDT
> From: David.Millstone(a)valley.net (David Millstone)
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Dead Cats and Mellow Dances
>
> Dead Cat Bounce
> by Nathaniel Jack
> Formation: duple improper contra
>
> A1 Balance and swing neighbor
>
> A2 Men allemande left halfway,
> Partner allemande right 1x
> Men start hey for 4
> (Men go halfway, but women ricochet back to the
> side where they start by
> meeting in the center and pushing back with both
> hands.)
>
> B1 Circle left
> Partner swing on the side
>
> B2 In long lines, forward and back
> Women gypsy once and a half
---------
Adina Gordon
828.230.9266
emailadina(a)yahoo.com
http://www.adinagordon.com/
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Hi all,
This is actually two separate questions. First: Does anyone have the dance
called "Dead Cat Bounce" (or something like that)? Second: There is a
category of dances that is common at contra dances now that might be called
mellow dances. I mean the ones often done to smooth, slinky music. They
tend to be quiet and smooth. Mostly I am interested in when you schedule
these in an evening. Assume that dancers are mostly experienced. If you
have some dances like this to share I, of course would love to see them and
if you have good mellow tunes to suggest, that would be great, but mostly I
am curious how you approach scheduling them into the evening. Finally,
barring naming specific tunes, what do you say to the musicians, old or
young, so that they know what you want?
That's a lot of questions, so thanks in advance.
Rickey Holt.
