Ah, the impacts of technology. I was recently calling for a contradance at
the Maine Social Forum. It was a crowd of primarily beginners, with only a
smattering of experienced folks. During one of the dances, one young man got
a cell phone call. He stepped out of line to take the call! His partner
carried on for a moment or two, but then the line started to break down. I
had to jump into the line and grab his partner - calling while we danced -
to keep it going. It worked. Fortunately I'd had a little practice on this
at another dance earlier this summer when an elderly gentleman simply
decided to step out and sit down during a - thankfully - very simple dance -
and I had done the same thing rather than stop or let the line crumble.
Just wanted to "share"
:-)
-cynthia
Note first that I am not an experienced caller and my comments are only
based on my experience as a contra dancer.
I love to both provide and hear the foot percussion. I also think it adds to
the enjoyment of the other dancers and, possibly, the energy level of the
band and hall. Also, with size 14's, I'm always worried about stepping on
those bare feet!
I can't imagine a barefooter feeling comfortable being told during a dance
that they should wear shoes. Some signage at entryways recommending shoes
for safety might not be bad. Another idea that might help is to discuss the
positive effects of wearing shoes and providing foot percussion during the
dance. Maybe the barefooters would want to join in with the music and wear
shoes so they could.
Darrell
On 9/4/06, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net <
callers-request(a)sharedweight.net> wrote:
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> 1. Re: A funny incident (Barbara Groh)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 3 Sep 2006 21:46:20 -0400
> From: "Barbara Groh" <barbaragroh(a)bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] A funny incident
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID: <005b01c6cfc3$ebf08a60$6400a8c0@Babs>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> I appreciate your sharing, Cynthia---this gave me a good laugh. With many
> dances attracting a large percentage of high school and college kids these
> days, I see more and more youthful antics while I'm calling....the young
> men
> holding onto their oversized baggy pants with one hand while they dance;
> the
> "Grateful Dead" dance moves or the breakdance or hiphop moves thrown in;
> and
> the leaping, hopping, cartwheeling, and rolling around on the floor at the
> break (or perhaps during the walkthroughs and the dances as well).
>
> One thing I noticed while calling in Charleston, SC, recently (where 90%
> of
> the crowd was under 21) was that most of the dancers were barefoot. This
> seems to be the trend for younger dancers. I think their timing would
> improve if they wore shoes, because they'd be able to hear the rhythm
> better. There was very little foot percussion at that dance. (personally,
> I
> think it's also aesthetically more pleasing to hear the feet, but I'm old
> school) It's also a safety issue when there are shoed and shoeless people
> dancing in the same room.
> But I was wondering what, if anything, I should say about it. I didn't
> want
> to come across as bossy, preachy, old-fashioned, or whatever. Any ideas
> on
> this?
> ~Barbara
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cynthia Phinney" <cynth(a)gwi.net>
> To: "Callers Shared Weight" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 12:07 PM
> Subject: [Callers] A funny incident
>
>
> > Ah, the impacts of technology. I was recently calling for a contradance
> at
> > the Maine Social Forum. It was a crowd of primarily beginners, with only
> a
> > smattering of experienced folks. During one of the dances, one young man
> > got
> > a cell phone call. He stepped out of line to take the call! His partner
> > carried on for a moment or two, but then the line started to break down.
> I
> > had to jump into the line and grab his partner - calling while we danced
> -
> > to keep it going. It worked. Fortunately I'd had a little practice on
> this
> > at another dance earlier this summer when an elderly gentleman simply
> > decided to step out and sit down during a - thankfully - very simple
> > dance -
> > and I had done the same thing rather than stop or let the line crumble.
> >
> > Just wanted to "share"
> > :-)
> >
> > -cynthia
> > _______________________________________________
> > Callers mailing list
> > Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
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>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 25, Issue 3
> **************************************
>
Dear Barbara,
I, too, am a bit concerned about bare feet at dances, and am very glad that no one has been hurt, at least at the dances that I have attended or called! But I must also admit that I don't feel firmly enough about the issue to have done much about it....prefering instead to think about this as "freedom of choice for the individual", etc., etc.
One suggestion that I do have for this particular problem comes from the Public Health realm....you might want to check with the local Board of Health. There may be regulations that prohibit bare feet in public venues (such as restaurants, etc.), in an attempt to reduce the risks of transmission of fungus, etc. In this way, the dance organizers/callers can avoid the whole issue of right/wrong, good taste/bad taste discussions, and instead promote the need to be in compliance with the local regs.
Another thought on the issue: Although I have no idea how insurance companies might interpret "no shoes" as putting a dance organizer at risk, one could argue that the wearing of shoes does help reduce the risk of injury. So once again, if a dance committee decides to institute a "no bare feet" rule, reducing liability risk is a defensible reason for instituting such a rule.
Looking forward to the thoughts of others! Linda Leslie
Hi Barbara,
I think bare-footing is a generational thing. When I first started dancing 20+ years ago (back in the hippy days)
all my friends were dancing barefoot, as was I. Now with
foot problems showing up, sensible dance shoes are my choice. These lessons we learn in the course of time!
( I still dance shoeless on hot summer nights)
another aside: the best rhythm makers are shoes with hard leather bottoms and they are becoming hard to find.
(at least in my area) :-)
Thanks Gale
Cynthia,
I've had people drop out, or sometimes just confused as to which minor
set they were in, leaving a lump of people not knowing whom to
interact with. Sometimes I've been able to physically go to the group
and take their hands and say "let's just pop down to the bottom (or
top) of the set and jump in from there." Unfortunately, if the dance
has "out of minor set" interaction, such as a shadow, this fix may not
be available.
That's where the humor comes in: how do I, as the caller, own the
confusion and make it OK to be a dancer who got confused.
So, anyone heard any good "attention shifting" humor lately? Or a
non-humorous response that still makes it OK.
--Jerome Grisanti
On 9/1/06, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net
<callers-request(a)sharedweight.net> wrote:
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> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
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>
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. A funny incident (Cynthia Phinney)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 12:07:43 -0400
> From: "Cynthia Phinney" <cynth(a)gwi.net>
> Subject: [Callers] A funny incident
> To: "Callers Shared Weight" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID: <GCEOLNPEKAIPGAOIBCPFEEKCDHAA.cynth(a)gwi.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Ah, the impacts of technology. I was recently calling for a contradance at
> the Maine Social Forum. It was a crowd of primarily beginners, with only a
> smattering of experienced folks. During one of the dances, one young man got
> a cell phone call. He stepped out of line to take the call! His partner
> carried on for a moment or two, but then the line started to break down. I
> had to jump into the line and grab his partner - calling while we danced -
> to keep it going. It worked. Fortunately I'd had a little practice on this
> at another dance earlier this summer when an elderly gentleman simply
> decided to step out and sit down during a - thankfully - very simple dance -
> and I had done the same thing rather than stop or let the line crumble.
>
> Just wanted to "share"
> :-)
>
> -cynthia
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
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>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 25, Issue 1
> **************************************
>
--
Jerome Grisanti
660-528-0714
502-876-4280
Hello everyone,
I apologize for the outage. In case you hadn't noticed, the server that
hosts SharedWeight had a power supply failure yesterday afternoon. I
scrambled to put a replacement together, and I'm nearly there.
Mail should now be working again, but the websites won't be back up until
tonight at the earliest.
Any mail sent over the past 24 hours will probably be automatically resent
by your mail server. If you did get a bounce, simply resend it. (If it
continues to error, it may take another hour or two for the DNS change to
fully propagate.)
-Seth
Hi all
I have a version of Steamboat Quickstep that seems to be a variant of the
version in CDM 1 (#7). My version is proper.
(A1) Down the center 4 in line (elbows linked), and backwards back to
place
(A2) Down the center 2-by-2 (1s lead)
1s only turn alone (this is the progression)
All back
(B1) Star Right once around
Star Left back (stars are hands across)
(B2) All Swing Partner
My question is: It seems awkward to end the swing, everybody proper, lady on
the right, and facing down the hall.
The version in CDM has the same problem.
Thanks for your help,
Rickey Holt.
On Thursday, August 31, 2006, there will be a special contra dance at
the Chesterfield Town Hall in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. This special
contra dance will be from 8:00PM-11:00PM, with a beginner's workshop at
7:30PM and will celebrate "Iron Dancer Weekend". "Iron Dancer Weekend"
is a special event that happens on Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day
Weekend, with five nights of contra dancing: Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday @ the Brattleboro Dawn Dance, and Monday @ the Nelson Town Hall
in Nelson, New Hampshire.
Music will be provided by the musical duo of Randy Miller on fiddle and
Dedo Norris on piano. The musical duo infuses the modern and
traditional styles of Cape Breton and New England to form a dynamic
dancing experience. With his modern style and rhythmic technique
calling with be provided by Jeff Petrovitch (Petro). Admission is
$8.00, $6.00 for seniors and students. For more information:
603-313-7197 or info.cdc(a)verizon.net. This special contra dance is
sponsored by the Chesterfield Dance Committee.
Hi Folks, Esp. those who responded to the family dance post.
I had a great time calling a dance in Gorham NH. The dance is held in a
converted church on the corner
of Rt 16 and Rt 2. The dance hall is small could hold mid 30s attendance
comfortably, though they have had 40+
I did call Do-SI-Three (Thanks Linda!) and several triplets early on
the first hour: we had 3 couples, the final 2 hours swelled to 24
dancers.
These were mostly experienced dancers so I was able
to call contras, circles, and squares with confidence ( my comfort
zone!)
There were smiles all around! The dancers really did not wish for the
evening to end!
(it was time to go watch the sky show!)
The band is excellent and very accommodating to the caller.
The dance is held 2nd Saturdays May-October
It's a good dance to bring your whole bag of tricks. Could be a family
dance, it could be a real
stomper!
Thanks to all,
Gale
Hi Rickey and others,
I use Sherry's Family Contra often in settings with lots of kids and/or adults
with little contra experience. It is a legitimate, bona fide contra dance, and
for that audience is probably the most failsafe contra I have in my repertoire.
Indeed, I taught it just this week for a class of 8 & 9 year olds at a dance
camp, a class that included several kids who were not enthusiastic dancers. They
all did just fine. Barb Kirchner posted the dance a year ago on the
trad-dance-callers list:
Family Contra (Sherry Nevins)
A1 Balance ring 2x, circle left 1x
("Go IN... and OUT... and IN... and OUT)
A2 Balance ring 2x, circle right 1x
B1 DSD with neighbor, DSD with partner
B2 DSD 1.5 as a couple
This isn't a dance to call for the hard charging aerobic contra crowd-- as you
can see, there's no swings in it (gasp!) and yes, Rickey, you're right, they'll
plow right through that final figure and would want to do something more. But in
its family setting, it can indeed take kids and their parents a full 16 counts
to negotiate the figure.
David Millstone
