Hi,
I got such great responses to my very first question posted to this list
that I thought I'd try another. "Katie's Trip to Starbase 12", by Merilee
Karr calls for a "Swinging Star" (a double star, both wrist grip right-hand
star and left hands across star at the same time). This takes up all of B1.
The number of times around is not specified in my version. It can take a
bit of time to get this star together, and as it uses a buzz step, it can
really get going once assembled - so the lack of instructions as to the
number of revolutions may be intentional. B2 starts with the left-hand
hands across star, and it is important where that one ends. Perhaps the
only thing to do is to point out where this second star ends when teaching
the dance. Has anyone else on this list called the dance? How do you deal
with this?
Thanks,
Rickey Holt.
It occurred to me that many of the behaviors on this list are due to
insecurity (dancing with other beginners, waiting to be asked etc.) That got
me to thinking about what callers can do to make sure the beginners have a
good experience. So, I've come up with my own list for callers. These items
may contain items that some may not agree with. But this may generate some
good discussion.
10 things a caller can do to help beginners have a good experience:
1) Prepare a logical program that starts easy and builds.
2) Like a professional dance teacher, warm up muscles slowly. Use dances
with 8 count swings (max) early in the evening. Keep the first couple of
dances shorter. New and not so new dancers are entering the hall and you want
them up and dancing sooner rather than later,
3) Be prepared well enough so that you don't have to use cards. Watch the
dancers. Watch the dancers.
4) Encourage everyone to dance with everyone else. When a dance ends,
suggest that those who just danced ask those sitting out for the next dance.
5) Demonstrate what smooth dancing looks like (especially if many newbees are
skipping).
6) Teach safe dancing - like proper allemandes. If you see dancers dancing
out of control take measures to make sure that they don't hurt anyone.
7) If you make a mistake, admit it. Often if something doesn't work, the new
dancers think it's because of them.
8) Teach the buzz step swing in the beginning workshop. Teach it well.
9) If a dance has a tricky move, show the dancers how to perform the move
with finesse. If the dance has a challenge in the timing department,
communicate to the dancers how to be on time.
10) If you call a challenging dance and the new dancers look a bit confused,
tell the crowd that that was a very difficult dance and that they handled it
very well (this one from Ted Sannella). If the dance was so challenging that
sets broke down, tell the dancers that you picked a bad dance (in other words
it's you, not them).
Tom Hinds
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> 1. Re: Ten things (Gale T. Wood)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 11:06:25 -0500
> From: "Gale T. Wood" <Gale(a)robbinsauto.com>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Ten things
> To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID:
> <79C5F2A3DD0551469291F6CD6BF5422E02FB33(a)officemail.robbinsauto.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Here Is the list presented by wikipedia:
> 1. Dressing Impractically
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Dressing_Impractically>
> 2. Skipping the Beginners Workshop
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Skipping_the_Beginners_Workshop>
> 3. Waiting to Be Asked
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Waiting_to_Be_Asked>
> 4. Sticking to Beginner Friends
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Sticking_to_Beginner_Friends>
> 5. Sitting out Dances
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Sitting_out_Dances>
> 6. Getting Too Fancy Too Quickly
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Getting_Too_Fancy_Too_Quickly>
> 7. Tolerating Bad Behavior from Other Dancers
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Tolerating_Bad_Behavior_from_Other_Dancers>
>
> 8. Not Asking Questions
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Not_Asking_Questions>
> 9. Not Counting
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Not_Counting>
> 10. Leaving Too Early
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Leaving_Too_Early>
> 11. Expecting Perfection
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_
> Their_Contradance_Experience:Expecting_Perfection>
> The other list would pertain to Experienced dancers!
> And I do agree with that list....I remember doing all those things when
> I was trying to 'compete' with the CDance
> clique ... happily I have 'mellowed' with age and experience. Do I still
> transgress...sure on occasion I do like to cut loose, but....
> I am having a better time not competing.
> Thanks Gale
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
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>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 19, Issue 9
> **************************************
HI ALL,
It seems to me that Steve Zakon-Andersons Thanks to the Dean has 3
progressions even though I know that it is a double progression dance.
(A1) Allemande left below (1 ½ ) PROGRESSION #1
Ladies chain ( ½ )
(A2) Women Allemande Right once around and back to their partner
All Balance and Swing your Partner
(B1) Circle left about once and lead up or down the set to new
neighbors PROGRESSION #2
Circle left with these neighbors ¾ around
(B2) Dos-i-do this same new neighbor (who is now below you) (Does this
mean that the circle left ¾ has undone PROGRESSION #2???????????)
Allemande Right with this same new neighbor ( 1 ½ ) WHICH LOOKS LIKE
PROGRESSION #3 ???????????
Can you straighten me out? Ive checked the web site but it does not help
with this.
Thanks,
Rickey Holt, caller
Contra Dances in Exeter, NH
P.S. I am hoping to use this dance tomorrow night.
Something didn't seem right in the directions as cited-- I don't call the dance
with a balance in A2-- so I went back and checked. When the dance was published
in Ted Sannella's "Swing the Next," Ted had this to say:
"Originally there was a balance before the swing in A2. I found the transition
from the allemande directlyu into the swing to be more pleasing, and mentioned
this to Steve. He tried it without the balance, liked it and declared that to be
the 'official' version.... It's one of my favorites."
Steve wrote the dance shortly after Ralph Page died in February of 1985.
David
The title is "With Thanks to the Dean," referring to Ralph Page, and the dance
was published in the Coutnry Dance and Song Society News in the Parch/April
issue of 1988.
At the end of A2, you and your partner are one side of the set, the side where
the men started the dance.
You circle left once around with your neighboring couple (who are across from
you) then shift to the left along the line, man in the lead. In that place, you
meet another neighboring couple who have been shifting along _their_ side of the
set, and with those new neighbors you circle 3/4 of the way around. (At this
point, ones are facing down, improper, and twos are facing up, proper.) You've
progressed one place at this point.
In B2, you do-so-do and RH turn 1-1/2 this new neighbor, which is the second
progression.
Hope this helps.
David Millstone
Well, I think it should be "Ten Stupid Things experienced dancers do to
mess up their contradance." But interesting, nonetheless:
>Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 00:04:34 -0500
>From: "Darrell Webb" <dlw0193(a)gmail.com>
>Subject: Ten Stupid Things Beginners Do to Mess Up Their Contradance
> Experience - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks
>
>I just came across this and thought you might be interested. Hope things
>are going well for you.
><http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_Thei…>http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_Thei…
>
Let's see:
Don't dance with new dancers
twirl new dancers
hot dog
take more time for moves than allotted (swinging into next move)
dance wildly without concern for others
don't listen to the caller
dance only in the center line
disdain/badmouth/ignore local bands/callers
don't volunteer/help out the dance
10. ?
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L. Sayers
In his original post, Dan wrote: "I hope this isn't a Galopede event."
Just curious... Why do you hope that? Is it that you don't enjoy calling simple
dances? Or that you don't feel you have a strong enough repertoire of simple
dances? Or other reasons?
David Millstone
Lebanon, NH
Gang,
I am looking to get some arm bands for a contra dance workshop with about 30 beginner women. The
event is planned for April 11, so there is plenty of time. It is a difficult assignment for this
single guy but some one gots to do it. I did some searching on the Internet and found two types
with Velcro ($3 and $2 per). In the past during gender free dancing at the flurry, the straps of
fabric on the arm didn't seem to last long. So any experience will be greatly appreciated.
Secondly the event will last two hours, suggestion on dances, Baby Rose, The Nice Combination,
Midwest Folklore, any others. I hope this isn't a Galopede event. Also it looks to be a bandless
event. Any advice for CD music or the shanghaiing of a fiddle player. Thanks
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Dear friends,
I got a speeding ticket this morning while driving my son to day care. I deserved it, and there was a lot on my mind, but there's no question that I was doing 51 in a 35 zone. However, I know exactly what led to my speeding, and I don't think the police officer would have appreciated the story. But you might!
As we drove, I was practicing square dance calling along with CDs. (With the endless commutes in the Los Angeles area, there's plenty of time for calling practice.) While on the freeway, I was listening to several cuts from Tony Parkes's "Shadrack's Delight" album. The music there is fairly stately, and I was calling and humming along. Then I exited onto a residential street.
At that point I made the mistake of switching to Bob Dalsemer's "When the Work's All Done," and put on the final cut "Forward Six and Back." On the album, Bob calls the dance to a much faster tempo than anything on Tony's disc. I was singing along and feeling happy that (after lots of practicing) I was keeping apace, when I realized that I was zooming along with the excitement of the music, and leaving the other cars far behind. I quickly slowed down, but it was too late. I saw the flashing lights behind me.
If there's any consolation, at least all four couples got to dance the main figure before I had to pull over and turn off the car. From now on, it'll be "Forward 51 and Back" for me.
Sheepishly,
Jeremy
