I've been asked to call a virtual contra dance next month and am looking for some suggestions for good dances that people have used that work well for 1 or 2 dancers. I've participated in just a few virtual dances, but haven't called one before. I've got a few ideas, but could use some more. Are there any repositories of modified contras suitable for virtual dances? I know there is a site with a lot of English dances, but haven't heard of a similar one for contras.
Also, any tips on things to do, or not do, while leading a virtual dance would be welcome.
Let me know if you have come across any modified dances that have gone over well at online dances. Thanks.
Jonathan
-----
Jonathan Sivier
Caller of Contra, Square, English and Early American Dances
jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html
Hi All,
Around 1984, master caller, Larry Edelman lead a calling workshop in Santa Barbara. The first thing he did was to show us a few square dance books he collected at used book stores. One of those books was Advanced Square Dance Figures of the West & Southwest, by Lee Owens and Viola Ruth. Larry told us workshopees that he'd been looking for that book for a time, and found it right under our Santa Barbarians noses. That started me on a now 35 year quest. I frequented Santa Barbara used book stores and, when traveling, looked up the local used book stores in cities I visited, planning my exploration of a town around perusing used book stores in search of square, contra, and some international dance books, as well as folk stories and music books. As you might guess, I now have quite a collection.
And now I'm weeding out my library. In my quest, I've collected quite a number of duplicates. I would love these copies to find homes of people who would love to study the stories of American folk dance and related (or not) folk dances.
Below is a list of these duplicates. I can be convinced to give some away, but I'd like to receive around the price I paid. If you live in the San Francisco area, you can make an arrangement to pick it/them up. If I have to mail it, I'll ask to be remunerated for the cost of shipping.
If a book is not specifically on square dance, these books have a section of square dances or singing games. International, that is, other countries dances, are obvious... If you have any questions about any of them, I'll be glad to give a more complete description. Prices go from $5 to $20.
Cheers,
~Erik Hoffman
Oakland, CA
A Time to Dance
Richard Nevell
1977
Advanced Square Dance Figures of the South West
Lee Owens
1949
American Square Dances of the South West
Lee Owens
1949
And Promenade All
Helen & Larry Eienberg, Bert Lyle, Lib McDonald
1952
Athletic Dances & Simple Clogs
Majorie Hillas, Marian Knighton
1929
Betty White,s Teen-Age Dance Book
Betty White
1952
Cowboy Dances
Lloyd Shaw
1939
Dances of England & Wales
Maud Karpeles & Lois Blake
1951
Dances of Greece
Domini Crosfield
1942
Dances of Our Pioneers
Grace L. Ryan
1926
Dances of The Netherlands
E. Van Der Ven-Ten Bensek
1949
Dances or Early California Days
Lucile K. Czarnowski
1950
Down in the Valley
New England Dancing Masters
2000
Dramatic Dances for Small Children
Mary Severance Shafter
1921
Folk Dances for Boys and Girls
Mary Effie Shambaugh
1929
Folk Dances of Scandinavia
Anne Schley, Jeanette Schlottmann, Abbie Rutledge
1948
Folk Dances of The British Isles
Anne Schley, Jeanette Schlottmann, Abbie Rutledge
1948
Folk Dances of The United States and Mexico
Anne Schley, Jeanette Schlottmann, Abbie Rutledge
1948
Folk Dancing
Grace I. Fox, Kathleen Gruppe Merrill
1944
Folk Dancing
Richard Krauss
1962
Folk Dancing for All
Michael Herman
1947
Folk Dancing in High School & College
Kathleen Guppe Merrill
1944
Folk-Dances and Singing Games
Elizabeth Burchenal
1909
Folk-Dances from Old Homelands
Elizabeth Burchenal
1922
Games & Songs of American Children
William Wells Newell
1963
Good Morning - Fourth Edition
Benjamin B. Lovett
1943
Good Morning -1st Edition
Benjamin B. Lovett
1926
Handy Folk Dance Book
Charles Bower & Cooperative Recreation Service
Perhaps 1955
Handy Square Dance Book
Cooperative Recreation Service
1955
Honor Your Partner
Ed Durlacher
1949
How to Be a Good Dancer - Revised Edition
Aurther Murray
1938
Let's Dance, volume A - 30 Basic Dances
Folk Dance Federation of California
1955
Li'l Abner Official Square Dance Handbook
Fred Leifer
1953
Mexican Folk Dances for American Schools
Gertrude X. Mooney
1957
New Song Plays to Old Tunes
Mary Wollaston Wood
1924
Partners All - Places All
Miriam Kirkell, Irma K. Schaffnit
1949
Piute Pete's Down Home Square Dance Book
Piute Pete
1977
Play Songs (from The Song Series)
Alys E. Bentley
1912
Promenade All - A Compilation of Song-Dances
Janet E. Tobitt
1947
Rhythms and Dances for Elementary Schools
Dorothy La Salle
1926
Sets in Order Year Book Number 4
Bob Osgood
1959
Sets in Order, 5 Years of Square Dancing
Bob Osgood
1954
Square and Folk Dancing, A Cmplete Guide for Students, Teachers and Callers
Hank Greene
1984
Square Dance!
Ralph J. McNair
1951
Square Dances Today and How to Call Them
Richard Krauss
1950
Square Dancing
Clayne R. & Mary Bee Jensen
1966
Swedish Folk Dances
Nils W. Bergquist
1914
The American Square Dance
Margot Mayo
1943, revised 1948
The Complete Book of Square Dancing (and Round Dancing)
Betty Casey
1976
The Country Dance Book
Beth Tolman, Ralph Page
1937
The Festival Book
Janette Emeline Carpenter Lincoln
1920
The Folk Dance Book
C. Ward Crampton, M.D.
1928
The Rhythmic Program for Elementary Schools
Grace Fielder
1952
The Round Dance Book
Lloyd Shaw
1949
The Teaching of Folk Dance
Anne Schley, Jeanette Schlottmann, Abbie Rutledge
1948
West Virginia Square Dances
Robert G. Dalsemer
1982
Carl Dreher sent this to the ECD List, so I'm forwarding it to the Trad Callers and Contra Callers lists.
If you want any more information please contact Carl, not me!
Hello,
The John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown NC is accepting
applications for a full-time Music and Dance director.
The village of Brasstown has a long tradition of community dancing and
music.� It supports four (!) English ritual dance teams, a monthly ECD,
twice-monthly contra dances, weekly free community dances, free
concerts, free tutoring in Appalachian music for youngsters, and happens
to be the "Potluck Capital of the World".
http://www.folkschool.org/index.php?section=articles&article_cat_id=5&artic…
<http://www.folkschool.org/index.php?section=articles&article_cat_id=5&artic…>
Please feel free to pass this on to any group or individual.
Sincerely,
Carl Dreher <focusrsh(a)arn.net>
Dear list,
I am writing to invite you to our next FCSH webinar, With Your Neighbour: What can we learn from contra about sustaining traditional dance?, at 19:00 GMT on 30 January, 2021 (that’s 2pm US Eastern/11am Pacific). Lindsey Kennedy, Lisa Greenleaf (facilitator), Andrew Findlay and Jane Curry will discuss the state of contra now (or up to the pandemic) and what we can learn from each other about building/ strengthening traditional dance communities. The discussion will integrate questions from attendees.
About the panelists:
Lindsey Kennedy has been ECD & ceilidh dancing since before she could walk but departed to contra dance during university where she organised IVFDF in 2010. She now runs Bristol Contra and is also organising IVFDF this year whilst juggling her job of Project Managing eco friendly timber frame buildings.
Coming to us from the US, Lisa Greenleaf calls regularly in the greater New England areas and has been a staff member at dance camps and festivals throughout the country and Europe. Her specialties include traditional and contemporary contras, squares, contra caller's training and English country. She also is the organizer for two contra series in Concord, Massachusetts.
Andrew Findlay started folk dancing while at university in Reading. Jane Curry started a bit earlier, having invaded Bradford University's dance group with some 6th-form friends. They were both involved in running the Berkshire Midsummer Folk Festival, Sidmouth, and the 1982 Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival before taking over London Barndance in 1983. Both are
independent IT consultants, so working from home has been normal for the past 20 years!
About FCSH:
This webinar is sponsored by the Friends of Cecil Sharp House, a UK-based organization committed to the preservation and promotion of English folk dance and music. During the pandemic we have organized a variety of dances, webinars, and workshops on Zoom that have attracted an international audience. More information, including how to become a member, can be found at our website, https://fcsh.org.uk/about.html.
Registration is free but limited; email judith(a)fcsh.org.uk to reserve your place. The webinar will be recorded; live attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions of our panelists.
I’m happy to answer questions if you have them.
Louise.
—
Louise Siddons, dance caller
http://www.scissortail.org/siddons/
lesiddons(a)gmail.com
Greetings colleagues and friends,
I am thinking back to the numerous threads on this list about repertoire for family dances and ONS dances (I prefer OSD's: One Shot Deals).
With this in mind, I am writing to let you know about my new resource, Join Up Hands.
This book provides new dance materials for kids, community dances, family dances, and other ODS’s. Included also are new-dancer-specific tips and a few personal essays that illustrate the joy of dancing.
Available on my website: newdayhoedown.com <http://newdayhoedown.com/> or www.suehulsether.com/book--cd <http://www.suehulsether.com/book--cd>
You have time now to add to your callers’ library. It’s only a matter of time before we’ll all be too busy calling to grab new material.
Please feel free to share this info with school teachers you know, as well.
cheers,
sue
Sue Hulsether
New Day Hoedown LLC
www.suehulsether.com
608-632-1267 Cell
P.O. Box 363, Viroqua, WI 54665
There is a lot of misunderstanding about hemp gummy bears because people
think that the gummy bears are the same as CBD gummies. This is not true at
all, they are two completely different products that work very differently
for different reasons.
The difference between the hemp and CBD products is very easy to see. Both
hemp and CBD gummy candies contain high levels of natural ingredients that
help to ease pain and alleviate stress. In most cases the CBD gummy is a
little bit better because the hemp gummy does not contain any harmful
ingredients, but in the case of hemp candy, you should be aware that the
hemp candy can still cause some unwanted side effects.
When you are looking for hemp and CBD gummy candies, look for the
ingredients that are listed on the back label. Some of the items will have
high levels of natural ingredients like aloe vera, lemon grass, lavender
and even rosemary. There are also several different levels of vitamins that
are included in the hemp candy and in the CBD candies. The vitamins are not
listed anywhere, so you may want to look for the ones that list the vitamin
E and Vitamin K, especially if you want to get high doses of these vitamins.
The thing that many people do not understand is the fact that the hemp
candy does not contain any stimulants or other chemicals that can create a
problem for you. You can expect to get a good night's sleep with a hemp
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chemicals. This is very important when trying to quit smoking because your
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able to quit.
With both hemp and CBD gummies, you will be able to get the same results.
You just need to know which one is right for you. If you really want to
quit smoking and you are not sure which is best, you can try both.
If you would like to find out more about the hemp gummy bears and their
benefits, visit GoldBee <https://goldbee.com/cbd-gummies/>. We will give
you information on the hemp gummy and their effects on the body and why
they are the only way to go. for quitting smoking.
Lorin
Dear contra callers,
Following on our two introductory workshops on positional calling (videos available on the Friends of Cecil Sharp House Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChVLmkrsCgI0roLmuPuOu5Q <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChVLmkrsCgI0roLmuPuOu5Q>), and a very popular participatory workshop last month, we are holding a second participatory workshop (essentially a repeat of the first) next Saturday, 16 January, at 19:00 GMT/2pm Eastern (US)/11am Pacific (US).
Led by Louise Siddons (me), participants will work to create and test positional walkthroughs of challenging dances/figures — both Playford- and contra-style (participant choice). The dances/figures will be distributed ahead of time to those signed up by Monday, 11 January, and all attendees will be expected to engage with small group activity.
Due to the highly participatory nature of this workshop, space is once again limited to 20, and the workshop will not be posted online. Please email judith(a)fcsh.org.uk <mailto:judith@fcsh.org.uk> to reserve your place.
I would be happy to answer questions.
Louise.
—
Louise Siddons, dance caller
http://www.scissortail.org/siddons/
lesiddons(a)gmail.com
Hi Contra Callers,
CDSS is hosting a web chat next that I thought you might be interested in.
It's focused on musicians and singers but it might also be applicable to
some of the online events you're involved with.
See below!
Emily Addison
Join us for our next Web Chat:
Singing and Playing Music in REAL TIME!
An online discussion for organizers of song communities and open bands
Wednesday, January 13, 2021, 7:00-8:30 p.m. ET
Join us for this conversation with a member of the Sacred Harp group FaSoLa
Philadelphia (PA) and a member of Phoenix (AZ) Traditional Music & Dance
Society. During this Web Chat, they’ll be sharing their successes with
using the computer program Jamulus to enable their groups to sing and play
music in real time! We know a return to in-person singing and jamming is on
the horizon, but it will still take some time before it’s safe to gather in
groups. Tune in to find out how these groups have tackled the challenge of
creating online real-time song and music sessions. We’ll make sure there’s
plenty of time for Q&A and breakout sessions, so come with your questions
ready!
REGISTER online
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001v1vVRo2Ph1ZSiyUe6bfwwn0sXsJ9FN-4T8DQkBG9a7ad…>
by
January 11.
Soon after you register, Zoom will send you a confirmation email with your
own personal link. You’ll need this info for joining the Web Chat! To keep
track of it, we recommend saving the email and/or creating a calendar event.
Please share this invite with members of community music and singing groups!
Questions? Contact resources(a)cdss.org.
