Dear Chris:
Good luck in Maine... Just some thoughts about your program: of course a very
solid start with "The Nice Combination". This is a great starting dance, and
I really like that you have included a circle dance in your program. Though,
personally I am not a huge fan of a circle dance, depending on the type of
crowd you are calling for, this I think will be a wonderful selection and of
course "Love And Kisses"...
I would agree, that if you are going to a triplet it really has to be in the
first half of your program, probably number three or four, I would recommend.
As the night goes on there just will not be enough energy on the dance floor
to make a triplet work.
I would also consider that the first half of your program seems like it has a
lot of neighbor balances and swings, which is ok, but does not offer much
variety. There is "The Nice Combination", "Hey In The Barn", and "Forgotten
Treasure" all within about four or five dances of eachother. Personally, I
would recommend either or when it comes to "The Nice Combination" and
"Forgotten Treasure". I tend to go more with "Forgotten Treasure", because
there just seems to be better energy with that dance...
I love Chorus Jig, as you probably know, and love that you have included it in
your program... It is a great dance that really should be danced more... You
might want to consider waiting to late to call this dance, because contra
corner can be very differcult for new dancers. But yea!!! to Chorus Jig.
Also, there are only two dances without balances in your program, I would
consider, perhaps maybe adding a dance without a balance... Perhaps "Steel
Anniversary" by Rick Mohr or "Roll In The Hey" by Roger Diggie, both I would
consider very smooth dances. And of course different dances is always key
when I am calling, I really like Mary Cay's Reel, and no doubt it is a
classic, also there would be a good dance to call after a dance that has a lot
of gents movement, because in a lot ways, I think this dance is a good break
for the gents.
Just some other dances I really like that you should consider: "Balance To My
Lou" by Becky Hill, it has a great petronella balance squence in it, and it
just has a partners swing. Other dance like "Chuck the Bungie" by Rick Mohr
and "You Can't Get There From Here" by Carol Ormand have great balance
squences... All I would recommend... Just one finally thought, I would not
end a dance with the "The Baby Rose", it is great and solid dance... but I
would recommend going out either with more of a bang... or something very
smooth... If you are looking for bag of course there is "Trip To Lamberville"
by Steve Zakon-Anderson, one of my all time favorites, and of course request
the band play "Rainy Night in Montague (the only song that should be played
with this dance) or perhaps something very smooth like "Comfort Deluxe" by
Rick Mohr...
Well, just some thoughts, a lot of thoughts actually... But good luck, I'm
sure you will knock then dead...
Sincerely,
Jeff Petrovitch
Jeffrey M. Petrovitch
jeffrey.m.petrovitch(a)usa.net
"Five nights of contra dancing... through 'top-notch' style and technique,
with the love and passion for the dance, the title above all others was
awarded. I am an 'Iron Dancer'." - J.M. Petrovitch
Chris:
Unfortunately not yet... So the search is still on. This is a dance that we
call in Nelson a lot, and I really think that this is really a solid dance
with a great flow to it. So the search continues...
Sincerely,
Jeff Petrovitch
Jeffrey M. Petrovitch
jeffrey.m.petrovitch(a)usa.net
"Five nights of contra dancing... through 'top-notch' style and technique,
with the love and passion for the dance, the title above all others was
awarded. I am an 'Iron Dancer'." - J.M. Petrovitch
Hi Chris,
Delighted to see Chorus Jig in that program!
A few thoughts that occurred to me when I read your note...
I think you said the dance is 8 - 11:30, and you're planning on taking a break
around 9:30. I find that taking the break a little more than halfway through
works well. That way, the folks who plan to leave at the break get in plenty of
dancing.
Our usual Northern Spy dance, for example, is scheduled to run from 8 - 11,
although we sometimes go longer. On a typical night, I'll start the break around
9:45 or 9:50, and then we come back after ten minutes or so for the last part of
the evening, typically five dances.
Ted's #38-- when we danced it as part of our Triplets Marathon, we used a rag
for the tune, which made a nice change of pace and fit the zippy feeling of the
dance.
You might want to get a few more simple dances to have as a backup. Who knows?
Hearing that there's an unfamiliar caller lined up may bring in masses of
newcomers and it's nice to be ready if you need to stick to easier fare.
Let us know how it all goes.
David Millstone
Dear Chris,
Good luck and have fun in Maine! A few thoughts about your program: your
first half has three dances with some form of going to the center (two with
4 in line, and another with actives); then you have a fourth one in the
second half. I would encourage you to strive for more variety. How about a
dance with some Petronella balances/twirls, Give & Take, Rory O'More type
Balance/slides? I have also found that doing triplets in the first half
works out a bit better. If I wait for the second half, the energy level is
sometimes reduced a bit too much; but they are perfect for some variety
early on.
In the second half, almost all of the dances have the women in the center
(allemandes or chains mostly), so I would suggest taking a look at trying to
replace at least one. Since it is a long evening, you might want to consider
calling at least one dance that has only one swing (partner).
Hope these ideas help!
warmly, Linda Leslie
Hello Ev= eryone!!!
Does anyone know the author and name of = this dance??? I have heard
this danced called plenty of times, but = have never found out the
author or name. Thanks...
A1: Neighbors do-si-do
Neighbors allemende left three quarters<= /FONT>
Gents allemende once around
A2: Right shoulder full hey for four
B1: Neighbors gypsy
Neighbors swing
B2: Circle left
Active couples swing
Thanks,
Jeff Petrovitch
Hi everyone!
I have been working on my program for the May 27th North Whitefield, ME
dance, making tweaks here and there. I would love to get some feedback
from the group about the program. I was able to get up there and attend
the dance last month to get a feel for the crowd. Generally, they are
high energy dancers without much polish or smoothness. They can do the
more difficult dances (as Ted Crane proved while I was there), but they
have more fun with the simpler dances. The dance goes from 8-11:30, so I
added a couple of dances to make it a 14 dance program. I'm still going
to have the break around 9:30ish. Below are the titles and authors of
the dances, but I have also attached a PDF document of my cards put in
the evening's order.
The Nice Combination Gene Hubert
Love and Kisses Ted Sannella
Midwest Folklore Orace Johnson
Hay in the Barn Chart Guthrie
Forgotten Treasure Beth Parkes
Chorus Jig
Marian's Delight Carol Kopp
Waltz - Break - Hambo
The Carousel Tom Hinds
Square Affair Becky Hill
Ted's Triplet #38 Ted Sannella
Frederick Contra Tom Hinds
Weave the Line Kathy Anderson
Spring Fever Tony Parkes
The Baby Rose David Kaynor
I'm not so sure about the inclusion of the triplet, but I think that
it's a fun one to dance and including a couple of Ted's dances seems
very appropriate here (this is the dance series that Ted founded when he
retired to Maine). I have a few dances in reserve that are both more and
less difficult (though not many of the less difficult) that I can
substitute if needed. I could see putting Mary Cay's Reel or 333-33 in
the program fairly easily.
Thank you very much to Chrissy Fowler for the opportunity to fill in for
her. And many thanks to Lisa Sieverts for her notes from calling at this
dance (they were very helpful and also solidified my impressions from
attending the dance).
Thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide.
All the best,
Chris
Hey Ever= yone!
Just thought I would chime in with some = of my calling
experiences... Well, I would say that I am a fairly i= nexperienced
caller, since I have only been calling since the beginning o= f the
year. I really believe that there may be no better place to l= earn
to call, then Nelson, New Hampshire, and of course for a couple diff erent reasons:
1: The Nelson Contra Dance happens every= Monday night (all 56 Mondays
of the year), and that simply means more ti= me to call. I usually
call about 2 or 3 dances every week, sometime= s more, sometimes less,
but calling every week has really allowed me to l= earn a lot.
2. Nelson Contra Dancers are great= !!! When you have experienced
dancers, it really helps a new caller= . The dancers really make
the caller look good, so that is always= a confidence boost when you
are calling.
3. And of course Don Primrose and = Lisa Sieverts, two great callers,
that I have learned a lot from and cont= inue to learn a lot from.
When you have good calling mentors, it re= ally helps your growth as a
caller. Everytime I call, usually at th= e end of the dance I talk
with Lisa about how my calling was. Feedb= ack is such a great tool,
and I would encourage new callers to seek out f= eedback. There is
always something that can be better about your ca= lling...
I really love calling, there is just som= ething about being up on
stage, that is just really amazing, but you have= to pratice, pratice,
pratice... If there is one thing that Lisa ha= s really instilled
into me, it is the the two T's. Teaching and tim= ing. Teaching is
so important and of the things that I do along wit= h praticing
calling a dance, I also pratice the walk-through. In my= opinion, a
walk-through has to be detailed, yet quick, concise, with no = wasted
words. Three minutes tops and very rarely there should ever = be a
need for a second walk-through. There are of course some dance= s
with strange end effects that may require a second walk-through, but 9
= out of 10 times, 1 time is good enough...
And of course there is timing. Fla= re and style will come after
timing, as it should. Don't be late, d= on't be early. Know where
the phrase ends, know when you need to st= art caling a call, and know
when you need to stop calling a call. B= e right on the beat... So
all and all, I really feel that I come al= ong way in a short five
months of my calling career. The last coupl= es weeks, have been
right on for me, so hopefully it is only up for here.= One thing
that has really helped me call better is my comfort leve= l on stage.
You have to have fun, when you are calling or it just i= s not worth
it. Do whatever you need to, to be relaxed, comfortable= , and having
fun on stage, to call a good dance. I usually will dan= ce around,
jump down on the dance floor and dance with the dancers as it = is
going on... Just have fun!!!
See you on the dance floor or maybe the = stage...
Sincerely,
Jeff Petrovitch
Jeffrey M. Petrovitch
jeffrey.m.petrovitch(a)usa.net
"Five nights of contra dancing... through 'top-notch' style and technique,
with the love and passion for the dance, the title above all others was
awarded. I am an 'Iron Dancer'." - J.M. Petrovitch
Hi all,
It's been a while since I posted an update on what I have been doing
about learning to be a better caller, so here it is. It's not that I've
been really busy with work and not doing anything about calling lately,
but it's close.
Back in late March, I made it up to Nelson to attend the open mic.
again. One of the challenging things that I find about calling in Nelson
is the need for spontaneity in picking dances. This particular night, I
didn't do myself any favors by one, being very tired and two, not
practicing or preparing beforehand. So I got up to call 2 dances and the
first one went ok, but on the second one (one that I had never called or
practiced until 5 minutes before I got on stage) I made a mistake and
broke down the set. Don and Lisa were able to get everyone moving again
and I picked it up from there, but we ended up off from the music
(you'll see in a moment that this could be considered a theme...).
Overall another valuable experience and lesson in preparing carefully.
This week on Tuesday, I participated in a multi-caller night at the MIT
contra dance. Again it's challenging because you never know who you're
going to have, especially earlier in the evening. Seth and had the 1st
and 2nd slots and we had talked about having a triplet first. I had one
(Ted's #38) that I (again) had not practiced, but chosen for another gig
that I have coming up, so we decided that I would go first.
I quickly ran through it with some music provided by my iPod mini and
jumped up on stage with maybe 3 couples in the hall. While people were
lining up, three more couples materialized out of nowhere. As I started
to teach the dance, however, one of the couples interrupted me and
informed me that they had never done this before and needed help.
Immediately, another couple in the other set identified themselves as
new people. Seth and his wife Bethany kindly split up the 1st couple to
give both of them experienced partners and Clark Baker and his partner
split up the other 2. Since the dance started with a balance and swing,
there was a brief pause while 4 independent mini workshops in "balance
and swing" took place. That done, we got started with the walk through,
going slow to allow the experienced dancers to guide the beginners. I
decided that we definitely needed a 2nd walk through (by this time a 3rd
set had appeared). After the 2nd walk through, people were complaining
that they did not have their partners (I realized afterwards that I left
out the Gents Al L 1 1/2). We got everyone their partners back and
walked it through a third time with better success.
We were ready to start (and more than half of my time slot was gone),
and so we woke up the band and got going. I was a little flustered by
working with the beginners and the problems during the walk through, so
I forgot the thinly prepared patter that I had come up with. After some
stumbling, I finally remembered and got into the patter I had prepared,
but we were 16 beats off from the music. I could tell that we were off,
but I didn't have any attention to spare on fixing it. In the back of my
mind, I was trying to figure out how I was going to signal the band that
I wanted the dance to end and just went ahead and gave them the "2" sign
during the A1. This was the only time that I wasn't calling since the
beginners didn't seem able to carry on when I tried to drop out. We came
to a rather ragged halt when Emily Troll and I miscommunicated and she
finally asked me "out?" and I nodded my head.
After many apologies to the band and introducing Seth, I got off the
stage to catch my breath. I take some pride in getting everyone
(including the beginners) up and dancing, but think I have a ways to go
towards making it smoother. It was instructional to me to realize how
heavily you rely on the experienced dancers to integrate the beginners
into the dance. I had another slot later in the evening, but gave it up
to a young man (Ron was his name) who asked for a slot. I was pretty
wiped out by that first dance and then dancing with beginners later, so
was just as happy to give it up.
Coming up in about a week, I am going to be substituting for Chrissy
Fowler at the North Whitefield, ME dance. I went up there last month to
scout it out and it's a great dance. I am doing some revising of my
program at the moment, but will post it soon here for comments. I'm
looking forward to tackling an entire evening and getting a rhythm going
and having somewhat of a plan going in. I'm also going back to MIT next
month and doing a half evening with Mark Schneider which should go a
little smoother than the 6 caller evening did.
See you dancing!
Chris
http://www.fortytwo.ws/~weiler/caller/
Hi everyone,
I'm sure that people would be interested in hearing about experiences
that you've had lately in calling. People that are new to calling,
please tell us about what you're doing to gain experience and learn.
Experienced callers, let us know about any unusual things that you have
encountered lately (or learned lately). 8^)
All the best,
Chris Weiler
Contact David directly if you are interested.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: David.Millstone(a)valley.net (David Millstone)
> Date: April 28, 2005 7:19:30 PM EDT
> To: (Recipient list suppressed)
> Subject: Wanted! New callers!
> Reply-To: millstone(a)valley.net
>
> Calling all potential callers!
>
> I'm looking at the possibility of starting up a class in the fall for
> people who
> would like to learn to call traditional American dance-- contras,
> squares, and
> other related dances. Your interest might be in calling at a regular
> dance
> series with experienced dancers, or you might be inclined toward the
> repertoire
> of dances that are useful for working with children, family groups,
> and other
> less-experienced dancers.
>
> I have a calling apprentice at the moment, with funding provided
> through the
> Vermont Folklife Center, and that's been a good one-on-one
> arrangement. One
> difficulty, though, has been that it's hard to practice in the absence
> of
> dancers; this is especially true when trying to teach a dance, which
> in many
> cases is harder than the actual calling. This next time around, I'm
> thinking
> that having a small group (eight people would be ideal) might work
> well.
>
> I'm open to working with all ages, and I'm especially hopeful that
> some of our
> younger dancers might take a step toward becoming callers. We do have
> some good
> younger musicians in the area and it's fun to contemplate a new
> generation
> inheriting our thriving dance scene.
>
> So, would you like to learn how to be the person on the other side of
> the
> microphone?
>
> I'm imagining a regular series of meetings, once or twice a month,
> starting in
> the fall of 2005 and running through spring of 2006. We'd meet as a
> group and
> participants would have opportunities to practice on each other and to
> offer
> support and encouragement. I'll share my thoughts as well, will direct
> you to
> helpful resources, and will offer specific suggestions as well. I'd
> hope that
> the members of the group could call at area dances. I know I'd be
> happy to have
> a "new caller" slot at our monthly Northern Spy dances.
>
> Before putting more effort into planning this project, however, it'll
> be helpful
> to know if there are enough possible participants. Please let me know
> sometime
> in the next week or two if this is something you might enjoy doing.
> Once I have
> a list of interested folks, we can talk more and figure out the details
> together. You can phone me at 603-448-29050 or simply reply to this
> e-mail.
>
> Looking forward to working with some of you!
>
> David Millstone
>
