That's a great question. I've gotten into many discussions about this
very issue. I think that your first example is the one to go with. Just
for fun, go down the hall with a partner and keep your joined hands down
during beats1 through 6. Then, on beats 7 and 8, turn as a couple.
You'll probably find that allowing 2 beats to turn as a couple is
rushed. So I think of turning as a couple as a 4 beat move. Turning
alone in 2 beats works but I'd still call it on 5-8. Calling in fours
fits the music nicely and sounds good.
Tom
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> 1. Timing on calling a 4 in line down the hall (Chris Weiler)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 23:03:26 -0500
> From: Chris Weiler <chris(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Callers] Timing on calling a 4 in line down the hall
> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
> Message-ID: <41982A8E.8040305(a)sharedweight.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
> Hey all,
>
> We sat down today and programmed our dance on Dec. 4th.
> (http://www.seeger.ws/dec4_contradance.pdf)
>
> We're all pretty excited. I was going through my dances tonight doing a
> little thinking ahead and realized that I'm not sure about timing the
> calls for a 4 in line down the hall. Do you time the call to end on the
> 6th beat to encourage dancers to use the final 2 beats to turn around,
> or do you time it to end on the eighth beat?
>
> Beat - Call
> 5 - Down the
> 6 - Hall
> 7 - 4 in
> 8 - Line
> 1 -
> 2 -
> 3 -
> 4 -
> 5 - Turn as a
> 6 - Couple
> 7 - C'mon
> 8 - Back
>
> Or:
> 5 - Down the
> 6 - Hall
> 7 - 4 in
> 8 - Line
> 1 -
> 2 -
> 3 -
> 4 -
> 5 -
> 6 -
> 7 - Turn as a
> 8 - Couple
> 1 - C'mon
> 2 - Back
>
> I think that I answered my own question, but I'm interested in hearing
> what people say about it.
>
> Thanks!
> Chris
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 3, Issue 3
> *************************************
Hey all,
We sat down today and programmed our dance on Dec. 4th.
(http://www.seeger.ws/dec4_contradance.pdf)
We're all pretty excited. I was going through my dances tonight doing a
little thinking ahead and realized that I'm not sure about timing the
calls for a 4 in line down the hall. Do you time the call to end on the
6th beat to encourage dancers to use the final 2 beats to turn around,
or do you time it to end on the eighth beat?
Beat - Call
5 - Down the
6 - Hall
7 - 4 in
8 - Line
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 - Turn as a
6 - Couple
7 - C'mon
8 - Back
Or:
5 - Down the
6 - Hall
7 - 4 in
8 - Line
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 - Turn as a
8 - Couple
1 - C'mon
2 - Back
I think that I answered my own question, but I'm interested in hearing
what people say about it.
Thanks!
Chris
You guys are going to be terrific ! I wish I could be there, but alas, I was
already double booked for that dated. And unfortunately, I had to cancel on
the dance in order to do the politically correct thing and attend the
company Christmas party. Too many events and not enough time, or air miles.
Break a leg, and I know I'll want a full report afterwards !
Bev
*****************************************
The Witful Turnip wturnip(a)sympatico.ca
"If you're gonna eat shit, don't nibble."
- said by Tom Hinds re: calling square dances
*****************************************
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 09 Nov 2004 06:04:55 -0500
> From: Chris Weiler <chris(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Callers] New Callers Dance in Arlington, MA
> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
> Message-ID: <4190A457.8070005(a)sharedweight.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
> For those of you in the Boston area:
>
> A New Callers Dance
> Saturday, December 4th, 2-5pm
> in Arlington, MA
>
> Introducing callers:
> Chris Weiler
> Seth Seeger
> Nathaniel Jack
>
> Flyer:
> http://www.seeger.ws/dec4_contradance.pdf
>
> We hope that people can come and support us!
>
> Thanks!
> Chris
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 3, Issue 1
> *************************************
>
I think that it depends on the musicians. Some bands I've worked with
don't have the slightest idea when you request a certain type of tune.
Others are tuned in to what the dancers need (they even dance!!!). You
could ask for a traditional flavor like French Canadian, old time, New
England etc. Adjectives that are typically used include flowing, marchy,
bouncy and driving. So, you might want to request a flowing tune for a
dance that has a hey in it. But does it get to be the
'same old thing' to always dance heys to flowing music? Don't be afraid
to be different from what everyone else does in your area. Dances with
many balances like Summer of 84 by Gene Hubbert and Four, forty four,
forty four by Steve Zaken work well with jigs (but they work fine with
reels). It will help the musicians to tell them where the balances are.
I think that the majority of these kinds of contras start with a balance
(2 measures), then two measures of some movement followed by a balance.
Less frequent are the dances where the dancers do something for 2 measures
and then balance. It makes a difference depending on the tune. Remember
that musicians usually talk in measures whereas we usually talk about
beats. The typical tune has 64 beats or 32 measures.
At our dance festival last weekend we danced a flirty type contra to a
march (or maybe a slow reel with a marchy feel). It was magical and a
nice change of pace form the regular reels and jigs. I wouldn't have
thought of doing that. On occasion, I have heard Steve Hickman play a set
of polkas for a contra and it really worked. Be careful of Irish bands.
I don't know about Irish bands in your area, but here in Virginia they
play the jigs way too fast, about 140 beats per minute. I prefer the
tunes to be around 120 or a tad slower depending on energy and skill level
of the dancers, type of dance, condition of floor, and temperature.
If your dancers are not dancing to the phrase well, you could ask the band
to use a tune that is well phrased.
Also, some musicians can pick the right tune just by looking at your card.
Tom
callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote:
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>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Callers Digest, Vol 2, Issue 12 (Jenna Watson)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 04:50:21 -0400
> From: Jenna Watson <watsonj75(a)earthlink.net>
> Subject: [Callers] Re: Callers Digest, Vol 2, Issue 12
> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
> Message-ID: <3C63CC20-27F5-11D9-BAC4-0050E4797B04(a)earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> Can anyone tell me more about how to match the dances you have chosen
> to the music being played? How do you tell the band what you want?
> Other than Jig, reel, and so on? Does the band want to know when there
> is balances in a particular dance? Do they need to know other
> significant moves as well?
>
> PS. I think in response to Linda, I have the confidence that I will get
> there someday. Considering that I work with children five days a week.
> I am pretty good at getting their full attention. (Ages anywhere from
> 4- 10) I look forward to chatting with you the next time I see you! :)
>
> Cheers
> Jenna
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 2, Issue 13
> **************************************
Can anyone tell me more about how to match the dances you have chosen
to the music being played? How do you tell the band what you want?
Other than Jig, reel, and so on? Does the band want to know when there
is balances in a particular dance? Do they need to know other
significant moves as well?
PS. I think in response to Linda, I have the confidence that I will get
there someday. Considering that I work with children five days a week.
I am pretty good at getting their full attention. (Ages anywhere from
4- 10) I look forward to chatting with you the next time I see you! :)
Cheers
Jenna
I have been reading the notes from the group with great interest! It is
wonderful to see the ideas and suggestions that are being shared. Jenna
asked about resources for calling community dances. The Amidons have
published some wonderful books, with accompanying CDs (Jump Jim Joe and
Listen to the Mockingbird). In addition, Dudley Laufman has published White
Mountain Reel, and Marian Rose has published Step Lively. CDSS has them in
stock.
Although it may seem that calling to children and to community groups might
be the easy evening, I have found that these type groups are actually quite
challenging! The same goes for calling one night stands for all adults
(parties, weddings, etc.). A caller's repertoire needs to be extensive, and
the caller needs to be very flexible and creative...often on the spur of the
moment! The experience and skills are quite different, compared to calling a
contra/square dance that is a regularly scheduled event. So my advice would
be to start with the usual contra dances, gain experience and comfort, and
move on to children's groups/one night stands once you feel confident as a
caller.
I have a large collection of dances that I use for these groups, including
some for wheel chair bound folks! Collecting them, and writing them has
given me a great deal of satisfaction. Once you are ready, I will be glad to
share dances, and more thoughts about these types of events.
Looking forward to other thoughts! Linda
Hey everyone,
I asked Bob Issac's if it was OK to share the materials that he gave me
from the callers workshop that he teaches and received permission to
share them. So attached to this e-mail are the Word documents. There is
the breakdown of "The Baby Rose" by David Kaynor that I called at
Pinewoods this summer. The Repertoire is pretty impressive. 50 basic
dances (Bob, of course, inserted a few of his own).
Enjoy,
Chris Weiler
P.S. I'm not sure if the list will allow attachments, so forgive me if
they don't go through. If it doesn't work, we'll put a link to them on
the website.
Hello =-
While dancing I have been able to call the figures in my head. It's a
challenge for me to remember the name and the choreographer. I enjoy
helping people that I can, when I can. Without being in their face. I
feel more confident in asking the callers (at the appropriate time)
what the name of a dance was. I find it a challenge for me still to
write the dance down while I sit out and watch. I like it. My technique
is to write the figures and then figure out where the A1, A2 and so on
go. Would love to have any helpful hints in this area.
I am still on the high that I had at Pinewoods. I am still very excited
and would love an opportunity to call for the practice with friends.
I just sat in on a seminar for two days this past weekend and was
reassured that contradancing is a WONDERFUL tool to use as a teacher
with children. The speaker kept talking about Peter and Mary Alice
Amidon as a resource. I am very interested in knowing any info on
giving a dance to a community at my school. The proposal was put for
Feb. I am thinking about it still. I have already danced a few of the
dances that would be taught to children. it seems ok.
Cheers
Jenna
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. callers: what are you guys up to? (Lisa Greenleaf)
> 2. Re: callers: what are you guys up to? (Seth Seeger)
> 3. Re: callers: what are you guys up to? (Chris Weiler)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 12:05:18 -0400
> From: Lisa Greenleaf <greeny(a)rcn.com>
> Subject: [Callers] callers: what are you guys up to?
> To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID: <BD901EA8.16C20%greeny(a)rcn.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> So you took Tom's class at Pinewoods, and now you're asking questions
> and
> going to dances with a different eye and ear. Have you been calling?
> Got
> any stories you want to share? What did you learn? What delighted
> you?
> What surprised you? Keep us posted!
>
> Lisa
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 15:48:25 -0400
> From: Seth Seeger <seth(a)seeger.ws>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] callers: what are you guys up to?
> To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net> <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID: <83A94CFA-1BBE-11D9-BD94-000A959CF174(a)seeger.ws>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> A couple things have happened to my dancing:
>
> I now pay more attention to the dances themselves and what in
> particular I may not like about a dance. I'm also listening very
> closely to the caller's walk through, looking for things I would have
> done differently or nice ways of explaining something that I may want
> to remember.
>
> During a dance however, I'm still able to get into my "zone" where I'm
> not thinking about the dance - just letting my body move with the
> music. If it's a dance that I want to write down, I have to really
> work at coming out of that zone so I can remember the dance. (If I
> just let my muscle memory handle it, I have a hard time recalling the
> details afterwards.)
>
> Writing down dances is an interesting task: If it's a dance I like,
> I'll repeat the moves to myself as I'm dancing it. In hopes that will
> help me write it down afterwards. (I've been carrying pen and paper in
> my pocket.) I usually have trouble remembering the name and author.
> I've emailed the callers afterwards asking for clarifications on ones
> I'm not sure about.
>
> As for calling, I've got a gig on Nov 20th in East Sandwich. I've very
> excited (and nervous) about it. I'm going down to East Sandwich this
> weekend to see what the dancing is like and to get a feel for the
> dancers.
>
> I also tried calling a square to a small group of friends recently - it
> was MUCH harder than I thought it would be. The hardest parts were
> keeping up with the music, remembering when to come in after a swing,
> and the transition between the square and the break. (I hadn't
> practiced to the music that I ended up using.)
>
> I'm going to try to go to the Nelson NH dance every now and then (it's
> an open mic), but it's 1.5 hours away.
>
> Seth
>
>
>
> On Oct 11, 2004, at 12:05 PM, Lisa Greenleaf wrote:
>
>> So you took Tom's class at Pinewoods, and now you're asking questions
>> and
>> going to dances with a different eye and ear. Have you been calling?
>> Got
>> any stories you want to share? What did you learn? What delighted
>> you?
>> What surprised you? Keep us posted!
>>
>> Lisa
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Callers mailing list
>> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
>> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 23:00:22 -0400
> From: Chris Weiler <chris.weiler(a)weirdtable.org>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] callers: what are you guys up to?
> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
> Message-ID: <416B48C6.8070908(a)weirdtable.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> I, too, am paying more attention at dances. I notice what I like and
> don't like about particular dances. I bought a cheap digital voice
> recorder to keep in my pocket (I sweat too much to keep paper in my
> pocket). If I like the dance I dictate the dance into the recorder
> before the next dance starts (along with who called it what night and
> what they said about the name/author).
>
> I find that I'm only taking mental notes about wording/teaching, etc.
> with callers that I enjoy instead of critiquing callers that I don't.
>
> I have been doing some work on figuring out how I am going to organize
> my dances. Being a geek working in a digital environment, I am working
> on a system where my dances are formatted on my computer and I print
> them on colored card stock and cut them to index card size. (The data
> has a backup!) 8^) I plan on using the colored card system that Bob
> Issacs (and Nathaniel Jack) use. Bob sent me a basic library of 50
> dances that he uses as part of the callers workshop that he teaches and
> that I plan on using as the seed of my collection.
>
> A friend has helped organize a new callers dance on December 4th from
> 2-5pm in Arlington (Park Ave. Church). Seth, Nathaniel and I are each
> doing 1/3 of the program. I have been doing some thinking about my
> program (I'm calling the first 4 dances) and the feeling that I am
> going
> to try for, but haven't picked out the dances yet. I will probably do
> that once I have my dances organized on cards. I have also talked to
> another caller about doing an entire evening at another dance. I'm also
> going to try and get to the Milford, NH dance this month. A (different)
> friend told me that the organizer might be open to allowing a new
> caller
> to call half or all of an evening and I want to go there and see what
> it's like and meet him.
>
> Once I have some calling experiences to share, I will definitely share
> them with the list!
>
> Chris
>
> Seth Seeger wrote:
>
>> A couple things have happened to my dancing:
>>
>> I now pay more attention to the dances themselves and what in
>> particular I may not like about a dance. I'm also listening very
>> closely to the caller's walk through, looking for things I would have
>> done differently or nice ways of explaining something that I may want
>> to remember.
>>
>> During a dance however, I'm still able to get into my "zone" where I'm
>> not thinking about the dance - just letting my body move with the
>> music. If it's a dance that I want to write down, I have to really
>> work at coming out of that zone so I can remember the dance. (If I
>> just let my muscle memory handle it, I have a hard time recalling the
>> details afterwards.)
>>
>> Writing down dances is an interesting task: If it's a dance I like,
>> I'll repeat the moves to myself as I'm dancing it. In hopes that will
>> help me write it down afterwards. (I've been carrying pen and paper
>> in my pocket.) I usually have trouble remembering the name and
>> author. I've emailed the callers afterwards asking for clarifications
>> on ones I'm not sure about.
>>
>> As for calling, I've got a gig on Nov 20th in East Sandwich. I've
>> very excited (and nervous) about it. I'm going down to East Sandwich
>> this weekend to see what the dancing is like and to get a feel for the
>> dancers.
>>
>> I also tried calling a square to a small group of friends recently -
>> it was MUCH harder than I thought it would be. The hardest parts were
>> keeping up with the music, remembering when to come in after a swing,
>> and the transition between the square and the break. (I hadn't
>> practiced to the music that I ended up using.)
>>
>> I'm going to try to go to the Nelson NH dance every now and then (it's
>> an open mic), but it's 1.5 hours away.
>>
>> Seth
>>
>>
>>
>> On Oct 11, 2004, at 12:05 PM, Lisa Greenleaf wrote:
>>
>>> So you took Tom's class at Pinewoods, and now you're asking questions
>>> and
>>> going to dances with a different eye and ear. Have you been
>>> calling? Got
>>> any stories you want to share? What did you learn? What delighted
>>> you?
>>> What surprised you? Keep us posted!
>>>
>>> Lisa
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 2, Issue 7
> *************************************
>
