Hi Bob!
Thanks for your thoughts!
We adopted most of these excellent suggestions already at our first (smaller, trial) zoom dance, also as a result of attending a few other (braver!) groups’ early zoom dances:
In my intro I explain that there’s no such thing as messing up the line with a “mistake” so we’re not worrying about details of the dance (so we don’t take questions after the walk-thru—just move to the music & enjoy!)
Each dance is only 5-6 times thru, to avoid monotony (since we don’t have the joy of new faces coming up the line or the magic of the line silently moving together w/o the caller).
All dancers will be muted (without the option to unmute) except for a 5-second group un-muting after each dance to allow for applause and whoops of delight, before all being muted again for the next walk-thru & dance. Because the Scissortail dance was disrupted by internet trolls last night, in addition to our other precautions (e.g., no participant screen sharing, participants removed cannot return, you cannot unmute yourself) we may have to also eliminate the 5-second cheering/applause moment (along with eliminating chat). So mentioning the waving of hands is a great idea. Because our dance has been so widely publicized, and because of the zoom bombing incident last night at that other dance, we will also have a dedicated volunteer co-host whose job will be to keep scrolling through the pages of participants to boot out anyone posting offensive material. Sad but necessary.
We’ve been altering the dances slightly to eliminate the progression so that folks don’t end up in the next room by the end of the dance, tho we may have to loosen up on that preference as we go along, because some dances modify easily (e.g., eliminate slide left or pass-thru) whereas others (e.g., ending in Calif. twirl) do not. So I’ve told callers who prefer not to remove the progression to just warn folks that they’ll need to adjust to avoid accidentally ending up in the kitchen. :-)
Personally, I find swinging alone (using a buzz step) to be quite easy/pleasant. But for those who walk around to swing rather than using a buzz step, swings would be exhausting. Drew Delaware (who will be our first caller tonight) just wrote a new dance, avoiding the neighbour swing (to minimize swinging but to allow those lucky enough to have a partner at home to swing them) and also avoiding the progression. He called it “Let’s stay home” which I thought was a lovely double-meaning title! :-)
I like the idea of dusting off the 1’s swing chestnuts. And thanks for the tip about Petronella!
Sadly, we have not found a way to use live music given the Zoom lag, but I will be picking your brain privately to learn how you’ve managed that in Philadelphia! We would love to find a way to do that. In the mean time, we have (when possible) asked permission of the musicians whose music we use, and then we post the names of the bands and tracks after the dance along with where to buy their music. We are also encouraging folks who had a good time to donate to musicians on the CDSS site in gratitude.
Keep dancing!! Hope to see you all in person on the other side of this!
Becky
> On May 23, 2020, at 5:54 AM, Bob Isaacs <isaacsbob(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi All:
>
> Thanks to Toronto for holding these dances, and for expanding their license to welcome us all. Hope to see you there tonight.
>
> Perhaps these dances will proliferate until regular dances resume. If so, what makes a good Zoom dance? I've "been" to a couple held by Philadelphia, and here a some observations.
>
> The audience is likely all contra-deprived regulars, so the usual beginner-friendly programming at the start of the night isn't necessary.
>
> Just about everyone was dancing by themselves or as couples. As a result, the dances should focus on partner action and avoid multiple neighbors. If the dance doesn't progress, no problem!
>
> There's no need to run these the usual length - maybe half length is best. The bands should adjust their tune sets accordingly. Since we're not worried about getting everyone active, this might be time to dust off those older 1s active, 2s watch contras.
>
> It's hard to swing by yourself, so minimizing swings helps. This past Thursday Sue Gola called the no-swing chestnut Petronella to good effect.
>
> Folks can find "partners" by pinning someone, and if they agree you'll only see each other. It's a bit strange at first, but a chance to dance with someone from far away you don't normally see.
>
> Given that the audience is experienced, one walkthrough should do - and let them know up front that's the way it's going to be. If everyone but the caller is muted, no need to worry about people talking during the walkthrough.
>
> It's best to call all the way through, but minimize the calls after the first few rounds. Some folks will tune in just to hear the live music they've come to love.
>
> Encourage hand-waving after each dance so the band hears that virtual applause.
>
> Your thoughts?
>
> Good health and happiness to you all -
>
> Bob
>
> From: Becky Liddle via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>>
> Sent: Friday, May 22, 2020 11:50 AM
> To: Shared Weight callers list <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net>>
> Subject: [Callers] Virtual (Zoom) Contra Dance this Saturday!
>
> Hello Fellow Callers!
>
> This post has 2 purposes: to invite you all to the dance, and also to drum up interested callers who might want to donate their calling to future dances (which will be the 2nd & 4th Saturday of each month at 7:30PM Eastern time in North America).
>
> Our first attempt at a Zoom contra early in May went great, and we’ve decided to do this twice a month for the duration!
> Our first (minimally publicized) dance hit our 100 participant Zoom limit (and 67 were still dancing at the end, so they must have been having fun!). This time we have a 500 participant limit and we’re publicizing it far and wide.
>
> More info and the link to join appears in announcement below. This week’s callers will be Bev Bernbaum, Drew Delaware, and me (Becky Liddle).
> Hope to see you there!
>
> Becky
>
>> Dancing in Isolation - A Virtual Contra Dance by Zoom, Saturday May 23, 2020, at 7:30PM Eastern
>>
>> Contra dance alone or with other dancers in your household, along with dancers across the continent! We'll be dancing to recorded music (due to tech limitations) and live calling. Dancing with imaginary people ("ghosts") is challenging, so we are assuming everyone is a reasonably experienced contra dancer. There will be no beginners’ lesson. But the good news is that when you dance alone in your living room, the contra line is exactly where you imagine it, and unexpected moves become glorious new choreography! Everyone is welcome to join!
>>
>> https://zoom.us/j/99530765467?pwd=YUEyZms5ZnlZbDlqa0tvREp1QkZyZz09 <https://zoom.us/j/99530765467?pwd=YUEyZms5ZnlZbDlqa0tvREp1QkZyZz09>
>> Meeting ID: 995 3076 5467
>> Password: 007
>>
>> Join the Zoom meeting any time between 7:00 and 7:30PM Eastern on Saturday, but try to join by 7:20 if possible. There will be an introduction to the dance at 7:25 and dancing will begin promptly at 7:30 Eastern.
>>
>> We hope to have these dances every 2nd and 4th Saturday evening until we can dance in person again. You can keep track of scheduled dances here or on the Toronto Contra Dance Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TorontoContraDance <https://www.facebook.com/TorontoContraDance> . At our first dance we hit our 100 participant limit, but this time we can have up to 500 participants, so tell your contra dancing friends, and feel free to repost this announcement to your local contra dance websites!
>>
>> Participation is free, but if you enjoy the dance, we ask that you make a donation (in an amount you are comfortable with) to benefit freelance artists in our music & dance community who are struggling with the loss of income due to COVID-19 shutting down all our in-person events.
>>
>> CDSS has a donation page here: https://www.cdss.org/community/covid19/send-love-to-freelancers <https://www.cdss.org/community/covid19/send-love-to-freelancers>
>> where you can donate to a freelance musician or caller. You are welcome to choose an artist of your choice, but the list loads in random order, so you can also simply donate to whoever is top on the list when you load the page, knowing that others will be donating to someone else, and everybody ends up getting a little help in a difficult time. Or, if you like the specific music we play at the dance, we encourage you to donate to (or buy music from) the musicians whose music we use. We will post a list of those artists to the Toronto Contra Dance Facebook page after each dance. Please come to the dance, and afterwards decide what it was worth to you, and give generously to keep the music going until we can all meet in joy on the other side of this pandemic.
>>
>> The dance is organized by Becky Liddle, ably assisted by Drew Delaware, with a great deal of help from other Toronto area folks. Becky happens to be president of Toronto Contra Dance, but this dance is only loosely associated with TCD. So if you have any complaints, please blame Becky or Drew, not TCD! :-)
There was a lot of discussion about this on the ECD list a few weeks ago, so I created a page:
https://colinhume.com/neglected.htm
which anyone can update by adding their favourite neglected dances.
I've just sent out a reminder, in case people meant to but never got around to it.
I'm also writing to the trad callers and contra callers lists, in case you would like to add dances.
And therefore apologies if you get this three times!
Colin Hume
Hey Callers,
I received the following email from Judy Greenhill, a caller/dancer here in
Ontario Canada asking if I would post this to any caller listserves I read:
'"Sets in Order " was the square dance magazine that pretty much documented
the rise of Modern square dance. Jeff Priest (an ON square dance caller) has
an almost complete set from 1951-1979. Most are at his place in Brantford
ON; some are with me-he lent them to me for research a while ago. He does
not want to keep them. Jeff is prepared to give these magazines to anyone
who might want them, with the catch that they have to be picked up in
Brantford, or Guelph, or the recipient must be willing to pay to have them
shipped. They are heavy!'
Please contact Judy directly if you're interested. Her email address is:
Judy Greenhill judy.m.greenhill53(a)gmail.com
<mailto:judy.m.greenhill53@gmail.com>
Stay safe everyone and be well. Until we dance together again!
Bev
****************************************************************************
*****
The Witful Turnip <mailto:wturnip@sympatico.ca>
wturnip(a)sympatico.ca
"It will be alright in the end. So, if it is not alright, it is not yet the
end."
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
****************************************************************************
*****
Hello Shared Weight community,
I’m sorry for the short notice, but I need to move the mailing lists to a different host this evening. There will be some down time between now and 10pm EST. No messages will be lost, though there may be duplicates in the digests.
I’ll send another email once the move is complete.
Nitty gritty details: AWS hosting looked like the right option, but their pricing structure is not clear. Turns out to cost nearly 2x what I had expected. I am moving us (back) to Linode, where we should have stayed all along. Better service, clear pricing, good support.
Seth
CDMR has some news since my last announcement. Please share this far and wide…
————————————————————
Country Dance Music Radio is now playing at
https://radio.contracorner.com <https://radio.contracorner.com/>
CDMR’s first purpose is to provide a two-way support between musicians and dancers. Dancers can get some of that missing musical uplift any time day or night, and musicians can get your donations and purchases to help support them. Zoom concerts are just once (unless I can record them!) but CDMR is always there for you. Please listen in sometime soon!
✦ The North Bay Country Dance Society is hosting a Zoom concert featuring Rodney Miller, and Country Dance Music Radio will simulcast it! In this way lots more people can hear the concert. It will be recorded and repeated thereafter on CDMR.
The concert is Saturday, May 9
—Pacific time: 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
—Eastern US time: 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm
Details are here: https://radio.contracorner.com/news/rodney-miller-live-and-a.html <https://radio.contracorner.com/news/rodney-miller-live-and-a.html>
✦ CDMR’s schedule has been renovated. Now you will find segments focused on song, dance, waltzing, calm time, and short musician spotlights.
You can reach the DJ at bob(a)contracorner.com <mailto:bob@contracorner.com>.
Staying safe but missing our dancing,
\Bob Peterson
Country Dance Music Radio https://radio.contracorner.com <https://radio.contracorner.com/>
Bless you for doing this.
:)
On 5/7/20, Seth Seeger via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hello Shared Weight community,
>
> I’m sorry for the short notice, but I need to move the mailing lists to a
> different host this evening. There will be some down time between now and
> 10pm EST. No messages will be lost, though there may be duplicates in the
> digests.
>
> I’ll send another email once the move is complete.
>
> Nitty gritty details: AWS hosting looked like the right option, but their
> pricing structure is not clear. Turns out to cost nearly 2x what I had
> expected. I am moving us (back) to Linode, where we should have stayed all
> along. Better service, clear pricing, good support.
>
> Seth
Hi fellow contra callers,
I’m reaching out on behalf of CDSS regarding two items that we hope may be
of interest to some of you.
*1. Are you offering any online events for traditional dance, music, and/or
song?*
Many of you may know of this but in case you don't.... CDSS is maintaining
an extensive list of online events and we would be happy to include your
events as part of the list. Events can be free, by donation, or involve a
fee. Take a quick peek - there are caller workshops, jam sessions, online
concerts, sings, etc.
We’ve been sharing the event listing widely through our network and we
feature a handful of events each week through social media.
Check out the event listing here:
https://www.cdss.org/community/covid19/online-events
Submit an online event here:
https://www.cdss.org/community/events-calendar/submit-an-event
*2. Do you know of great resources for children and parents who enjoy
traditional dance, music, and/or song?*
We would love to include them as part of the new Families section of our
Resource Portal which is officially launching this weekend. A few notes:
-These particular resources need to be free (or for sale in the CDSS
store).
-If you’re not familiar with other sections of our Resource Portal, the
format of resources vary greatly (e.g., link to external website; online
video; audio clip; PDF of an activity).
-At this critical time of physical distancing, we're particularly looking
for resources that parents can access online. However, we welcome other
resources as well (e.g., lists of books they can find in their local
library).
Check out the Families section here (in development):
https://www.cdss.org/resources/resource-portal/families
Submit a resource here: https://www.cdss.org/share-your-resource
With thanks!
Emily Addison
Writing from Ottawa, ON
<http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_cam…>
Virus-free.
www.avg.com
<http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_cam…>
<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
I accidentally shared this to the Organizers list on Shared Weight. I
meant to share it here, so sorry to anyone who is seeing this twice now.
Offering online caller classes on Zoom while sheltering in place has been
going pretty well. So far I've offered 6 different classes 20 times and 62
people have registered 124 times.
I have scheduled a new round of classes between May 2 and May 17, including
2 new topics ("Applause-Worthy Beginner Lessons" and "Walk-Through
Techniques for Mixed Crowds") that I haven't offered before, as well as an
intro class for dancers with no calling experience.
Unlike most caller workshops at dance weekends, these are highly structured
sessions with interactive activities and visuals. I've received lots of
great feedback so far, some of which I've incorporated into improvements
for classes I'm repeating.
They are all listed together on a calendar here:
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops
Here are the individual topics:
Walk-Through Techniques for Mixed Crowds (May 3 & May 13): Please
experienced dancers with brief walk-throughs that get newer dancers up to
speed quickly
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops-info/caller-class-walk-throu…
Applause-Worthy Beginner Lessons (May 2 & May 12): Get newer dancers
feeling capable and included quickly in smaller or larger crowds
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops-info/online-caller-class-beg…
Picking Good Dances (May 4 & May 16): Advanced skills in recognizing bad
contra choreography and honing in on collecting good dances for your
repertoire
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops-info/caller-class-good-dance…
Utilizing Variety (May 5 & May 16): Learn how to design an experiential
journey for contra dancers through choreographic and musical variety
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops-info/caller-class-variety-on…
Challenging Dancers Just Enough (May 3 & May 15): Learn exactly what makes
a dance too complex or just right for your crowd
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops-info/caller-class-complexity…
Programming and Reading Dancers (May 6 & May 17): Build a great program of
dances in advance and recognize signals on the fly to help you choose the
right dances in the moment
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops-info/caller-class-programmin…
Leading Great Community Dances (May 7 & May 17): Succeed at calling gigs
with very few or no participants who regularly attend contra dance events,
such as community dances, weddings, and family dances
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops-info/online-caller-class-com…
Calling 101 (May 2 and May 11): An intro to calling for contra dancers with
zero experience as callers:
http://portlandintowncontradance.com/workshops-info/calling-101-online
Are there topics not listed here that folks would be interested in seeing
in the future?
Please share with others who may be interested.
I hope to see some of you online soon!
Dugan Murphy
(he/him)
Portland, Maine
dugan at duganmurphy.comwww.DuganMurphy.com <http://www.duganmurphy.com/>
www.PortlandIntownContraDance.com
<http://www.portlandintowncontradance.com/>
The Country Dance Music Radio station has its first modern artist. I am happy to welcome
Chimney Swift!
Currently their tracks play at these hours: (BST/EDT/PST)
10 AM / 5 AM / 3 AM—Chimney Swift
3 PM / 10 AM / 7 AM—Chimney Swift
5 PM / 2 PM / 11 AM—Chimney Swift
11 PM / 6 PM / 3 PM—Chimney Swift
3 AM / 10 PM / 7 PM—Chimney Swift
Please listen and support the musicians by buying their music or making donations to them.
The station link is:
https://radio.contracorner.com/
<https://radio.contracorner.com/>You can listen several ways:
in your browser
in your streaming music player on a mobile device
on Twitch (with live text chat too)
in Second Life (at the virtual dance hall)
I would also appreciate if you can spread the word within your social networks, email lists, and whatever word of mouth you can! Drop me a line to let me know if you’re listening.
Stay upbeat. Stay connected. Missing you all...
\Bob Peterson
(978) 496-6731
bob(a)contracorner.com
I’m listening now. Their focus is live streaming. There’s been some good advice already.
I’ve already launched a similar effort to stream recordings provided by community dance musicians. It’s been slow trying to get musicians so for now I’m streaming public domain recordings of community dance music, with loads of traditional international, waltz, contra, and more.
You can find out more, listen, and even chat (on Twitch and Second Life), here:
https://contracorner.com/radio <https://contracorner.com/radio>
I hope you’ll listen during the day. And encourage musicians to provide fresh, modern music!
\Bob Peterson
Billerica, Massachusetts, USA
bob(a)contracorner.com
(978) 496-6731
> On Apr 14, 2020, at 10:31, Emily Addison via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> Hi fellow contra callers,
>
> You might be interested in the following webinar that Folk Alliance International is offering THIS FRIDAY on livestreaming. The webinar is primarily for professional musicians but I know some folks are running caller collective gatherings or workshops online and I think there likely will be lots of helpful information.
>
> I know some of the panelists and they are top notch (e.g., Someone from Canada's national arts centre is on the list. They are working with artists across all of Canada to make high quality livestreams from their homes.)
>
> The webinar is free.
> More info below :)
>
> Emily Addison
> Writing from Ottawa, ON
>
> FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/214039146704193 <https://www.facebook.com/events/214039146704193>
>
> <https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8984945545523426574?source=facebo…>
> Webinar registration: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8984945545523426574?source=facebo… <https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8984945545523426574?source=facebo…>
>
>
> "CommUNITY Online Episode 2 - Live Streaming: Earning a Living and Reaching Fans".
> During this webinar, viewers will learn from experienced panelists what options are available for presenting livestreamed concerts, how to promote effectively and connect with fans, what options live music venues have for presenting artists online, how to effectively set up to present an online concert, and how to generate income from livestreaming.
>
> Panelists:
>
> Crys Matthews and Heather Mae, artists and online presenters of Apart Together
> Dan Mangan, artist, co-founder of SideDoor Access
> Heather Gibson, Executive Producer, National Arts Centre (Canada)
> Jonathan Byrd, artist, creator of Shake Sugaree Residency
>
> _______________________________________________
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> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
