Contra Callers

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Ralph Page 2020 Scholarship Application for Callers

by Shari Shakti

Please help spread the word regarding the request for caller & musician scholarship applicants for 32nd Annual Ralph Page Dance Weekend at UNH. Here is the application link: https://www.neffa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2020-Scholarship-Applicati… Deadline for applications is November 21, 2019. We are looking forward to a wonderful time and encourage registration for attendance, which is now OPEN! https://www.neffa.org/ralph-page/32nd-annual-ralph-page-dance-weekend-janua… Thank you so much!

5 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] [Organizers] contra dance gypsy & fuel consumption

by Paul Wilde

Hey all, This is a long email, as it includes three posts. First, I hope people don't mind, but I'm ccing, callers and musicians list here, as I think we can collectively bring about a major shift in habits w/ our concerted hive intelligence. I am including the original two posts near the top of this email, so callers/musicians list people can see where this started. PLEASE feel free to cut out the original lengthy posts when replying. First: On 10/7/19, Heitzso via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > I'm a believer that climate change is a real threat. > I'm also a believer that our culture desperately needs activities that bind people together rather than fractures them apart, and I believe contra dance is an excellent way to do that. (sharing weight, dancing with everyone, ...) > I've mentioned the issue of how do we change our contra culture to minimize our carbon footprint from traveling to non-local contra dances to my wife, Jennifer Horrocks, a few times over the years (she sews and sells contra dance dresses all over the country). > Recently Liz Burkhart (on this email's "to" list) posted on Facebook about her trying to alter her contra lifestyle to minimize her contra carbon footprint. > Cut-and-pasting from her post: >> I've spent years with a contra habit that takes me to roughly one dance weekend per month. The closest, besides our own, was 83 miles away and the furthest was 795 miles. I am acutely aware that this is an incredible amount of distance to be covered for just one weekend (sometimes a week) for a pleasurable activity. It's been weighing on me more and more, as it's becoming painfully obvious that our lifestyles aren't sustainable. My lifestyle at home is mostly pretty simple, but I feel this nagging guilt when I do something extravagant, like drive to Vermont for YDW. Although we did our best to cram up to 6 people and our stuff in a van, we still consumed a lot of fuel to make it happen. Some people flew, which consumes even more. >> I think I'd like to work on decreasing the amount of out-of-town events I go to, and try to find alternative ways to get there. Carpools are great and much better than driving solo, but we could do more. One dancer this weekend took public transit and a bicycle from DC area to Vermont. A whole band playing for a square dance weekend a few years ago biked from south (I think New Orleans?) all the way to Nashville. I think this is really admirable and more people should consider something like this. This ongoing climate change makes our world a scary place, and it will only get worse (it doesn't look like those with the power to fix it care to change the high consumption status quo). It's also becoming more common for me to have to drive distances to call contra dances, which is harder to find carpool mates for. I'm not sure what that will look like for me - I am fantasizing about a NE train/bike tour with dates far enough apart that I can make it to gigs with this slower and less convenient transportation. I'm also considering making a vow to never fly on an airplane again. Their use is so incredibly terrible for our environment. >> Has anyone been adapting their travel habits in the face of climate >> change? > I believe that we, our contra community, needs to openly start discussing this issue. I applaud Liz's public request for comment and solutions. > Sincerely, > Heitzso > http://atgaga.com Finally, my reply: Yes, this is a very worthwhile discussion. On a slightly side note, 2+ yrs ago a hydrogen station was completed at a local super market parking lot 1 mile from our house. I tried for 1 yr, writing emails and calling Stop & Shop, Toyota, Honda, and people from Air Liquide who were the ones responsible for installing the hydrogen station. I got absolutely nowhere for all this effort. I was told repeatedly by everyone I could get to talk to at both Toyota and Honda (both who make hydrogen powered cars) that there weren't stations to provide fuel to start selling these cars anywhere but in CA. To my knowledge (I live in Prov RI), there are stations near Hartford CT, Mansfield MA (20 mi. from us), Newton MA, (40 miles from us and close to Boston), and I'm sure there are others nearby that I'm not aware of. Perhaps you know of others you could add to this? CA is the only place you can buy these cars (is what I'm told). Someone mentioned OR. I called dealers there, and no luck. SO, my very dissatisfied take on all this was that the industry (car makers, etc) are doing worse than just dragging their feet on switching to non-carbon based fuel alternatives. It pisses me off no end (esp having a station 1 mile from home). But honestly I don't know where to take this from here. After all this effort, we switched out from a Toyota Echo ('05) which had been getting just under 40 mpg for over 10 yrs, to a Prius, now getting 55+mpg overall, but I'm still not happy about the carbon footprint. Biking is great, (but I'm afraid our household is a little to old for that now), and public transportation is also a great alternative. However, just for an example, I believe there is no public transportation that will take you into Concord MA, where the Scout House is, and where there is dancing at least 10X/mo. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. So I'd love to hear from others and apologize for this slightly lengthy rant, but for one, I would LOVE to see hydrogen become the rule of the highways. Their exhaust is water, and being lighter than air, any leaks would go up, and not spread fire across the landscape, as gasoline would do, should there be an accident. Oh, and the Hindenberg? All that black smoke and all the fire after the first few seconds was due to diesel to run the engine and the canvas bag. Grrr!!!:-) These lists rock, Paul

5 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] Callers Digest, Vol 66, Issue 2

by Liz Burkhart

I love the wider conversation this has generated! (Thanks Heitzso for sharing my original post.) I also discovered that on long trips, my mileage went from around 45-48 on the highway to closer to 53 MPG when I just drove the speed limit - it'd probably be even better if I kept it at 55. It makes for a more relaxed drive if I give myself tons of time to go a moderate speed (and stop for breaks for a little hike or lunch). I made my automobile purchase with fuel economy in mind - I drive an 04 Jetta TDI 5-speed, can't afford a Prius! My mechanic friend advised me on this, as electric cars and hybrids need batteries replaced more often, and those are built from materials mined unethically in terms of often using slave/child/unfairly paid labor as well as it being devastating for the environment from where its sourced. As for Dance Gypsy (which btw is not a word I use to describe myself), I think the bigger question is, why do we celebrate the people who drive or fly the furthest to get to events all across the country, and indeed the world, without taking into consideration their carbon footprint? I get the joys and benefits of traveling for dance, I do it all the time. But I wonder - how many others feel that it's unsustainable? On Tue, Oct 8, 2019, 1:32 AM <callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > callers-owner(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: [Organizers] contra dance gypsy & fuel consumption > (Paul Wilde) > 2. Re: [Organizers] contra dance gypsy & fuel consumption > (Mac Mckeever) > 3. Re: [Organizers] contra dance gypsy (Becky Liddle) > 4. Re: [Organizers] contra dance gypsy (Mac Mckeever) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2019 14:54:51 -0400 > From: Paul Wilde <zenyente(a)gmail.com> > To: "Heitzso <" <heitzso(a)growthmodels.com>, > organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net, callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > , > musicians(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Subject: Re: [Callers] [Organizers] contra dance gypsy & fuel > consumption > Message-ID: > < > CACyeUsMm8qihAKH3OiCV91xCQv6xcRRR+UPmbxo7g8dH-9bOeg(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > Hey all, > > This is a long email, as it includes three posts. > > First, I hope people don't mind, but I'm ccing, > callers and musicians list here, as I think > we can collectively bring about a major shift > in habits w/ our concerted hive intelligence. > > I am including the original two posts near the top of > this email, so callers/musicians list people can > see where this started. PLEASE feel free to > cut out the original lengthy posts when replying. > > First: > > On 10/7/19, Heitzso via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > wrote: > > I'm a believer that climate change is a real threat. > > > I'm also a believer that our culture desperately needs activities > that bind people together rather than fractures them apart, and > I believe contra dance is an excellent way to do that. > (sharing weight, dancing with everyone, ...) > > > I've mentioned the issue of how do we change our contra culture > to minimize our carbon footprint from traveling to non-local contra > dances to my wife, Jennifer Horrocks, a few times over the years > (she sews and sells contra dance dresses all over the country). > > > Recently Liz Burkhart (on this email's "to" list) posted on Facebook > about her trying to alter her contra lifestyle to minimize her contra > carbon footprint. > > > Cut-and-pasting from her post: > > >> I've spent years with a contra habit that takes me to roughly one > dance weekend per month. The closest, besides our own, was 83 miles > away and the furthest was 795 miles. I am acutely aware that this is an > incredible amount of distance to be covered for just one weekend (sometimes > a week) for a pleasurable activity. It's been weighing on me more and more, > as it's becoming painfully obvious that our lifestyles aren't sustainable. > My > lifestyle at home is mostly pretty simple, but I feel this nagging guilt > when I do something extravagant, like drive to Vermont for YDW. Although > we did our best to cram up to 6 people and our stuff in a van, we still > consumed a lot of fuel to make it happen. Some people flew, which consumes > even more. > > >> I think I'd like to work on decreasing the amount of out-of-town events > I go to, and try to find alternative ways to get there. Carpools are great > and much better than driving solo, but we could do more. One dancer this > weekend took public transit and a bicycle from DC area to Vermont. A whole > band playing for a square dance weekend a few years ago biked from south > (I think New Orleans?) all the way to Nashville. I think this is really > admirable and more people should consider something like this. This > ongoing climate change makes our world a scary place, and it will only get > worse (it doesn't look like those with the power to fix it care to change > the high consumption status quo). It's also becoming more common for me to > have to drive distances to call contra dances, which is harder to find > carpool mates for. I'm not sure what that will look like for me - I am > fantasizing about a NE train/bike tour with dates far enough apart that I > can make it to gigs with this slower and less convenient transportation. > I'm also considering making a vow to never fly on an airplane again. Their > use is so incredibly terrible for our environment. > > >> Has anyone been adapting their travel habits in the face of climate > >> change? > > > I believe that we, our contra community, needs to openly start discussing > this issue. > I applaud Liz's public request for comment and solutions. > > > Sincerely, > > Heitzso > > http://atgaga.com > > Finally, my reply: > > Yes, this is a very worthwhile discussion. > > On a slightly side note, 2+ yrs ago a hydrogen station was completed > at a local super market parking lot 1 mile from our house. > > I tried for 1 yr, writing emails and calling Stop & Shop, Toyota, Honda, > and people from Air Liquide who were the ones responsible for installing > the hydrogen station. I got absolutely nowhere for all this effort. > I was told repeatedly by everyone I could get to talk to at both > Toyota and Honda (both who make hydrogen powered cars) > that there weren't stations to provide fuel to start selling these > cars anywhere but in CA. To my knowledge (I live in Prov RI), > there are stations near Hartford CT, Mansfield MA (20 mi. from us), > Newton MA, (40 miles from us and close to Boston), and I'm sure > there are others nearby that I'm not aware of. Perhaps you know > of others you could add to this? > > CA is the only place you can buy these cars (is what I'm told). > Someone mentioned OR. I called dealers there, and no luck. > > SO, my very dissatisfied take on all this was that the industry > (car makers, etc) are doing worse than just dragging their feet > on switching to non-carbon based fuel alternatives. It pisses > me off no end (esp having a station 1 mile from home). But > honestly I don't know where to take this from here. > > After all this effort, we switched out from a Toyota Echo ('05) > which had been getting just under 40 mpg for over 10 yrs, to > a Prius, now getting 55+mpg overall, but I'm still not happy > about the carbon footprint. > Biking is great, (but I'm afraid our household is a little to > old for that now), and public transportation is also a great > alternative. However, just for an example, I believe there > is no public transportation that will take you into Concord MA, > where the Scout House is, and where there is dancing at least > 10X/mo. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. > > So I'd love to hear from others and apologize for this slightly > lengthy rant, but for one, I would LOVE to see hydrogen become > the rule of the highways. Their exhaust is water, and being lighter > than air, any leaks would go up, and not spread fire across the landscape, > as gasoline would do, should there be an accident. Oh, and the > Hindenberg? All that black smoke and all the fire after the first few > seconds was due to diesel to run the engine and the canvas bag. > Grrr!!!:-) > > These lists rock, > Paul > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2019 19:07:13 +0000 (UTC) > From: Mac Mckeever <macmck(a)ymail.com> > To: "Heitzso <" <heitzso(a)growthmodels.com>, > organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net, callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net, > musicians(a)lists.sharedweight.net, Paul Wilde <zenyente(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Callers] [Organizers] contra dance gypsy & fuel > consumption > Message-ID: <960702987.4902764.1570475233043(a)mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > These are some really important things to consider.? There are easy ways > to reduce our carbon footprint without avoiding travel > Carpools are wonderful - more efficient and a great opportunity to bond > with other dancers > There are lots of more fuel efficient cars that make a real difference.? > Outside out local dances it is starting to look like a Prius dealer's lot - > those get near 50 mpg.? All electric or plugable hybrids do even better - > but are relatively new and expensive right now.? Trains and buses take a > little planning but better for the environment.. > only slightly related question:? Why is it offensive to call a dance > figure a gypsy but not offensive to be a dance gypsy? > Mac McKeever > On Monday, October 7, 2019, 01:55:01 PM CDT, Paul Wilde via Organizers > <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > Hey all, > > This is a long email, as it includes three posts. > > First, I hope people don't mind, but I'm ccing, > callers and musicians list here, as I think > we can collectively bring about a major shift > in habits w/ our concerted hive intelligence. > > I am including the original two posts near the top of > this email, so callers/musicians list people can > see where this started.? PLEASE feel free to > cut out the original lengthy posts when replying. > > First: > > On 10/7/19, Heitzso via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > wrote: > > I'm a believer that climate change is a real threat. > > > I'm also a believer that our culture desperately needs activities > ? that bind people together rather than fractures them apart, and > ? I believe contra dance is an excellent way to do that. > ? (sharing weight, dancing with everyone, ...) > > > I've mentioned the issue of how do we change our contra culture > ? to minimize our carbon footprint from traveling to non-local contra > ? dances to my wife, Jennifer Horrocks, a few times over the years > ? (she sews and sells contra dance dresses all over the country). > > > Recently Liz Burkhart (on this email's "to" list) posted on Facebook > ? about her trying to alter her contra lifestyle to minimize her contra > ? carbon footprint. > > > Cut-and-pasting from her post: > > >> I've spent years with a contra habit that takes me to roughly one > dance weekend per month. The closest, besides our own, was 83 miles > away and the furthest was 795 miles. I am acutely aware that this is an > incredible amount of distance to be covered for just one weekend (sometimes > a week) for a pleasurable activity. It's been weighing on me more and more, > as it's becoming painfully obvious that our lifestyles aren't sustainable. > My > lifestyle at home is mostly pretty simple, but I feel this nagging guilt > when I do something extravagant, like drive to Vermont for YDW. Although > we did our best to cram up to 6 people and our stuff in a van, we still > consumed a lot of fuel to make it happen. Some people flew, which consumes > even more. > > >> I think I'd like to work on decreasing the amount of out-of-town events > I go to, and try to find alternative ways to get there. Carpools are great > and much better than driving solo, but we could do more. One dancer this > weekend took public transit and a bicycle from DC area to Vermont. A whole > band playing for a square dance weekend a few years ago biked from south > (I think New Orleans?) all the way to Nashville. I think this is really > admirable and more people should consider something like this. This > ongoing climate change makes our world a scary place, and it will only get > worse (it doesn't look like those with the power to fix it care to change > the high consumption status quo). It's also becoming more common for me to > have to drive distances to call contra dances, which is harder to find > carpool mates for. I'm not sure what that will look like for me - I am > fantasizing about a NE train/bike tour with dates far enough apart that I > can make it to gigs with this slower and less convenient transportation. > I'm also considering making a vow to never fly on an airplane again. Their > use is so incredibly terrible for our environment. > > >> Has anyone been adapting their travel habits in the face of climate > >> change? > > > I believe that we, our contra community, needs to openly start discussing > this issue. > I applaud Liz's public request for comment and solutions. > > > Sincerely, > > Heitzso > > http://atgaga.com > > Finally, my reply: > > Yes, this is a very worthwhile discussion. > > On a slightly side note, 2+ yrs ago a hydrogen station was completed > at a local super market parking lot 1 mile from our house. > > I tried for 1 yr, writing emails and calling Stop & Shop, Toyota, Honda, > and people from Air Liquide who were the ones responsible for installing > the hydrogen station.? I got absolutely nowhere for all this effort. > I was told repeatedly by everyone I could get to talk to at both > Toyota and Honda (both who make hydrogen powered cars) > that there weren't stations to provide fuel to start selling these > cars anywhere but in CA.? To my knowledge (I live in Prov RI), > there are stations near Hartford CT, Mansfield MA (20 mi. from us), > Newton MA, (40 miles from us and close to Boston), and I'm sure > there are others nearby that I'm not aware of.? Perhaps you know > of others you could add to this? > > CA is the only place you can buy these cars (is what I'm told). > Someone mentioned OR.? I called dealers there, and no luck. > > SO, my very dissatisfied take on all this was that the industry > (car makers, etc) are doing worse than just dragging their feet > on switching to non-carbon based fuel alternatives.? It pisses > me off no end (esp having a station 1 mile from home).? But > honestly I don't know where to take this from here. > > After all this effort, we switched out from a Toyota Echo ('05) > which had been getting just under 40 mpg for over 10 yrs, to > a Prius, now getting 55+mpg overall, but I'm still not happy > about the carbon footprint. > Biking is great, (but I'm afraid our household is a little to > old for that now), and public transportation is also a great > alternative.? However, just for an example, I believe there > is no public transportation that will take you into Concord MA, > where the Scout House is, and where there is dancing at least > 10X/mo.? Correct me if I'm wrong on this. > > So I'd love to hear from others and apologize for this slightly > lengthy rant, but for one, I would LOVE to see hydrogen become > the rule of the highways.? Their exhaust is water, and being lighter > than air, any leaks would go up, and not spread fire across the landscape, > as gasoline would do, should there be an accident.? Oh, and the > Hindenberg?? All that black smoke and all the fire after the first few > seconds was due to diesel to run the engine and the canvas bag. > Grrr!!!:-) > > These lists rock, > Paul > _______________________________________________ > Organizers mailing list > Organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/organizers-sharedweight.net > >

5 years, 1 month

Our collective & individual ways of reducing our carbon footprint

by Paul Wilde

Hello all, Changing the subject line to reflect the topic of discussion. Thank you, and please think and contribute if you can. This could be a game changer. Kind regards, Paul If people want to revisit the use of words, please reflect that on a different thread.

5 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] [Organizers] contra dance gypsy

by Mac Mckeever

Sorry - I did not mean to hijack this thread with discussion of gypsies - just found it curious that the term 'dance gypsy' was used in the subject line. I have not heard of anyone addressing that usage. Please return to the original discussion Mac On Monday, October 7, 2019, 02:46:21 PM CDT, Masha Goodman Crawford <mashagoodman(a)yahoo.com> wrote: Becky - Excellent answer. The first time I heard the term "gypsy" for the dance move, I happened to be living among Roma in Europe and was back in the states on a short visit.The part that seemed particularly offensive to me was that the move was taught with the emphasis on gazing flirtatiously into the other dancer's eyes - something that would have been absolutely taboo among the people I had been travelling with. I suppose the name came from someone's mental image of a Flamenco dancer circling, and some idea that Gypsy = Flamenco? who knows. I discovered, much to my dismay, that many of my well-educated American friends thought "Gypsies" were just a fictional group or general term for folks who travel, hence the "dance gypsy" slang. They are a proud and very real ethnic group with a centuries-old language, customs, and a long history of being marginalized and persecuted.In your mind, take any other group with a similar history, and substitute it: Would you teach dancers to do a "Xxx", and tell them that it means to behave a certain way with strangers? (Becky gave one good example, I can think of others as well.)Can we just DROP the term "gypsy" altogether, please?- Masha(dancing and calling since 1978) _______________________________________________ List Name: Callers mailing list List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/

5 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] What can you do.....?

by Bill Baritompa

Hi Becky, John and all, I think it is slightly more complex. Have a look at the young dancer here https://youtu.be/sFVToeQdCPY?t=385 She does not look awkward and the flow is good. Although the dancers are moving to the person on their right's spot, they are not turning to the right since they balance forwards and back first. The young dancer steps forward with her right foot as she starts the anti clockwise spin. A lot has to do with convention and familiarity. Consider a right and left thru. Which is more natural following by Circle Left or Circle Right? Cheers, Bill On 1/10/2019 9:18 a.m., Becky Liddle via Callers wrote: > because you’re _/already turning to your right/ _to take that person’s place https://youtu.be/sFVToeQdCPY?t=379

5 years, 1 month

What can you do.....?

by tom hinds

Alan, You raise an interesting question. After I’ve had time to sleep on it, I’ve come up with some other issues to raise and.discuss. I’m curious if you have a beginning workshop before the dance. In my opinion the skills needed for a new dancer to not only survive their first dance but to actually enjoy it are many And that means having a beginning session that approximates as close as possible the dance itself. In your email you mention larks and ravens. If you do have a beginning workshop, are the newbies given the opportunity to practice/react to their new titles? Not having that opportunity to practice reacting to their new titles may cause a bit of confusion on the dance floor. Tom

5 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] What can you do.....?

by K Panton

I think that whole "momentum" topic is very useful and, in my experience, aside from the occasional reference in a walk-through it is typically left for the dancer to connect the dots on their own. It goes hand in hand with awareness of transitions (i.e. the connecting tissue, that we don't often teach, between the figures, that we do teach), I think. (I sometimes think - not really - I'm the only one who can enjoy a lovely transition as much as a lovely figure) Not sure how one can incorporate yet another teaching point into a beginner session but I've often thought that a regular "tips" session of, perhaps, 10 minutes during the break - for those interested - would be a good time for such things in a community's dance schedule. I'd be curious to hear what other communities do by way of well-received teachable moments (apart from quick, targetted style points from the caller during the walk-through). Ken Panton On Sun., Sep. 29, 2019, 18:02 , <callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > callers-owner(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. What can you do.....? (tom hinds) > 2. Re: What can you do.....? (Winston, Alan P.) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2019 08:44:38 -0400 > From: tom hinds <tomthecaller(a)yahoo.com> > To: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Subject: [Callers] What can you do.....? > Message-ID: <8757E3F3-E880-4101-9CF8-5A05A244699B(a)yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > Alan, > > You raise an interesting question. After I?ve had time to sleep on it, > I?ve come up with some other issues to raise and.discuss. > > I?m curious if you have a beginning workshop before the dance. > > In my opinion the skills needed for a new dancer to not only survive their > first dance but to actually enjoy it are many And that means having a > beginning session that approximates as close as possible the dance itself. > > In your email you mention larks and ravens. If you do have a beginning > workshop, are the newbies given the opportunity to practice/react to their > new titles? Not having that opportunity to practice reacting to their new > titles may cause a bit of confusion on the dance floor. > > Tom > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2019 19:37:06 +0000 > From: "Winston, Alan P." <winston(a)slac.stanford.edu> > To: "callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net" <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>, > tom hinds <tomthecaller(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: [Callers] What can you do.....? > Message-ID: > < > DM5PR07MB403868A0F8945FE5D7B411F7F2830(a)DM5PR07MB4038.namprd07.prod.outlook.com > > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > Tom -- > > It's possible, if not likely, that what I'm calling "seems to have no > sense of flow" has different causes for different people at different > times. I've definitely seen it happening at gents/ladies dances as well as > at larks/robins dances as well as at English dances. When I lead a > beginner session at a larks/robins dance I introduce role names when > teaching the swing, emphasize that larks open on the left, ravens/robins on > the right, and do a circle mixer that's just into the center and back, > swing the next etc, repeating the larks left robins right thing. So they > get to hear the role name a lot. > > Of course new comers often take quite a while to get sorted regardless. > Last Sunday I called a single contra dance at a party - the party honored a > queer activist who also liked contra dancing, so the honoree wanted there > to be a dance, although hardly anybody at the party had done it before. > Did a Haste-to-the-Wedding variant which only had a partner swing, felt no > need to use any role names at all (beyond partner and neighbor) and every > foursome one couple was in spent about 6 of the 8 beats available to do a > right hand star getting the star organized. I couldn't see what was going > on, but they'd pass through and circle on time, and then their foursome > would be huddled like the Peanuts kids around the sad little tree in the > Christmas special and then a star would start moving. > > (This isn't an example of a "no sense of flow" problem, and I didn't see > any of that at that event.) > > What I'm talking about here is that there's choreography that seems fairly > inevitable - if you're going to circle left into a half-poussette isn't the > probable direction of the half-poussette pretty obvious, or if you did a > clockwise half poussette into a mad robin why should you even have to use a > role name to say who goes through the middle first? Getting it wrong > requires fighting your momentum - and some people will do that. [Although > if they're generally tentative, or late, or executing one call and stopping > and then executing the next call, then they don't have appropriate momentum > anyway.] > > -- Alan > > > ________________________________ > From: Callers <callers-bounces(a)lists.sharedweight.net> on behalf of tom > hinds via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2019 5:44 AM > To: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > Subject: [Callers] What can you do.....? > > Alan, > > You raise an interesting question. After I?ve had time to sleep on it, > I?ve come up with some other issues to raise and.discuss. > > I?m curious if you have a beginning workshop before the dance. > > In my opinion the skills needed for a new dancer to not only survive their > first dance but to actually enjoy it are many And that means having a > beginning session that approximates as close as possible the dance itself. > > In your email you mention larks and ravens. If you do have a beginning > workshop, are the newbies given the opportunity to practice/react to their > new titles? Not having that opportunity to practice reacting to their new > titles may cause a bit of confusion on the dance floor. > > Tom > > > _______________________________________________ > List Name: Callers mailing list > List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/ >

5 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] Callers Digest, Vol 65, Issue 18

by tom hinds

Call dances where the dancers have physical contact as much as possible I.e. circles allemandes etc. Avoid moves like mad robin and heys. Change heys to heys with hands etc. Sent from my iPad > On Sep 27, 2019, at 4:06 PM, callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net wrote: > > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > callers-owner(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. What can you do as a caller to help people on the floor who > clearly have no sense of the flow of a dance? (Winston, Alan P.) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2019 20:40:07 +0000 > From: "Winston, Alan P." <winston(a)slac.stanford.edu> > To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> > Subject: [Callers] What can you do as a caller to help people on the > floor who clearly have no sense of the flow of a dance? > Message-ID: > <DM5PR07MB40384E35F4585353A59A01A5F2860(a)DM5PR07MB4038.namprd07.prod.outlook.com> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > What do you as a caller to help people on the floor who clearly have no sense of the flow of the dance? (Sometimes you see people who will absolutely fight the flow of the dance to go the wrong way / do the wrong thing; there are others who are just sufficiently tentative about every figure that they've arrived at this figure late or with no useful momentum, or maybe they take so long to process a prompt that they'e dumped all their momentum by the time they're ready to move. ) How do you help those people? > > Who goes through the middle first in a Mad Robin was the example that made me think about this , but there are also questions like "coming out of the circle left which direction do the larks orbit while the robins allemande and which hand do the robins allemande with?" where answers seem inevitable but aren't. > > If you see people who are confused about the answers to these questions where the flow of the dance should answer them there's certainly always the possibility of continuing to prompt with the answers, but that's not really helping to develop an important skill I think is central to satisfying contra dance. > > -- Alan >

5 years, 1 month

What can you do as a caller to help people on the floor who clearly have no sense of the flow of a dance?

by Winston, Alan P.

What do you as a caller to help people on the floor who clearly have no sense of the flow of the dance? (Sometimes you see people who will absolutely fight the flow of the dance to go the wrong way / do the wrong thing; there are others who are just sufficiently tentative about every figure that they've arrived at this figure late or with no useful momentum, or maybe they take so long to process a prompt that they'e dumped all their momentum by the time they're ready to move. ) How do you help those people? Who goes through the middle first in a Mad Robin was the example that made me think about this , but there are also questions like "coming out of the circle left which direction do the larks orbit while the robins allemande and which hand do the robins allemande with?" where answers seem inevitable but aren't. If you see people who are confused about the answers to these questions where the flow of the dance should answer them there's certainly always the possibility of continuing to prompt with the answers, but that's not really helping to develop an important skill I think is central to satisfying contra dance. -- Alan

5 years, 1 month

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