I believe that the tempo for dancing contras in the United States has to do with the style and wants of the dancers. It’s the desire to improvise and flirt which I think is an integral part of the US contra scene and is the reason for the tempo being what it is.
If you look at the contra dancing in Denmark, the tempos are much faster. Although I haven’t been there for several years they don’t improvise and they don’t do much if any flirting either. They dance very straight. My conclusion from watching them quite a bit is that slower tempos would leave them standing around which they wouldn’t find as much fun. I’ve never timed the music but I would guess it’s easily at 124 bpm or higher, definitely the same as a tempo for squares here.
Sent from my iPad
I’m a very new caller. I do pretty well, but occasionally I’ve lost my place in a dance and the dancers (of course) crash.
I won’t always be able to avoid a crash, but would like to avoid the complete crash and burn. That is, I’d like to be able to recover after I mess up, so the dancers can finish the dance. My tentative plan is below, but I’m making it up, and would love both feedback on my plan and/or other suggested methods of rescuing a dance that has gone off the rails:
I’m pretty good at knowing where we are in the music, so if I can maintain my head I’m hoping I'd be able to do an extremely simple hash call to get back to the top of the song:
I’m guessing what I’d do is say “find your partner and swing on the side” and then hash calls that amount to going nowhere (Circle or star all the way around, LL forward and back, neighbour do-si-do, partner allemande once around—others?) until 8 bars before the top of the dance (if it’s improper), then say “circle left 3 places” to get them back in the original hands-four position. Then start calling the dance at the top. Does that work? Is there some other approach you’d recommend instead?
And if it is a Becket dance, I just do the same thing but without the circle left ¾ bit at the end?
Are there other tips you have for recovering and/or for killing time waiting for the music to start over again?
Any other recommendations to keep everyone in a good mood if/when I mess up? Good self-deprecating jokes/comments?
Thanks!
Becky
Hello folks,
I sadly relay that CT square dance caller Jim DeNigris passed away last
night.
Jim was so vital to New England MWSD. He served in NECCA offices and on
many Convention Committees. Jim was a friend and he always the perfect
gentleman in all his dealings.
Rich
Maybe phrased squares can be a bit faster than contras because there is more resting (to catch your breath) in squares, waiting while the sides or heads do something...
Becky
> On Sep 21, 2019, at 4:06 PM, callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net wrote:
>
> Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2019 13:36:37 -0400
> From: Rich Sbardella <richsbardella(a)gmail.com <mailto:richsbardella@gmail.com>>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net <mailto:callers@sharedweight.net>>
> Subject: [Callers] Tempo for Squares
> Message-ID:
> <CAE4BujJAzmu=2XnBsdqTBpqGKhByXAKoGACfaF0mYRZNxszJ5A(a)mail.gmail.com <mailto:CAE4BujJAzmu=2XnBsdqTBpqGKhByXAKoGACfaF0mYRZNxszJ5A@mail.gmail.com>>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Folks,
> I am curious. Tempo for contra is often below 120 bpm. I learned to call
> squares at about 128 bpm.
> Is this significant difference the norm, and if so why?
> Rich Sbardella
> Stafford Springs, CT
Sent for Sue Songer and Kristen Falk, who aren't on Shared Weight.
You can reply here and I'll make sure they get replies, or you can reach
out directly!
--------------------------------------------------
David Kaynor project
With the assistance of others, Sue Songer is compiling a comprehensive book
on David's many and varied contributions to our dance community. The book
will include David’s original tunes, the dances he has choreographed, his
artwork, and stories by and about him. We have a good handle on the music
but are not sure that we have a complete collection of David's dances, many
of which he has not written down. Kristen "Gumby" Falk is assisting with
the dance section of the book. Here is a list of the titles of dances we
have identified thus far. If you have additional dances that David has
choreographed in your collection, would you please either photograph your
cards and/or send the text of the dances to Kristen (krfalk99(a)hotmail.com)
and Sue (songer(a)portcoll.com)?
Thank you in advance for your help on this project! (Request for David
stories will be coming later on although you can send to Sue now if you
like.)
Sue Songer and Kristen Falk
Does anyone know the source for this square?
Roll Away
A1: Heads* forward and back
Heads right and left thru
A2: Heads pass thru, cross trails; go around 2
Make lines at sides (gent, gent, lady, lady)
8 go forward and back
B1: Ladies roll away*
Gents roll away
Centers roll away
Everybody roll away
B2: Swing Pt
*Note: roll away is right-person rolls to the left, no matter the gender-role.
Thanks,
sue
Sue Hulsether
shulsether(a)mac.com
www.suehulsether.com
608-632-1267 Cell
608-629-6250 Home
P.O. Box 363
Viroqua, WI 54665
In discussions among dance callers and organizers, online and off, a variety of topics come up from time to time that might be grouped under the heading of empowering people (especially new dancers) to say "No". Some examples:
* Assuring new dancers that it's ok to decline an invitation
to dance as someone's partner, and that doing so doesn't
oblige them to give a reason nor to sit out the dance.
* Telling people that if they're not comfortable making eye
contact, they can look at, for example, the forehead or
ear of the person with whom they're swinging as a way to
avoid getting dizzy from looking at the walls.
* Teaching how to decline a partner's or neighbor's attempt
to lead a twirl or other embellishment.
Without downplaying the importance of empowering people to say "No", I'd like to know if anyone has ideas about empowering people to say "Yes" (while still empowering them to say "No"). For example:
* While I agree that nobody should feel compelled to dance
with any particular partner, I think it's nice to be in a
community where most dancers are comfortable dancing with
a variety of partners and where a single person arriving
with no regular partner of group of friends doesn't face
the prospect of being an involuntary wallflower for most
(or all) of the evening.
* While I agree that nobody should feel required to make
eye contact if they find it uncomfortable, I rather like
dancing in a community where people generally do enjoy
making more eye contact on the dance floor than they do
with random passing strangers on the street. I wouldn't
want to emphasize teaching avoidance of eye contact to
point of developing into a community where everyone
habitually looks at or past their partner's ear. (And
no, that doesn't mean I think it's ok for dancer A to
gaze at dancer B as if he meant to fall through her eyes
into her very soul while dancer B very obviously is not
responding in kind. [Stereotyped gendered pronouns
intentional, but the same point applies with any other
pair of pronouns.])
* I've sometimes heard the action borrowed from "Petronella"
described with words such as "move or spin one place to
the right." To me that seems to suggest that just walking
to the next spot around the ring is the standard version
of the figure and that spinning is an embellishment. I'd
rather suggest that the spin is standard and the leaving
it out is an adaptation for those with limited mobility,
energy, or balance.
Perhaps some of you can think of other examples.
When someone makes two remarks--call them P and Q--that seem to suggest different courses of action, it's tempting to read them as being connected by a "but" ("P but Q") and to assume that the person means to imply that whichever remark came second (that is, the one after the explicit or implicit "but") thoroughly overrides the one that came first. That's not my intention here. I'd really like to get some conversation going about helping people feel empowered to say "Yes" and ALSO helping them feel empowered to say "No". As an illustration that those need not be conflicting goals, let me mention that IMO one of the things that can most empower someone to say "Yes" is confidence that they'll be respected when they want to say "No".
Thoughts, anyone?
--Jim
Woody:
it's been many years since I danced to your calling.
Q: in your intro session, how have you got the dancers configured (circle,
long lines)?
Your comments suggest, to me, that you have them in long lines throughout.
Ken Panton
>
>
I'd like to hear from any of you who can share experience or advice about making use of music during the introductory lesson (a/k/a "new dancers' orientation", "beginners' workshop", etc.) that often precedes a regularly scheduled contradance.
What source of music do you use? (Recorded music played on a device that you control? Live music played by a musician assisting with the lesson? Music that you yourself can play on some instrument while leading the session? Your own singing of song lyrics, nonsense syllables like "la la la", or dance calls? Music that may happen to be coming from the evening's band doing their sound check at the other end of the hall? ..) How--in as much detail as you care to supply--do you use that music in your teaching? What do you think/hope your use of music contributes to the effectiveness or fun of the lesson?
I tossed out a few ideas on this topic, with much uncertainty about which ones were any good, in a message I sent on September 2 in the "Brain Dead - Need Suggestions" thread. I'm re-raising the topic here under a more descriptive Subject line in hope of getting responses from people who can offer comments based on actual experience.
Thanks.
--Jim
I have a private family dance gig with a church this weekend. In our
touching base just now, the contact brought up a request to include *some*
material that would be amenable to a couple of folks who wish to
participate but have mobility issues.
I'm seeking further detail from them to know the scope of the challenges
but thought I'd reach out to see how others have dealt with similar
situations. In my normal calling for family events, I'll often mention
alternative moves for folks who don't bend as well as they used to, etc.
but I'm guessing the needs here may be more significant.
Do you have any particular material you'd use within an otherwise standard
family/community dance context to suit mobility challenges? I know there
are things like the seated squares session at NEFFA but am hoping for
material that wouldn't require rearranging the furniture, etc. between
selections.
Thanks!
Don
