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
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
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!
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 . 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.
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! :-)