[Callers] Getting gigs

Hi all, Interesting discussion. I've excerpted some of these emails (stripping names and email addresses) and sent the question on to the organizers list. I could understand feeling frustrated with a desire to have more gigs than one is getting. But I also can see the point of the organizers, whose first responsibility is not necessarily to cultivate growth in the caller/musician community but is rather to run a series that meets the expectations of the dancers and the organizers themselves. I am a caller who also is a founding co-organizer of our local series. We have a certain mission and standards for skill/expertise/style of performers. Ours is one of those with only 12 slots per year, and I generally call about half of those. This leaves 6 caller slots and 12 band slots. And frankly, that's not a lot of room for "giving someone a chance" (given the aforementioned responsibility to dancers/organizers over caller/musician cultivation.) That said, our committee does support caller/musician growth in other ways. We have an open, all-comers band for our community dance (modeled on bands I'd witnessed with David Kaynor's All-Comers Band dances in western Massachusetts and The Lamprey River Band's open stage policy in Dover, NH) We also do some homework, asking around about bands who come to us wanting to be booked (checking with trusted organizer colleagues or other dancers, listening to demo recordings, going with our gut feelings, etc.) and have sometimes booked bands that were new to us. We have run additional dances in our hall (on off nights) including one for a group of developing callers in Maine, in conjunction with a short workshop/discussion the next day. As a caller I have occasionally offered a slot in my program to developing callers who I think have particular promise. (Which is to say, they seem like they might be becoming a caller I could stand behind - a subjective analysis to be sure.) So, back to your question, as a new caller I benefited from open mic and multi-caller nights as well as dance camps. In my experience it was most important to develop trusted relationships with mentors and colleagues. As has been said, they should be people who are willing to give you honest feedback on your calling (and from whom you are willing to receive such honest feedback) and given this, they will be more likely to refer you for gigs that they can't do, or to vouch for you as references, etc. I've played both roles, as mentee/colleague and mentor/critic. Good for all concerned. And I agree completely with Seth's pithy comment. Excruciating to listen to recordings or to watch video, but enlightening and invaluable. And finally, I'd say that as I've grown more as a caller, I've found myself having just as much fun calling for family/community/school/small dances with clueless clientele as I do calling for the hot urban-style dances with highly skilled clientele. I'd caution anyone against dismissing the delights and satisfactions of the former in favor of the glory of the latter. Chrissy Fowler Belfast, ME _________________________________________________________________ See what people are saying about Windows Live. Check out featured posts. http://www.windowslive.com/connect?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_connect2_082008