4 Jan
2012
4 Jan
'12
1:45 a.m.
As a dancer, I'm always a little disappointed when the dance doesn't
end with a swing, but especially when it ends with new neighbors.
Ladies chain to left hand star is quite disappointing. I'll even go
so far as to notice the caller isn't doing it and when I see her
signal for the last time through I'll tell my neighbors and we'll make
something up. There are some dances that end with a neighbor swing,
which I'm fine with. I don't like the two standards of circle once
around or long lines because my partner is on my right and it's a
little awkward to go into a swing from there, so I'd rather do
something other than that.
As a caller, I try to always end with something interesting. If I can
make it a swing, I do, but I try to do so in a way that fits with the
dance. If the dance had a bunch of men alamande, I add a men alamande
once around and go back to your partner. If the dance has a ladies
chain, left hand star in B2, I might do a ladies alamande right and
swing your partner.
Sometimes I'll end with a petronella twirl. Another thing I do
sometimes is change something earlier. If B1 is circle and swing, I
might change it to B1) Circle; DSD B2) P bal&sw. I've even inserted
an extra no-op A2, moved A2 to B1 and B1 to B2
The other thing I do is try to consider this when planning my evening
and end halves and medleys with becket dances (well, other than the
handful that don't end with partner swing.) This gives the best of
both worlds as you can get out of the way and it ends with a partner
swing.
Chris
On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 21:00, Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing
<winston(a)slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
Callers --
Looking for opinions.
As a caller, I will usually alter (if necessary), the last dance of a medley,
the last dance of the first half, or the last dance of evening to end with a
partner swing if it doesn't work that way in the choreography. (You know, that
"This time, circle half and swing your partner" or "This time, just keep
on
swinging!" thing.)
I'll usually leave the other dances alone. They end how they end; the band
gets to crescendo and I don't have to be heard, and the dancers get something
other than utter predictability.
(As a dancer I don't like utter predictability; I begin to get a teeny bit
bored if the callers changes every dance to end with a partner swing.)
But I mentioned this to my date, and she *loves* it when the caller changes the
dance to make it a partner swing so that it feels like you're finishing with
the partner who asked you, and feels disappointed if the caller doesn't make
those changes. I mentioned the issue of stepping on the band's hot ending; as
a dancer, that meant nothing to her.
So what do y'all think? What do you do? How you do think people like it?
(Nobody's ever complained to me that I didn't alter endings enough, and I
doubt that's the kind of thing anybody complains to anybody about, but it
probably has some impact on dancers enjoyment of the evening.)
Thanks!
-- Alan
--
===============================================================================
Alan Winston --- WINSTON(a)SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056
Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025
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