Re: [Callers] Medleys

An experienced caller once told me that medleys are useful is when there aren't a lot of dancers, maybe towards the end of an evening. It helps keep a dance interesting, and you can run it longer. I've tried this and it works well. This past summer, I had the pleasure of sharing the bill at the dance festival with Nils Fredland. One of the workshops was an hour long medley, and I learned a lot about medleys from Nils. Before that, I had put dances together based on formation (becket or improper) and the first moves of the dances being similar. But Nils showed me how to change from improper to Becket so you can use both kinds of dances. Basically, it means looking at the beginning moves of each dance, and the end moves. With enough attention to those areas, it became easy to move from one formation to the other. For example, let's say you are dancing in Becket, and the last move is a partner balance and swing. If you can find an improper dance that begins with a circle left one time around and swing your neighbor (like Roll in the Hey), you could change that move, JUST THE FIRST TIME THROUGH THE DANCE, to a circle left three places and swing your neighbor. That way, from the partner balance and swing, you would move everyone to the same side of the set as their neighbor for a swing. Once I began looking at my dances with that goal in mind, I found many more possibilities. It takes some creativity on the part of the caller, but for me, that is one of the things I like about it. On another note, and while I have your "ears", I have a question. As callers, if you feel you are losing your voice, or you have a cold, is there anything you have found that can help clear your throat? Thanks.