Re: [Callers] idea for a longer contra medley

I danced the medley last weekend and thought it should have been longer, perhaps eight callers with eight cycles thru each dance. What do other think about this idea? Janet Levatin On May 1, 2008, at 1:47 PM, cathy jones wrote: > This is a rather long post, including background on > the NEFFA contra dance medley. > > First, it's worth considering why you want to call a > dance medley. Are you trying to test your level of > skill as a caller? Are the dancers clamoring for a > medley? Has the band asked for a challenge? The > approach you take to calling a medley depends on your > answers to these questions. > > When I created the NEFFA contra dance medley in 1984, > there was a specific reason for it. The festival had > been moved from its usual time at the end of the > school vacation week to the beginning due to religious > holidays. This meant that there were only a few hours > to set up spaces for events. We (I was program > co-chair that year) decided to have a two-day > festival, with programming running for 2 full days and > nights on Saturday and Sunday with a pre-Festival > dance Friday night. > > We hired two bands, New England Tradition and Yankee > Ingenuity, to play for the dance, and had several > callers do a few dances each. Because there would be > two bands, we decided that a break would be > unnecessary- dancers could sit out when they wanted > to. > > When I was trying to figure out how to do the > transition from one band to another, the idea of the > medley occurred to me. Some individual callers have > been calling dances for a long time, but I hadn't > experienced I'm oriented toward community building, > and saw the transition aspect of changing bands and > callers as challenging for all involved- callers, > musicians, and dancers. When I spoke with the bands. > they were very enthusiastic. > > My original thought regarding the bands was that they > would literally change places during the medley- Bob > McQuillen would start at the piano and then Peter > Barnes would slide onto the bench, etc. The band had > other ideas though. They decided they would all play > through the whole medley. > > I approached several callers to see if they were > interested in participating, and, knowing this would > be the first time, decided to work within several > guidelines. I alternated between men and women > callers to help dancers distinguish between voices. I > had the second caller call the last time through the > first dance, using that as a signal to both the > dancers and musicians that a change would be happening > the next time. I asked the bands to alternate between > jigs and reels, and they agreed enthusiastically. > > When I announced the medley, I deliberately went out > of my way to scare people off. I said it was for > experienced dancers only, there would be no > walk-through, and explained how it would work. > Because it was the first time, and I naively assumed > it would be the only time the medley was done, i > really didn't want to see it fall apart because some > couldn't get through contra corners. It was also > Friday the 13th (the dance I called, the last in the > medley, was brand new, and so titled), so I was > concerned that it wouldn't go over well. > > The rest, as the saying goes, is history. > > Comments on calling medleys yourself- > > I agree with other posters that it's important to know > your material well. The dances must have smooth > transitions, leaving dancers facing in the right > direction with the appropriate hands free for the next > figure. Left hand star to balance and swing, and > right and left through to forward and back are good > examples of this notion. > > It's not at all important to have what you think of as > challenging dances in the medley. In fact, especially > for the first time, interesting but not unusual > figures are better. If you're going to continue to > call medleys, make sure you start simple and build up. > > > Talk to the band. If it's a band that you work with > regularly, all the better, since you and they know > each other well enough to trust each other. If > they're comfortable changing tempos, fine. The > success of the medley is based on collaboration. > > Susan Elberger > Arlington, MA > > > >

_______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers