29 Apr
2008
29 Apr
'08
8:44 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
This year at NEFFA I had the privilege of calling with Lisa Greenleaf
and Bob Isaacs for the Festival Orchestra set Friday night. Both
friends
and mentors, it was fun working with them to plan the session and to
share the experience of calling a fun dance for everyone. Saturday I
was
one of the callers for the Medley. Unfortunately, I didn't have all of
my language firmly in mind when it came my turn to call and flubbed the
first time through my dance. I recovered in time to give the dancers
time to recover and it went smoothly from there. Humbling and
embarrassing in front of my fellow callers and my friends on the floor.
I once knew a tightrope walker in a circus (a professional, raised in the
family, circus performer.) He told me that in a tightrope routine, the
performer must make it look difficult and lose his/her balance once or twice
or the audience will not enjoy the act as much.
I think that a contra medley where everything goes perfectly and no one has
trouble is not going to be appreciated as much by the dancers. Part of the
fun of a medley is the insecurity of "are we going to be all right?" and the
fun of getting figuring it out when there is trouble. Chris's small blip
added some pepper to a stew that might have been a bit bland without it.
Beth Parkes