16 Dec
2009
16 Dec
'09
2:44 p.m.
I have to admit that we have a secret weapon - Mac McKeever. He's a very
accomplished caller, and president of the board, so he has both personal
authority and positional authority, and he has a long record of fairness. He
is more interested at this point in encouraging us than in discouraging us,
but he's set a few standards for us to strive for - and asks that we come up
with a personal statement of "what we are going to try and improve this
time" each time we call. It reminds us that there is stuff to fix.
M
E
On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 1:13 PM, Lindsay Morris <lindsay(a)tsmworks.com>wrote;wrote:
Could be that we just put the cubs into the rotation
too early.
Sad to trash the democratic freewheeling nature of some groups, but maybe
we
need a vetting committee - or some less formal bar to people getting up on
stage.
Lindsay Morris
Principal
TSMworks
Tel. 1-859-539-9900
lindsay(a)tsmworks.com
On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Martha Edwards <meedwards(a)westendweb.com
while
With
> >> that in
> >> mind, I'm soliciting opinions from this group-- rather than, say,
the
teaching
--
For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
wrote:
How bad would it have been to have the board
basically put its foot down
and, after one of the not-very-great evenings, suggest that the next time
that person is asked to call, they prepare just half a night, or a third
of
a night?
I'm curious - how did you "bring along" the new callers? Was there a
teacher/student relationship, or more of a peer-to-peer setup? I ask
because
we have a bunch of cubs - I'm one of them - and it's always been
peer-to-peer, with input from experienced callers only from time to time.
To
a certain extent, we critique each other. When one of us manages to screw
up, we have a friendly enough atmosphere at our Calling Parties that we
can
admit it, figure out what to do better, and move
on. We've been at it for
almost two years, and are only slowly moving into the rotation, mostly at
shared caller nights until someone is "ready", and even then, not as
often
as the regular callers.
So far, it seems to be working. I hope that we don't develop a situation
such as the one you described! We should remain on our toes, just in
case.
Interestingly, we previously had a couple of regular callers whose dances
broke down often enough that it was becoming noticeable, but after the
cub
callers started calling, it happened less often!
I'd like to think that
the
> improvement was less from the competition than from the fact that more
> people were paying attention to the callers' art, and so what had become
> somewhat routine took on renewed energy.
>
> M
> E
>
> On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 9:48 AM, Lindsay Morris <lindsay(a)tsmworks.com
> wrote:
>
> > Our dance group brought along a group of half-a-dozen "cub callers"
a
few
> years ago.
>
> It was a bad thing.
>
> After they got into the calling rotation at our weekly dance, they
never
> wanted to get off, of course.
> Our really good callers got to call less often; the new callers only
got
> to
> > call a dance once every 3 months, so they never got any better. The
> dance
> > was plagued with inexperienced and not-very-great calling for years.
> >
> > Sorry to offer problems without solutions, but this well-intentioned
> > debacle
> > has stayed on my mind. Seem like this is the place to share the
> > "cub-callers" problem.
> >
> >
> > Lindsay Morris
> > Principal
> > TSMworks
> > Tel. 1-859-539-9900
> > lindsay(a)tsmworks.com
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 10:42 AM, Delia Clark <delia_clark(a)comcast.net
> > wrote:
> >
> > > David,
> > > Let's do one of these for VT/NH! Aren't you just the guy to
organize
> > it!!
> > > ;-) OK, I would help -- how about you put me in charge of organizing
> > > supplies for the schmoozing part!
> > > Delia
> > >
> > > On Dec 15, 2009, at 9:25 PM, Katy Heine wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi, David--
> > >>
> > >> Ever since the "Ted's Triplets" marathon eight years
ago, we in
> Central
> > >> New
> > >> York have had an annual callers' gathering on different themes.
These
> have
> >> been more an opportunity to share repertoire than for older, more
> >> experienced callers to mentor younger, less experienced callers--so
> really
> >> not a parallel to what you're talking about, but maybe of interest
> anyway.
> >>
> >> The topics over the years have included dances in unusual
formations;
> >> "living room dances"
(i.e., dances for small numbers of people); the
> Gene
> >> Hubert legacy; English for contra dance callers; and calling for
> community
> >> dances, weddings, and one-night-stands. The next one (March 6) will
be
> >> "Zesty Contras," which
will be dances from Larry Jennings' first
book.
> >> (Many
> >> of us have the book on our shelves but have not actually mined it
for
the
>> gems that assuredly lie within.)
>>
>> These annual workshops are a great opportunity for the community of
>> regional
>> callers to come together to schmooze, share, and enjoy each other's
>> company.
>> I strongly encourage callers everywhere to give it a try!
>>
>> --Katy Heine
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
>> [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of David
Millstone
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 6:48
PM
>> To: Callers(a)sharedweight.net
>> Subject: [Callers] Callers' workshop
>>
>> Dear fellow dance callers,
>>
>> I have an opportunity coming up next spring to lead a day-long
workshop
> >> for
> >> dance callers. It'll be a small group, perhaps 10-12 people, with a
> range
> >> of
> >> experience. Some will have had only 2-4 years of active calling >>
others
>> may
>> have had 20 years or more. These will be folks who are comfortable
with
>> contras
>> and with traditional squares. They will know each other already.
They're
> open
to
> a wide variety of topics and teaching methods.
>
> I've been invited to address just about any topics that are near and
dear
>> to
>> me,
>> so I'm relishing this prospect.
>>
>> At the same time, I'd like not to spend an entire day on a soapbox. >>
trad.dance.callers listserv-- because this Shared Weight group
includes
>> some
>> callers on the less experienced end of the spectrum.
>>
>> So, what are topics that _you_ would like to see in a workshop?
Assuming
> >> that
> >> one already has the nuts and bolts of programming an evening, a
> >> dance,
> >> and delivering the calls in good fashion, what skills would be
useful
to
--
For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
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>
address?
>
> Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
>
> David Millstone
> Lebanon, NH
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>
> _______________________________________________
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<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
Delia Clark
PO Box 45
Taftsville, VT 05073
802-457-2075
delia_clark(a)comcast.net
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