[Callers] Re: Unifying contra dance formats with AI

Any teacher will tell you that engaging with the material leads to mastery. It's why authentic, problem-based learning is considered better than book-learning, and it's also why, at the very least, you were assigned study guides or outlines or such when you were in school -- forcing you to re-write info from the textbook, rather than just reading it. Most of my collection is dances I collected by dancing them myself. When I was starting out, I was in deep collection mode, and kept a little notebook in my dance bag. I'd finish a dance, get my next partner, then scurry over to my notebook to jot down the dance we just did before I forgot it, then scurry back to the line before the music started. I often missed the walk-through, but I figured, if I can't dance without a walk-through, I have no business trying to be a caller. Then at home I'd transcribe the scribbles onto cards. I have no doubt that that process helped me as a new caller. I have often wondered if it's really a service to new callers when they ask to just take a picture of my card. The teacher in me wants to take the road of tough love and make them do the same work I did, but I usually let them just have it because they haven't asked for that level of mentorship. On Sun, Jan 12, 2025 at 5:01 PM Erik Hoffman via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: > From Louise Siddons: > > Also, specifically in terms of programming (which someone mentioned), > there are aspects of calling where experience is a key element of the > learning process. Shortcuts will be detrimental to the caller’s experience > even if the dancers don’t notice. > > > > From me: > > This is much like late Larry Jennings’ decision to transcribe dances > in his book, *Zesty Contras* and *Give-and-Take* with abbreviations > and in a form that was not common in the time. His thinking was people > using his books would have to think about the dance they were planning to > call had to think about the dance as they re-transcribed it. I recall the > challenge of putting dances down on a card (remember those?) (and I know > people still use cards…) from *Zesty Contras* and doing just what > Larry intended: thinking a dance through as I put it down in my > re-abbreviated cards. > > > > Cheers, > > ~Erik Hoffman > > Oakland CA > > > > *From:* Louise Siddons via Contra Callers < > contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; > *Sent:* Sunday, January 12, 2025 12:35 PM > *To:* Shared Weight Contra Callers < > contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; > *Subject:* [Callers] Re: Unifying contra dance formats with AI > > > > > > AI is resource-intensive and an environmental disaster. Using it for > trivial purposes feels worse than pointless to me. > > > > Also, specifically in terms of programming (which someone mentioned), > there are aspects of calling where experience is a key element of the > learning process. Shortcuts will be detrimental to the caller’s experience > even if the dancers don’t notice. > > > > In the spirit of slow food, might we not consider ‘slow folk dance’ as > taking a positive, sustainable position in relation to the climate crisis? > There is no actual need to make anything related to contra dancing more > efficient. > > > > (I’m reminded of the joke that dancing is a very complicated way of > going nowhere. Surely in some sense we embody the idea that the journey is > the destination?) > > > > Louise. > > (Winchester, UK) > > _______________________________________________ > > Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > To unsubscribe send an email to > contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > To unsubscribe send an email to > contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net > _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net