The amount of AI energy  used by Rick's application, compared to the amount of AI energy   in use   is many orders of magnitude less than miniscule.  Most inquiries to search engines either already, or soon will use AI

On Mon, Jan 13, 2025 at 1:37 PM Keith Tuxhorn via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

What Louise Siddons said. I couldn't agree more. Most AI is bad for the planet, and bad for its people.

And Diane's comment about engaging with the material is so important, too.

No offense, Rick. Love your calling and your dances.  But save the planet and just re-type the damn things, okay?

Keith Tuxhorn

Springfield IL

On Mon, Jan 13, 2025 at 1:12 PM Julian Blechner via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

I find the most important parts on my dance cards are less the moves, and more the liner notes, that is:

- beats of music

- when it's not obvious, which role is facing in which direction (wavy lines, etc)

- key figures I write in the top-right of my card so I can see them quickly

- the color coding of my card

None of these things are standard, and different callers have different ways not just of writing them, but understanding them.

So, a standard contra format doesn't even seem like something that's _possible_, let alone "AI" decipherable.

I also noticed the AI didn't understand "3/4" is the same as "three-quarters".

So ... it's an interesting experiment, Rick, similar to the experiment of having "AI" write a contra.

But, the experiment is so much less about results for choreographers, and much more about seeing where "AI" tech is, and isn't.

In dance,

Julian Blechner

Western Mass, USA

On Mon, Jan 13, 2025 at 1:32 PM Diane Silver via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

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@lists.sharedweight.net> 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@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2025 12:35 PM
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
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)

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