Re: [Callers] mentorship

In your calling career, do you now or have you ever had a mentor? Yes, most definitely. If so, who was it and what specific things did they do to help you grow as a caller and a person? My mentor is David Millstone. (David, I feel like we could have a little StoryCorps moment here. Perhaps you'll chime in with your version?) Several years ago he informed me that there were a few Dartmouth students who had asked him to lead a small contra calling class, and he invited me to join. I was skeptical (why would you want to *call* a dance when you could *dance*a dance?), but I was also completely mesmerized by all things related to contra. So I asked him if it would be alright if I joined the class, just for the knowledge, without any requirement to actually do any calling. He agreed that that would be fine. Our class met regularly over the course of a couple months. The others were interested in organizing events on campus, so we mainly focused on One-Night-Stand type of dances. But obviously, the calling methodology can be taught regardless of the type of dance used. To each lesson, David would bring some sort of material. In particular I remember getting several handouts from Seth Tepfer's page<http://www.dancerhapsody.com/Calling/Handouts.html>(awesome resource, thanks Seth!). For another lesson he gave us a list of dances from a program he had created for an evening, and he asked us to organize the order we thought would be most appropriate. He also generally would bring a stack of books for us to flip through, and he definitely encouraged my decision to purchase Contra Dance Calling by Tony Parkes. I remember being surprised at the extent of contra dance calling material. Until going to these classes, I had never appreciated that different callers develop different styles of calling. One of the reasons that David has been such a wonderful mentor is that he can vocalize his particular opinion on a topic, while still presenting me with the information on opinions other callers will have on the topic. In the couple years since our class met, I ended up being the first (and possibly only?) one to actually call a dance at a public event. It is certainly a privilege to have a mentor who can recognize my fears or inhibitions and encourage me to overcome them in order to discover something I love. Part of David's advice was to start writing down the dances I like. This 'research' has been an invaluable tool, as it has given me a reason to introduce myself to so many other callers (who have sometimes attained celebrity status in my mind) in order to ask for names and authors of dances. In this way I have received so much encouragement, which has only added to my appreciation and love of the contra community. For now, I have not yet jumped off the deep end of contra dance calling, but I know that if the day comes when I choose to do so, I will have the information and resources to be able to do so satisfactorily (and I have chosen that word because I know greatness comes with practice). The encouragement and support I have received through mentorship have carried over into my non-contra-calling life as well. In the world of science academia, the ability to clearly communicate to an audience is incredibly important, as is the ability to simply be comfortable in front of an audience (which, unfortunately, I still need much practice in). Also, in a similar way to a scientist having pride in being able to trace his academic heritage back to a famous scientist, I also feel pride in my dance calling heritage, knowing I have learned from the masters. Thank you, David, for your mentorship and friendship. Both are incredibly appreciated. -Meghan ::ending sentimentality mode:: On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 3:57 PM, David Lawrence Harvey &lt;dave(a)nycbarndance.com > I was introduced to Dudley Laufman by a friend in the spring of 1994. I > attended and sat in as a musician with many dances led by him for many > years while I lived in NH. He also let me talk shop with him at his place > in Canterbury, NH, and let me borrow titles from his huge personal library > of books, tapes and CDs. He also got me my first paying gig. There's > simply too much to share via email about how helpful he was and continues > to be. > > Yours, > Dave Harvey > NYC Barn Dance > > On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 2:27 PM, Don Veino &lt;sharedweight_net(a)veino.com > >wrote: > > > I don't have a formalized single mentor but draw on the established > regular > > callers in my area (or internet extended area :) for advice and feedback. > > At least one of these callers created opportunities for me to try out > > larger venue public calling which nudged me over the hump to try doing a > > full evening on my own, which was great. > > > > BTW, one area caller just opened himself up for very public feedback on a > > recent gig via a Facebook note discussion, which included the dancers as > > well - I found to be very brave and smart, as it seems to be producing > rich > > results. > > > > -Don > > > > On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 12:02 PM, lynn ackerson &lt;callynn1(a)pacbell.net&gt; > > > > > > In your calling career, do you now or have you ever had a mentor? If > so, > > > who was > > > it and what specific things did they do to help you grow as a caller > and > > a > > > person? > > > thanks, > > > Lynn > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Callers mailing list > > > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > > > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >