11 Jan
2023
11 Jan
'23
4:16 a.m.
This might be one of the 100 replies you were trying to avoid, rather
than the summary you are looking for, but here's what I do:
I categorize my dances by "signature move" -- hey for four dances,
down-the-halls, petronella dances, stars, roll-aways, wavy lines
(subdivided into short waves, long waves, rory o'mores, &
box-circulates), alemandes-&-pull-bys, contra corners, etc., plus
sections for squares, 4x4s, triplets, chestnuts, and novelty dances. I
also have a section for "just basics", which in my mind have no
signature move -- i.e., glossary dances. For me, the point is that I
don't want to do too many hey (or petronella, or down-the-hall, or,
whatever) dances in an evening, and I don't want to do two in a row.
But basic moves are in every dance, so I'm not worried about that, so I
don't have a category for moves like chains, long lines forward & back,
or circles. I do have a section for alemandes and pull-bys, but I don't
include every single dance that has an alemande in it. Good lord. It
only includes dances in which those are the *signature *of a dance -
e.g., a series of alemandes, such as a swing-through in the A and then
again in the B. (This is why I group them with pull-bys, such as
square-throughs or grand-right-&-lefts -- similar feel for which I
wouldn't want to do 2 in a row, or too many in an evening). If a dance
has 2 signature moves (e.g., a down-the-hall, and then a hey), I file it
in one section only, and then I have a "see-also" card in the other
section that lists additional dances with that move and where to find them.
Then, on each card, I make notes about the feel (flowy or bouncy; linear
or circular), and about the mood (sweet, romantic, lilting, driving,
playful, goofy, restful, super-high-energy, etc.), and when I'm
programming I make sure I have good variety for those criteria. I also
check that I don't have too many in a row with the same starting move or
ending move (i.e., avoid/for the 5th time in a row, balance and swing
your neighbor/). I also try to vary Becket vs. improper formation, and
depending on the crowd, contras vs squares or triplets or 4-face-4s. But
I don't categorize according to all those criteria because for me, they
are secondary. As I'm putting together the program, FIRST I'm
considering the signature move, so that's how I want to search.
I once tried doing a database with these various criteria so I could
search, e.g., for a hey dance that was also Becket and also goofy, but I
never used it. I really just preferred to pull out the cards for the
signature move I wanted and then just peruse them to narrow it down and
pick one.
Hope this helps.
Diane
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diane Silver
828 298-7084
diane(a)diane-silver.com
On 1/11/2023 12:44 AM, Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote:
The short version of this post is, how should I
organize my dances?
But, I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots
of confusion. My search of the list archives and web were
surprisingly spotty on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no
summary or comparison. And I'm not just asking for myself. While I've
got a whopping 15 evenings of dance calling under my belt, I'm being
called on to train some students to call for our college club, and
they're asking the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok,
low bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be
asked as, what are the different approaches to programming dances, and
what organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of
colored cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and
divorce-reconcile dances (I think those were the categories). Call
easy dances first, call a sweetheart right after the break when
they're most likely to dance with the person they came with. Save hard
for festivals. Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or
more cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my
initial system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances
with, and then have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual
calling, though what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as
has already happened a few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm
interested in hearing about anything particularly clever or efficient,
especially if it doesn't involve a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome.
I'm aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one
Facebook group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the
Caller's Box up to real-time dance selection at an event? That
presumes wi-fi, of course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical
sorting system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the
Hollerith punched card system. I've never seen it in use. Does
anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on.
For example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners,
sweetheart (keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and
drill holes near the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can
drill a stack of cards if you sandwich them between wood and clamp
them). Now, on a given card, punch out the rest of the paper between
the hole and the edge of the card for each hole the card DOESN'T
match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch out the rest of the paper
for the medium and hard holes (among others), but leave the easy hole
intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of tape over the gap
above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances,
flip the stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle
through the "easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push
through the flowy hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through
the sweetheart hole and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart
dances. If you want the medium or hard dances that are bouncy and
that separate partners, you pull first the medium and then the hard
dances, combine them, and then pull the bouncies from that set and the
separators from that third pull. And so on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you
are a real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around
the card edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until
we run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org <http://contraknights.org>
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
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