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--