10 Sep
2013
10 Sep
'13
1:05 p.m.
I agree with others who have mentioned that squares take longer to set up
and walk through, but have less dancing time, which can lead to some
frustration by dancers who came to dance and not to spend time setting up.
I used to much prefer when a caller did two squares in a row, because of
the reduced set-up time, and particularly if one of those squares is a
mixer. But I've come to see the point JoLaine and others have made that
doing so shuts out people who want to sit out one dance and not both. In
the dance I'm involved with here in DC, it's at least a semi-official rule
not to call two squares in a row (our booker informs callers not to do so).
But my main reason for disliking squares has nothing to do with the dances
themselves, or even the greater setup time. It's that, as a musician, I
come to contra dances to hear the band play exciting, live music more than
I do to hear the caller's voice. With contra dances, this means that when
I'm dancing or playing, I want the caller to drop out as soon as possible,
and not to come back in and call the last time through, even if it's just
to end the dance with a partner swing. The end of the dance, with no
intervening voice, is the time when the band can really shine the most.
With squares, it's a totally different situation. The caller's calling
the entire time through, and the dance is as much about the calls as it is
about the music. As both a musician and a dancer, I find this pretty
unsatisfying. If I don't like the band much, or if it's a band that plays
monotonous music, then I'd just as soon dance a square as a contra. But if
it's a smoking hot New England dance band, I just don't want to hear the
caller's voice that much. I want the music to have a chance to shine. If
Crowfoot's on the stage, even when somebody who calls great squares
efficiently, like Lisa Greenleaf, announces to line up for a square, it's
pretty disappointing, and has nothing to do with how much I like that
particular square or caller.
-Dave
______
From: JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
<jolaine(a)gmail.com>
To: callers-request(a)sharedweight.net; callers(a)sharedweight.net
Sent: Monday, September 9, 2013 8:47 AM
Subject: [Callers] Calling squares at contra.
Speaking as a dancer here and not a caller, I enjoy a square now and then
but I really don't like it when the caller calls two squares back to back.
If I sat out the first one, that generally means I have to sit out the next
one too. The last time that happened in our community, one of the dancers
complained that he had driven two hours to get there and had only gotten
two dances in the second half because the caller had called two squares
back to back and took a really long time to teach both of them. In my
experience, the main reason contra dancers don't like squares is that it
takes a long time to get set up, there is a chance you will get left out if
you're slow to find a partner and then can't get enough other people to
make a square, and that it often takes more teaching time. I don't think it
has anything at all to do with the dance itself.
So my advice is to call one square in the first half and one square in the
second half and find something that can be taught quickly and is
interesting and fun. I will happily dance those squares!
JoLaine
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--
David Casserly
(cell) 781 258-2761