Love the musical cadence of a caller.
________________________________
From: rich sbardella <richsbardella(a)snet.net>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 1:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Callers] Planned vs. "on-the-fly" call wording (was Re:
Circle & pass through as the last move of a dance)
I attended a well established open contra dance recently with at least 50% newbies. The
caller did an excellent job teaching and calling contras, but his method was more like a
square dance caller. He seldom stopped calling and had lots of descriptive words for the
dancers. Several dancers throughout the night told me how easy it was to dance to this
caller, and how good his calls were. I did not hear one complaint from the dancers, or
musicians, that he never stopped calling. Additionally, the caller went out of his way
several times to bring the attention to the excellent musicians playing beside him. The
dance was very successful, and the caller (calls) very entertaining.
There are few callers capable of delivering that kind of program, and even fewer who do.
It was a welcomed change for me, and for many of the dancers at the event.
Rich Sbardella
Stafford, CT
________________________________
From: Harold E. Watson <hwatson(a)uark.edu>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Callers] Planned vs. "on-the-fly" call wording (was Re: Circle
& pass through as the last move of a dance)
I know most our dancers are still listening because if I ever lose my place and miss-call
the next figure, half will try to do what I said (usually the beginners) and the other
half will loudly pronounce the correct move. When I do booboo, after the dance I always
compliment the dancers on their masterful recovery, even if they didn't have one.
I also try to drop out as early as practical. It's usually as switch from full
calling to single words, and finally to maybe a word once every 32 bars at a place that
may have tricky timing or to get everyone back in sync with each other.
........Circle left
.......Neighbor swing
...Long lines forward and back
...Ladies allemande right 1-1/2
To
........Circle
........Neighbor
......Forward and back
........Ladies
Harold
-----Original Message-----
From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf
Of Aahz Maruch
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 3:35 PM
To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] Planned vs. "on-the-fly" call wording (was Re: Circle
& pass through as the last move of a dance)
On Thu, Feb 13, 2014, Jonathan Sivier wrote:
I like to change around the exact words I use during a dance. In
part to keep myself and the dancers alert. Also if a given phrase
doesn't work for someone then the next time through if I say something
slightly different it may make more sense for them. Also if some part
of the dance seems to be causing problems for some of the dancers I
may change the words I'm using in order to, hopefully, help them out.
Does anyone have evidence that dancers pay attention to the caller after the first few
iterations? I certainly don't, and my limited experience as a caller indicates that
few do (if any).
--
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