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Today's Topics:

   1. "Second" ONS (Allison Jonjak)
   2. Re: "Second" ONS (Winston, Alan P.)
   3. Re: "Second" ONS (Rich Sbardella)
   4. Re: "Second" ONS (jim saxe)


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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2018 12:25:51 -0500
From: Allison Jonjak <allisonjonjak@gmail.com>
To: callers@sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] "Second" ONS
Message-ID:
        <CAK2+5bksFF_tEGH_YZcFuYn8qHJFw1BfdGagg2D5NSQJevL1Qg@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Hi all,

I hail from a rural area with no nearby dance communities. This June I held
a free community barn dance, featuring lots of Linda Leslie's "very easy
dances".  Through the magic of newspapers I was able to connect with a
string band, and we had about 25 dancers, lots of whom left their email
addresses 'so you can invite us again next time.'

I'll head home for the holidays, the band is willing and the hall is
willing, so I'm planning to host another dance. The question is: should I
prepare
-the same dances
-the same easiness-level of dances, but different actual dances
-a dance or two that uses progressions?

The dancers in June learned very quickly, and aced the proto-progressions
in both Jefferson & Liberty, and Peak Bagger.

How much of that practice in June do I expect to carry forward to
November?   Here was the program I wound up calling,
https://contradb.com/programs/76 , pardon that the calling notes are mixed
in with my followup notes. Here were the dances I had prepared:
https://contradb.com/programs/71

Thanks all in advance for your help!

--
Allison Jonjak, M.S., E.I.T.
allisonjonjak@gmail.com
allisonjonjak.com
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2018 17:31:15 +0000
From: "Winston, Alan P." <winston@slac.stanford.edu>
To: "callers@lists.sharedweight.net" <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] "Second" ONS
Message-ID: <2d0409cb-fe2f-4c66-1039-ff1c15b72b5f@slac.stanford.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

In general, I'd say to prepare mostly the same easiness-level of dances, mostly different dances, a repeat of whatever the most popular dance was, and have a couple slightly more challenging ones - with progression, etc - up your sleeve but without any emotional investment in actually using them.

Expect very little to carry over to a second dance five months later.  Maybe more facility in getting  lined up, but also (if you're lucky) they'll bring friends with no experience.

-- Alan


On 10/24/18 10:25 AM, Allison Jonjak via Callers wrote:
Hi all,

I hail from a rural area with no nearby dance communities. This June I held a free community barn dance, featuring lots of Linda Leslie's "very easy dances".  Through the magic of newspapers I was able to connect with a string band, and we had about 25 dancers, lots of whom left their email addresses 'so you can invite us again next time.'

I'll head home for the holidays, the band is willing and the hall is willing, so I'm planning to host another dance. The question is: should I prepare
-the same dances
-the same easiness-level of dances, but different actual dances
-a dance or two that uses progressions?

The dancers in June learned very quickly, and aced the proto-progressions in both Jefferson & Liberty, and Peak Bagger.

How much of that practice in June do I expect to carry forward to November?   Here was the program I wound up calling, https://contradb.com/programs/76 , pardon that the calling notes are mixed in with my followup notes. Here were the dances I had prepared: https://contradb.com/programs/71

Thanks all in advance for your help!

--
Allison Jonjak, M.S., E.I.T.
allisonjonjak@gmail.com<mailto:allisonjonjak@gmail.com>
allisonjonjak.com<http://allisonjonjak.com>




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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2018 14:31:29 -0400
From: Rich Sbardella <richsbardella@gmail.com>
To: "Winston, Alan P." <winston@slac.stanford.edu>
Cc: Shared_Weight_Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] "Second" ONS
Message-ID:
        <CAE4BujLGX==77u2bNGZvqb8SQX1BGQtE3X+SJZ2YkfnGqZPKQg@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Allison,

I am with Alan on this.  I would use several of the most well received
dances, and then add a few with a similar level of difficulty.  I would
look for variations in formations to provide variety without adding
difficulty.  Another way to add variety is by using different music,  As an
example, try a jig instead of a reel, or use a different tempo.

I began a new barn dance series last weekend in Sturbridge, MA and had a
small, but enthusiastic, crowd.  I also host a shortened series in
Stafford, CT that has grown to 60-80 dancers per event.  I usually start
with a couple of circle mixers, followed by longways, then a simple contra
or two, and some easy squares.  I insert a scatter dance occasionally.  I
also like to use a circle mixer as the last dance, as it is a great visual
affirmation of our efforts to build a community.

My experience building the Stafford Stomp community is most community level
dancers do not mind repetition from month to month, and in fact enjoy the
ability to relax and dance they know well.

I wish you the best as you go forward.
Rich



On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 1:31 PM Winston, Alan P. via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> In general, I'd say to prepare mostly the same easiness-level of dances,
> mostly different dances, a repeat of whatever the most popular dance was,
> and have a couple slightly more challenging ones - with progression, etc -
> up your sleeve but without any emotional investment in actually using them.
>
> Expect very little to carry over to a second dance five months later.
> Maybe more facility in getting  lined up, but also (if you're lucky)
> they'll bring friends with no experience.
>
> -- Alan
>
>
>
> On 10/24/18 10:25 AM, Allison Jonjak via Callers wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I hail from a rural area with no nearby dance communities. This June I
> held a free community barn dance, featuring lots of Linda Leslie's "very
> easy dances".  Through the magic of newspapers I was able to connect with a
> string band, and we had about 25 dancers, lots of whom left their email
> addresses 'so you can invite us again next time.'
>
> I'll head home for the holidays, the band is willing and the hall is
> willing, so I'm planning to host another dance. The question is: should I
> prepare
> -the same dances
> -the same easiness-level of dances, but different actual dances
> -a dance or two that uses progressions?
>
> The dancers in June learned very quickly, and aced the proto-progressions
> in both Jefferson & Liberty, and Peak Bagger.
>
> How much of that practice in June do I expect to carry forward to
> November?   Here was the program I wound up calling,
> https://contradb.com/programs/76 , pardon that the calling notes are
> mixed in with my followup notes. Here were the dances I had prepared:
> https://contradb.com/programs/71
>
> Thanks all in advance for your help!
>
> --
> Allison Jonjak, M.S., E.I.T.
> allisonjonjak@gmail.com
> allisonjonjak.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List Name:  Callers mailing list
> List Address:  Callers@lists.sharedweight.net
> Archives:  https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List Name:  Callers mailing list
> List Address:  Callers@lists.sharedweight.net
> Archives:  https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
>
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2018 12:58:15 -0700
From: jim saxe <jim.saxe@gmail.com>
To: Allison Jonjak via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>,
        "callers@lists.sharedweight.net" <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] "Second" ONS
Message-ID: <7783D5FE-FFC8-484D-A64B-C17BA80EF5B8@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Good advice from both Alan and Rich.  I agree with Rich that you could repeat more than one well-received dance from last time.

Alan wrote:

> and have a couple slightly more challenging ones - with progression, etc - up your sleeve but without any emotional investment in actually using them.

Definitely agree on the "without any emotional investment" part.  Long-term, do you have an ambition for these events to evolve into "contra" dances, or would you be happy as a clam to keep having events where facility at ending a swing side-by-side with the _____ on the left and the _____ on the right is not an important skill, so long as you have a room full of smiling dancers?

I have a few comments and questions about your notes:

The notes say "beginner's lesson (circle, Lark Raven, ...)" but the dance descriptions use "ladles" and "gentlespoons".  What terms did you actually use?  If you used "Larks" and "Ravens", did you say anything at all about their relation to traditional gender roles?  In practice how much correlation was there between what people looked like and which role they danced in?

Leaving aside the waltz and the polka, it looks like the only two dances where the roles of Lark/Gentlespoon vs. Raven/Ladle were significant were the roll away dance and Mad Scatter.

Notes on the roll away dance say "succeeded at walkthrough, weren't going to make it through the dance."  If you could tell, did the confusion seem to have to do with figuring out wha was in what role, or was it mostly about something else, such as getting from the star to the lines of four?

[Two side comments on that dance: (1) Notes say "This variation is Wade Pearson's, removing the right-left-through. ...", but the "original" version you link to doesn't have a right and left through.  It has a cross trail.  (2) Personally, I don't think it would be a great loss to drop this dance from the repertoire, regardless of the role terminology or the manner of setting up the lines of four.  I could say more on both points but don't want to go even further off topic.]

The other dance description that mentions the roles is Mad Scatter.  How did that work out in practice?  I note that it doesn't really matter which member of each pair goes into the center for an allemande or star and which one orbits, provided nobody minds who they get for new partner.  But I'm curious about what actually happened.

Notes on Mad Scatter say "Avoid a mixer last even though they voted for it."  Do you have reason to believe that people were disappointed about that?  I certainly know of many dance series where people would bristle at having a mixer as the "last" dance of the evening (even if followed by a waltz as the really last dance), but I'm wondering whether you actually sensed such bristling at your event.  Note also Rich's comment on ending a barn dance with a circle mixer.

--Jim



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