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 &lt;hwatson(a)uark.edu&gt; To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; 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: 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). -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6                        http://rule6.info/                       <*>          <*>          <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers