1 Aug
2021
1 Aug
'21
1 p.m.
Woody's mention of jazz brought up a deep memory for me. I was
patter-calling a square in Ann Arbor, and the fiddle player walked over to
stand very close to me. He started playing a shuffle in harmony to my
patter. I got into the dance such that all my thought processes
disappeared. It was just me, the music, and the dancers. It was a
life-changing experience for me. I say my calling shifted from left brain
to right brain that evening. I wonder if this is what other callers
experience when they call without cards. I still refer to my cards for
contras, especially at the beginning and end of a dance, but the calling
comes from deep inside me. Susan
On Sat, Jul 31, 2021 at 9:36 PM Woody Lane via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
This has been a fascinating thread, with a huge amount
of valuable
information, perspectives, and technical options.
I am impressed by those callers who can call from memory. Since for
contras I don't have a good one. (Squares seem to come naturally to my
memory; contras not so much). I still use cards. And my backup is a
potpourri of photocopies of the cards and a pile of pdf versions of them.
Although with all the ideas expressed in this thread for digital notes and
backups, I am considering expanding and trying some.
But I was thinking that, memorizing or not, using virtual or not, using
cards or not -- this is a bit like playing jazz. There's no single best way
to play jazz. Likewise, I think there are lots of ways of creating a good
evening with calling. Some rules -- like watching the dancers and reacting
to the them and the musicians -- are universal, but every caller plays the
way that works for them. All these techniques should not make a caller feel
bad or inadequate. On the contrary, they illuminate the wide array of tools
that we have access to, each in our own way to make the best of all that
jazz.
Woody
--
Woody Lane
Caller, Percussive Dancer
Roseburg, Oregon
------------------------------
On 7/28/2021 9:45 AM, Susan English via Contra Callers wrote:
As I begin to travel again, I want to leave my dance cards home and access
all my material virtually. I have 2 questions:
1. Which virtual method (or app) do you prefer for accessing your dance
instructions and notes?
2. What is your back-up plan at a dance if you can't get on the internet?
Susan [image: 🎶] [image: ☺]
330-347-8155
woosterdance.com
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--
Susan [image: 🎶] [image: ☺]
330-347-8155
woosterdance.com