Chiming in as another UK-based caller. My experience is different to Colin's, I often call evenings in the UK styled as "contra dances" in which I would typically call either all contras, or contra plus a couple of squares. I'd be very unlikely to call a ceilidh dance at one of those evenings.
But, in the last couple of years, I've been asked to call a few "contra-ceilidhs" at dance series that usually just dance ceilidh dances. Then I'll do a mix of ceilidh and simple contras as well as simple squares. The biggest challenge is the swing, as ceilidh dancers tend to use symmetrical swings rather than ballroom and so often end up switching roles unintentionally in the contra dances.
Best wishes,
Charlotte Rich-Griffin
On Sun, 17 Sep 2023 07:26:50 -0700, Rich Goss via Contra Callers wrote:
> Does anyone slip in a ceilidh style dance at a contra? Some of the mixers work well at contra dances. Also,
> it's an opportunity to give new dancers brains a break. I suspect this practice is more common in the UK.
> Colin, feel free to chime in.
I'm always happy to parade my prejudices! But it's very seldom in England that I call a "contra dance". I call a
"dance", which will usually include contras, squares, Playford, modern English (from either side of the pond) and
ceilidh-style (also called "traditional English") such as Morpeth Rant or Dorset Four-hand Reel.
I am actually calling a "mainly American" dance for my local club the Hitchin Staplers on 7th October:
https://staplers.org.uk/latest.html
Originally Geoff Cubitt was booked to call - he's probably the best caller of American Squares and Contras in England -
but he had to pull out so I'll be doing a programme with a lot of American in it. But I'm still planning to call two
genuine Playford (Grimstock and The Merry Merry Milkmaids), probably four modern English - and actually no ceilidh!
Colin Hume
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