Re: [Callers] 2 questions

Ok. I'll jump in on the medley question. My guidelines for medleys are 0) Before anything else, are you comfortable calling all of the dances you're going to use in the medley as no walk thrus? Have you done so before? That might be a good place to start. 1) Contrasting first moves -- this makes it easier to get folks attention at the top of the dance -- if your first dance starts with DoSiDo, then the second one could start with a Balance and Swing (or allemande R, or something else) 2) Make sure that all of the moves needed for the dance are known by the dancers -- better still, make sure that you've actually used them (and seen that they went with no trouble) yourself earlier in the evening. I've had times that I've put a medley together, looked at it and realized that the medley had a right and left thru, and that I'd made it through the entire dance without using a R&L Thru -- I quickly changed dances for the medley 3) Make sure that the progressions work together. While it is possible to do a medley where you go from becket to improper or vice versa, I wouldn't recommend trying it until you're comfortable with medleys. Make sure that folks don't have to use the same hand twice in a row to make the progression (ie Right Hand Star to end one dance and allemande R to start the next 4) You may get the medley started and realize that 30 new dancers just got off the bus and that if you change dances when planned the whole thing is going to fall apart. If so, there's nothing wrong with just deciding to keep the same dance for the rest of the set. Let the band know, and then let it go. The dancers probably won't even notice. 5) You can also do a medley where the first dance is slightly more complicated. Walk it through, dance, switch to another nice simple dance, and then switch back to the first dance to finish. As far as the band goes 1) Give them a heads up that you want to do a medley. 2) Let them know that you'll cue the changes from tune to tune -- discuss how many time through for each tune -- you'll want an even number for the first two dances, and an odd number for the last one. That way everyone's in for each new dance, and then it ends with everyone in. ie 4-4-5 3) Don't do a medley as the last dance of the evening. Your band will thank you. The last dance of the evening, they want to pull out the stops and play some rip roaring tunes, and it's hard to do that if the caller's calling the whole time. Better to do it earlier in the evening -- maybe first dance after the break or last before, depending on the group. Example of a 2 dance medley I've used. The transition from Delphiniums to Nice Combination isn't quite as good as I'd like, but it works ok -- allemande R into B&S works ok, but not as well as I'd like. Anyone else have any other favorite medleys? Hey in the Barn A1 N B&S A2 L Chain 1/2 Hey B1 P B&S L Chain 1/2 Hey Delphiniums and Dasies A1 N All L 1.5 L Chain A2 Hey B1 P B&S B2 CL 3/4 N Allemande R 1.5 Nice Combination A1 N B&S A2 Down the Hall Turn as a couple, come back B1 CL 3/4 P Sw B2 L Chain LHS 1x This has gotten longer than planned, but I hope it helps! Jack At 03:52 PM 4/30/2008, you wrote: