Re: [Callers] How much is too much? How little is too little?

I take a much different approach. There are far too many variables to try to attach a number to anything. The most important is how the dance is designed - and I mean each transition - not the whole dance. That is far more important than the experience level, difficulty of the dance or anything else. For example: I often call one night stands with 100% beginners. One really popular dance is the Patty Cake Polka - a fairly complicated dance for new dancers. I can call it 2 or 3 times and stop because the dance flows so well. On contras I generally stop calling one part of the dance at a time - look for the transitions that are obvious - like going into most swings - everyone knows when that is coming - so don't call it. Then one by one I drop out other calls determined by watching the dancers and see what they are doing really well. For a well designed dance - it doesn't take long to stop altogether. If I see that some of the dancers are having problems or are late for a move - I throw in a couple firm calls to try to get them to pay attention to the timing. Some dances I never stop calling - but those are usually not the most fun dances. Don't try to make rules for this. Watch the dancers - their comfort level will let you know what you can do. Mac ________________________________ From: joe micheals <joemicheals1(a)yahoo.com> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Sent: Fri, February 11, 2011 1:27:59 PM Subject: Re: [Callers] How much is too much? How little is too little? Hi Martha! My thought is 5 times through with full calls and 3 times thru with short prompts. If the band is playing a 2 tune set I might stick around after the tune switch. Sometime the excitement of a new tune will wonderfully "distract" the dancers. In an ideal world in a 3 tune set I plan on calling as much as needed thru the first tune and do short prompts a couple times through after the second tune. I like to get out as early as possible but still need to monitor how things are gathering after for example an "intoxicating" swing. The next move might be prompted with 1 word i.e. "Gents". That could be the only prompt that time thru the dance. --- On Fri, 2/11/11, Martha Edwards <meedwards(a)westendweb.com> wrote: From: Martha Edwards <meedwards(a)westendweb.com> Subject: [Callers] How much is too much? How little is too little? To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Date: Friday, February 11, 2011, 8:58 AM We had a discussion the other night - not about how many walkthroughs, but about how many times the caller should call before dropping out. Obviously, it depends. So, for the purpose of this discussion, let's assume a new-dancer to intermediate dancer to experienced dancer ratio of 1:2:1. If everyone were evenly scattered by dance level, each group of four would have two intermediate dancers, one beginner and one very experienced dancer. Let's not assume that the dancers are evenly scattered, but are slightly clumped, so that beginners do encounter each other occasionally, sometimes with only a couple of intermediate dancers to help them. Let's further assume that the dance is in the part of the country where two walkthroughs is considered appropriate - where, even if the first walkthrough goes just fine, the second one cements the learning and leaves you in a position to "dance it from here." Let's further assume that the dance lasts about nine minutes (17 times through). Here's the question: If you have taught an easy dance clearly, *and the dance appears to be going well*, how many times through the dance should you call? Once or twice with full calls ("join hands and circle to the left"), once or twice with shortened calls ("circle left") and then nothing? Or five times through with full calls, three times with shortened calls, then nothing? How much is too much? How little is too little? M E -- For the good are always the merry, Save by an evil chance, And the merry love the fiddle And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats _______________________________________________ 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 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. http://videogames.yahoo.com/platform?platform=120121