11 Jan
2023
11 Jan
'23
7:50 a.m.
Hi Joe,
The most important thing is to have a sorting system that allows you to
find a dance fast when you need it. The key elements of this system would
thus be based on how one programs and how frequently one calls. For
example, a caller who programs in advance and calls one dance per quarter
pretty much does not need to worry about a sorting system. Each dance
program can be carefully hand crafted with main dances and alternates
should the dances turn out to be particularly new or experienced in a given
night. Sorting becomes more important for callers who call frequently and
program more ad-hoc. I call about 30-40 dances per year, and lean toward
the ad-hoc programming approach, tempered by a standard slotting framework
I use that governs. So, being able to just look through a short subset of
dances for a particular slot is important for me to do on the fly. So,
"slot" is my first organizational criteria. After that, I generally use
Diane's hook categorization, but also consider the opening figures and
whether a dance works better for warm or cold weather (important
consideration for my home hall, which is not climate controlled).
I can detail my programming framework process, but this is long enough, I
think.
Hope this provides some additional insight.
Best,
Greg
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 12:44 AM Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
The short version of this post is, how should I
organize my dances? But,
I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of
confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly spotty
on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no summary or comparison. And
I'm not just asking for myself. While I've got a whopping 15 evenings of
dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students to
call for our college club, and they're asking the same question.
So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok, low
bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be asked as,
what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what
organizing systems make each of those easier?
In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of colored
cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and divorce-reconcile
dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy dances first, call a
sweetheart right after the break when they're most likely to dance with the
person they came with. Save hard for festivals. Give them variety.
But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy
sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or more
cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my initial
system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then
have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though
what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already happened a
few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm interested in hearing about
anything particularly clever or efficient, especially if it doesn't involve
a computer or tablet.
A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome. I'm
aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one Facebook
group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the Caller's Box
up to real-time dance selection at an event? That presumes wi-fi, of
course, or at least cell signal.
I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a
dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me...
I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting
system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched
card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this?
Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For
example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart
(keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near
the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if
you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card,
punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card
for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch
out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard holes (among others), but
leave the easy hole intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of
tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap.
Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip
the stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle through the
"easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the flowy
hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through the sweetheart hole
and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want the
medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that separate partners, you pull
first the medium and then the hard dances, combine them, and then pull the
bouncies from that set and the separators from that third pull. And so on.
Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are
a real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card
edges, but that would limit the writing space.
I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we
run out of cards. ;-)
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
contraknights.org
FB, Ig: Contra Knights
contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
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