[Callers] Dance Debrief

So, I started writing this out for myself, just to write out some of my thoughts about the dance -- what went well, what didn't, what I needed to think about. Once I got it done, I thought there might be some folks out there who would be interested in reading (or at least skimming) some of this.... Usually I just mull over a dance afterwards, sometimes talking it out with another dancer. This is the first time I've tried to write things out. It's kinda long, so feel free to ignore it if you're not interested. If you would be interested in helping me troubleshoot a walk through, but don't want to deal with it all, I would be interested in any thoughts that you might have on teaching "Happy as a Warm Pig in Cold Mud" -- it's the first dance I talk about in detail. If you don't want to plow thorough the rest, just have a look at it -- start at the bold face text below. Jack Here goes..... Just called a dance at the Greensboro (NC) Grange this evening. We had a relatively small group -- probably in part because it was a first Saturday and so we didn't get the folks coming over from the Triangle, never getting above two lines (but never having to go to just one line either!). The band was Skylark (Paul Fackler on fiddle, Marilyn Hartman on piano and Colin Cannell on percussion and mouth harp). Overall, I was pretty happy with the program I called, but I probably did try to do 1 too many more involved dances later in the evening. First half: The first part of the evening was mostly glossary dances, adding in a Hey by the 3rd dance of the evening. * Greetings, by Tori Berone -- a nice simple dance, with Long Lines after both of the swings, which helps remind the dancers to stop swinging and move on without my having to call for the whole time * Summer Sunshine, by Paul Balliet - starts and ends in the same short wavy lines, introduces Ladies Chain * Flirting Attempt, by Marian Hepburn - first Hey of the evening, otherwise, a pretty simple dance * Salmanella Evening by Steve Zakon Anderson - brings in Petranella Spins, pretty heavy on allemandes - another great set of tunes - a set of rip roaring french canadian tunes with both foot percussion and drum * After the Flu, by Dean Snipes - a down the hall dance which ends with a ladies chain into a circle right into (the top of the dance which is a) circle left with new neighbors. We did it to a nice set of smooth jigs and once people got the hang of the transition, it went well. I really love that transition -- circle right into circle left with new folks. Inpatient readers, please start here!! I ended the first half with Happy as a Warm Pig in Cold Mud. I've been playing with how I want to teach this one, and I'm still not happy with what I've got, though Eileen gave me some good ideas for things to try next time (probably when I call at Glen Echo next week) So, the dance is: Happy as a Warm Pig in Cold Mud (or in the winter Happy as a Cold Pig in Warm Mud -- I'm actually not sure which is the original title....) Mike Boershig Improper A1 N B&S A2 Men Allemande L 1.5 P Allemande R 1.5 B1 Leave your partner, Left Hand Star 1x (theoretically with neighbor, shadow and shadow's neighbor) Back to your partner, Swing B2 Circle Left 3/4 Balance the Ring California Twirl So, as you would guess, the B1 is the tricky bit. One of the fun things about this dance is that it doesn't matter which way you go for the star -- it helps if you and your partner go in different directions, but even that doesn't really matter -- as long as you go somewhere, turn a star and then swing your partner. Because of that, it's a very resilient dance. That being said, what I discovered tonight was that it can still be confusing for folks even when it doesn't fall apart -- that's more or less what happened tonight. The dance kept going, and I was able to stop calling, but new dancers ended up confused (and keeping calling didn't change much). It was a matter of getting oriented in the first place. We also had a lower proportion of experienced dancers to beginners than usual. What I did during the walk through was have them allemande R 1.5 with partner, and then get the men back to back in the center. Reach out with your left hand and star left with your neighbor and the two people pointing back at you. I also pointed out that in the dance it didn't matter how many times you allemande with your partner or which direction you went to form the star -- as long as you go and keep moving. People still had a lot of trouble figuring out where to go once the dance got going, and in a lot of cases the new folks just got the "deer in the headlights" syndrome and stopped completely. A few options: 1) Point out that (theoretically) you will have a shadow in your star -- if you're doing a wrist grip star, the gent's shadow will be the lady whose wrist he grabs to form the star. Problem: If some folks go the other way, this could be more confusing. Option: Just don't mention that you can go either way -- have it be allemande 1.5, star left with shadow, come back swing. 2) Men back to back in the middle (after the allemande). Look away from your hands 4 for someone of the same gender and form a hands across star. Turn the star 1 time. Swing your partner. Problem: Again, could be confusing if someone ended up with he he he she stars or she she she he stars. 3) Other ideas?? How's the best way to point out the position without having to tie it either to a particular person or gender? I suspect that with the group I had, I should probably have just "done it straight" without pointing out the opportunity to mess around. In that case, which way above would seem to be clearer? With a larger proportion of experienced dancers, though, any thoughts on the best way to teach it? Ok. Impatient readers are done. If you want to read about the second half and pick up another new dance, keep going! Second half, I did * Square Affair, by Becky Hill, a great dance with a square thru, * Any Jig Will Do, by Mike Richardson (done to Slip Jigs -- I love to call this one when I have a band that can do slip Jigs, and the band had put a set together specifically for me. They ended up at a higher tempo than I've done it at before. It was almost too fast, but the dancers were able to keep up confortably. For some reason, once of the new dancers who had been confused and disoriented for many of the dances was able to get this one with no problems -- and it's a dance that depends on the men to get the hey going. * a simple 4 face 4 (Dance All Night, by Rick Mohr) * Lundee's Laughter, a new dance by Adina Gordon On this one, I forgot that I hadn't done the dance I had planned to do earlier in the evening to introduce the Roll Away (which came right after a ladies chain, making it more complicated.) I had planned to start out with Rollin and Tumblin by Cis Hinkle, but then (for some reason) changed to another dance instead and forgot that I needed the roll away for this dance. Also, this is the first time I've called it at a regular dance -- we tested it out two weeks ago when the naming rights were auctioned off at a benefit dance -- but we only danced it a few times then) The dance is: Lundee's Laughter Adina Gordon Becket!! A1 2 ladies down the hall Turn alone, come back (while the ladies are traveling, men face down) A2 Partner Gypsy (by inside shoulder -- the one that's closest), ladies cross Neighbor Swing B1 Long Lines Left Diagonal Ladies Chain (to shadow), and Roll Away B2 Partner Swing Definitely needed to have done a roll away earlier in the evening like I had originally planned, because this is a special case for a rollaway and getting to it from the ladies chain can be tricky to figure out what to do with which hand even when you know how to do a roll away. It does flow very nicely into the swing though. The one problem that we had when we tested it 2 weeks ago was the progression -- you have to make sure that when you come back around to the top that it's two NEW ladies to go down the hall. After the swing, the dancers are likely to need to shift just a bit to the right to be across from new neighbors. It's a good dance, and I think with a more experienced group, would have been fine. As it was, it never fell apart, it was just a little rough around the edges, and a number of folks never got the roll away. This dance isn't a good one to start with for a roll away because a) it's from an unusual position and b) it's always with the same person -- your shadow. If neither of you know how to do a roll away, you'd just sunk. Fortunately, all you have to do is trade places and there your partner is, and you've got a nice long swing with them before you have to do anything else. Ended the evening with Hey in the Barn by Chart Guthrie -- one of my favorite everyone's-brain-dead-and-we-just-want-to-dance-and-not-think dances. (for those who don't know it: N B&S, L Chain, 1/2 Hey, P B&S, LC, 1/2 Hey, on to the next..... If I had it to program again I wouldn't have done Any Jig, Dance all Night and Lundee's Laughter all together -- too many unusual dances all in a row, and I think it taxed the dancers a bit. I also wouldn't have done Lundee's laughter without having done a roll away earlier in the evening so that they get lots of practice with different folks. I think that two out of three would have been ok, perhaps split up by a simpler dance. Ahh, the joys of programming on the fly in combination with new dances (Dance all Night was my first ever 4 face 4, and Lundee's Laughter was a new dance too....) Fortunately, I had fabulous music to work with. This is my first time working with them since Colin's been playing with Paul and Marilyn. Colin just started working with them about 6 months ago, and the percussion has really added a lot to their sound. I had called with them a bunch of times as a duo and always enjoyed it. The addition of a nice solid percussion just makes it that much better. Almost all of the tunes that they played fit the dances really well, and I think that everyone (dancers, band and caller) had a good time. If you made it this far, I hope that it was interesting (or at least that you picked up a couple of new dances). If anyone would like copies of other dances mentioned, just drop me an email and I'll send them out. Jack Mitchell Durham, NC