On Wed, Mar 25, 2015, Eric Black via Callers wrote:
>
> MEDLEYS: Medleys are becoming or have become mainstream at many contra
> dances.  I often call a 3-dance no-walkthrough medley at a regular
> contra even with lots of beginners (in fact, I did so several times
> on my recent tour in NC), and local dancers kind of expect it.  I do
> 45-minute medleys from time to time (not at a regular evening dance).
> Lots of callers do medleys, and dancers get a thrill from successfully
> navigating an accessible medley chosen for the crowd.  For my taste,
> the most salient aspect of a Techno Contra is the long-running dance
> set, with the option (and encouragement) for people to drop out at the
> bottom, get refreshed, maybe change partners, and join back in.  But
> for sure the long medley is not restricted to a techno.

Medleys suck for people with hearing impairments.  As I've mentioned
before, the average contra caller definitely has worse enunciation than
the average square dance caller, amplified by sound that focuses more on
music than voice.  Trying to hear calling over the music while dancing
really doesn't work very well.

(I can manage because I have a good kinesthetic sense and many years of
experience with both contra and folk dance -- most of the folk dances I
know I never was formally taught, so I'm pretty good at just following
along.  But I still loathe medleys, and I would be much more inclined to
sit them out if I knew ahead of time when one was being called.)
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