26 Sep
2007
26 Sep
'07
12:54 a.m.
Chris wrote:
Tonight I had a pretty bad gig (just a hint: don't
schedule a dentist
appointment for the afternoon before your gig). So tonight I made some
choreographic goofs when choosing my dances. One dance I realized that
it didn't flow as well as I would have hoped after the walkthrough.
Should I have aborted and called something else? Tom Hinds has a line "I
don't like that dance, let's do something else". However, he usually
follows it by teaching the very same dance again. I stuck with it and
just ran the dance a little shorter.
What wastes as little as possible of the dancer's time? Bag it if it doesn't
work during the walkthrough, but if it's merely a little infelicitous in the
dance and you can keep it working by prompting, then running it long enough
that it feels like a dance, but not as long as a *good* dance seems like a good
choice.
The same thing happened a little later when I called
two dances in a row
with the sequence: ladies chain, ladies "x" once around, partner swing.
I realized it during the walk through, but went ahead and called it anyway.
What do you think? Abort or deal with it?
Depends on the crowd, and on where you are in the evening. If there are enough
beginners, doing something like this can be a positive, confidence-building
strategy. If there are too many sharpies in the crowd, you can expect joshing
later.
But you're really asking how to make judgments when your judgment's impaired
(by pain or anesthesia or whatever). That's a harder question.
-- Alan
--
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Alan Winston --- WINSTON(a)SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056
Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025
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