11 Sep
2013
11 Sep
'13
8:32 p.m.
On 9/11/2013 3:38 PM, Keith Tuxhorn wrote:
Kalia, I don't live in a place where it's
possible to book 11 date in 8
weeks unless I do some significant traveling. No offense, but I don't know
who you are or where you live...How far away are the 11 dances you've
booked? to get anything like that I'd have to drive 1000 miles, minimum.
But I'd agree with Perry on the essentials: eat well, drink lots of water,
get as much sleep as you can, and leave time to enjoy the drive so you're
not in a panic mode.
I live at the north end of the California Bay Area. Between the two
local CDS affiliates (BACDS and NBCDS) and a couple of independent
groups we have over 15 regularly scheduled dances each month within a
2-hour drive of my place up in Sebastopol (about an hour north of SF).
Most are within an hour's drive. Since I call both contra and English,
things can really stack up.
The good thing about having this many regular local dances is that there
are lots of opportunities for new callers, or callers branching out into
different styles like I did. But the down side is that you have to be
careful with schedule management. It's a learning process :>)
The way we book here is on a quarterly basis. The programmers (each
venue has their own) request the available dates from callers and
musicians partway through the previous quarter, and then assemble the
next quarter's program from who's available. There's a sort of limbo
period when you've sent out your dates to lots of different series, but
don't yet know which ones are going to book you. Sometimes they all do,
and you wind up with a quarter filled with insane 3-gig weekends.
Sometimes none do. There's usually some flex, though, so if you find
yourself overbooked on a given weekend you can often get the programmers
to jiggle things around a little and rearrange the schedule.
I make a new dance program for every dance I call. If
it's less the 75%
different from the last several dances I've called, I feel like I'm
cheating my own talent, as well as the dancers who expect me to do
something special for them.
I'm also careful about repetition, and keep track not only of what I've
called recently but what I've called before at any given venue. I
suspect that's more of an issue for English country dance than for
contra, since the same contra dance at 2 different venues with 2
different bands will feel really different, even with the same caller.
English, not so much. Mr. Isaac's Maggot is going to feel an awful lot
like Mr. Isaac's Maggot wherever you go, unless you're getting really
radical (the Trash English session at American Week springs to mind).
Kalia