Re: [Callers] Callers Digest, Vol 101, Issue 27

Send Callers mailing list submissions to callers(a)sharedweight.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to callers-request(a)sharedweight.net You can reach the person managing the list at callers-owner(a)sharedweight.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Repertoire... (tavi merrill) 2. Re: Repertoire... (Delia Clark) 3. Re: Repertoire... (Kalia Kliban) 4. Re: Repertoire... (Janet Bertog) 5. Re: Inclusivemess & Older Dancers (Michael Fuerst) 6. Re: Inclusivemess & Older Dancers (Paul Wilde) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2013 13:50:55 -0500 From: tavi merrill &lt;melodiouswoodchuck(a)gmail.com&gt; To: callers(a)sharedweight.net Subject: Re: [Callers] Repertoire... Message-ID: < CA+hGDsWh9-2eAS9yh8C1VEgeD16N2Drz55m1shz0yjgyqB1Yzw(a)mail.gmail.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Chris, indeed, panning for gold, trying not to get distracted by diamonds in the rough... In response to Greg/Yoyo/Kalia/Aahz comments on my choreography question, Yoyo is right on with the understanding that down the hall (i was thinking 4-in-line) dances at a basic level are quite easy to find, and something that i tend not to use more than twice in a night. Re: R&L through transitions, i've tried substituting a California twirl, but find that in crowds where heavy beginner numbers demand lower piece-count dances, California twirls can be befuddling (particularly after the pass-through, where experienced dancers may reflexively move to a CT or twirl, confusing themselves and newbie partner/neighbors). A friend of mine said (i paraphrase) "for a newbie, any kind of twirl early on can be like a brain-wipe", and i tend to agree. In the search for accessible dances, going dancing probably IS the best way of finding appropriate material... it requires a little mental recalibration for me to go from "whoa, that was a COOL dance" to, "What a nice thoroughly user-friendly dance!" I hope this thread has been useful to someone else out there... Thanks to all for your repertoire suggestions! Dance in good health, tavi ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2013 14:06:15 -0500 From: Delia Clark &lt;deliaclark8(a)gmail.com&gt; To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Callers] Repertoire... Message-ID: &lt;F80EDF3A-D918-4F5E-95DD-AAF0265F1ABC(a)gmail.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Super helpful, tavi, thanks so much!! This is exactly the kind of thing I'm always looking for for my regular dance, which is a community-based dance and doesn't tend to draw experienced dancers from farther away. On Jan 7, 2013, at 1:50 PM, tavi merrill wrote: <>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<> Delia Clark PO Box 45 Taftsville, VT 05073 802-457-2075 deliaclark8(a)gmail.com ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:10:19 -0800 From: Kalia Kliban &lt;kalia(a)sbcglobal.net&gt; To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Callers] Repertoire... Message-ID: &lt;50EB1D9B.8030801(a)sbcglobal.net&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Helpful for me too. Lots of good suggestions here. Kalia On 1/7/2013 11:06 AM, Delia Clark wrote: I'm always looking for for my regular dance, which is a community-based dance and doesn't tend to draw experienced dancers from farther away. to ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2013 14:57:12 -0500 From: "Janet Bertog" &lt;janet(a)bertog.com&gt; To: "'Caller's discussion list'" &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Callers] Repertoire... Message-ID: &lt;00b601cded11$2f2f0510$8d8d0f30$(a)bertog.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Cary Ravitz has his dances indexed (which is fortunate since he has a lot of them) at http://www.ravitz.us/dance/#x. I would look at the dances he lists as easy, no walk through, and last dance of the evening as good starting points. -----Original Message----- From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of tavi merrill Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 1:51 PM To: callers(a)sharedweight.net Subject: Re: [Callers] Repertoire... Chris, indeed, panning for gold, trying not to get distracted by diamonds in the rough... In response to Greg/Yoyo/Kalia/Aahz comments on my choreography question, Yoyo is right on with the understanding that down the hall (i was thinking 4-in-line) dances at a basic level are quite easy to find, and something that i tend not to use more than twice in a night. Re: R&L through transitions, i've tried substituting a California twirl, but find that in crowds where heavy beginner numbers demand lower piece-count dances, California twirls can be befuddling (particularly after the pass-through, where experienced dancers may reflexively move to a CT or twirl, confusing themselves and newbie partner/neighbors). A friend of mine said (i paraphrase) "for a newbie, any kind of twirl early on can be like a brain-wipe", and i tend to agree. In the search for accessible dances, going dancing probably IS the best way of finding appropriate material... it requires a little mental recalibration for me to go from "whoa, that was a COOL dance" to, "What a nice thoroughly user-friendly dance!" I hope this thread has been useful to someone else out there... Thanks to all for your repertoire suggestions! Dance in good health, tavi _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2013 16:19:01 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Fuerst &lt;mjerryfuerst(a)yahoo.com&gt; To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Callers] Inclusivemess & Older Dancers Message-ID: &lt;1357604341.40630.YahooMailNeo(a)web122202.mail.ne1.yahoo.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 I recently attended a dance event which attracted participants from multiple states and provinces and which lasted several days, attended by 200+ ?almost exclusively experienced dancers. ?? Several dancers had challenges. One dancer ?was blind. However this?individual? had excellent mobility and dance memory, and knew exactly where and how place her/his hands so other dancers could take hold and orient her/him ?as needed. ?S/he?quickly?and fluidly responded to any physical direction, whether by taking this dancer's hand or by someone placing hands on this dancer's shoulders in order to provide proper orientation. ? Another woman had much difficulty with any lateral movement. ?Despite?knowing exactly when to face where and where one should be, his/her getting there was almost always a challenge, and nearly all figures had to be abbreviated ? Two other dancers, although physically mobile, had noticeable difficulty in orientation. ? ?Seemed like they were having initial signs of mental deterioration (more likely I think, especially for the one who usually danced with the same person) and/or in need of a hearing aid. The callers did not make any adjustments for these four individuals, but all the other dancers?diligently, graciously and?enthusiastically?ensured the challenged dancers enjoyed the dances within their abilities. ? Michael Fuerst ? ? ?802 N Broadway ? ? ?Urbana IL 61801?????? 217-239-5844 ________________________________ From: Jonathan Sivier &lt;jsivier(a)illinois.edu&gt; To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2013 1:39 PM Subject: Re: [Callers] Inclusivemess & Older Dancers On 1/5/2013 5:48 AM, Donald Perley wrote: ? These are good ideas and I have used them in my dance class for seniors.? Swings can be tricky since there is both the need for a certain amount of speed to get around at least once in the allotted time and the problem with dizziness that even a little turning can cause. Sometimes the dancers may need to skip the swing, if they have trouble getting around even once and just prepare for the next figure.? However, most of my participants can get around at least once, so a slow walking swing works OK.? Since many swings, especially with neighbors, end up with the dancers trading places turning half-way and then opening up to face the appropriate direction could work in some circumstances. ? One thing I have run into with a few dancers is problems with orientation.? There was one dancer in one of my classes who always seemed to end up facing the wrong direction, no matter what figure came before.? I learned to say things like, "If your new neighbor (or whomever) isn't right in front of you, they are probably right behind you."? This seemed to be helpful at least some of the time.? Luckily this wasn't an issue with most of the dancers and they were able to help the ones who had some troubles. Jonathan ----- Jonathan Sivier Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances jsivier AT illinois DOT edu Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html ----- Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? A: It depends on what dance you call! _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2013 23:44:23 -0500 From: Paul Wilde &lt;zenyente(a)gmail.com&gt; To: Michael Fuerst &lt;mjerryfuerst(a)yahoo.com&gt;om>, "Caller's discussion list" &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Callers] Inclusivemess & Older Dancers Message-ID: <CACyeUsPETV-1EsKX= WQVmUHO0uncTifkB+zXQOky9xUJsqfhNw(a)mail.gmail.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Michael, Hi and thanks for your wonderful post. I regularly call for a new dancer (who started within the last yr. or two and who dances once a month or less) who is 91 and very deaf. I have also danced at several wknd. & festival settings where there were blind and otherwise physically challenged dancers. In the first case, I try and call dances that are not overly taxing on orientation and quick/complicated progressions across or up or down the set. Yes, other dancers are wonderful at helping keep him on track, but there is only so far I can take things when he's in line (if I'm his partner, it's easier still, knowing exactly what he needs help w/ at any one instant). In the second case, the blind or physically challenged dancers at the festivals and dance weekends were nearly always accomplished and were easily helped and oriented by all those he/she danced with, much like you described. What I'm looking for is to build a group of dances that are more aimed at older dancers (and perhaps a higher % than we see at most series) who don't have the physical capabilities and stamina they once did, but still love the dance. I want to provide them w/ enjoyable and not too simple dances that will not leave them purple and on the verge of passing out (or worse). I realize we often strive to plan and create the best programs possible for the MUC setting. This is a wonderful thing that is happening around this and other countries. What I would like to focus on in this particular thread is to address the needs of, let's arbitrarily say, a large group of 70 y.o. and up who have been dancing a long time and would like to continue doing so both comfortably, confidently and, of course, joyfully. A quick example. 1s swing while 2s admire, etc. My deck's not at hand, but I'll offer one dance from memory. Jeff's Gypsy DI A-1 1s gypsy & swing (or whatever they want to do in the center) A-2 Lines of 4 down the hall (1s in center) 2s half cast 1s to swap places and come back up B-1 Circle L 1X (to original DI) Pass N-1 by R (1s D, 2s Up) and gypsy N-2 (by L in orig, but could modify and make it a RSh gypsy to simplify) B-2 (Back to) N-1 gypsy & swing This gives the dancers a lot of slack time and they have the freedom to do pretty much as they please in either of the gypsy/swing sequences. It also has a very pleasing flow. Tunes for this could be very relaxed. As it turns out, this is also a completely gender neutral dance. warmest regards, Paul Prov RI ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers End of Callers Digest, Vol 101, Issue 27 ****************************************