Re: [Callers] calling New England squares : intro and break

Dave Merrill asked, "Are the intro, breaks, and close traditional and standard for particular dances, or are they generally improvised by the caller as his own signature?" Singing squares typically have the breaks built into the words that the caller sings. There may be slight variations in the wording that the caller uses, but the figures that are called for those breaks remain the same. Hence, when a group of dancers hears the caller sing, "Well, you do-si-do 'round your corner, with a right hand go twice around your own," they're primed to chime in with "Make it twice!" That's part of the fun of the singing squares, their very predictability.* In calling New England quadrilles or other styles of squares, it's more common for the breaks not to be a set part of the routine, and yes, that's part of the fun. If there's a particularly complex break that the caller plans to use, s/he may teach it before the dance, in the same manner as teaching the figure. If the break is going to be made up of more common movements, ones that the caller expects the dancers to be capable of carrying out on the fly, then there's no advance warning and the dancers just react to the calls as they are given. The "bow to partner, bow to corner" is indeed one time-honored way of starting a square--I've seen references citing this as a particularly New England styling, harking back to more genteel times--but even that isn't a given. I'd suggest that any caller interested in investigating breaks would do well to purchase a copy of Ted Sannella's "Calling Traditional New England Squares," which is full of general comments and theory, scores of breaks that Ted used, and a CD of Ted callign squares. The cuts on the CD were chosen in part to illustrate many different breaks. Two other items that may be helpful are Tom Hinds's recent publication with a similar title, "Calling New England Squares" and Tom's earlier "Give Me a Break!" All of these materials are available from the sales office at Country Dance and Song Society, http://www.cdss.org/sales/index.html David Millstone * Of course, the predictability sometimes breaks down, as it did for me when I was calling "Just Because" some years ago. I found myself moving dancers in unexpected patterns, shuffling them all around the square. A friend came up afterwards and congratulated me on a calling tour-de-force, keeping people moving and getting back home with partners where they needed to be, all the while keeping up the singing square. The truth, which I readily confessed, is that I had experienced a sort of brain freeze, and simply couldn't remember what was supposed to come next, and just kept calling. It worked out okay, but it's not an experience I'm eager to repeat!