12 Feb
2025
12 Feb
'25
5:40 p.m.
Hi Brian,
I like your joke: "long time dancer, first time caller."
Our 3-year old project is similar to yours: creating a dance community from
scratch, where the dancers and community are new to contra, the caller was
new to calling as well as contra dancing, and nearby resources are
lacking. Our 51st (!) dance will be this Saturday.
The callers class at John C Campbell Folk School
<https://www.folkschool.org/>, written and taught by Diane Silver, was
pivotal to our success, as was the moral support of a handful of mentors.
"Starting and growing a dance series from scratch" is the topic of a
session I led at NEFFA for the last two years and plan to offer in 2025.
Several of the participants, all of whom are starting dances from scratch,
continue to meet remotely, by video chat. If you'd like to participate in
the video conferences, drop me a personal note.
Good luck with your new series.
Rob
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Robert Matson
Cell: (917) 626-2675
On Wed, Feb 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM Jerome Grisanti via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
It may be worthwhile to ingratiate yourself with the
existing square dance
communities in Austria. I believe they call in English; there's certainly
considerable overlap in moves (allemande, do-si-do, chain, right and left
through). They may not swing as much as we do in contra, but certainly
worth visiting if they're close, maybe even worth taking classes. It's a
different flavor, so take an attitude of "I'd like to learn from your
tradition while trying to grow this other tradition."
If I visit Austria I'd love to drop in.
Jerome
On Wed, Feb 12, 2025, 5:36 PM Jerome Grisanti <jerome.grisanti(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Brian,
It's one thing to learn calling for dedicated dancers who already know
the tradition and can in fact help you. Your challenge — calling for people
who aren't (yet) in the tradition — is something I'm well familiar with.
You will be the "expert," looked up to, and you will find the most success
initially with very simple material that often doesn't even look like
contras. Finding a way to make all these dances varied and fun as you help
build skills toward a dedicated contra dance is a long term project.
As well, the organizational piece is yet another skill. If you have other
folks willing to help, recruit them and cherish them.
Jerome Grisanti
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