22 Mar
2011
22 Mar
'11
2:24 p.m.
Keith wrote:
Hi all-- I'm Keith Tuxhorn, and this is my first
post to this list. I'm a
caller in Austin, TX, and have been calling for about 4 1/2 years now. In
addition to calling around TX, I've called around the Midwest and Northwest,
and just got back from a weekend in CO. I've also called ECD for a year and
a half. I've been on the list for only a couple week, and already have been
given much to think about.
Hi, Keith!
My first comment is more of a question. It seems Tina
was asking for dances
that would suit 7-to-10-year-old girls and their fathers, who also probably
know nothing about this dance style. Plue they're going to be worrying about
doing it right, making sure their daughter has fun...
I thought 7-10 years old was Brownies, and Tina said it was a Girl Scout event,
so I was thinking 11 or 12 and up. (Based really only on my having been in
Webelos at 11 and then having at 12 to decide whether to go on to Boy Scouts,
so I could have been way off.)
If that's right - 11-years-old and up, English-speaking, having a group signal
that means "shut up and pay attention" - I'd expect this to be an easier
crowd
than some. I haven't in fact called a father-daughter Girl Scout dance.
Alan, your suggestions
seem quite advanced for the target audience. I've
only called a couple
ONS's, to college age and older, and observe they have the most success, and
the most fun, when they don't have to worry about position changes and
direction changes. The dances stay simple, but the dancers have loads of
fun, because they get it quickly.
A couple of moves you include, I wouldn't think
about calling for college
beginners until I see they've mastered 4-5 simpler dances. For what Tina
wants, well, I'd be real hesitant... So, my question is, have you called
these dances for children, with inexperienced adults, and how successful
were they? I know kids can sometimes learn faster than adults, but am
wondering what ends up being too much...? Is anyone here learned in
behavioral/growth studies that might tell us what a kid can "spatially" do
at a certain age? I've never called to a crowd with this age/skill
concentration, so whatever enlightenment you can give.
I've called these dances for teens, inexperienced (and sometimes drunken)
adults, and randomly assorted people at weddings and other celebrations.
And Soldier's Joy works very well at Fezziwig's dance party at Dickens Faire,
with 100 patrons (some previously dancers, some not, lots of parent-with-child
pairs).
Here are the two significant problems I've had with these dances:
- At the 200+ person barn dance at Pie Ranch, my mic gave out while I was
teaching ladies chain. [I sweat a lot, and apparently I managed to sweat enouh
to short something out in the battery pack/transmitter unit, so changing the
batteries didn't do anything. Maybe I should start keeping that in a baggie.]
The very mixed crowd (parents with children, groups of teens, parents by
themselves, etc) who had done fine with Haste to the Wedding, Blobs, Spanish
Waltz, Cumberland Square, Three Meet variations - never really quite got Ladies
Chain over and back, and the dance was something of a mess, although people
seemed to enjoy it pretty well. (Even if sets were all finishing at different
times, the ones who finished earlier would wait and start the next round when
people got to them.] This has worked for me when I've been audible.
- Haste to the Wedding failed at a wedding dance at Ardenwood Historic Farm
because (a) we were doing a Victorian dance because it was the bride's dream to
do that and she was under the impression that the whole wedding party was
behind it; they were just humoring her and didn't really want to dance, but the
dance was going okay until (b) the bride's Victorian wedding dress, much
heavier than she expected, actually stretched until it was too long and she
tripped over it, after which she was sidelined and nobody had any more interest
in dancing, including even uncalled waltzes.
Other than that, great success records.
-- Alan