4 Apr
2019
4 Apr
'19
4:12 p.m.
I’ve called to a techno contra once - but the person who put the techno tracks together
was smart, contra savvy, and mindful of phrasing, and used pieces that had good 8 count
beats, and made the transitions work so that they were at proper junctions and could sync
people up again. It was therefore relatively easy to get the hang and keep things flowing.
It really depends a lot on the skill and knowledge of the person/people putting the music
together. Bad techno tracks make for a bad contra, just as a poor band that mixes up As
and Bs or doesn’t keep a steady beat messes things up. The DJs or whoever is setting up
and putting together the music should not be hired if they are known to put bad tracks
together that make it impossible for people to dance in time to the music and with each
other.
Martha
On Apr 3, 2019, at 2:04 PM, Read Weaver via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Definitely this. I’ve largely stopped going to techno contras because it’s so hard to
keep the phrasing. The pleasure of contra (and English) dancing for me is hugely tied up
with everyone on the floor moving together, so when that doesn’t happen it doesn’t much
interest me.
Read Weaver
Jamaica Plain, MA
http://lcfd.org
On Mar 28, 2019, at 7:17 PM, Sivier, Jonathan E
via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Keep calling. My experience has been that techo music has plenty of
beat and no phrasing. So dancers don't know when to stop the current
figure and start the next one. Some figures like circles, stars and
lines forward and back have a kind of natural timing so dances with
those figures work well. Some other figures such as heys, chains and
swings are less well defined as far as timing goes, and dancers tend to
rush heys and chains and go long on swings. So the dancers will all
take different amount of time for them. This means that if you stop
calling the various parts of the lines will start to diverge in where
they are in the dance and soon there will be parts of the room dancing
the A1 part while others places in the room they are dancing the A2 or
even B1 part. I think swings may be the biggest issue. Everyone likes
to swing and many dancers will go long on each swing, but they'll all go
long by a different amount.
Choose dances with figures that have really well-defined timing and
don't stop calling and you will be OK. You may be able to reduce the
amount of calling, but you will probably need to say something from time
to time to re-synchronize the dancers.
Jonathan
On 3/28/2019 4:13 PM, Maia McCormick via Callers wrote:
> Hey folks,
>
> I haven't called all that many techno contras, and I'm slated to do so
> this weekend. Any tips or things to keep in mind about how techno
> differs from your standard contra evening? (Particularly curious about
> anything relating to dance choice and dance length.)
>
> Cheers,
> Maia
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