27 Mar
2015
27 Mar
'15
3:28 p.m.
I would absolutely believe that the dancers were completely confounded by
"right and left through". I remember how surprised I was, when I called my
first dance, to discover how much more confusing it was than a Ladie's
Chain. If you are used to both of them, then you tend to think of them as
being similar. If you've never done either, then one of them has you
connected to other people, while the other leaves you by yourself, trying
to figure out which way to turn (and usually getting it wrong.)
But learning which figures are easier and harder comes quickly. Learning
which dances to call for a given crowd and how to teach them efficiently is
a neverending process!
Jacob
On Fri, Mar 27, 2015 at 10:47 AM, Brooks Hart via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
So, as the original poster, I am reporting back.
The dance with the solo fiddler was a mixed bag. The music was very nice,
but because I am new to calling, and our dancers are 99% beginners, way too
much time was spent on walk-throughs and teaching. The fiddler sat out for
long stretches of time, which seemed like a waste of his time and the money
spent on live music.
I thought I had picked easy dances, but you wouldn't believe how
confounded so many of the people were at "right and left through", and
that falls on me and my lack of experience with teaching and crowd
wrangling.
A special moment for everyone, though, was doing a circle waltz dance with
the fiddler playing, unplugged, in the center of the circle.
So, thanks again for everyone's input and encouragement,
Brooks
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Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 03:50:51 -0700
To: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] Solo fiddler or recorded music?
From: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
[resting up before the CALLERLAB convention, catching up on some older
messages]
On Thu, Mar 05, 2015, Neal Schlein via Callers wrote:
>
> So, the moral of the story is that if a caller isn't USED to working
with
a
> band, live music isn't necessarily going
to result in the best
experience
for the
dancers.
My experience as a relatively new caller is that it also depends on the
caller's experience as a dancer. My hearing makes it a bit difficult to
tune into the phrasing of a live band to call at the correct times, but
because I've been contra dancing for so many years (almost exclusively to
live music) I can roughly manage it -- and I know what it's supposed to
sound like.
--
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/
<*> <*> <*>
Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html
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