29 May
2007
29 May
'07
7:31 a.m.
When I first called in Greenfield I was filling in for David Kaynor,
and Mary Cay, wanting to keep it a David Kaynor-styled dance, said
that David always let the folks chat for a bit after they have lined
up. Now I do that at all my dances. I just stand there and do
nothing for a while. A touch of Zen.
This makes the evening more relaxed and social, helps keep the
dancers from getting exhausted, gives the musicians more time
to figure out their music, and allows me to do a mental rehearsal
of the teaching and calling of the dance before I do a walk through.
I think walk throughs should always be efficient. I only slow
them down when that benefits the dancers.
Thanks for the interesting question.
-Peter Amidon
Had an interesting gig this weekend (a good one, just
interesting).
Things were going along smoothly, I thought. The fiddler had made a
comment earlier that I had a high ratio of playing time to down time,
but I didn't think much of it. Before we started the 2nd to last dance
of the first half, and I was waiting for the band to be ready to start
the music, the fiddler snaps at me that I'm teaching too fast and it's
much to stressful for choosing tunes! I looked him straight in the eye,
apologized, and then promised to slow down. I spent the next bit of time
trying to figure out how to slow down. Couldn't think of too many ways.
I slowed my pace of teaching down. I made sure to take a minute and talk
to the band before even requesting that people line up. I introduced the
band before the next dance (although this probably didn't add any time
for the fiddler to think about tune selection).
We made nice at the break and he explained that he was under stress in
other areas of his life. I had done my homework (so I thought) and done
my pre-dance interview - turns out with the wrong musician! The fiddler
was the real leader and he had shown up at the last minute and was too
busy setting up to talk.
Some other fun points: I announced in the 2nd half that we were going to
dance Chorus Jig and the crowd ohhhed and ahhhed and scrambled to line
up!! For the 2nd dance of the evening, we had about 15-20 kids show up.
Some had danced before and they did fine! I had to adjust my language
because I would call a ladies chain and a bunch of the dancers would go
over and back. 8^)
All in all a fun dance! I'd love to hear your thoughts about slowing
down the teaching for musicians who need more time for tune selection.
Any techniques? Since I really try to match my dances to the level of
the dancers, I rarely need a 2nd walkthrough. And since I time my
teaching off of the dancer's speed of doing the moves (calling the next
while they're finishing the previous move), not much time to add there.
Happy Dancing!
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH
www.chrisweiler.ws
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