Jeff Spero wrote:
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But… as dancing resumed, there seemed to be a shortage of callers here and I ended up
being asked to call the first dance since the beginning of the pandemic. I was not
thrilled about calling ladies/gents, nor was I prepared to call larks/ravens. So I tackled
positional calling, and there were no complaints. None. Just compliments. I’ve called
since then and have been experimenting with ECD terminology of first corners / second
corners, and that seemed to work quite nicely - and it has the added benefit of helping
bridge the gap between dancers who only dance in one of those communities. Hopefully, it
will catch on with other local callers here, as that’s where I’m headed.
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That this is working is fantastic! I've certainly found "corners"
incredibly useful in calling ECD geographically.
Do you use first corners as quondam role names - that is, the people who started out on
the first corners, wherever they are now - or instantaneously positional? What do you
about Becket dances? (In duple minor improper first corners = robins; in Becket, same
corners with respect to the stage = larks.).
DId you have enough English dancers on the contra floor that this was an easy sell? (In
my community there's not a huge overlap in the two groups.).
-- Alan