LOL, I could write out the Ladies Chain calls, as I do them pretty much the same way every
time. But the patter is something that happens when the music is good and the crowd
rockin' and it all comes together for a good time. I could neither remember nor write
out most of what I said in that dance. But it is definitely a big part of the fun, both
for me and for the dancers.
So here's Ladies Chain:
The head two ladies chain, turn them around. Chain back again
You chain right back on the same old track, then
Side two ladies chain. Turn them around. Chain back again
You chain right back on the same old track, then
Look for the corner: well you do-si-do your corner, swing that corner round
Swing 'em round and round and round
Then promenade that corner home.
Promenade to the gent's home place in the square.
Note it is not a singing square, just quasi singing in that I pitch my voice to the music
and do it the same way just about every time. The swing lines are rarely done the same
way twice (could be "swing em once or twice or three" or "any old way but
upside down" or whatever. )
Calling squares is so tied to the music! It is the music that says what to say, how to say
it and when. It is a sad thing about Modern Western Square Dancing that they have lost
much of this connection to the music. And even with modern contra dance callers, while the
dance is done to the music, many callers think that their calling is just telling the
dancers what to do. Good calling is so much more than that.
By the way, I don't know what happened to my line breaks in the dance notation. They
had them originally and a bunch of the lines got mushed together. Makes it harder to read
than it looked leaving my machine....sigh.
Beth
-----Original Message-----
From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf
Of James Saxe
Beth, you described the square "Ladies Chain" (named after a featured figure) as
a "quasi-singing call" and you described "Heads Arch" as done
"with Midwestern patter calling" but your descriptions of both dances simply
state the choreography without giving the calls. Could you share the
"quasi-singing"
words you use for "Ladies Chain" and the patter you use for "Heads
Arch"? If so, it could be helpful if you would also give some indication of the
timing, for example by writing out the calls 4 or 8 beats to a line with black lines lines
separating 8-bar or 16-bar chunks.
I recognize that call timing can sometimes involve syncopations or other nuances that are
very hard to communicate in print without the aid of an audio recording. I also recognize
that any caller who wanted to use one of these dances would have the responsibility of
adapting the calls, if necessary, to a form that he or she could deliver comfortably and
effectively to dancers present. But I'd still be interesting in seeing call lines
that you might use.
--Jim
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