1 May
2008
1 May
'08
9:14 p.m.
I'm surprised people feel obligated (or even want) to dance 30 minutes
in the same line with the same partner. A few years ago Cleveland did a
3-hour medley dance. People danced for however long they wanted, then
found a new partner or sat out once they got to the end of a line,
switching around just like a regular contra evening. Of course I
wouldn't expect people to keep a partner for that 3-hour dance, but
there's no reason it couldn't work the same way for, say, an hour-long
medley. Perhaps longer medleys would be fine, as long as dancers
understood they were encouraged to change partners throughout. I
suppose the lines would have to be short enough so that dancers reached
an end often enough. At that dance, the bands switched out too, so
there was no problem with the musicians getting tired.
-David Giusti
----- Original Message -----
From: Beth Parkes <ebay(a)hands4.com>
Date: Thursday, May 1, 2008 4:50 pm
Subject: Re: [Callers] Calling contra medleys
To: 'Caller's discussion list' <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Just about my favorite story of this past NEFFA
weekend was someone
(whoshall remain unnamed, but is a member of this list <G>) who was
at the NEFFA
annual meeting Sunday morning on her cell phone saying "Yeah, he
called me
at midnight last night to say he wasn't going to dance the medley
with me
after all. So now I need to find a medley partner." (Or that is how I
remember it. I'm sure it's not a direct quote, but a paraphrase
through my
own brain.)
I call medleys frequently and break several of the previously
mentionedrequirements:
I don't warn the dancers.
I call my medley as the last dance of the evening.
I call dances that all begin the same way (usually neighbor balance
andswing).
I call dance medleys even if there are still beginners in the line -
the new
folks who are still there for the last dance have usually gotten
contradancing well enough to be no more confused in a medley than
they are in all
the other dances.
I use the most basic glossary dances for my medleys. One of my most
common:Lady of the Lake
Woods Hole Jig (or what I call "Woods Hole Reel - which replaces
the last B
with long lines forward and back, ones swing)
Forgotten Treasure
Hey Fever
I can get even more basic and do
Lady of the Lake
Lady Walpole's Reel
Woods Hole
Forgotten Treasure
These are almost the same dance in different orders. In other
words, dances
I wouldn't usually use as a stand-alone because they might be just
too plain
for a crowd of regular Scout House dancers.
My closing medleys are usually 4 dances 4 or 6 times through (six
if the
dancers are having trouble, four if not.) The last dance is, of
course, 5
times.
I know my band well and I call the tune changes. If I am working
with a band
I don't regularly work with, I will talk to them about it and forgo
thewhole thing if it sounds like the hot ending is important to
them.
I sometimes don't worry about tune change matching dance change.
If I have any doubt about getting all of the dancers through it
successfully(say, I have one or two "riderless horses") I will not
do the medley.
HTH,
Beth
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