Re: [Callers] Calling without a band?

Dan's comment about having lots of 5x and 7x cuts reminded me... Something I didn't mention in my earlier post on this subject is that for many one-night stands, you don't often really long cuts of music. You can do Gallopede 9 times through and folks are plenty happy to stop. If they're really long lines, instead of having just one couple chassez down the set at the end of B2, you can send the top two couples galloping down. It's a differen tmentality than at a contra dance with dancers who do this regularly, folks who are looking to get in the groove. Squares, longways set dances, circle dances, and novelty dances as Beth points out. At camp gigs I usually toss in Cotton-Eyed Joe and/or the Macarena and, more recently, the Cupid Shuffle. Don't need to teach a thing... just put on the music and let the kids take it away. They're having fun. There was a time-- and not so long ago-- when I wouldn't dream of doing any of that, and finally diagnosed myself with a case of more-traditional-than-thou-itis. Realized that people hiring me for those one-night stand situations weren't asking for a bit of pure-from-the-well traditional dance... they were looking for me to assist them in having a good time with their friends and relations. I agree that live music is great to bring to a party and that's always my preference. There's a different kind of energy that comes with it, it's part of the tradition, it employs musicians, it gives folks who aren't dancing something else to watch, and it's much easier to get the musicians to speed up or slow down or to add one more time, not to mention having them be able to play backup when someone wants to get up to sing a song. All part of making the party happen. David