Hi Liz,

I don't see anything particularly challenging in calling this dance positionally. I presume the A2 is a place you might think so, but there's a couple of strategies there:

- when the star is formed, have the dancers note their facing [in or out] direction - then recall that for the wave

- be explicit that you have RH with your Partner in the long waves, which will set the facing direction without role reference.

A1 fits the "free RH... balance", etc. approach.

FWIW, I'm still forming my opinion on positional calling and have been using a hybrid approach recently. Our area dances have almost universally specified Larks and Robins as their standard.

-Don

On Mon, Oct 24, 2022 at 11:36 AM Elizabeth Bloom Albert via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

this is the very first time I am **weighing** in on Shared Weight and I really hope I don’t offend anyone, but here goes:

I see three problems with positional calling. 1) when dancers are new to contradance and EVERYTHING about it is confusing, Positional Calling (PC) asks these brave, but unsure-about-everything souls to constantly check their compasses to see where they are in relationship to where their partner might be standing (or is it their neighbor in this instance? oi vey!); 2) when dances get complex and the only people on the floor are really experienced, we still need cues to let us know who should be facing into or out of the set, for instance, or which dancer needs to be reaching for the next [same-role] neighbor’s R-hand, say; and finally 3) using a hybrid has its own drawbacks, e.g., for those newbie dancers (see#1) who have stuck it out thru a whole evening of contra, wouldn’t it be better to teach the role names--be they ladies/gents, ravens/larks, leads/follows--while training wheels were still on as opposed to when a complex dance might be introduced?

please note, I am not a caller. I dance. and I write dances.

here’s one (and it’s an example--in a couple of spots--where PC fails, IMHO):

 

Vote Blue No Matter Who (2-19-2020) by Elizabeth Bloom Albert

Becket formation; start one-quarter turn to left of Improper; this dance progresses clockwise. Progression occurs top of B2.

 

A1      (4) Ladies: R-hand Balance

          (4) Ladies: Pull-by R to switch [places] {Drop hands}

(4) Gents: R-hand Balance

          (4) Gents: Pull-by R to switch [places] {Don’t drop hands}

 

A2      {Ladies re-join R-hands and all...} 

(4) [Hands Across] Balance the Star

(8) Star Right

[End in Wavy Lines up/down hall with Gents facing in]

          (4) Balance the wave

 

B1      (8) Gents cross Left, for Half a Hey

(8) Swing Partner

 

B2      (2) Shift Left to new neighbors:

(6) Ladies Do-Si-Do 1 x

(8) Swing Partner again

 

NOTE: Vote Blue was workshopped in the early spring of 2020. I had hoped that someone might call it in the months before the last election. But ,of course, we all know what happened next. Vote Blue is my take on political campaigns. Take note of all the glad-handing in A1. In A2, the Star and the Wavy Lines are meant to be evocative of all the flag-waving that happens on the campaign trail. And finally, it’s subtle, but I worked in a shift to the left.

 

thanks for hearing me out,

Liz Albert (of Chicago-land) 

On Sun, Oct 23, 2022 at 8:07 AM Stein, Robert via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

I wish callers would get away from birds.  I understand the need to not use gender terms in calling.  But using positional calling does that without people needing to translate.  This works well for contras.  Squares are a different story.  We need to figure out how to do those.  The dance below has a good flow and there is no need to  specify a gender for the allemande.  Only one person has a left hand free in each couple.   Birds are for the birds.