17 Sep
2013
17 Sep
'13
3:05 p.m.
I often call at
least one “no partner swing” dance during the evening, and this will happen
during the first three dances. Most callers do this in the form of a
“mixer” during the evening. I will often substitute a “no partner swing”
contra dance because I see the entire evening as a “mixer”…particularly the
first half of the evening. Another way to “minimize” partner swinging is
to program dances in which only the ones have a partner swing. “Scout
House Reel” for example, is an excellent first dance choice.
For some reason, and I'm really not sure why, I've shied away from "down
the hall" dances as first dances, but you're right about Scout House
Reel. It would be a great opener. It's got a simple progression, lots
of hand contact, no weird fractions and lots of big group movements.
Unruly Reunion (or if you circle R first, Monterey Detour) would fit
that same set of criteria.
The strategy here is to limit what I call “partnering
pressure” which I
define as: “that feeling that one needs to find a particular kind of
partner or any partner quickly.” By programming short slots with easy
dances that allow minimal walk-throughs I can subtly create a sense that
there will be many more partnering opportunities during the evening. This
also reduces the apprehension of some dancers that they will get “stuck”
with a “bad partner” for a long dance slot. In general this programming
encourages more generous and community-minded partnering behaviors. It is,
after all, a social event.
When you say "short slot", how long are you talking about? I know I
tend to run dances shorter than other callers, so my time sense is
probably a little off.
I have coded my database using the NEFFA dance
planning matrix. This is a
great tool, by the way.
Is this the one that shows up as "Rich Goss's Program Matrix
Spreadsheet" on this page: http://www.quiteapair.us/calling/ ?
I print out my cards using Filemaker Pro and they are
color-coded for
difficulty level. I am in the process of creating a key on the back of the
cards that will allow me to select from the NEFFA matrix criteria by
looking at the backs of the cards—without using a computer—while at a dance.
Have you found that your concept of the difficulty levels for any given
dance has evolved or changed as your calling skills and style have grown
and changed over the years? I've certainly noticed a change with
English dances I had tagged as "easy" or "hard" early on in my calling
career. My ability to teach a dance well changes how hard it appears to
the dancers. And in the obverse, a simple dance taught badly can seem
really difficult. That's one reason I haven't put much energy into
grading dances into categories of difficulty. I do tag dances that I
know I can pull out for a ONS or a group of schoolkids or drunken
tourists or wedding guests, but beyond that it's up to me to gauge the
level of the room and teach accordingly. It's hard to quantify the
level of difficulty.
Kalia