Bridgerton wedding dance/experience with using non-contra or non-ECD music to modified ECD/ceilidh dances
19 May
2022
19 May
'22
6:29 a.m.
Hi all,
I’ve been asked to call a Bridgerton-themed wedding dance. Part of what makes the
Bridgerton theme is the music… So I’m wondering if anyone has experience (of either the
successful or unsuccessful variety) of calling dances to music that isn’t our normal dance
tempo (these sound a little faster than normal contra tempo) and aren’t in our standard
AABB pattern. Some of the music examples I'm trying to work with are below (I’ll be
using recorded music)
The event is normal wedding fare- not experienced dancers. Which will either mean
everything falls apart or they won’t mind the dance being sloppy because they’re just so
excited by dancing and the cool music.
The dances I’m planning to use are very basic (Galopede, LaBastringue, a scatter mixer,
some version of duke of Kents waltz etc.)
So if you have related experience: Have people been into the music so much they don’t mind
that they’re finding it hard to dance with the phrase and remember the dance? Are you
able to keep them together just by your calling? Do they kind of figure it out? Other
ideas?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCIG6nbyiUM
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCIG6nbyiUM>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTnO9fOcE8
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTnO9fOcE8>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qi1ApgkdCo
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qi1ApgkdCo>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMU1RZVX5mQ
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMU1RZVX5mQ>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZhzFE2C-_w
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZhzFE2C-_w>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4SsyvnKH4
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4SsyvnKH4>
19 May
19 May
7:20 p.m.
From: Alexandra Deis-Lauby via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 10:30 PM
To: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Bridgerton wedding dance/experience with using non-contra or non-ECD
music to modified ECD/ceilidh dances
Hi all,
I’ve been asked to call a Bridgerton-themed wedding dance. Part of what makes the
Bridgerton theme is the music… So I’m wondering if anyone has experience (of either the
successful or unsuccessful variety) of calling dances to music that isn’t our normal dance
tempo (these sound a little faster than normal contra tempo) and aren’t in our standard
AABB pattern. Some of the music examples I'm trying to work with are below (I’ll be
using recorded music)
The event is normal wedding fare- not experienced dancers. Which will either mean
everything falls apart or they won’t mind the dance being sloppy because they’re just so
excited by dancing and the cool music.
The dances I’m planning to use are very basic (Galopede, LaBastringue, a scatter mixer,
some version of duke of Kents waltz etc.)
So if you have related experience: Have people been into the music so much they don’t mind
that they’re finding it hard to dance with the phrase and remember the dance? Are you
able to keep them together just by your calling? Do they kind of figure it out? Other
ideas?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCIG6nbyiUM
This is about 120 BPM. It has 16 beat parts that might be able to go A A’ B B’ or some way
to make it work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTnO9fOcE8
This one is around 140. Could be played slower. Take some orchestration…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qi1ApgkdCo
This one is very close to 120. Interesting how the bass starts on melody.
So far I would find all of these tunes interesting to dance to. They are constructed so
differently than fiddle tunes by their primarily rhythmic—long note melodies. It is the
rhythmic section—which does include fiddles—that make these dunes infective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMU1RZVX5mQ
This one is a bit more fiddlistic, a nice melody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZhzFE2C-_w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4SsyvnKH4
This one is more fiddlistic, too. Around 128 BPM, could be played slower.
Cheers,
~EriK
7:33 p.m.
In my experience wedding dancers can learn four, maybe five dances.
You do one seriously easy circle mixer dance IMMEDIATELY after the
toasts while everyone is standing right there.
Then you do a flight of three dances that all use the same basic moves
but are in different configurations: one longways, one random mixer,
another circle but this time it's Sicilian.
Somewhere in there you break for the cake. NEVER EVER let them serve
the cake before the dancing starts, once people eat cake they are DONE
with trying things just because the couple wants them to.
At the very end you do one more "hard" dance for the hardcores.
I'd pick the five best of all of these and then simply Make Stuff Up.
Adapt Galopede. Adapt Lucky Seven. Just torque all the best wedding
dances out of shape a little until they fit what you have. Take your
favorite moves and quilt them together.
And charge them extra for the research!
A
On 5/19/22, Erik Hoffman via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
From: Alexandra Deis-Lauby via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2022 10:30 PM
To: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Bridgerton wedding dance/experience with using non-contra
or non-ECD music to modified ECD/ceilidh dances
Hi all,
I’ve been asked to call a Bridgerton-themed wedding dance. Part of what
makes the Bridgerton theme is the music… So I’m wondering if anyone has
experience (of either the successful or unsuccessful variety) of calling
dances to music that isn’t our normal dance tempo (these sound a little
faster than normal contra tempo) and aren’t in our standard AABB pattern.
Some of the music examples I'm trying to work with are below (I’ll be using
recorded music)
The event is normal wedding fare- not experienced dancers. Which will either
mean everything falls apart or they won’t mind the dance being sloppy
because they’re just so excited by dancing and the cool music.
The dances I’m planning to use are very basic (Galopede, LaBastringue, a
scatter mixer, some version of duke of Kents waltz etc.)
So if you have related experience: Have people been into the music so much
they don’t mind that they’re finding it hard to dance with the phrase and
remember the dance? Are you able to keep them together just by your
calling? Do they kind of figure it out? Other ideas?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCIG6nbyiUM
This is about 120 BPM. It has 16 beat parts that might be able to go A A’ B
B’ or some way to make it work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTnO9fOcE8
This one is around 140. Could be played slower. Take some orchestration…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qi1ApgkdCo
This one is very close to 120. Interesting how the bass starts on melody.
So far I would find all of these tunes interesting to dance to. They are
constructed so differently than fiddle tunes by their primarily
rhythmic—long note melodies. It is the rhythmic section—which does include
fiddles—that make these dunes infective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMU1RZVX5mQ
This one is a bit more fiddlistic, a nice melody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZhzFE2C-_w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4SsyvnKH4
This one is more fiddlistic, too. Around 128 BPM, could be played slower.
Cheers,
~EriK
20 May
20 May
5:52 a.m.
I tried timing the tempos in those youtube videos of Bridgerton music. My results are
mostly close to Erik Hoffman's estimates, except for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4SsyvnKH4
which Erik describes as "around 140". In the parts where I can hear the beat
most clearly, I time that one as around 125 or 126 BPM.
Here's what I got for the rest of them:
On May 19, 2022, at 11:20 AM, Erik Hoffman via Contra
Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCIG6nbyiUM
This is about 120 BPM. ...
I get about 117.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qi1ApgkdCo
This one is very close to 120. ...
I get about 116.
Erik doesn't give a tempo. I
measure it as about 118 BPM.
Erik
doesn't give a tempo. I measure it as about 95 or 96 NPM.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4SsyvnKH4
This one is more fiddlistic, too. Around 128 BPM, could be played slower.
Solidly
128. I think they could be playing to a metronome or a click track.
In the message that started this thread, Alexandra Deis-Lauby wrote:
The event is normal wedding fare- not experienced
dancers. Which will either mean everything falls apart or they won’t mind the dance being
sloppy because they’re just so excited by dancing and the cool music.
...
So if you have related experience: Have people been into the music so much they don’t
mind that they’re finding it hard to dance with the phrase and remember the dance? Are
you able to keep them together just by your calling? Do they kind of figure it out?
Other ideas?
The very few wedding dances I've called were many years ago and not to this sort of
music, so if anyone with more relevant experience wants to contradict me, please feel
free. That said, I'd recommend going in with the expectation that most of the wedding
guests will not lock on to the phrasing (such as it is) in the music, that many likely
won't reliably memorize the dance sequences, and that they won't mind if you keep
calling all the way through and if the timing on the floor isn't crisp. If the bride
and groom themselves are skilled contra/English/Regency dancers and they seem to expect
the kind of dancing they'd find at events they've attended with other hobbyist
dancers--or if they're not skilled dancers but have been to an event with a
mostly-experienced dance crowd, and they're expecting the dancing at their wedding to
be like that--then you might try to temper their expectations in advance.
--Jim
24 Jun
24 Jun
4:42 p.m.
Hi Alexandra,
I'm late to the wedding (with limited experience as participant or guest and none as
caller) but this info can be filed away.
Android (I've no idea what platform you are using for playback) has a dearth of great
apps for tunes but my default happens to include an easy to use feature to alter the
playback tempo in 5% increments. So, if your recorded tunes are in a suitable file format,
this could be used to effectively rein in, or goose, the horses.
The app is Pulsar. I use the free version.
Cheers,
Ken Panton
Ottawa
881
days inactive
917
days old
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
Alexandra Deis-Lauby -
Amy Cann -
Erik Hoffman -
jim saxe -
Ken Panton