1 Jan
2024
1 Jan
'24
9:12 a.m.
Researching a discussion I had with a fellow organizer.
As a caller, newbie, experienced, old hat experienced:
1. how often do you practice calling dances, esp new to you dances?
2. Do you practice to music?
3. How far in advance do you set and work through your program?
Thanks for any and all input.
Mary Collins
Fanklinville/Olean NY
3 Jan
3 Jan
2:13 p.m.
Hi all,
I’m finding this thread quite fascinating - there is quite the variance in approaches to
preparing for a dance. And some clever tips being shared!
John Sweeney wrote:
If necessary I use my Carcassonne Meeples to run
through the dance. I have six couples in different colours and I know that red is #1s,
yellow is #2s, etc.
I wondered if I was the only board game geek out there who repurposed his Carcassonne
meeples! (Meeples are mini-people: colourful wooden board game pieces.) I do this mostly
when writing new dances of my own, but occasionally when puzzling through new dances.
Worth noting that Carcassonne is an award winning game (and my favourite game of all time
- highly recommended.) You can also pick up standard or custom meeples from MeepleSource:
https://meeplesource.com/products.php?cat=13
As for preparing for dances… one would think as an improv actor I would program and call
on the fly. But I actually spend a fair bit of time preparing for anything I do, calling
included. Similar to any public speaking engagements, the more comfortable I am with the
material, the better my performance will be. Sadly, memorizing is not one of my strengths,
especially when so many dances have similar but slightly different combinations of
standard figures. I admire those callers who can call dances completely from memory!
I prepare my program as much as a couple weeks in advance. I like to let it marinate. But
also, during the pandemic, for online calling gigs, I found that I collaborated with bands
much more on the overall program. I loved that level of collaboration with our musicians.
So I’ve carried this back into the hall here in Toronto, and now send my draft program to
the band so they can better craft their evening. Most bands have responded very positively
- with delight and appreciation, even. One admitted that they didn’t read it, but that’s
okay, we all knew what to do.
Similar to what Claire suggested to Robert and Amanda, I use the absolutely wonderful
Voice Record Pro app on my phone to record my full program to music I have on hand. I
don’t record the walkthrough typically, just 2-3x through each dance, and then I dance the
program (in each role if I have time.) Often my body will find things that I didn’t spot
visually, and this helps me tweak the program to ensure it is vibrant and varied. I use
this app and technique a lot when I’m choreographing new dances, especially.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is backup dances; while I have a good selection with
me, I actually select simpler but similar feel dances for any more complex dances from
which I may need to “step down.” This has been invaluable at recent dances where I needed
to move to a simpler program.
So, there we have it, yet another variation on preparation. Looking forward to hearing any
others shared!
Warmly,
Drew
2 Jan
2 Jan
5:19 a.m.
Hi Mary,
1. Practice
I write out the dances in my own words, which are mostly the words that I will use for
calling, so I don’t practice the calls much.
I do practice the dance itself if it is challenging. I try to find videos online and
study them to look for timings, awkward transitions, style points, flow, etc.
If necessary I use my Carcassonne Meeples to run through the dance. I have six couples in
different couples and I know that red is #1s, yellow is #2s, etc.
For complex dances, I try dancing the dance to the music to make sure I understand the
timing, the transitions and the positioning. For most dances any tune at the correct
speed works.
For complex dances I will dance the dance as #1 Man, then as #1 Lady (and #2s as well if
necessary) to understand any challenges that they may face.
For complex situations I may try to work out what words I need to use to get the figures
across well, especially when there is a WHILE!
2. Music
I don’t practice the calls to music, I have enough experience to do that on the fly in
most cases. As above, I do practice the dance to music if I need to understand the
phrasing better.
3. Program Planning
ONS: When I get there after setting up the music, while waiting for the dancing to
start.
Most other dances: On the day of the dance.
My quarterly ceilidhs: during the week before the dance to look for new dances and plan a
varied program different from last time.
Live music: To meet the band’s deadline, anything from a couple of days in advance to a
month in advance. I also document length, speed, style, number of bars, time signature,
etc. for the band. I also let them know if I need any named tunes, but very rarely insist
on a specific tune. I would much rather we dance to a tune that the band can play well,
rather than a tune they don’t know just because someone suggested that tune at some
point.
Festivals: Weeks in advance so that I am sure it is going to be a good session for the
dancers.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
1 Jan
1 Jan
11:50 p.m.
As a pretty experienced caller at this point (10+ years):
1. I very seldom practice my calling aloud. Most of the dances in my box
are ones I've called before, or have simple enough figures that I'm
comfortable coming up with my patter on the fly. At this point I have
muscle memory for prompting any of the basic moves in 4, 3, 2, or 1
beat(s). If I have a dance with a funky transition, lots of fast moves that
need to be prompted all in a row, etc., I'll spend a few minutes
workshopping patter for that particular bit of the dance. I don't do this
to music; for me, it's enough to get the rhythm of the call in my head, and
then putting it to music isn't a big deal. (I should mention I'm possibly
*too* cavalier about this, ha, and have definitely stumbled over the first
round of prompting a new-to-me dance, but for better or worse, I'm pretty
good at doing this by the seat of my pants these days.)
2. I don't practice to music.
3. For a regular evening dance, unless I need a program in advance for some
reason (e.g. to coordinate with a co-caller, to give the program to the
band), I tend to program my dances the day of. (In practice, it's "whenever
in the preceding week I have time", but often as late as the subway ride to
the gig.) Some dances in my box I could teach in my sleep, but I'm trying
to get better at reviewing the new(er)-to-me contras in a program before I
go onstage, and planning a bit of my walkthrough: what language will I use
to explain X concept, where are the potential pitfalls, what was harder
than expected the last time I called this dance?
Interesting question, and I'm enjoying reading everyone's answers!
m.
--
Maia McCormick (she/her)
917.279.8194
On Tue, Jan 2, 2024 at 12:11 AM Robert Setili via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi,
My wife and I are in our first year of calling whole programs, and they've
been fun and gone well.
Here are some tips we've learned from various callers that have coached us.
We've been drafting our program about 5-7
days ahead, to practice those
dances the most.
We use the built in voice recorder app on one
iphone, and music from
another device to record the walkthrough & calling the
entire dance,
starting with 4 word calls, and getting to 1-2 word calls about the 4th
time through, and then dropping out the calls that we think the dancers
will all remember. (often the swing, and maybe right before that). Then
we DANCE to the recording, which is fun, and spots any little things we
need to improve. Claire Takemori gave us this advice.
Claire also suggested videoing our walkthroughs
and calling to dancers,
which I hesitated a little, but we did the last 3 nights.
And we can learn
how to improve by watching or listening. (on youtube as
robandamandacaller(a)gmail.com)
Bob Isaacs strongly advises writing/ typing our
your walkthroughs for
each dance. And he gives feedback if we send them to him.
The
walkthrough begin concise and clear is very essential to the dancers
starting out great with good calling.
And when I revisit a written walkthrough after a month or more, I see lots
of opportunities to improve it. (We don't read from it at a dance, but
you learn what you want to try to do by writing it, and where the trickiest
figures / transitions are.
Doing the program a few days ahead lets you see
which figures will be
new each dance and need to be taught in the walkthrough.
We listen to lots of contra music in the car, on
spotify (Rodney Miller,
Toss the Possum, Ed Howe, etc) And there are some calling
practice
playlists, like one Seth Tepfer referred us to: by "callerboi". We started
counting to 8, but Bob & Ed suggested we count to 16 to start learning
whether we are in A1, A2, B1 or B2. This has helped a lot.
Use music that is similar to the band you will be
playing with
to practice and record calling the dances. For our December 23
dance, I
contacted Wolf Moon String Band and they kindly provided about 8 tracks
(since I couldn't find any examples on youtube or spotify).
How much do we practice? We are not that
musical and we have practiced
a ton, but maybe that will start to level off. But
the recording your
calling to challenging music and dancing to it is FANTASTIC practice with a
new dance, and recording the walkthrough. We were just at a week long
dance and it seemed maybe a couple open callers had probably never
practiced a few walkthroughs (just a handful).
In Atlanta we've been having a weekly calling
practice on Wed. for
Contra and English callers for over a year, and it's been
well attended and
we usually have 8-12 dancers. It's at a very generous dancer's house.
We definitely notice improvement from practicing!!
Hope this helps!
Rob
On Mon, Jan 1, 2024 at 11:13 AM Jonathan Sivier via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
It depends on the dance event. For typical
contra dances I usually put
together a set of dances a few days in advance and run through them the day
before. I practice both the walk through and calling to recorded music.
Unless there is something special that usually is sufficient. When I first
started I would put together multiple lists of dances in case they were
needed, but I have found that last minute substitutions are easy enough to
do without having to formally make an alternate list.
For English dances I try to get my dance list together well in advance so
that I can get the list to the band to give them time to prepare the
music. At least a couple of weeks and often as much as a month. This
depends on the band so check with them.
For One Night Stands, and similar events, I'm usually doing dances that I
have done many, many times so I usually don't feel the need to prepare a
long way in advance. The day before I'll get my stuff together and go over
any dances that are new or that I haven't done as often.
For a dance weekend, or other more involved event, I will usually try to
be prepared at least a few weeks in advance. This depends on the type of
dancing and how much calling I'm scheduled to do.
I've been calling for around 30 years.
Jonathan
On 1/1/2024 9:12 AM, Mary Collins via Contra Callers wrote:
_______________________________________________
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To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Researching a discussion I had with a fellow
organizer.
As a caller, newbie, experienced, old hat experienced:
1. how often do you practice calling dances, esp new to you dances?
2. Do you practice to music?
3. How far in advance do you set and work through your program?
Thanks for any and all input.
Mary Collins
Fanklinville/Olean NY
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
11:10 p.m.
Hi,
My wife and I are in our first year of calling whole programs, and they've
been fun and gone well.
Here are some tips we've learned from various callers that have coached us.
We've been drafting our program about 5-7 days
ahead, to practice those
dances the most.
We use the built in voice recorder app on one iphone,
and music from
another device to record the walkthrough & calling the entire
dance,
starting with 4 word calls, and getting to 1-2 word calls about the 4th
time through, and then dropping out the calls that we think the dancers
will all remember. (often the swing, and maybe right before that). Then
we DANCE to the recording, which is fun, and spots any little things we
need to improve. Claire Takemori gave us this advice.
Claire also suggested videoing our walkthroughs and
calling to dancers,
which I hesitated a little, but we did the last 3 nights. And
we can learn
how to improve by watching or listening. (on youtube as
robandamandacaller(a)gmail.com)
Bob Isaacs strongly advises writing/ typing our your
walkthroughs for
each dance. And he gives feedback if we send them to him. The
walkthrough begin concise and clear is very essential to the dancers
starting out great with good calling.
And when I revisit a written walkthrough after a month or more, I see lots
of opportunities to improve it. (We don't read from it at a dance, but
you learn what you want to try to do by writing it, and where the trickiest
figures / transitions are.
Doing the program a few days ahead lets you see which
figures will be new
each dance and need to be taught in the walkthrough.
We listen to lots of contra music in the car, on
spotify (Rodney Miller,
Toss the Possum, Ed Howe, etc) And there are some calling
practice
playlists, like one Seth Tepfer referred us to: by "callerboi". We started
counting to 8, but Bob & Ed suggested we count to 16 to start learning
whether we are in A1, A2, B1 or B2. This has helped a lot.
Use music that is similar to the band you will be
playing with
to practice and record calling the dances. For our December 23 dance,
I
contacted Wolf Moon String Band and they kindly provided about 8 tracks
(since I couldn't find any examples on youtube or spotify).
How much do we practice? We are not that musical and
we have practiced
a ton, but maybe that will start to level off. But the recording
your
calling to challenging music and dancing to it is FANTASTIC practice with a
new dance, and recording the walkthrough. We were just at a week long
dance and it seemed maybe a couple open callers had probably never
practiced a few walkthroughs (just a handful).
In Atlanta we've been having a weekly calling
practice on Wed. for Contra
and English callers for over a year, and it's been
well attended and we
usually have 8-12 dancers. It's at a very generous dancer's house.
We definitely notice improvement from practicing!!
Hope this helps!
Rob
On Mon, Jan 1, 2024 at 11:13 AM Jonathan Sivier via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
It depends on the dance event. For typical contra
dances I usually put
together a set of dances a few days in advance and run through them the day
before. I practice both the walk through and calling to recorded music.
Unless there is something special that usually is sufficient. When I first
started I would put together multiple lists of dances in case they were
needed, but I have found that last minute substitutions are easy enough to
do without having to formally make an alternate list.
For English dances I try to get my dance list together well in advance so
that I can get the list to the band to give them time to prepare the
music. At least a couple of weeks and often as much as a month. This
depends on the band so check with them.
For One Night Stands, and similar events, I'm usually doing dances that I
have done many, many times so I usually don't feel the need to prepare a
long way in advance. The day before I'll get my stuff together and go over
any dances that are new or that I haven't done as often.
For a dance weekend, or other more involved event, I will usually try to
be prepared at least a few weeks in advance. This depends on the type of
dancing and how much calling I'm scheduled to do.
I've been calling for around 30 years.
Jonathan
On 1/1/2024 9:12 AM, Mary Collins via Contra Callers wrote:
Researching a discussion I had with a fellow
organizer.
As a caller, newbie, experienced, old hat experienced:
1. how often do you practice calling dances, esp new to you dances?
2. Do you practice to music?
3. How far in advance do you set and work through your program?
Thanks for any and all input.
Mary Collins
Fanklinville/Olean NY
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
10:12 a.m.
It depends on the dance event. For typical contra dances I usually put together a set of
dances a few days in advance and run through them the day before. I practice both the
walk through and calling to recorded music. Unless there is something special that
usually is sufficient. When I first started I would put together multiple lists of dances
in case they were needed, but I have found that last minute substitutions are easy enough
to do without having to formally make an alternate list.
For English dances I try to get my dance list together well in advance so that I can get
the list to the band to give them time to prepare the music. At least a couple of weeks
and often as much as a month. This depends on the band so check with them.
For One Night Stands, and similar events, I'm usually doing dances that I have done
many, many times so I usually don't feel the need to prepare a long way in advance.
The day before I'll get my stuff together and go over any dances that are new or that
I haven't done as often.
For a dance weekend, or other more involved event, I will usually try to be prepared at
least a few weeks in advance. This depends on the type of dancing and how much calling
I'm scheduled to do.
I've been calling for around 30 years.
Jonathan
On 1/1/2024 9:12 AM, Mary Collins via Contra Callers wrote:
Researching a discussion I had with a fellow
organizer.
As a caller, newbie, experienced, old hat experienced:
1. how often do you practice calling dances, esp new to you dances?
2. Do you practice to music?
3. How far in advance do you set and work through your program?
Thanks for any and all input.
Mary Collins
Fanklinville/Olean NY
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
9:49 a.m.
I didn’t say – I’ve been calling for about 30 years at local clubs (Cheshire, England) and
at one time also used call a lot of ONS, parties,& fundraisers
For the club nights even with dances I know I run through them at least once. Though our
clubs have CDs and instruction books (Hugh Stewart’s book The Country Dance Club Book
(cambridgefolk.org.uk) is excellent) so in an emergency I can call a programme using
dances I know well.
From: Mo via Contra Callers
Sent: 01 January 2024 15:38
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Re: Practicing dances
It depends.
For a club programme I start about a week ahead (to allow for failing concentration).
Sort out a varied programme with plenty options if I need an easier dance or numbers are
a problem (I don’t always call longways or contras, a mix of shapes and styles)
If it’s a dance I don’t call regularly I practise to the CD track I’m going to use (unless
it’s a track the club has but I don’t then I use another track). Practise till I can get
my calls out in time to the music, know what I need to say (for that group) both as
walk-through and prompt, can almost call without the card.
If it’s a one-off dance with a band I often work with I have a bunch of dances I can call
from memory, though if I haven’t called recently for that kind of group(e.g. a Burns
night, Sealed Knot etc) I might type out a set list + necessary prompts. A new band needs
consultation and listening to their online tracks.
From: Mary Collins via Contra Callers
Sent: 01 January 2024 15:12
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Practicing dances
Researching a discussion I had with a fellow organizer.
As a caller, newbie, experienced, old hat experienced:
1. how often do you practice calling dances, esp new to you dances?
2. Do you practice to music?
3. How far in advance do you set and work through your program?
Thanks for any and all input.
Mary Collins
Fanklinville/Olean NY
9:38 a.m.
It depends.
For a club programme I start about a week ahead (to allow for failing concentration).
Sort out a varied programme with plenty options if I need an easier dance or numbers are a
problem (I don’t always call longways or contras, a mix of shapes and styles)
If it’s a dance I don’t call regularly I practise to the CD track I’m going to use (unless
it’s a track the club has but I don’t then I use another track). Practise till I can get
my calls out in time to the music, know what I need to say (for that group) both as
walk-through and prompt, can almost call without the card.
If it’s a one-off dance with a band I often work with I have a bunch of dances I can call
from memory, though if I haven’t called recently for that kind of group(e.g. a Burns
night, Sealed Knot etc) I might type out a set list + necessary prompts. A new band needs
consultation and listening to their online tracks.
From: Mary Collins via Contra Callers
Sent: 01 January 2024 15:12
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Practicing dances
Researching a discussion I had with a fellow organizer.
As a caller, newbie, experienced, old hat experienced:
1. how often do you practice calling dances, esp new to you dances?
2. Do you practice to music?
3. How far in advance do you set and work through your program?
Thanks for any and all input.
Mary Collins
Fanklinville/Olean NY
125
days inactive
127
days old
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
7 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
Drew Delaware -
John Sweeney -
Jonathan Sivier -
Maia McCormick -
Mary Collins -
mjw＠mowaddington.plus.com -
Robert Setili