On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 09:06:21 -0500, Emily Addison wrote: More of a why why! I used to use a black ball-point pen, but once I put my dance instructions on the computer I printed out the cards and they're easier to read and amend. Now my eyes have got worse I call from a lap-top using my Dance Organiser program and don't often get the cards out. So why pencil? Colin Hume Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://www.colinhume.com

On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 06:58:07 -0800, Greg McKenzie wrote: I certainly don't follow this rule. It may be different in the States. Colin Hume

On 1/12/2013 8:06 AM, Emily Addison wrote: I wouldn't say this was a "no no." If it works for you go for it. However, I can see some potential problems, such as the smudging you mention. I use ink when I write cards by hand, but am trying to get everything on computer and print them out. I'm at about 50% handwritten and 50% printed right now. I haven't tried using a tablet or other electronic display device, though I can see the advantages. I do like being able to tuck the card in my shirt pocket when I'm calling a dance and dancing it as well. I don't do this very often with contra dances, but I tend to do so quite often when calling English dances. I'm not sure why I make the distinction, probably some difference in the groups that makes it more comfortable to dance and call at the same time at our English dances, but not at our contra dances. Jonathan ----- Jonathan Sivier Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances jsivier AT illinois DOT edu Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html ----- Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? A: It depends on what dance you call!

I just adore the feeling of calling off handwritten cards. Plus, it leaves room for notes to yourself and fun things like COLOR CODING! (One of my projects over the holiday was to clean out my digital dance collection and then put all the best ones onto color-coded cards for myself.) As everyone said, use pencil if it works for you. However, I find pen more legible, in general, and the number one thing you want on your contra cards is ease of readability, no? Of course, you could try making a handful of cards in pen and a handful in pencil and use 'em for a while, and see which you like better and whether they stand the test of time! Luck, Maia On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 6:54 PM, lynn ackerson <callynn1(a)pacbell.net> wrote:

Itinerant is a key word there. I think it was Milton Berle who said "If you've got 2 hours of material on the Vaudeville circuit you're set for 10 years. ON radio you're done in 2 weeks." That said, we had an instance last year where we had the same dance (different callers) twice in one evening. Few noticed and few cared, and it had a different feel with different music. On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 3:59 PM, Michael Fuerst <mjerryfuerst(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

Amen to that, Michael! Alas, it is error prone... And the proliferation of dances since 'then' makes it impossible to keep all of them in one's head.. Hanny, Danzmeestersche

I assune a big difference is the quantity and complexity of dances involved.  I know some of the rural community dances around here only dance a few dances over and over.  It not only allows the caller / dancemaster to memorize the dances - but so do the dancers and that eliminates wasting a lot of time teaching. Most communities we deal with have very different expectations.  I do enjoy memorizing dances so I don't have to bother with reading from cards when I am calling - but I don't memorize my entire collection - just the ones I might want to call that evening and a handful of really good ones I will always remember.  It came in handy once when the scheduled caller did not show up and I got nominated to call 5 min after the dance was supposed to start. I encourage our newer callers to try memorize some dances because I think they are too reliant on the cards to the point they teach by simply reading the cards. I think this exercise would help their confidence so the cards would become more of a reference or security blanket rather than their main focus when at the mic. So far, I have not had any takers - but continue bringing it up when the opportunity presents itself.  Surprisingly, we have had some new callers write some really nice dances - but they aren't even interested in trying to memorize ones they wrote themselves. Mac McKeever ________________________________ From: Aahz Maruch &lt;aahz(a)pobox.com&gt; To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2013 11:28 AM Subject: Re: [Callers] Memorizing dances (was cards - writing in pencil vs pen???) On Sat, Jan 12, 2013, Michael Fuerst wrote: Why?  Seriously.  Calling is a hobby for me, it's something fun for me, I get to help other people have fun.  There are literally hundreds of contra dances out on the Internet, why should I restrict myself to the ones I have time to memorize? -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6                        http://rule6.info/                       <*>          <*>          <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

Some callers call from handwritten cards; some let the computer print their cards; some call from tablets; some call from memory. It truly doesn't matter as much as you might think. What matters is whether the caller is focused more on reading the card/tablet/memory or reading the dancers. Having the dance memorized helps you pay attention to the dancers -- so I do that -- but I still have a card in my hand (if possible) when I call because my memory seems to enjoy a good joke at my expense. And I wonder what happens to the tablet-folks when they forget to charge their batteries (or turn of the screen saver.) grin. Dale -- *So if you knew what was broken...how long would it take you to fix it?*