Mostly violent agreement with Chris with a few tweaks, expansions, and corrections: On Sun, Feb 21, 2016, Chris Page via Callers wrote: This varies a lot depending on what kind of club it is. It's not really two dances, not the way MWSD people think about it. A "tip" (a single dance) is broken up into two chunks with two different pieces of music. The first part (patter) is typically a more steady piece of music, with an emphasis on choregraphy. That lasts anywhere from six to twelve minutes, usually about eight. The second part is a "singing call" that is based on a piece of popular or traditional music (my repertoire includes "All About That Bass", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Do Wah Diddy", and "A Friend Like Me" from Aladdin). The command words for the square dance are mixed in with the words from the original song, but the music is almost always redone for square dancing and will sound at least a bit weird. A singing call lasts about four minutes and is generally progressive (moving the "ladies" around the square -- and yes, MWSD is more gendered than contra). Between the two parts of a tip, a square usually rotates a quarter clockwise ("Stir The Bucket"); often these days the caller uses a tricky bit of choreography to reotate the dancers. I actually use two different pieces of patter music here (because they wanted a longer-than-usual tip at 15 minutes), but otherwise this shows a newbie caller doing an okay job of introducing square dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFBy1EGmnic Some clubs have music during the break, usually a line dance or a round dance (or just incidental music): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_dance Very yes. R&L Thru, Ladies Chain, and Star Left are your friends here. Really really not used to it -- even the ones who can manage line dancing and/or couple dancing. -- Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ <*> <*> <*> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html

I just had a gig like this! A friend of mine is heavily into MWSD and is always looking for ways to cross-pollinate the scene. She asked me to come and share an evening with the regular caller because they couldn't get a round dance caller for that particular night. I did not have a live band; I used recordings, and I provided my own sound gear and mic. Here's what I learned: 1. Long swings, of even eight counts, are not intuitive and you have to spell out exactly what you want. The one time I introduced an eight count swing, I counted it for them so they knew how long it was going to be - and some people did not care for it at all. It does mean that a lot of the easy contras I have, with 16-count swings that give people a chance to recover and get back on the phrase, do not work very well. 2. Many calls overlap, and you can use those to your advantage. I was trying to figure out if I was going to have to teach a ladies' chain, for example, and I asked a MWSD caller acquaintance what would happen if I said to the group, with no explanation, "Ladies, chain across the set," and when I realized it was exactly what I needed them to do, I relaxed a little. :) 3. Be prepared for something you say to *not* mean the same thing you intend, even if you think you are being exceedingly precise. I can't remember what it was - but I intended for people to end up back to back with their neighbor, facing a new foursome. What I got was people standing shoulder to shoulder with their neighbors in what a contra dancer might describe as a "short wavy line" without hands. That point about becket dances perhaps being easier to understand progression in is something I noticed at another recent gig I called - interesting enough that it is making me rethink what I have flagged as "first three dances of the night." Good luck and have fun! Meg On Sun, Feb 21, 2016 at 12:22 PM Lisa Greenleaf via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

Hi Joseph I do a lot of cross-calling between contra and MWSD with mixed crowds of varying experience, and whilst agreeing with everything that’s been said so far, I think there’s one thing it’s important not to lose sight of. You said “and had such a fun time they have invited me, and the band”. Since they invited you after coming to one of your dances, then one of your dances is what they both want and are expecting. Whilst you may need to make minor adjustments due to the age and dance experience of the dancers, it would IMHO be a mistake to try to make it feel like MWSD. Jeremy On Sat, Feb 20, 2016 at 6:28 PM, Joseph Erhard-Hudson via Callers &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: Hi Everyone, I've been pretty low-key on calling for several years now, just a few local dances a year. Years ago I did close to one gig a month at home and around my local region, but cut back due to busy life. Now I've accepted an invitation for a regular gig that's going to be a bit different, so I'm back on this email list, and I seek your advice. A few people from the nearby Western Square Dance group came to one of our local contra dances where I was calling, and had such a fun time they have invited me, and the band from that evening, to come and do a monthly series in their hall, promoted and sponsored by them. The band and I decided we'd give it a shot. I've had barely any exposure to Western Square Dance, but I know their education system is formalized, calling is improvised, and the music is mostly recorded; whereas in contra dancing the education is more by assimilation, the calling is mostly fixed within a given dance, and the music is live and improvised. I anticipate we may feel like strange cousins to each other. Do any of you have any experiences or thoughts about crossing over into this parallel universe of traditional dancers? I'm particularly concerned about how I can best help them feel comfortable with the way Contra Dance is done, and how I can be a gracious presence in their space. Bonus question: they want to know how to split the gate, since they don't have experience paying bands. Your thoughts? Best regards, Joseph _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net

Tom and Joseph, The organization Tom referred to is called ContraLab. It still exists, but is quite small. Several of the contra callers at last summer's National Square Dance Convention, in Massachusetts, were ContraLab members. One book by Don Armstrong is called "Contras...with 101 Ready to Call Contras". It was published in 1973 by Sets in Order. Rich Sbardella Stafford, CT On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 9:08 AM, Tom Hinds via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

Joseph, One other thing you might encounter is different interpretations of language and timing. So for example I've seen MWSD groups perform a "do-si-do" as a four-count swing rather than an 8-count back-to-back. And I've seen chains take six counts, with the other two counts spent wondering why the caller hasn't prompted the next move already. You may not see these things, per se, but be flexible if they interpret your call differently than you intended -- mentally acknowledge that they correctly interpreted your call, and if it needs to be different for contra reasons just explain that you're asking them to do that thing a little differently tonight. You might look at the list of things that they will already know: http://www.callerlab.org/Dance-Programs and look for "Basic/Mainstream List." And have fun. The fun is what it's all about. --Jerome. Jerome Grisanti 660-528-0858 http://www.jeromegrisanti.com "Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 9:35 AM, Rich Sbardella via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

I have often thought that contra and round dancing had in common a person who cues/prompts ahead of the phrase of music. MWS dancers who Round dancer would be able to relate to that... On Feb 22, 2016, at 8:42 AM, Aahz Maruch via Callers wrote:

Another difference is that calls such as R&L Thru have a different beat count depending on the starting position. From a static square R&L Thru is 8 beats as in contra, but from a wavy line or a box, it is only 6 beats. MWSDers also rush their dancing because so many callers use "clipped" timing to avoid stop & go. Rich On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 9:44 PM, Aahz Maruch via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: