27 Nov
2012
27 Nov
'12
8:12 p.m.
Do you do it? Or use cards? Do you think it's important to commit dances to
memory? Do you memorize your entire collection, or just a few? (And if just
a few, which sorts of dances are the most prudent to memorize?)
Peace,
Maia
27 Nov
27 Nov
8:32 p.m.
On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 15:12:37 -0500, Maia McCormick wrote:
Do you do it? Or use cards? Do you think it's
important to commit
dances to memory? Do you memorize your entire collection, or just a
few? (And if just a few, which sorts of dances are the most prudent
to memorize?)
I have a large repertoire and not a good memory. I used to use cards;
now that my eyes have got worse I use a lap-top.
I don't think it's important to commit dances to memory (and I
certainly couldn't do it with contras) but it is important to have
studied the dance when you got it and written it out in your own
words, so that you are confident you can call it from those words. If
I have problems with a dance I make sure to update my instructions so
that it's clearer (to me and the dancers) next time.
It's also important not to stand there with the card in front of your
face - people lose confidence in you and you won't see what goes
wrong. Put your card on a table or stand and refer to it when
necessary, but you must be focused on the dancers.
I suppose I should memorise a few simple dances, in case somebody says
"Call a dance", but the ones I remember tend to be the very
complicated ones that I've had to struggle with!
Colin Hume
Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://www.colinhume.com
9:22 p.m.
On 11/27/2012 12:32 PM, Colin Hume wrote:
On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 15:12:37 -0500, Maia McCormick
wrote:
Amen to that! Especially about needing to have digested the dance
before ever calling it for a live crowd. I'd never call a dance cold
out of a book or from someone else's card.
A few dances have gradually sunk into my brain enough for me to call
them without a card as backup, but mostly I like to have the cards there
to get me rolling. The dances I do have cold as a result of deliberate
memorization, as opposed to gradual accretion or osmosis, are the ones I
tend to use with the most basic beginning groups where my attention on
the floor is the most crucial, and where I feel like I really need to be
making connections with the dancers.
I'm in awe of callers like Andrew Shaw who can get through a night of
extremely complex dances (he's an English caller, for those of you who
don't know him) without ever visibly checking his notes.
Do you do it? Or use cards? Do you think it's
important to commit
dances to memory? Do you memorize your entire collection, or just a
few? (And if just a few, which sorts of dances are the most prudent
to memorize?)
I have a large repertoire and not a good memory. I used to use cards;
now that my eyes have got worse I use a lap-top.
I don't think it's important to commit dances to memory (and I
certainly couldn't do it with contras) but it is important to have
studied the dance when you got it and written it out in your own
words, so that you are confident you can call it from those words. If
I have problems with a dance I make sure to update my instructions so
that it's clearer (to me and the dancers) next time. It's also important not to stand there with the
card in front of your
face - people lose confidence in you and you won't see what goes
wrong. Put your card on a table or stand and refer to it when
necessary, but you must be focused on the dancers.
And again, yes, Colin's right on the money here. The card is an aid but
it's great to have it be a transparent one. I don't always succeed with
that, since I'm often on the floor with the dancers and need to have the
card on my person somewhere, but I try to just peek at it and then put
it away so I can work directly with the dancers. Sometimes I'm more
successful at this than at other times :>)
As a sidenote, I find it much, much harder to get away from my cards in
contra than in English dancing. Contras are so interchangeable to my
still unpracticed eye that it's very easy for me to lose track of where
I am without referring to the card. English dances tend to be much more
texturally different from each other, and easier to find your place in
as a caller. That's my experience anyway. Those of you who call both,
does this sound familiar?
Kalia (enjoying a mostly-gig-free December. Ahhhhh...)
9:02 p.m.
On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 3:12 PM, Maia McCormick <maia.mcc(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Do you do it? Or use cards? Do you think it's
important to commit dances to
memory? Do you memorize your entire collection, or just a few? (And if just
a few, which sorts of dances are the most prudent to memorize?)
I've memorized some, in 2 classes. Some I can call completely from
memory and some I can write down from memory but don't think I could
call unless I did. I don't choose which to memorize, it happens based
on how distinctive they are, and from dancing and calling them.
9:18 p.m.
I started out setting this very high bar for myself: lose the cards. After a while, I
decided that either I had to give up my dream of calling or lower my bar, as I just
can't seem to memorize these spatial arrangements at all. So now I study each dance a
bunch to be sure I get it and write it out including working out a starter set of calls.
I keep my cards on a stand and try to force myself to look at them as little as possible,
keeping my eyes on the dancers as much as I can. I still have a long way to go on this,
but now that I've given myself permission to put my energy there, rather than on
memorizing, I'm feeling like more of a success and I'm energized to keep trying!
On Nov 27, 2012, at 4:02 PM, Donald Perley wrote:
On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 3:12 PM, Maia McCormick
<maia.mcc(a)gmail.com> wrote:
<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
Delia Clark
PO Box 45
Taftsville, VT 05073
802-457-2075
deliaclark8(a)gmail.com
Do you do it? Or use cards? Do you think it's
important to commit dances to
memory? Do you memorize your entire collection, or just a few? (And if just
a few, which sorts of dances are the most prudent to memorize?)
I've memorized some, in 2 classes. Some I can call completely from
memory and some I can write down from memory but don't think I could
call unless I did. I don't choose which to memorize, it happens based
on how distinctive they are, and from dancing and calling them.
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9:56 p.m.
I am pleased to see this topic get some attention. I have always tried to call without
cards. I go over all my dances and alternates before the evening starts. Some I have
memorized and some I am just familiar with enough to get by with a quick review while the
dancers are lining up for the next dance. By thinking of the whole dance where each piece
has a purpose, rather than a series of unrelated figures they are much easier to remember
- and remember to think about the transitions from one move to the next - that is what the
dance is really all about. When I do forget something - it is usually a figure that
doesn't change the dancer's position and seems to have no real purpose other than
to use up more music (like LL forward and back in some dances - but not in all of them).
Easiest to remember are those with a good story line and a distinctive figure - and simple
one night stand types. The plain vanilla ones are not as easy. I do find that many of
the dances are committed to memory after I have called them from a short review a few
times. A few years ago a caller cancelled on us and we did not get the message until 5
minutes after we were supposed to start. I just jumped on stage and started calling from
memory and made it through the whole evening programming on the fly. I got lots of
compliments and then realized the dances I have memorized are most of my favorites - so it
was sort of a greatest hits night.
Over the past few years we have developed several new callers in our community. I have
encouraged them to reduce their reliance on cards with very limited success. I think they
are capable but lack the confidence to try on just a couple dances each evening. The
freedom you get to work with the dancers is worth the effort. It is surprising that
reading off a card is just as prone to mistakes as calling from long or short term
memory.
I was in a workshop with Fred Park when I first started calling where he spoke of the role
of the caller as a performer. If you attend a play where the actors walk around reading
from scripts that would certainly diminish the entertainment value. I feel the same is
true (to a lesser extent) for the caller.
Mac McKeever
________________________________
From: Maia McCormick <maia.mcc(a)gmail.com>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 2:12 PM
Subject: [Callers] Calling from memory?
Do you do it? Or use cards? Do you think it's important to commit dances to
memory? Do you memorize your entire collection, or just a few? (And if just
a few, which sorts of dances are the most prudent to memorize?)
Peace,
Maia
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5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Colin Hume -
Delia Clark -
Donald Perley -
Kalia Kliban -
Maia McCormick -
Richard Mckeever