7 Mar
2018
7 Mar
'18
1:41 a.m.
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which dances have been
called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance
community but vanishingly rare in the contra community. Why is that?
They're really helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably nice for
the dancers not to keep getting the same dances week after week.
I've only ever known of one contra series that kept a log, and it's
probably because I suggested it when they started out (the Queer Contra
series in Oakland, CA). Are there any contra organizers out there who
maintain a dance log? Those of you who do, how do you get the dance
lists from the callers? The Oakland series had a little book on the
stage and the callers would write their programs down as they went or at
the end of the night.
Part of it comes down to record-keeping on the part of the callers. I
keep a personal log of all the dances I've called so I can avoid
repeating myself when I return to a given venue. That makes it easy for
me to produce a set list after the fact if an organizer wants to fill in
a gap in the log. Fellow contra callers, do you all keep records of
what you call, and if you don't, how do you avoid repeating yourself or
remember what worked well (or not) the last time you called at a
particular place?
If you work with something like Caller's Companion, do you update the
program list with what you actually danced as opposed to what you
programmed?
Just curious about other people's process on this.
Kalia in Sebastopol, CA
7 Mar
7 Mar
2:07 a.m.
Huh! I never thought of that for the dance we run. I keep a file of each
gig and the dances I called at each. I also write on each dance card the
date and location of each time I've called it, so I don't repeat myself too
often.
There's a record of contra dances called at Northwest Folklife Festival. I
don't know how far back it goes.
I'll talk to my fellow organizers about starting this at Emerald City
Contra Dance.
-Amy
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018, 5:42 PM Kalia Kliban via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which
dances have been
called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance
community but vanishingly rare in the contra community. Why is that?
They're really helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably nice for
the dancers not to keep getting the same dances week after week.
I've only ever known of one contra series that kept a log, and it's
probably because I suggested it when they started out (the Queer Contra
series in Oakland, CA). Are there any contra organizers out there who
maintain a dance log? Those of you who do, how do you get the dance
lists from the callers? The Oakland series had a little book on the
stage and the callers would write their programs down as they went or at
the end of the night.
Part of it comes down to record-keeping on the part of the callers. I
keep a personal log of all the dances I've called so I can avoid
repeating myself when I return to a given venue. That makes it easy for
me to produce a set list after the fact if an organizer wants to fill in
a gap in the log. Fellow contra callers, do you all keep records of
what you call, and if you don't, how do you avoid repeating yourself or
remember what worked well (or not) the last time you called at a
particular place?
If you work with something like Caller's Companion, do you update the
program list with what you actually danced as opposed to what you
programmed?
Just curious about other people's process on this.
Kalia in Sebastopol, CA
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
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2:22 a.m.
Oddly enough, I was just in Seattle at the end of February and had a
conversation about this with Lindsey Dono, who told me to my surprise
that dancers at Lake City, at least, will complain about getting the
same dance two weeks in a row, and said that there *was* a log kept of
dances called locally.
So, Amy, I suggest checking with Lindsey and see if the effort is
already under way.
In the SF Bay Area, I think our dance populations kinda slop around, so
that while a core of people may go to the central Bay Area dances (SF,
Berkeley, Palo Alto), East Bay people may also go to North Bay dances
(San Rafael, Petaluma) and North Bay people may go to Berkeley or SF but
not usually Palo Alto, while Monterey Bay people (Monterey, Santa Cruz)
go to those dances and some come up to Palo Alto, and some South Bay
people (Palo Alto, San Jose, etc) go to Santa Cruz or Monterey. The
result is that every dancer does the dances that are called at the
dances they happen to go to, it would be a huge coordinating effort to
keep all the dances at different dance series with somewhat-overlapping
attendance separate, and nobody but callers seems to care anyway.
For me personally, different band, different tune set pretty much equals
different dance even with the same figures - but also dances that are
3/4 the same figures as other dances feel like the same dances anyway.
-- Alan
On 3/6/2018 6:07 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers wrote:
Huh! I never thought of that for the dance we run. I
keep a file of
each gig and the dances I called at each. I also write on each dance
card the date and location of each time I've called it, so I don't
repeat myself too often.
There's a record of contra dances called at Northwest Folklife
Festival. I don't know how far back it goes.
I'll talk to my fellow organizers about starting this at Emerald City
Contra Dance.
-Amy
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018, 5:42 PM Kalia Kliban via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
<mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which dances have been
called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance
community but vanishingly rare in the contra community. Why is that?
They're really helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably
nice for
the dancers not to keep getting the same dances week after week.
I've only ever known of one contra series that kept a log, and it's
probably because I suggested it when they started out (the Queer
Contra
series in Oakland, CA). Are there any contra organizers out there who
maintain a dance log? Those of you who do, how do you get the dance
lists from the callers? The Oakland series had a little book on the
stage and the callers would write their programs down as they went
or at
the end of the night.
Part of it comes down to record-keeping on the part of the callers. I
keep a personal log of all the dances I've called so I can avoid
repeating myself when I return to a given venue. That makes it
easy for
me to produce a set list after the fact if an organizer wants to
fill in
a gap in the log. Fellow contra callers, do you all keep records of
what you call, and if you don't, how do you avoid repeating
yourself or
remember what worked well (or not) the last time you called at a
particular place?
If you work with something like Caller's Companion, do you update the
program list with what you actually danced as opposed to what you
programmed?
Just curious about other people's process on this.
Kalia in Sebastopol, CA
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
<mailto:Callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
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3:28 a.m.
This seems to me to be a lot of effort with very little benefit. There are thousands of
dances and each caller has their own approach to programming. It is rare for a dance to
be called two nights in a row. When I do see that happening I often ask other dancers
around me if they remember it - and no one ever has.
How would the next caller get access to this info? The logistics would seem difficult and
unnecessary.
I do not even keep track of what dances I have called. I start off fresh when planning a
program. If I called somewhere and they ask me back next year - no one will notice if a
couple dances are the same. It probably means they were really good ones.
I agree that a different band, etc can make the same dance feel very different and that a
lot of dances are very similar. It bothers me more when a caller programs an evening with
several dances that all feel the same.
Mac McKeeverSt Louis
On Tuesday, March 6, 2018, 8:22:25 PM CST, Winston, Alan P. via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Oddly enough, I was just in Seattle at the end of February and had a conversation about
this with Lindsey Dono, who told me to my surprise that dancers at Lake City, at least,
will complain about getting the same dance two weeks in a row, and said that there *was* a
log kept of dances called locally.
So, Amy, I suggest checking with Lindsey and see if the effort is already under way.
In the SF Bay Area, I think our dance populations kinda slop around, so that while a core
of people may go to the central Bay Area dances (SF, Berkeley, Palo Alto), East Bay people
may also go to North Bay dances (San Rafael, Petaluma) and North Bay people may go to
Berkeley or SF but not usually Palo Alto, while Monterey Bay people (Monterey, Santa Cruz)
go to those dances and some come up to Palo Alto, and some South Bay people (Palo Alto,
San Jose, etc) go to Santa Cruz or Monterey. The result is that every dancer does the
dances that are called at the dances they happen to go to, it would be a huge coordinating
effort to keep all the dances at different dance series with somewhat-overlapping
attendance separate, and nobody but callers seems to care anyway.
For me personally, different band, different tune set pretty much equals different dance
even with the same figures - but also dances that are 3/4 the same figures as other dances
feel like the same dances anyway.
-- Alan
On 3/6/2018 6:07 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers wrote:
Huh! I never thought of that for the dance we run. I keep a file of each gig and the
dances I called at each. I also write on each dance card the date and location of each
time I've called it, so I don't repeat myself too often.
There's a record of contra dances called at Northwest Folklife Festival. I don't
know how far back it goes.
I'll talk to my fellow organizers about starting this at Emerald City Contra Dance.
-Amy
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018, 5:42 PM Kalia Kliban via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which dances have been
called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance
community but vanishingly rare in the contra community. Why is that?
They're really helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably nice for
the dancers not to keep getting the same dances week after week.
I've only ever known of one contra series that kept a log, and it's
probably because I suggested it when they started out (the Queer Contra
series in Oakland, CA). Are there any contra organizers out there who
maintain a dance log? Those of you who do, how do you get the dance
lists from the callers? The Oakland series had a little book on the
stage and the callers would write their programs down as they went or at
the end of the night.
Part of it comes down to record-keeping on the part of the callers. I
keep a personal log of all the dances I've called so I can avoid
repeating myself when I return to a given venue. That makes it easy for
me to produce a set list after the fact if an organizer wants to fill in
a gap in the log. Fellow contra callers, do you all keep records of
what you call, and if you don't, how do you avoid repeating yourself or
remember what worked well (or not) the last time you called at a
particular place?
If you work with something like Caller's Companion, do you update the
program list with what you actually danced as opposed to what you
programmed?
Just curious about other people's process on this.
Kalia in Sebastopol, CA
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
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List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
4:23 a.m.
On 3/6/2018 7:28 PM, Mac Mckeever via Callers wrote:
This seems to me to be a lot of effort with very
little benefit. There
are thousands of dances and each caller has their own approach to
programming. It is rare for a dance to be called two nights in a row.
When I do see that happening I often ask other dancers around me if they
remember it - and no one ever has.
How would the next caller get access to this info? The logistics would
seem difficult and unnecessary.
The way our local English dances do this is that the series programmer
sends the current log to the next caller on deck, who can then consider
the log or not, as they choose. It's not a big deal. I run the
Sebastopol dance, and I either write down the programs myself if I'm at
the dance or contact the caller afterward to get their list. Simple
Excel spreadsheet to keep track. Easy.
If I'm coming to call for a community I've never worked with before,
seeing a list of the dances they've done gives me a good idea of the
general level of the group. It's a useful tool.
Kalia in Sebastopol CA
3:13 p.m.
On Mar 6, 2018, at 11:23 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On 3/6/2018 7:28 PM, Mac Mckeever via Callers wrote:
For our English dance in Jamaica Plain, the caller writes the dance name on a whiteboard
in front of the hall after each dance. At the end of the dance we transcribe it into
book, I take a photo of the board and enter it in a database at home - and then post on
our web page two lists, one sorted by night, and one sorted by dance name. (If I am not
there someone else sends me the info).I sometimes have to adjust the spellings - or deal
with the “the” in the name so the sorting by dance name is OK. This record goes back to
January 2010.
http://lcfd.org/bgfe/
This seems to me to be a lot of effort with very
little benefit. There are thousands of dances and each caller has their own approach to
programming. It is rare for a dance to be called two nights in a row. When I do see that
happening I often ask other dancers around me if they remember it - and no one ever has.
How would the next caller get access to this info? The logistics would seem difficult and
unnecessary.
The way our local English dances do this is that the series programmer sends the current
log to the next caller on deck, who can then consider the log or not, as they choose.
It's not a big deal. I run the Sebastopol dance, and I either write down the programs
myself if I'm at the dance or contact the caller afterward to get their list. Simple
Excel spreadsheet to keep track. Easy.
If I'm coming to call for a community I've never worked with before, seeing a
list of the dances they've done gives me a good idea of the general level of the
group. It's a useful tool.
Kalia in Sebastopol 
6:02 p.m.
Our dance format features multiple callers in an evening. I recall
one week we had 2 of the callers call the same dance (different names
for the same
dance) and very few of the dancers noticed. As mentioned, different
music (especially tempo and time signature) can make it feel like a
different dance.
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 10:28 PM, Mac Mckeever via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
This seems to me to be a lot of effort with very
little benefit. There are
thousands of dances and each caller has their own approach to programming.
It is rare for a dance to be called two nights in a row. When I do see that
happening I often ask other dancers around me if they remember it - and no
one ever has.
How would the next caller get access to this info? The logistics would seem
difficult and unnecessary.
I do not even keep track of what dances I have called. I start off fresh
when planning a program. If I called somewhere and they ask me back next
year - no one will notice if a couple dances are the same. It probably means
they were really good ones.
I agree that a different band, etc can make the same dance feel very
different and that a lot of dances are very similar. It bothers me more
when a caller programs an evening with several dances that all feel the
same.
Mac McKeever
St Louis
On Tuesday, March 6, 2018, 8:22:25 PM CST, Winston, Alan P. via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Oddly enough, I was just in Seattle at the end of February and had a
conversation about this with Lindsey Dono, who told me to my surprise that
dancers at Lake City, at least, will complain about getting the same dance
two weeks in a row, and said that there *was* a log kept of dances called
locally.
So, Amy, I suggest checking with Lindsey and see if the effort is already
under way.
In the SF Bay Area, I think our dance populations kinda slop around, so that
while a core of people may go to the central Bay Area dances (SF, Berkeley,
Palo Alto), East Bay people may also go to North Bay dances (San Rafael,
Petaluma) and North Bay people may go to Berkeley or SF but not usually Palo
Alto, while Monterey Bay people (Monterey, Santa Cruz) go to those dances
and some come up to Palo Alto, and some South Bay people (Palo Alto, San
Jose, etc) go to Santa Cruz or Monterey. The result is that every dancer
does the dances that are called at the dances they happen to go to, it would
be a huge coordinating effort to keep all the dances at different dance
series with somewhat-overlapping attendance separate, and nobody but callers
seems to care anyway.
For me personally, different band, different tune set pretty much equals
different dance even with the same figures - but also dances that are 3/4
the same figures as other dances feel like the same dances anyway.
-- Alan
On 3/6/2018 6:07 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers wrote:
Huh! I never thought of that for the dance we run. I keep a file of each gig
and the dances I called at each. I also write on each dance card the date
and location of each time I've called it, so I don't repeat myself too
often.
There's a record of contra dances called at Northwest Folklife Festival. I
don't know how far back it goes.
I'll talk to my fellow organizers about starting this at Emerald City Contra
Dance.
-Amy
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018, 5:42 PM Kalia Kliban via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which dances have been
called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance
community but vanishingly rare in the contra community. Why is that?
They're really helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably nice for
the dancers not to keep getting the same dances week after week.
I've only ever known of one contra series that kept a log, and it's
probably because I suggested it when they started out (the Queer Contra
series in Oakland, CA). Are there any contra organizers out there who
maintain a dance log? Those of you who do, how do you get the dance
lists from the callers? The Oakland series had a little book on the
stage and the callers would write their programs down as they went or at
the end of the night.
Part of it comes down to record-keeping on the part of the callers. I
keep a personal log of all the dances I've called so I can avoid
repeating myself when I return to a given venue. That makes it easy for
me to produce a set list after the fact if an organizer wants to fill in
a gap in the log. Fellow contra callers, do you all keep records of
what you call, and if you don't, how do you avoid repeating yourself or
remember what worked well (or not) the last time you called at a
particular place?
If you work with something like Caller's Companion, do you update the
program list with what you actually danced as opposed to what you
programmed?
Just curious about other people's process on this.
Kalia in Sebastopol, CA
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
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List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
8 Mar
8 Mar
3:10 a.m.
I keep a log for my own records of my programs and observations (about the
evening, sequence of dances, my teaching, etc.) -- sure, it helps me not
repeat myself when I call two local dances in the same month, but mreh,
only other callers or a very small handful of dancers would notice me
repeating a dance or two in a situation like that. Mostly I use this record
to force myself to reflect on my calling, which is super value for finding
both things that are working well and things that I could improve on.
On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 1:02 PM, Donald Perley via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Our dance format features multiple callers in an
evening. I recall
one week we had 2 of the callers call the same dance (different names
for the same
dance) and very few of the dancers noticed. As mentioned, different
music (especially tempo and time signature) can make it feel like a
different dance.
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 10:28 PM, Mac Mckeever via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
This seems to me to be a lot of effort with very
little benefit. There
are
thousands of dances and each caller has their own
approach to
programming.
It is rare for a dance to be called two nights in
a row. When I do see
that
happening I often ask other dancers around me if
they remember it - and
no
one ever has.
How would the next caller get access to this info? The logistics would
seem
difficult and unnecessary.
I do not even keep track of what dances I have called. I start off fresh
when planning a program. If I called somewhere and they ask me back next
year - no one will notice if a couple dances are the same. It probably
means
they were really good ones.
I agree that a different band, etc can make the same dance feel very
different and that a lot of dances are very similar. It bothers me more
when a caller programs an evening with several dances that all feel the
same.
Mac McKeever
St Louis
On Tuesday, March 6, 2018, 8:22:25 PM CST, Winston, Alan P. via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Oddly enough, I was just in Seattle at the end of February and had a
conversation about this with Lindsey Dono, who told me to my surprise
that
dancers at Lake City, at least, will complain
about getting the same
dance
two weeks in a row, and said that there *was* a
log kept of dances called
locally.
So, Amy, I suggest checking with Lindsey and see if the effort is already
under way.
In the SF Bay Area, I think our dance populations kinda slop around, so
that
while a core of people may go to the central Bay
Area dances (SF,
Berkeley,
Palo Alto), East Bay people may also go to North
Bay dances (San Rafael,
Petaluma) and North Bay people may go to Berkeley or SF but not usually
Palo
Alto, while Monterey Bay people (Monterey, Santa
Cruz) go to those dances
and some come up to Palo Alto, and some South Bay people (Palo Alto, San
Jose, etc) go to Santa Cruz or Monterey. The result is that every dancer
does the dances that are called at the dances they happen to go to, it
would
be a huge coordinating effort to keep all the
dances at different dance
series with somewhat-overlapping attendance separate, and nobody but
callers
seems to care anyway.
For me personally, different band, different tune set pretty much equals
different dance even with the same figures - but also dances that are 3/4
the same figures as other dances feel like the same dances anyway.
-- Alan
On 3/6/2018 6:07 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers wrote:
Huh! I never thought of that for the dance we run. I keep a file of each
gig
and the dances I called at each. I also write on
each dance card the date
and location of each time I've called it, so I don't repeat myself too
often.
There's a record of contra dances called at Northwest Folklife Festival.
I
don't know how far back it goes.
I'll talk to my fellow organizers about starting this at Emerald City
Contra
Dance.
-Amy
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018, 5:42 PM Kalia Kliban via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which dances have been
called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance
community but vanishingly rare in the contra community. Why is that?
They're really helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably nice for
the dancers not to keep getting the same dances week after week.
I've only ever known of one contra series that kept a log, and it's
probably because I suggested it when they started out (the Queer Contra
series in Oakland, CA). Are there any contra organizers out there who
maintain a dance log? Those of you who do, how do you get the dance
lists from the callers? The Oakland series had a little book on the
stage and the callers would write their programs down as they went or at
the end of the night.
Part of it comes down to record-keeping on the part of the callers. I
keep a personal log of all the dances I've called so I can avoid
repeating myself when I return to a given venue. That makes it easy for
me to produce a set list after the fact if an organizer wants to fill in
a gap in the log. Fellow contra callers, do you all keep records of
what you call, and if you don't, how do you avoid repeating yourself or
remember what worked well (or not) the last time you called at a
particular place?
If you work with something like Caller's Companion, do you update the
program list with what you actually danced as opposed to what you
programmed?
Just curious about other people's process on this.
Kalia in Sebastopol, CA
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
List Name: Callers mailing list
List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
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List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
_______________________________________________
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List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
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Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
7 Mar
7 Mar
3:47 a.m.
I started doing this for the Chicago Barn Dance Company, for a few months.
Historically, I have been just writing it down at the dance, or asking the caller after
the dance or by a followup email. So to date it has been more of a personal project to
help my calling.
We discussed this at the last dance, and several callers and dancers were interested in
trying to make this part of our group so we will be discussing this how we might do this
as as community.
It was initially helpful to me as I began calling more often to see others programs, and
as a board member for:
- Knowing the number of dances we are averaging per night (we want to encourage local
callers to work on teaching well and calling for appropriate time)
- Know the dance figures that are being called (to determine if there are new figures we
can work on for improving dance skills and experience)
- Know if a dance was called the week prior (for callers planning when calling the
following week)
- To consider how much our program difficulty level varies by attendance (we keep a new
dancer sign-in sheet)
I am attaching a copy of what I have been using as an initial tool…I would be interested
in seeing what others are doing as well.
Thanks ! Cheryl
Cheryl Joyal
clmjoyal(a)aol.com
clmjoyal(a)gmail.com
630-667-3284 (cell)
On Mar 6, 2018, at 7:41 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which dances have been called on any given
evening, are very common in the English dance community but vanishingly rare in the contra
community. Why is that? They're really helpful for incoming callers, and it's
probably nice for the dancers not to keep getting the same dances week after week.
I've only ever known of one contra series that kept a log, and it's probably
because I suggested it when they started out (the Queer Contra series in Oakland, CA).
Are there any contra organizers out there who maintain a dance log? Those of you who do,
how do you get the dance lists from the callers? The Oakland series had a little book on
the stage and the callers would write their programs down as they went or at the end of
the night.
Part of it comes down to record-keeping on the part of the callers. I keep a personal log
of all the dances I've called so I can avoid repeating myself when I return to a given
venue. That makes it easy for me to produce a set list after the fact if an organizer
wants to fill in a gap in the log. Fellow contra callers, do you all keep records of what
you call, and if you don't, how do you avoid repeating yourself or remember what
worked well (or not) the last time you called at a particular place?
If you work with something like Caller's Companion, do you update the program list
with what you actually danced as opposed to what you programmed?
Just curious about other people's process on this.
Kalia in Sebastopol, CA
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4:32 a.m.
On 3/6/2018 7:47 PM, Cheryl Joyal wrote:
I started doing this for the Chicago Barn Dance
Company, for a few
months. Historically, I have been just writing it down at the dance,
or asking the caller after the dance or by a followup email. So to date
it has been more of a personal project to help my calling.
We discussed this at the last dance, and several callers and dancers
were interested in trying to make this part of our group so we will be
discussing this how we might do this as as community.
It was initially helpful to me as I began calling more often to see
others programs, and as a board member for:
- Knowing the number of dances we are averaging per night (we want to
encourage local callers to work on teaching well and calling for
appropriate time)
- Know the dance figures that are being called (to determine if there
are new figures we can work on for improving dance skills and experience)
- Know if a dance was called the week prior (for callers planning when
calling the following week)
- To consider how much our program difficulty level varies by
attendance (we keep a new dancer sign-in sheet)
I am attaching a copy of what I have been using as an initial tool…I
would be interested in seeing what others are doing as well.
You're tracking more info than we do for the local English. Our
spreadsheet includes just the dance name, sometimes the author or
original publisher, caller and date.
Since it seems to be ok to send attachments here, I'm including a few
months of our Sebastopol ECD log, to show what we're tracking. List of
dances down the left side, list of dates and callers across the top.
Yellow column shows number of times the dance has appeared in the
selected stretch of time (lots of blanks here since it's a very small
time sample) and the yellow row shows the number of dances called during
that session.
Kalia from Sebastopol
1:49 p.m.
I keep a personal log on notecards. I put the date of the event and the
venue and any other information that might be helpful for me when going
back. Then I write out my intended program (in case I drop my ordered
cards). If I make a change to the program, I'll update the card with any
additions, rearrangements or deletions. I'll also put short notes about
how 'good' that program is: "Too many ladies chain into RH Star" or
"This
dance is confusing early in the evening" or "Too few neighbor swings" or
whatever will help me when planning for the future. On the back of the
card I put the band name, names of members, their instruments and other
notes for announcement time so I can make sure the band gets introduced and
the sound person gets introduced and I make sure that whoever's in charge
of getting the hall taken care of has recognition and help.
Someone suggested it would be a lot of work and little benefit and hard to
share. In our modern, connected world. A shared platform like google docs
or google sheets or any blogging platform would allow the callers and
organizers of the dance to document it in a shared space, publicly
accessible or not. Because it's a thing I already track, the extra work
for me is almost none. If it's not a thing you already care about, it adds
some work, but really not that much.
--Ryan
8:15 a.m.
On Tue, 6 Mar 2018 17:41:55 -0800, Kalia Kliban via Callers wrote:
If you work with something like Caller's
Companion, do you update the program list with what you actually danced as
opposed to what you programmed?
I work with my Dance Organiser, and yes, I always update the list afterwards. I usually
call a mix of Playford-style, English
traditional, Contra, Square and the occasional Scottish, so I'm not a typical contra
caller.
Colin Hume
Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://colinhume.com
8 Mar
8 Mar
9:18 a.m.
In Oklahoma, Sandy Knudson has been active maintaining (and encouraging the rest of us
contra callers to help maintain) a Google spreadsheet of dances in the state (because our
org is statewide and many of our dancers travel to other cities for dances). It includes
location, caller, dance name, and choreographer. I agree with Kalia that it’s useful to
share with visiting callers, and it’s also handy for me to have a record of what I’ve
called.
Carol Barry keeps a similar record for our Oklahoma City English dances, especially the
experienced-dancers series; although it isn’t currently online, I believe we’re working on
transitioning it to a Google spreadsheet, as well.
I also keep a personal record of my programs-as-danced when it’s a new-to-me or infrequent
venue/community, so that I have it for reference when I go back.
Louise.
http://www.scissortail.org/siddons/
7 Mar
7 Mar
7:10 p.m.
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 5:41 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which
dances have been
called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance community
but vanishingly rare in the contra community. Why is that? They're really
helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably nice for the dancers not to
keep getting the same dances week after week.
Another factor is that English dances usually specify the tune that goes
with them. Contra dances very rarely do. So if a dance series has a house
band that plays most of the time, as some of the Bay Area English dances
do, then a repeated English dance may be the same figures done to the same
tune played by the same musicians. For a contra, even if the same band
played the same set of tunes, it's typical to change tunes partway through
the dance, anyway, so it's hard to achieve the same degree of repetition.
Of course, repetition isn't always looked down upon. I've heard that the
weekly dance in Nelson, NH always has Chorus Jig on the program, and other
dances that repeat week to week. Some contra dancers do appreciate
recognizing dances - ah, Poetry in Motion, I know how that one goes.
As Mac says, the type of repetition that contra dancers really notice is
within an evening - when four dances in a row have heys, or half of the
dances have Petronella turns, and all start to feel the same... and that's
a type of repetition that's less likely to appear in ECD, where dances that
have similar figures could easily be done to different tempos or meters.
Personally, I keep track of all the dances that I've actually called,
because I don't want to call the same dances all the time; most of the time
it's slightly different from what I programmed originally. I add notes to
myself if something didn't go well. I can't remember if I've been asked by
organizers for my program, but it may have happened once or twice.
Hope this helps!
Yoyo Zhou
8 Mar
8 Mar
7:52 a.m.
Well, I've danced to a caller who decided that the exact same program, with
the exact same memorized patter, would work in the same city if separated
by a week and in a different venue. Not so much.
-Amy
On Wed, Mar 7, 2018, 11:15 PM Yoyo Zhou via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 5:41 PM, Kalia Kliban via
Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of
which dances have been
called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance community
but vanishingly rare in the contra community. Why is that? They're really
helpful for incoming callers, and it's probably nice for the dancers not to
keep getting the same dances week after week.
Another factor is that English dances usually specify the tune that goes
with them. Contra dances very rarely do. So if a dance series has a house
band that plays most of the time, as some of the Bay Area English dances
do, then a repeated English dance may be the same figures done to the same
tune played by the same musicians. For a contra, even if the same band
played the same set of tunes, it's typical to change tunes partway through
the dance, anyway, so it's hard to achieve the same degree of repetition.
Of course, repetition isn't always looked down upon. I've heard that the
weekly dance in Nelson, NH always has Chorus Jig on the program, and other
dances that repeat week to week. Some contra dancers do appreciate
recognizing dances - ah, Poetry in Motion, I know how that one goes.
As Mac says, the type of repetition that contra dancers really notice is
within an evening - when four dances in a row have heys, or half of the
dances have Petronella turns, and all start to feel the same... and that's
a type of repetition that's less likely to appear in ECD, where dances that
have similar figures could easily be done to different tempos or meters.
Personally, I keep track of all the dances that I've actually called,
because I don't want to call the same dances all the time; most of the time
it's slightly different from what I programmed originally. I add notes to
myself if something didn't go well. I can't remember if I've been asked by
organizers for my program, but it may have happened once or twice.
Hope this helps!
Yoyo Zhou
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contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
14 comments
12 participants
participants (12)
-
Amy Wimmer -
Cheryl Joyal -
Colin Hume -
Donald Perley -
John W Gintell -
Kalia Kliban -
Louise Siddons -
Mac Mckeever -
Maia McCormick -
Ryan Smith -
Winston, Alan P. -
Yoyo Zhou