23 Jan
2008
23 Jan
'08
9:25 p.m.
Chris Weiler wrote:
Once again, frigid New Hampshire was home to another
warm and special
Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. It was great to see people from all
over the country who came to dance and learn. The SharedWeight lunch
gatherings were a couple of the high points for me.
. . . and Chris did an excellent job calling a fun dance he co-wrote. Will you consider
posting it on SharedWeight, Chris?
During the same open mike session, I enjoyed dancing Nils Fredland's "Head of the
Bed" to Dave Eisenstatter's calling, and it got me thinking. I've called
dances with shadow swings infrequently, because in the back of my head I think about the
following excerpt from Cary Ravitz's notes on contra choreography: "Watch out for
excessive trail buddy interaction. People don't choose their trail buddy and they are
stuck with them for the entire dance. . . . Trail buddy swings are not allowed."
However, Cary also emphasizes that those are his personal preferences, and others'
preferences may vary. So I'd appreciate others' thoughts on this -- are shadow
swings as strongly negative an issue for you as they are for Cary? Clearly they were not
an issue for Nils when writing "Head of the Bed" or Seth T. when writing
"Meg's a Dancing Fool," for instance.
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy Korr
East of Los Angeles
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23 Jan
23 Jan
9:37 p.m.
This is my opinion mainly as a dancer, not so much as a caller, but I'm
inclined to agree with Cary - especially when you consider that the more
shadow interaction there is, the less partner interaction! A nice shadow
move that bounces me back to my partner can be very cool, and when my shadow
is a good dancer or good friend of mine, I'm happy to have more shadow
interaction, but it's a gamble. I might be stuck with a shadow who's a
terrible dancer, or smells bad, or is generally just not someone I'd want to
dance with, and not only are you (the choreographer and caller) forcing me
to swing him every time through the dance, you're also taking me away from
the person who I *did* choose to dance with.
On the other hand, there are really cool dances with lots of shadow
interaction, too. If the dance itself is cool enough, I'm willing to let
myself get pulled away from my partner more.
- Koren
On 1/23/08, J L Korr <jeremykorr(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
Chris Weiler wrote:
Once again, frigid New Hampshire was home to
another warm and special
Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. It was great to see people from all
over the country who came to dance and learn. The SharedWeight lunch
gatherings were a couple of the high points for me.
. . . and Chris did an excellent job calling a fun dance he co-wrote. Will
you consider posting it on SharedWeight, Chris?
During the same open mike session, I enjoyed dancing Nils Fredland's "Head
of the Bed" to Dave Eisenstatter's calling, and it got me thinking. I've
called dances with shadow swings infrequently, because in the back of my
head I think about the following excerpt from Cary Ravitz's notes on contra
choreography: "Watch out for excessive trail buddy interaction. People don't
choose their trail buddy and they are stuck with them for the entire dance.
. . . Trail buddy swings are not allowed."
However, Cary also emphasizes that those are his personal preferences, and
others' preferences may vary. So I'd appreciate others' thoughts on this --
are shadow swings as strongly negative an issue for you as they are for
Cary? Clearly they were not an issue for Nils when writing "Head of the Bed"
or Seth T. when writing "Meg's a Dancing Fool," for instance.
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy Korr
East of Los Angeles
_________________________________________________________________
Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live.
http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008
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24 Jan
24 Jan
1:35 p.m.
Jeremy,
I agree with Koren that it's a crap shoot when you call a shadow swing.
I definitely would never call one with a crowd that has more than a
minimal number of beginners. I also would never call more than one in an
evening.
That said, I like the gamble. I think that I'm a little unusual in that
I very often in the evening wait until the last minute to find a partner
and take whoever is available. I've met some wonderful dancers and
friends that way. Sometimes I get to dance with someone I haven't danced
with in a long time. I think it's fun. The shadow swing can be the same
way. Quite often when I have shadow interaction in a dance, I'll ask my
shadow to be my next partner when the dance is done.
Head of the Bed is unusual with it's 3 swings (Neighbor, Partner and
Shadow). When I first danced it at the Flurry, I knew I had to collect
it. But I haven't had more than one opportunity to call it. 8^) It's a
fun dance!
Happy Dancing!
Chris
Koren A. Wake wrote:
This is my opinion mainly as a dancer, not so much as
a caller, but I'm
inclined to agree with Cary - especially when you consider that the more
shadow interaction there is, the less partner interaction! A nice shadow
move that bounces me back to my partner can be very cool, and when my shadow
is a good dancer or good friend of mine, I'm happy to have more shadow
interaction, but it's a gamble. I might be stuck with a shadow who's a
terrible dancer, or smells bad, or is generally just not someone I'd want to
dance with, and not only are you (the choreographer and caller) forcing me
to swing him every time through the dance, you're also taking me away from
the person who I *did* choose to dance with.
On the other hand, there are really cool dances with lots of shadow
interaction, too. If the dance itself is cool enough, I'm willing to let
myself get pulled away from my partner more.
- Koren
On 1/23/08, J L Korr <jeremykorr(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
Chris Weiler wrote:
Once again, frigid New Hampshire was home to
another warm and special
Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. It was great to see people from all
over the country who came to dance and learn. The SharedWeight lunch
gatherings were a couple of the high points for me.
. . . and Chris did an excellent job calling a fun dance he co-wrote. Will
you consider posting it on SharedWeight, Chris?
During the same open mike session, I enjoyed dancing Nils Fredland's "Head
of the Bed" to Dave Eisenstatter's calling, and it got me thinking. I've
called dances with shadow swings infrequently, because in the back of my
head I think about the following excerpt from Cary Ravitz's notes on contra
choreography: "Watch out for excessive trail buddy interaction. People don't
choose their trail buddy and they are stuck with them for the entire dance.
. . . Trail buddy swings are not allowed."
However, Cary also emphasizes that those are his personal preferences, and
others' preferences may vary. So I'd appreciate others' thoughts on this --
are shadow swings as strongly negative an issue for you as they are for
Cary? Clearly they were not an issue for Nils when writing "Head of the Bed"
or Seth T. when writing "Meg's a Dancing Fool," for instance.
Thanks,
Jeremy
Jeremy Korr
East of Los Angeles
10:35 p.m.
I currently don't have any dances with shadow swings in my
repertoire, by choice.
Part of that is to avoid the situation where you're forcing two
people to swing together who Really Don't Want To Swing
Over and Over. And they'll let you know it, whether it's a
breakup, or one person's someone that they don't want to
dance with. (In my first community I went to, there was
one person like this. It would drive which lines people went
into, people would refuse sometimes to neighbor swing
with said person, and it really corrupted the whole partner-
asking dynamic of the dance. So I'm shaped by an extreme.)
There's the secondary reason that it's not as interesting as
it's the same person over and over and over. And you've
already got your partner over and over and over, with the
partner swing I need to pander to. So that cuts out still more
neighbor interaction. It's why I strongly prefer neighbor grand
right and lefts to shadow grand right and lefts, for instance.
A shadow can be a convenient marker to create the effect
of a lose-and-find partner sequence, so they do have their
uses.
Yet I call a dance with a shadow swing about one night
of every three. They're the four-face-fours where you swing
your corner. So I fully admit to irrational hypocrisy.
-Chris Page
San Diego
6177
days inactive
6178
days old
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Chris Page -
Chris Weiler -
J L Korr -
Koren A. Wake