Phwew.. OK,... a slightly different point of view from out here in the wilderness I guess. Maybe 30 (35?) or so years ago, I was still pretty much a beginner caller. I was a dance musician as well and also did sound for the 4th Friday North Whitefield dance here in Maine. This was my mentor Ted Sannella's home dance and he called most of the evenings. Ted always used cards but it was clear he really didn't need to. One night when Ted was out of town, Susan Kevra was supposed to call but she had car issues and couldn't make it. We found out maybe 10 minutes before the dance was to start. I was asked to call, and of course didn't have any cards, but managed to piece together a program from memory. Not saying it was a brilliant program but I didn't have to use the same dance twice and everyone had fun. Since that moment I decided it would be a good idea not to be tied down to cards. One of my other mentors, David Kaynor, never used cards and he was playing fiddle at the same time! I kept thinking, shoot a fiddle player can play 100's of tunes from memory. How can a dance which typically only has 6-8 figures in the whole dance be any harder to remember than a tune? The trick is sort of remembering the "hook" in the dance. Similar to how a fiddler is fine as long as they can remember the first few notes of the tune. Once you have the hook, the dance becomes pretty clear, to me anyway. Plus you have the walk-through to maybe fumble through and make sure you have it all right. Back in the day when I was calling a lot, I probably had 50-100 dances I could call from memory. If I wanted something different, I'd study a dance beforehand and memorize it, only occasionally making a few notes. Since I was often playing in the band at the same time, I found it very freeing not being tied down to looking at cards and being able to completely pay attention to the dancers was good both from the caller's and musician's point of view. The phone ain't ringing that much anymore and I'm mostly calling local dances, often with a LOT of beginners. So a lot of the programs look similar and my "memory cache" has shrunk quite a bit. Use it or lose it I guess. Still, I don't find the need for cards. I'm not saying everyone should throw away their cards, but it's pretty clear from reading this email thread that having a few dances or maybe 10 that one can call from memory ain't a bad idea. Try it, you might be surprised. In fact just sit down and write down some dances. They are in there. Having the courage to be up on stage in front of 100 dancers without the card, well that's another story! - just sayin' bill in Maine (on a couple related notes, I remember Rick Mohr showing me a business card sized card he had in his wallet. He developed a shorthand for the calls and in very small type had 100 dances, 50 on each side of one card that he kept with him all the time. That was before smartphones (hah maybe before cellphones) and "aps" which can now do the same thing, but I thought that was pretty clever. Also, Larry Unger always kept a bunch of dance cards in his guitar case. Probably still does. They were there to help out a caller in need when he was playing for a dance) ________________________________ From: barrie bullimore via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2025 2:06 PM To: Jon Greene &lt;greeneneerg(a)gmail.com&gt; Cc: Abbie Sorg &lt;absorg(a)gmail.com&gt;om>; Callers Contra &lt;contracallers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: [Callers] Re: Caller nightmare Some years ago now, I was the caller for a dance weekend. I had sent my programmes for the workshops and dance sessions to the band but I forgot to take my dance cards with me. To my surprise, I was able to call the whole programme, English, Scottish, contras and squares without my cards. I made sure it never happened again! Barrie Bullimore (UK) On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 12:02 PM Jon Greene via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote: I always bring my cards to a dance. That ensures that the caller will show up. If I don’t bring them, they might not. - Jon Great Barrington, MA Sent from my iPhone On Jan 21, 2025, at 3:14 PM, Abbie Sorg via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:  I had that exact same nightmare when I was a brand new caller, probably before I even called my first full evening. I nearly always bring my box of dance cards anytime I go to a local dance as a dancer, because of the memory of that nightmare. Nice to know I'm not the only one! Abbie Tucson, AZ On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 12:48 PM Amy Wimmer via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote: My spouse and I are both callers who run a weekly dance. In the 20+ years we've been doing this I can only think of 2 times the caller was a no-show. The first time it happened there were 3 callers in the hall. While I drove home to get my dance collection the others called dances they had memorized. Since that time my spouse has brought his dance collection to every dance, just in case. But sometimes we're not there. What a great idea to leave a collection, even a whole program, at the dance! Gonna do it! Thanks for the tip! On Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 10:48 AM sdgola--- via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote: I was greeted at the door once by Organizers telling me that the scheduled caller was a no-show. This was 5 minutes before the start of the dance (I was attending with the expectation of being a dancer). The money box had a few scraps of paper with dances written on them, so we started with those. I asked a couple of dancers to sit out and use their phones to look up dance figures while I got the dance going. The originally booked caller had forgotten, so I became the caller for the full evening. Now I carry a couple of printed programs with me. Sue Gola Princeton/Mt Airy On Tuesday, January 21, 2025 at 01:21:01 PM EST, Colin Hume via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote: On Tue, 21 Jan 2025 10:11:33 -0800, Gary Shapiro via Contra Callers wrote: I've been in that situation at a Festival - the caller was delayed on the motorway - and I realised I only knew two contras by heart, neither of which was a good one to start with. I actually had my lap-top with all my dances on it, but it was at the other venue. I managed to remember Bob Dalsemer's "Maggie's Hobby". I now have some cards for a few contras and squares in my shoulder bag along with the other vital stuff like Mars Bars and cough medicine! And yet I can remember lots of quite complicated English dances! Colin Hume _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net> _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net> _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net> _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net> _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net>

My first calling gig was accidental. It was at a fairly laid back folk festival, where even the organised events were arranged ad hoc. It was time for the evening dance, but the musicians had been jamming all day and were having their dinner. A budding concertina player rounded up some musicians of similar ability, then gave me a microphone and told me to call. The only calling I had done was an occasional dance at a dance class. With no notes, or preparation, I called the entire evening from memory and had a blast (the dancers enjoyed themselves too). This was bush/ceilidh dancing, rather than contra - I must admit I have difficulty remembering many contras. Peter Foster On 22/01/2025 5:20 am, Colin Hume via Contra Callers wrote:

I keep about 50 dances on my phone. But, being the paranoid I am, I carry a two-sided business card in my wallet. Images are each side of the card. Whenever it gets illegible, I replace it with an updated program card. On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM Maia McCormick via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

Fun story from the category of no-notes, no music, 350 participants and dancing where and with whom you'd least expect: Last summer Ellen and I were implored to throw not one but two "American" dance sessions at a European monastery (not named to preserve their privacy). We didn't have any dance notes with us and no internet service; their piano needed repair and my travel keyboard didn't cut it; but we had a couple hours to prepare. We recreated some all-and-everyone dances that we vaguely remembered and re-invented a couple more to put together a program of four or five dances. I managed to find some music on my tablet that had 64-beat phrases at a good tempo and they had a really nice PA. We went on to throw two dances with about 350 participants of all ages including monastics. This will likely remain the most memorable and inspiring dance experience of my life. At any rate, what we do for our usual two dance series: For musicians: Linda Henry, one of the mentors of the series we started, taught us that a well-prepared band leader has two easy-to-call dances up their sleeve in case the caller is delayed. In our case I have three: a scatter mixer (we have a few variations), a simple "nice to see you again" circle dance that we made up, and La Bastringue. This relies heavily on the band being capable of carrying a dance without a caller to guide the flow. There are a few scatter mixers in the on-line databases. I recall Rick Mohr wrote one of them. For callers: in case the band isn't ready, we have go-to square tunes that we play from iTunes, YouTube, etc. We've used recordings from Great Bear, Elixir, Talking Heads and Earth Wind and Fire. At John C. Campbell Folk School's Dance Musician's Week, Andy Davis, of New England Dancing Masters and one of our instructors, told this instructional story from his experience: His band was booked for a dance. Fewer dancers than expected showed up. The caller pulled out a set of spoons and asked the band to join the dancers. The caller called and played the spoons. Andy said it was a great time. (I don't recall him saying who the caller was or if the caller played spoons the whole evening.) Rob - - - - - - - - - - - - Robert Matson Innovation Media Corp. The Innovation Works, Inc. Cell: (917) 626-2675 On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 12:37 PM sdgola--- via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

I used a similar system with Excel and Word, but added the capability to make the “role” a plug-in varible so I can create custom “cards” with traditional, gender-free, positional, or other terminology. It’s easier for my small brain not to have to read one terminology and call another. Ric Goldman Portland, OR From: Maia McCormick via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2025 12:11 PM To: Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: [Callers] Re: Caller nightmare I keep my whole dance collection backed up in Google Docs for precisely this reason 😅 after I left my box of physical cards on the subway en route to a gig and had to scrounge off the internet on my phone, I said, "never again". (My system is kind of convoluted but I've grown to love it: source of truth in a google sheet, mail merged into a google doc for readability and printability. Happy to discuss more/share samples if anyone is curious or wants to adopt it!) - Maia in NYC -- Maia McCormick (she/her) 917.279.8194 On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 2:54 PM Amy Wimmer via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> > wrote: My spouse and I are both callers who run a weekly dance. In the 20+ years we've been doing this I can only think of 2 times the caller was a no-show. The first time it happened there were 3 callers in the hall. While I drove home to get my dance collection the others called dances they had memorized. Since that time my spouse has brought his dance collection to every dance, just in case. But sometimes we're not there. What a great idea to leave a collection, even a whole program, at the dance! Gonna do it! Thanks for the tip! On Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 10:48 AM sdgola--- via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> > wrote: I was greeted at the door once by Organizers telling me that the scheduled caller was a no-show. This was 5 minutes before the start of the dance (I was attending with the expectation of being a dancer). The money box had a few scraps of paper with dances written on them, so we started with those. I asked a couple of dancers to sit out and use their phones to look up dance figures while I got the dance going. The originally booked caller had forgotten, so I became the caller for the full evening. Now I carry a couple of printed programs with me. Sue Gola Princeton/Mt Airy On Tuesday, January 21, 2025 at 01:21:01 PM EST, Colin Hume via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> > wrote: On Tue, 21 Jan 2025 10:11:33 -0800, Gary Shapiro via Contra Callers wrote: I've been in that situation at a Festival - the caller was delayed on the motorway - and I realised I only knew two contras by heart, neither of which was a good one to start with. I actually had my lap-top with all my dances on it, but it was at the other venue. I managed to remember Bob Dalsemer's "Maggie's Hobby". I now have some cards for a few contras and squares in my shoulder bag along with the other vital stuff like Mars Bars and cough medicine! And yet I can remember lots of quite complicated English dances! Colin Hume _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net> _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net> _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net>

One of the first tips I got from Bob Dalsemer was along similar lines: If you drove several hours to call a dance and just realized that you'd forgotten your cards, how many dances could you recall or reconstruct from memory? I call my memorized collection my "back pocket" dances. Especially handy in a small series where the first dance might be a triplet or square. Organizers in Louisville used to keep a set of "house" cards in the cabinet with the sound system. On Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 2:53 PM Amy Wimmer via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

I had that exact same nightmare when I was a brand new caller, probably before I even called my first full evening. I nearly always bring my box of dance cards anytime I go to a local dance as a dancer, because of the memory of that nightmare. Nice to know I'm not the only one! Abbie Tucson, AZ On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 12:48 PM Amy Wimmer via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

I was greeted at the door once by Organizers telling me that the scheduled caller was a no-show.  This was 5 minutes before the start of the dance (I was attending with the expectation of being a dancer).  The money box had a few scraps of paper with dances written on them, so we started with those.  I asked a couple of dancers to sit out and use their phones to look up dance figures while I got the dance going.  The originally booked caller had forgotten, so I became the caller for the full evening. Now I carry a couple of printed programs with me. Sue GolaPrinceton/Mt Airy On Tuesday, January 21, 2025 at 01:21:01 PM EST, Colin Hume via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: On Tue, 21 Jan 2025 10:11:33 -0800, Gary Shapiro via Contra Callers wrote: I've been in that situation at a Festival - the caller was delayed on the motorway - and I realised I only knew two contras by heart, neither of which was a good one to start with.  I actually had my lap-top with all my dances on it, but it was at the other venue.  I managed to remember Bob Dalsemer's "Maggie's Hobby".  I now have some cards for a few contras and squares in my shoulder bag along with the other vital stuff like Mars Bars and cough medicine! And yet I can remember lots of quite complicated English dances! Colin Hume _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net

Yup. We had a band no show once as well We keep an ”emergency pack” on site in Kalamazoo. Callers cards basic to standard. Contra length danceable recordings. Portable player and speaker.   Laurie PWest Michigan  Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, 1:14 PM, Gary Shapiro via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: I haven't been a contra caller for many years, but last night I dreamt I was at a dance and the caller did not show up. There were no other callers in attendance. So I got up there wondering what dances I knew by heart. I think I knew how A Nice Combination went. Then I woke up and thought about it some more. I decided that every dance venue should keep a dance program, with instructions, somewhere. Gary in Santa Barbara_______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net