16 Mar
2023
16 Mar
'23
11:51 a.m.
Hi callers,
Website help request:
As I've been ramping up my accepting gigs again post-shutdown, I'm
realizing that I've put off my "get an actual website" too long.
Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages or contra performer
pages?
I can provide photographs myself, for what that's worth.
This is one of those things where, yeah, I could trudge through it myself
with a DIY site-builder attached to a standard web host or Square, but I do
UX Design as my 40-hour-a-week job and I already have many things on my
plate, and I just really haven't found motivation to take on Another
Project. So I really just want to be able to hand someone some money and
know I'll get a good product that isn't needlessly complex.
Self-promotion perspective request:
I'm also looking for ways to appropriately do self-promotion as a caller.
I love doing series dances, and also love doing the dances for groups with
lots of new folks, too. But I also would enjoy expanding doing more special
events, and am getting more comfortable with traveling again, pandemic-wise.
There's this sort of odd condition where the A-List Well-Known Callers
don't need to advertise, but to get there, you need to either/both
advertise and/or have your summers off so you can do All The Tours and All
The Summer Camps. On top of that, New England is kind of a funny area
because we have so many weekly/monthly series dances that we don't have big
dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the country.
And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much
self-promotion until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
I've been calling for 11 years. Before the pandemic I was doing 30-40 gigs
a year, including some wedding/One-Night-Stand events and smattering of
special events. I've headlined at Flurry in 2018 and got positive feedback.
I known where I'm at in terms of effectively choosing and teaching dances
from simple through advanced. I solicit feedback from organizers I call
dances for. And I know that being an advocate for Larks/Robins as well as
dancer-safety has been a black mark for me in some bookers' minds.
But I still get people being like "Oh, how long have you been calling?" ---
I realize part of this is the name change from Ron to Julian, but, part of
it is definitely hesitation to like, I dunno, email organizers I don't
personally know asking about dance weekends or whatnot. Maybe there's
partly the "imposter syndrome" in there as well.
One thing I do know is that I now have no recent good video of me calling,
which I'm earmarking as part of the website project.
Perspective on self-promotion is appreciated, and perspective for anyone
who also books dances is appreciated.
In dance,
Julian Blechner
he/him
(Western Mass, USA)
1:08 p.m.
Flurry, NEFFA, Falcon Ridge? Pinewoods weeks? Peterborough Snowball isn't
a weekend, but has as much dancing as one.
But, Julian is right that many dances in New England don't have their own
weekend. Many of the larger dances elsewhere have one or even more
weekend-long events a year, which draw dancers from farther away than
usual, have higher-end calling and music, and build the kitty for regular
dances. You'd expect there to be a dance weekend per week in New England
at that rate, which would likely make them less successful as draws and
fundraisers.
--jh--
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 12:51 PM Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 11:51 AM Julian Blechner via
Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
we don't have big dance weekends like pretty
much everywhere else in the
country.
Beantown Stomp <https://www.beantownstomp.com/>?
Jeff
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
1:16 p.m.
Yeah, so, I literally wrote the paragraph stating the few we have, and then
was like "Yannow, this email's wordy enough. I'm sure folks will understand
there's exceptions to general high-level statements"
And then... I reminded now how many of us are unabashed nerds. :D
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 1:08 PM Joe Harrington <contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Flurry, NEFFA, Falcon Ridge? Pinewoods weeks?
Peterborough Snowball
isn't a weekend, but has as much dancing as one.
But, Julian is right that many dances in New England don't have their own
weekend. Many of the larger dances elsewhere have one or even more
weekend-long events a year, which draw dancers from farther away than
usual, have higher-end calling and music, and build the kitty for regular
dances. You'd expect there to be a dance weekend per week in New England
at that rate, which would likely make them less successful as draws and
fundraisers.
--jh--
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 12:51 PM Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 11:51 AM Julian Blechner
via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
we don't have big dance weekends like pretty
much everywhere else in the
country.
Beantown Stomp <https://www.beantownstomp.com/>?
Jeff
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
1:38 p.m.
Hi, Julian --
I'll await other answers with interest, since I similarly don't have a caller
website and it's a Project I could theoretically do but am rather overwhelmed by.
(Pre-pandemic I was getting all the gigs I could realistically handle with a full-time
job, more outside of contra than in ****
I also want to empathize with you about being reluctant to self-promote, reach out to
organizers, etc, for fear of being obnoxious, although when I have my series organizer hat
on I'm usually happy to hear from out-of-town callers/bands who will be coming to my
area anyway. But I've never programmed a weekend or camp so I don't know how that
feels; my impression locally is that programmers often have a vision and some favorites
already.
-- Alan
________________________________________
From: Julian Blechner via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 8:51 AM
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Asking For Website Help and Self-Promotion Question
Hi callers,
Website help request:
As I've been ramping up my accepting gigs again post-shutdown, I'm realizing that
I've put off my "get an actual website" too long.
Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages or contra performer pages?
I can provide photographs myself, for what that's worth.
This is one of those things where, yeah, I could trudge through it myself with a DIY
site-builder attached to a standard web host or Square, but I do UX Design as my
40-hour-a-week job and I already have many things on my plate, and I just really
haven't found motivation to take on Another Project. So I really just want to be able
to hand someone some money and know I'll get a good product that isn't needlessly
complex.
Self-promotion perspective request:
I'm also looking for ways to appropriately do self-promotion as a caller.
I love doing series dances, and also love doing the dances for groups with lots of new
folks, too. But I also would enjoy expanding doing more special events, and am getting
more comfortable with traveling again, pandemic-wise.
There's this sort of odd condition where the A-List Well-Known Callers don't need
to advertise, but to get there, you need to either/both advertise and/or have your summers
off so you can do All The Tours and All The Summer Camps. On top of that, New England is
kind of a funny area because we have so many weekly/monthly series dances that we
don't have big dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the country.
And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much self-promotion
until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
I've been calling for 11 years. Before the pandemic I was doing 30-40 gigs a year,
including some wedding/One-Night-Stand events and smattering of special events. I've
headlined at Flurry in 2018 and got positive feedback. I known where I'm at in terms
of effectively choosing and teaching dances from simple through advanced. I solicit
feedback from organizers I call dances for. And I know that being an advocate for
Larks/Robins as well as dancer-safety has been a black mark for me in some bookers'
minds.
But I still get people being like "Oh, how long have you been calling?" --- I
realize part of this is the name change from Ron to Julian, but, part of it is definitely
hesitation to like, I dunno, email organizers I don't personally know asking about
dance weekends or whatnot. Maybe there's partly the "imposter syndrome" in
there as well.
One thing I do know is that I now have no recent good video of me calling, which I'm
earmarking as part of the website project.
Perspective on self-promotion is appreciated, and perspective for anyone who also books
dances is appreciated.
In dance,
Julian Blechner
he/him
(Western Mass, USA)
3:04 p.m.
As someone who works full-time and has repeatedly reached out to weekend organizers in the
past and gotten the standard "Oh, are you calling any weekends soon?" and
"It would be good if you could tour through [X/Y/Z multi-city sprawling metro area]
so dancers could get familiar with you." ... I 100% agree that it feels impossible to
break into the scene unless you're *already in the scene*. Weekend organizers holding
on to the original bookings that got pushed back because of the pandemic has made this a
bit worse, as well, with many weekends booked through the end of 2024 (this one I get -
it's just also miring things further).
Following this thread with deep interest and hoping there's some deep secret to get
out of this Heller-ian whirlpool.
Cheers,
Isaac Banner
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 10:38 AM, Winston, Alan P. via Contra Callers wrote:
Hi, Julian --
I'll await other answers with interest, since I similarly don't have a caller
website and it's a Project I could theoretically do but am rather overwhelmed by.
(Pre-pandemic I was getting all the gigs I could realistically handle with a full-time
job, more outside of contra than in ****
I also want to empathize with you about being reluctant to self-promote, reach out to
organizers, etc, for fear of being obnoxious, although when I have my series organizer hat
on I'm usually happy to hear from out-of-town callers/bands who will be coming to my
area anyway. But I've never programmed a weekend or camp so I don't know how that
feels; my impression locally is that programmers often have a vision and some favorites
already.
-- Alan
________________________________________
From: Julian Blechner via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 8:51 AM
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Asking For Website Help and Self-Promotion Question
Hi callers,
Website help request:
As I've been ramping up my accepting gigs again post-shutdown, I'm realizing that
I've put off my "get an actual website" too long.
Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages or contra performer pages?
I can provide photographs myself, for what that's worth.
This is one of those things where, yeah, I could trudge through it myself with a DIY
site-builder attached to a standard web host or Square, but I do UX Design as my
40-hour-a-week job and I already have many things on my plate, and I just really
haven't found motivation to take on Another Project. So I really just want to be able
to hand someone some money and know I'll get a good product that isn't needlessly
complex.
Self-promotion perspective request:
I'm also looking for ways to appropriately do self-promotion as a caller.
I love doing series dances, and also love doing the dances for groups with lots of new
folks, too. But I also would enjoy expanding doing more special events, and am getting
more comfortable with traveling again, pandemic-wise.
There's this sort of odd condition where the A-List Well-Known Callers don't need
to advertise, but to get there, you need to either/both advertise and/or have your summers
off so you can do All The Tours and All The Summer Camps. On top of that, New England is
kind of a funny area because we have so many weekly/monthly series dances that we
don't have big dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the country.
And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much self-promotion
until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
I've been calling for 11 years. Before the pandemic I was doing 30-40 gigs a year,
including some wedding/One-Night-Stand events and smattering of special events. I've
headlined at Flurry in 2018 and got positive feedback. I known where I'm at in terms
of effectively choosing and teaching dances from simple through advanced. I solicit
feedback from organizers I call dances for. And I know that being an advocate for
Larks/Robins as well as dancer-safety has been a black mark for me in some bookers'
minds.
But I still get people being like "Oh, how long have you been calling?" --- I
realize part of this is the name change from Ron to Julian, but, part of it is definitely
hesitation to like, I dunno, email organizers I don't personally know asking about
dance weekends or whatnot. Maybe there's partly the "imposter syndrome" in
there as well.
One thing I do know is that I now have no recent good video of me calling, which I'm
earmarking as part of the website project.
Perspective on self-promotion is appreciated, and perspective for anyone who also books
dances is appreciated.
In dance,
Julian Blechner
he/him
(Western Mass, USA)
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
4:01 p.m.
I think part of what makes this tricky is that while with the music
organizers (and dancers) put a lot of value on upside (new, interesting,
exciting, variety) with calling they mostly value avoiding downside
(reliable, solid, good judgement, few mistakes, great recovery). So it
looks to me like they tend to be pretty happy to book from a smallish pool
of callers that they trust, and are happy with the results.
If I were trying to get into calling dance weekends (which I'm not!) I
think the big thing would be figuring out how these organizers could learn
whether I did have the qualities they need. This is hard: a video doesn't
communicate that much to an organizer about how well you matched the
material to the situation, how well you communicated with the band, whether
you flub 1% of calls or 0.01%, etc. I think maybe endorsements from
widely trusted callers might be a way to handle this? Ideally someone who
has heard you call a ton and is confident enough to put their own
reputation on the line in vouching for you?
Jeff
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 3:05 PM Isaac Banner via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
As someone who works full-time and has repeatedly
reached out to weekend
organizers in the past and gotten the standard "Oh, are you calling any
weekends soon?" and "It would be good if you could tour through [X/Y/Z
multi-city sprawling metro area] so dancers could get familiar with you."
... I 100% agree that it feels impossible to break into the scene unless
you're *already in the scene*. Weekend organizers holding on to the
original bookings that got pushed back because of the pandemic has made
this a bit worse, as well, with many weekends booked through the end of
2024 (this one I get - it's just also miring things further).
Following this thread with deep interest and hoping there's some deep
secret to get out of this Heller-ian whirlpool.
Cheers,
Isaac Banner
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 10:38 AM, Winston, Alan P. via Contra Callers
wrote:
Hi, Julian --
I'll await other answers with interest, since I similarly don't have a
caller website and it's a Project I could theoretically do but am rather
overwhelmed by. (Pre-pandemic I was getting all the gigs I could
realistically handle with a full-time job, more outside of contra than in
****
I also want to empathize with you about being reluctant to self-promote,
reach out to organizers, etc, for fear of being obnoxious, although when I
have my series organizer hat on I'm usually happy to hear from out-of-town
callers/bands who will be coming to my area anyway. But I've never
programmed a weekend or camp so I don't know how that feels; my impression
locally is that programmers often have a vision and some favorites already.
-- Alan
________________________________________
From: Julian Blechner via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 8:51 AM
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Asking For Website Help and Self-Promotion Question
Hi callers,
Website help request:
As I've been ramping up my accepting gigs again post-shutdown, I'm
realizing that I've put off my "get an actual website" too long.
Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages or contra performer
pages?
I can provide photographs myself, for what that's worth.
This is one of those things where, yeah, I could trudge through it myself
with a DIY site-builder attached to a standard web host or Square, but I do
UX Design as my 40-hour-a-week job and I already have many things on my
plate, and I just really haven't found motivation to take on Another
Project. So I really just want to be able to hand someone some money and
know I'll get a good product that isn't needlessly complex.
Self-promotion perspective request:
I'm also looking for ways to appropriately do self-promotion as a caller.
I love doing series dances, and also love doing the dances for groups with
lots of new folks, too. But I also would enjoy expanding doing more special
events, and am getting more comfortable with traveling again, pandemic-wise.
There's this sort of odd condition where the A-List Well-Known Callers
don't need to advertise, but to get there, you need to either/both
advertise and/or have your summers off so you can do All The Tours and All
The Summer Camps. On top of that, New England is kind of a funny area
because we have so many weekly/monthly series dances that we don't have big
dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the country.
And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much
self-promotion until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
I've been calling for 11 years. Before the pandemic I was doing 30-40 gigs
a year, including some wedding/One-Night-Stand events and smattering of
special events. I've headlined at Flurry in 2018 and got positive feedback.
I known where I'm at in terms of effectively choosing and teaching dances
from simple through advanced. I solicit feedback from organizers I call
dances for. And I know that being an advocate for Larks/Robins as well as
dancer-safety has been a black mark for me in some bookers' minds.
But I still get people being like "Oh, how long have you been calling?"
--- I realize part of this is the name change from Ron to Julian, but, part
of it is definitely hesitation to like, I dunno, email organizers I don't
personally know asking about dance weekends or whatnot. Maybe there's
partly the "imposter syndrome" in there as well.
One thing I do know is that I now have no recent good video of me calling,
which I'm earmarking as part of the website project.
Perspective on self-promotion is appreciated, and perspective for anyone
who also books dances is appreciated.
In dance,
Julian Blechner
he/him
(Western Mass, USA)
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
4:12 p.m.
My understanding of the world was "that's what Sugar Hill is for"--a
regional 'magnet weekend' where aspiring bands and aspiring callers get a
slot awarded by lottery. Weekend organizers are there to dance, and either
organizers can introduce themselves to callers, or callers can introduce
themselves to organizers and say "I'm looking to call regional-level
weekends."
Do other regions have a Sugar Hill equivalent?
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 3:02 PM Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I think part of what makes this tricky is that while
with the music
organizers (and dancers) put a lot of value on upside (new, interesting,
exciting, variety) with calling they mostly value avoiding downside
(reliable, solid, good judgement, few mistakes, great recovery). So it
looks to me like they tend to be pretty happy to book from a smallish pool
of callers that they trust, and are happy with the results.
If I were trying to get into calling dance weekends (which I'm not!) I
think the big thing would be figuring out how these organizers could learn
whether I did have the qualities they need. This is hard: a video doesn't
communicate that much to an organizer about how well you matched the
material to the situation, how well you communicated with the band, whether
you flub 1% of calls or 0.01%, etc. I think maybe endorsements from
widely trusted callers might be a way to handle this? Ideally someone who
has heard you call a ton and is confident enough to put their own
reputation on the line in vouching for you?
Jeff
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 3:05 PM Isaac Banner via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
--
Allison Jonjak
allisonjonjak(a)gmail.com
allisonjonjak.com
As someone who works full-time and has repeatedly
reached out to weekend
organizers in the past and gotten the standard "Oh, are you calling any
weekends soon?" and "It would be good if you could tour through [X/Y/Z
multi-city sprawling metro area] so dancers could get familiar with you."
... I 100% agree that it feels impossible to break into the scene unless
you're *already in the scene*. Weekend organizers holding on to the
original bookings that got pushed back because of the pandemic has made
this a bit worse, as well, with many weekends booked through the end of
2024 (this one I get - it's just also miring things further).
Following this thread with deep interest and hoping there's some deep
secret to get out of this Heller-ian whirlpool.
Cheers,
Isaac Banner
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 10:38 AM, Winston, Alan P. via Contra Callers
wrote:
Hi, Julian --
I'll await other answers with interest, since I similarly don't have a
caller website and it's a Project I could theoretically do but am rather
overwhelmed by. (Pre-pandemic I was getting all the gigs I could
realistically handle with a full-time job, more outside of contra than in
****
I also want to empathize with you about being reluctant to self-promote,
reach out to organizers, etc, for fear of being obnoxious, although when I
have my series organizer hat on I'm usually happy to hear from out-of-town
callers/bands who will be coming to my area anyway. But I've never
programmed a weekend or camp so I don't know how that feels; my impression
locally is that programmers often have a vision and some favorites already.
-- Alan
________________________________________
From: Julian Blechner via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 8:51 AM
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Asking For Website Help and Self-Promotion Question
Hi callers,
Website help request:
As I've been ramping up my accepting gigs again post-shutdown, I'm
realizing that I've put off my "get an actual website" too long.
Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages or contra
performer pages?
I can provide photographs myself, for what that's worth.
This is one of those things where, yeah, I could trudge through it myself
with a DIY site-builder attached to a standard web host or Square, but I do
UX Design as my 40-hour-a-week job and I already have many things on my
plate, and I just really haven't found motivation to take on Another
Project. So I really just want to be able to hand someone some money and
know I'll get a good product that isn't needlessly complex.
Self-promotion perspective request:
I'm also looking for ways to appropriately do self-promotion as a caller.
I love doing series dances, and also love doing the dances for groups
with lots of new folks, too. But I also would enjoy expanding doing more
special events, and am getting more comfortable with traveling again,
pandemic-wise.
There's this sort of odd condition where the A-List Well-Known Callers
don't need to advertise, but to get there, you need to either/both
advertise and/or have your summers off so you can do All The Tours and All
The Summer Camps. On top of that, New England is kind of a funny area
because we have so many weekly/monthly series dances that we don't have big
dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the country.
And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much
self-promotion until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
I've been calling for 11 years. Before the pandemic I was doing 30-40
gigs a year, including some wedding/One-Night-Stand events and smattering
of special events. I've headlined at Flurry in 2018 and got positive
feedback. I known where I'm at in terms of effectively choosing and
teaching dances from simple through advanced. I solicit feedback from
organizers I call dances for. And I know that being an advocate for
Larks/Robins as well as dancer-safety has been a black mark for me in some
bookers' minds.
But I still get people being like "Oh, how long have you been calling?"
--- I realize part of this is the name change from Ron to Julian, but, part
of it is definitely hesitation to like, I dunno, email organizers I don't
personally know asking about dance weekends or whatnot. Maybe there's
partly the "imposter syndrome" in there as well.
One thing I do know is that I now have no recent good video of me
calling, which I'm earmarking as part of the website project.
Perspective on self-promotion is appreciated, and perspective for anyone
who also books dances is appreciated.
In dance,
Julian Blechner
he/him
(Western Mass, USA)
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
18 Mar
18 Mar
2:42 a.m.
Julian, Alan, and others,
I’m a career marketer and have a web design/development background. I’d be happy to help
you to get set up on Wordpress. I have a window of time over the next couple of months as
I enact some life changes.
I use a modern theme that has extensive design flexibility so the site feels personal and
vibrant, not templated. Wordpress allows for easy updates once it’s set up.
Here’s my site: https://drewdelaware.com; need to update a couple things but that’s always
the case with websites!
If you’d like to explore working together, feel comfortable reaching out to me off-list at
drew.delaware(a)gmail.com.
Cheers!
Drew
On Mar 16, 2023, at 7:38 AM, Winston, Alan P.
<winston(a)slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
Hi, Julian --
I'll await other answers with interest, since I similarly don't have a caller
website and it's a Project I could theoretically do but am rather overwhelmed by.
(Pre-pandemic I was getting all the gigs I could realistically handle with a full-time
job, more outside of contra than in ****
I also want to empathize with you about being reluctant to self-promote, reach out to
organizers, etc, for fear of being obnoxious, although when I have my series organizer hat
on I'm usually happy to hear from out-of-town callers/bands who will be coming to my
area anyway. But I've never programmed a weekend or camp so I don't know how that
feels; my impression locally is that programmers often have a vision and some favorites
already.
-- Alan
________________________________________
From: Julian Blechner via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 8:51 AM
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Asking For Website Help and Self-Promotion Question
Hi callers,
Website help request:
As I've been ramping up my accepting gigs again post-shutdown, I'm realizing that
I've put off my "get an actual website" too long.
Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages or contra performer pages?
I can provide photographs myself, for what that's worth.
This is one of those things where, yeah, I could trudge through it myself with a DIY
site-builder attached to a standard web host or Square, but I do UX Design as my
40-hour-a-week job and I already have many things on my plate, and I just really
haven't found motivation to take on Another Project. So I really just want to be able
to hand someone some money and know I'll get a good product that isn't needlessly
complex.
Self-promotion perspective request:
I'm also looking for ways to appropriately do self-promotion as a caller.
I love doing series dances, and also love doing the dances for groups with lots of new
folks, too. But I also would enjoy expanding doing more special events, and am getting
more comfortable with traveling again, pandemic-wise.
There's this sort of odd condition where the A-List Well-Known Callers don't need
to advertise, but to get there, you need to either/both advertise and/or have your summers
off so you can do All The Tours and All The Summer Camps. On top of that, New England is
kind of a funny area because we have so many weekly/monthly series dances that we
don't have big dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the country.
And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much self-promotion
until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
I've been calling for 11 years. Before the pandemic I was doing 30-40 gigs a year,
including some wedding/One-Night-Stand events and smattering of special events. I've
headlined at Flurry in 2018 and got positive feedback. I known where I'm at in terms
of effectively choosing and teaching dances from simple through advanced. I solicit
feedback from organizers I call dances for. And I know that being an advocate for
Larks/Robins as well as dancer-safety has been a black mark for me in some bookers'
minds.
But I still get people being like "Oh, how long have you been calling?" --- I
realize part of this is the name change from Ron to Julian, but, part of it is definitely
hesitation to like, I dunno, email organizers I don't personally know asking about
dance weekends or whatnot. Maybe there's partly the "imposter syndrome" in
there as well.
One thing I do know is that I now have no recent good video of me calling, which I'm
earmarking as part of the website project.
Perspective on self-promotion is appreciated, and perspective for anyone who also books
dances is appreciated.
In dance,
Julian Blechner
he/him
(Western Mass, USA)
1:01 p.m.
A hat tip to Peter Simonyi who reminded me that the host I switched to does not support
https - so I need to get used to sending out the link without that s on the end.
Correct link for my site is:
http://drewdelaware.com
(Thanks Peter!)
Drew
On Mar 17, 2023, at 8:42 PM, Drew Delaware
<drew.delaware(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Julian, Alan, and others,
I’m a career marketer and have a web design/development background. I’d be happy to help
you to get set up on Wordpress. I have a window of time over the next couple of months as
I enact some life changes.
I use a modern theme that has extensive design flexibility so the site feels personal and
vibrant, not templated. Wordpress allows for easy updates once it’s set up.
Here’s my site: https://drewdelaware.com; need to update a couple things but that’s
always the case with websites!
If you’d like to explore working together, feel comfortable reaching out to me off-list
at drew.delaware(a)gmail.com.
Cheers!
Drew
> On Mar 16, 2023, at 7:38 AM, Winston, Alan P. <winston(a)slac.stanford.edu>
wrote:
>
> Hi, Julian --
>
> I'll await other answers with interest, since I similarly don't have a caller
website and it's a Project I could theoretically do but am rather overwhelmed by.
(Pre-pandemic I was getting all the gigs I could realistically handle with a full-time
job, more outside of contra than in ****
>
> I also want to empathize with you about being reluctant to self-promote, reach out to
organizers, etc, for fear of being obnoxious, although when I have my series organizer hat
on I'm usually happy to hear from out-of-town callers/bands who will be coming to my
area anyway. But I've never programmed a weekend or camp so I don't know how that
feels; my impression locally is that programmers often have a vision and some favorites
already.
>
> -- Alan
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Julian Blechner via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 8:51 AM
> To: Shared Weight Contra Callers
> Subject: [Callers] Asking For Website Help and Self-Promotion Question
>
> Hi callers,
>
> Website help request:
>
> As I've been ramping up my accepting gigs again post-shutdown, I'm realizing
that I've put off my "get an actual website" too long.
>
> Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages or contra performer pages?
> I can provide photographs myself, for what that's worth.
>
> This is one of those things where, yeah, I could trudge through it myself with a DIY
site-builder attached to a standard web host or Square, but I do UX Design as my
40-hour-a-week job and I already have many things on my plate, and I just really
haven't found motivation to take on Another Project. So I really just want to be able
to hand someone some money and know I'll get a good product that isn't needlessly
complex.
>
>
> Self-promotion perspective request:
>
> I'm also looking for ways to appropriately do self-promotion as a caller.
> I love doing series dances, and also love doing the dances for groups with lots of
new folks, too. But I also would enjoy expanding doing more special events, and am getting
more comfortable with traveling again, pandemic-wise.
>
> There's this sort of odd condition where the A-List Well-Known Callers don't
need to advertise, but to get there, you need to either/both advertise and/or have your
summers off so you can do All The Tours and All The Summer Camps. On top of that, New
England is kind of a funny area because we have so many weekly/monthly series dances that
we don't have big dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the country.
>
> And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much
self-promotion until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
>
> I've been calling for 11 years. Before the pandemic I was doing 30-40 gigs a
year, including some wedding/One-Night-Stand events and smattering of special events.
I've headlined at Flurry in 2018 and got positive feedback. I known where I'm at
in terms of effectively choosing and teaching dances from simple through advanced. I
solicit feedback from organizers I call dances for. And I know that being an advocate for
Larks/Robins as well as dancer-safety has been a black mark for me in some bookers'
minds.
>
> But I still get people being like "Oh, how long have you been calling?" ---
I realize part of this is the name change from Ron to Julian, but, part of it is
definitely hesitation to like, I dunno, email organizers I don't personally know
asking about dance weekends or whatnot. Maybe there's partly the "imposter
syndrome" in there as well.
>
> One thing I do know is that I now have no recent good video of me calling, which
I'm earmarking as part of the website project.
>
> Perspective on self-promotion is appreciated, and perspective for anyone who also
books dances is appreciated.
>
> In dance,
> Julian Blechner
> he/him
> (Western Mass, USA)
17 Mar
17 Mar
4:08 a.m.
On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 11:51:29 -0400, Julian Blechner via Contra Callers wrote:
Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages
or contra performer pages?
I can build you a simple website if you're happy to update the HTML yourself -
I don't use Content Management Systems.
If you'd like a data input screen that will cost a little more.
I wrote data input screens for Sharon Green's website:
http://greenerywest.net/
to allow her to update the Home page and to add and edit dances linked to from the Dances
page:
http://greenerywest.net/Dance_Pages/Dance_Pages.php
and she's very happy with it and knows nothing of HTML.
I also set up the Folk Sales site:
https://folksales.com/
and of course my own website:
http://colinhume.com
Colin Hume
2:36 p.m.
Julian, I don't know how old you are. That plays a role in promotion and
"the height of your profile", as does where you live and do the bulk of
your calling.
I developed my skills in Texas/Oklahoma, and had a good reputation as a
reliable and creative caller there. But being in TX is like being on an
island, with two effects: 1) You won't get hired to call any weekend there,
because you're not special, people can dance to you regularly. (I was hired
as a second caller for one weekend.) 2) You won't get known by any dancers
outside of TX unless they travel to TX for TX dance weekends. 3) TX dance
weekends are booked largely on the cumulative reputation of the caller and
band. Some rising callers and bands will get a chance if enough TX people
have traveled to see them someplace else, but they have to have some
reputation. 4) FYI, it's impossible to get booked 40 times/yr in TX if you
just do contra/ECD. If you can teach/call squares, you stand a chance...
Your visibility is helped a lot by living in an area with a large dancer
population, and many dance locations within a reasonable distance.
For a few years I booked myself around the country as much as I could,
along with trying to make a living. I got great reviews in the PNW and
Midwest. I was chosen as a feature caller for the second Catapult!
weekend... I then had a few years of health and family issues, which
weren't resolved until Covid was almost upon us... The past couple years
I've gotten booked for a few IL/MO dances, within a couple hours of my
home.... Back in the Midwest, there are lots of callers looking for work
again in a contra market that is nowhere near 100% of what it was
pre-Covid. You may be experiencing the same thing out east.
Ageism exists to an extent, particularly when it comes to booking dance
weekend talent. There are still the dozen or so "Hall of Fame" callers, age
55+, who are always mentioned in dance weekend planning. This is not a
knock on any of them, they've earned their status. I know almost all of
them, have learned from them, and love them. But, only in my opinion, I
think that group of older callers takes up all the air, leaving none for
other callers in that age group to be considered for weekends. Time marches
on, to everything there is a season, you get the drift... Without going on,
I think if a caller is older and has not entered the weekend "circuit" in
the last couple years, it's not likely to happen, regardless of talent
level. Bookers will move on the new/upcoming/hot stuff.
If you are any age below 50, however, then start building tours around the
country, and keep learning new skills. The Hall of Famers can't do every
weekend, and, as above comments have mentioned, many bookers/groups really
would like to see you do a full set, so go do their local dances. Personal
contact is your best selling point. I would agree that good referrals from
better-known callers and dance organizers is a big plus, probably the
next-best selling point.... And I guess a website is still helpful as a
location for performance videos... Do under-40s still use that tool? Only
partly joking, I'm not sure where young people gather most information
anymore...
Hope these few bits of info are helpful. Best of luck! Enjoy the ride,
wherever it takes you!
Keith Tuxhorn, contra/ECD caller
Springfield, IL
On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 3:09 AM Colin Hume via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 11:51:29 -0400, Julian Blechner
via Contra Callers
wrote:
Any suggestions for website designers for caller
pages or contra
performer pages?
I can build you a simple website if you're happy to update the HTML
yourself -
I don't use Content Management Systems.
If you'd like a data input screen that will cost a little more.
I wrote data input screens for Sharon Green's website:
http://greenerywest.net/
to allow her to update the Home page and to add and edit dances linked to
from the Dances page:
http://greenerywest.net/Dance_Pages/Dance_Pages.php
and she's very happy with it and knows nothing of HTML.
I also set up the Folk Sales site:
https://folksales.com/
and of course my own website:
http://colinhume.com
Colin Hume
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
3:05 p.m.
On how the "most booked weekend callers" interact with age, pre-covid I
made lists of how often people were being booked to call (and play):
https://www.jefftk.com/news/gigstats. Here's the 2019 one:
https://www.jefftk.com/p/festival-stats-2019
Jeff
On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 2:36 PM Keith Tuxhorn via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Julian, I don't know how old you are. That plays a
role in promotion and
"the height of your profile", as does where you live and do the bulk of
your calling.
I developed my skills in Texas/Oklahoma, and had a good reputation as a
reliable and creative caller there. But being in TX is like being on an
island, with two effects: 1) You won't get hired to call any weekend there,
because you're not special, people can dance to you regularly. (I was hired
as a second caller for one weekend.) 2) You won't get known by any dancers
outside of TX unless they travel to TX for TX dance weekends. 3) TX dance
weekends are booked largely on the cumulative reputation of the caller and
band. Some rising callers and bands will get a chance if enough TX people
have traveled to see them someplace else, but they have to have some
reputation. 4) FYI, it's impossible to get booked 40 times/yr in TX if you
just do contra/ECD. If you can teach/call squares, you stand a chance...
Your visibility is helped a lot by living in an area with a large dancer
population, and many dance locations within a reasonable distance.
For a few years I booked myself around the country as much as I could,
along with trying to make a living. I got great reviews in the PNW and
Midwest. I was chosen as a feature caller for the second Catapult!
weekend... I then had a few years of health and family issues, which
weren't resolved until Covid was almost upon us... The past couple years
I've gotten booked for a few IL/MO dances, within a couple hours of my
home.... Back in the Midwest, there are lots of callers looking for work
again in a contra market that is nowhere near 100% of what it was
pre-Covid. You may be experiencing the same thing out east.
Ageism exists to an extent, particularly when it comes to booking dance
weekend talent. There are still the dozen or so "Hall of Fame" callers, age
55+, who are always mentioned in dance weekend planning. This is not a
knock on any of them, they've earned their status. I know almost all of
them, have learned from them, and love them. But, only in my opinion, I
think that group of older callers takes up all the air, leaving none for
other callers in that age group to be considered for weekends. Time marches
on, to everything there is a season, you get the drift... Without going on,
I think if a caller is older and has not entered the weekend "circuit" in
the last couple years, it's not likely to happen, regardless of talent
level. Bookers will move on the new/upcoming/hot stuff.
If you are any age below 50, however, then start building tours around the
country, and keep learning new skills. The Hall of Famers can't do every
weekend, and, as above comments have mentioned, many bookers/groups really
would like to see you do a full set, so go do their local dances. Personal
contact is your best selling point. I would agree that good referrals from
better-known callers and dance organizers is a big plus, probably the
next-best selling point.... And I guess a website is still helpful as a
location for performance videos... Do under-40s still use that tool? Only
partly joking, I'm not sure where young people gather most information
anymore...
Hope these few bits of info are helpful. Best of luck! Enjoy the ride,
wherever it takes you!
Keith Tuxhorn, contra/ECD caller
Springfield, IL
On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 3:09 AM Colin Hume via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 11:51:29 -0400, Julian
Blechner via Contra Callers
wrote:
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Any suggestions for website designers for caller
pages or contra
performer pages?
I can build you a simple website if you're happy to update the HTML
yourself -
I don't use Content Management Systems.
If you'd like a data input screen that will cost a little more.
I wrote data input screens for Sharon Green's website:
http://greenerywest.net/
to allow her to update the Home page and to add and edit dances linked to
from the Dances page:
http://greenerywest.net/Dance_Pages/Dance_Pages.php
and she's very happy with it and knows nothing of HTML.
I also set up the Folk Sales site:
https://folksales.com/
and of course my own website:
http://colinhume.com
Colin Hume
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to
contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
19 Mar
19 Mar
11:45 p.m.
And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much
self-promotion until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
I don't know how it works where you are, but for our dance weekend here in
Knoxville, TN, we just went through a process of listing all the callers
who met the criteria we were looking for whom we could think of. Beyond the
obvious, best-known callers (eg Seth Tepfer or George Marshall), this isn't
as easy as you might think. If someone had emailed us with a list of
recent gigs, a link to recordings of them calling, and their interest in
working the dance weekend, it would have been well-received. Otherwise,
we're just going off who we can remember based on dance weekends we've
recently gone to, and the list of people who have been doing this for many,
many, years. You might not have gotten hired, but I don't think anyone
would have faulted you any for having sent an email to us mentioning your
interest.
Best,
----
Karl Daniel Kappus, Jr.
https://www.illimitable.us
415.446.8419
On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 11:51 AM Julian Blechner via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi callers,
>
> Website help request:
>
> As I've been ramping up my accepting gigs again post-shutdown, I'm
> realizing that I've put off my "get an actual website" too long.
>
> Any suggestions for website designers for caller pages or contra performer
> pages?
> I can provide photographs myself, for what that's worth.
>
> This is one of those things where, yeah, I could trudge through it myself
> with a DIY site-builder attached to a standard web host or Square, but I do
> UX Design as my 40-hour-a-week job and I already have many things on my
> plate, and I just really haven't found motivation to take on Another
> Project. So I really just want to be able to hand someone some money and
> know I'll get a good product that isn't needlessly complex.
>
>
> Self-promotion perspective request:
>
> I'm also looking for ways to appropriately do self-promotion as a caller.
> I love doing series dances, and also love doing the dances for groups with
> lots of new folks, too. But I also would enjoy expanding doing more special
> events, and am getting more comfortable with traveling again, pandemic-wise.
>
> There's this sort of odd condition where the A-List Well-Known Callers
> don't need to advertise, but to get there, you need to either/both
> advertise and/or have your summers off so you can do All The Tours and All
> The Summer Camps. On top of that, New England is kind of a funny area
> because we have so many weekly/monthly series dances that we don't have big
> dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the country.
And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much
self-promotion until you become pushy / obnoxious?"
> I've been calling for 11 years. Before the pandemic I was doing 30-40
gigs
> a year, including some wedding/One-Night-Stand events and smattering of
> special events. I've headlined at Flurry in 2018 and got positive feedback.
> I known where I'm at in terms of effectively choosing and teaching dances
> from simple through advanced. I solicit feedback from organizers I call
> dances for. And I know that being an advocate for Larks/Robins as well as
> dancer-safety has been a black mark for me in some bookers' minds.
>
> But I still get people being like "Oh, how long have you been calling?"
> --- I realize part of this is the name change from Ron to Julian, but, part
> of it is definitely hesitation to like, I dunno, email organizers I don't
> personally know asking about dance weekends or whatnot. Maybe there's
> partly the "imposter syndrome" in there as well.
>
> One thing I do know is that I now have no recent good video of me calling,
> which I'm earmarking as part of the website project.
>
> Perspective on self-promotion is appreciated, and perspective for anyone
> who also books dances is appreciated.
>
> In dance,
> Julian Blechner
> he/him
> (Western Mass, USA)
> _______________________________________________
> Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
>
409
days inactive
413
days old
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
14 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
Allison Jonjak -
Colin Hume -
Dan Kappus -
Drew Delaware -
Isaac Banner -
Jeff Kaufman -
Joe Harrington -
Julian Blechner -
Keith Tuxhorn -
Winston, Alan P.