20 Apr
2010
20 Apr
'10
9:29 p.m.
For years I've had a set of 8 plastic engraved "checkers" for working
out square dance choreography.
Now that I'm a contra caller too, I wanted more dancers to push
through dances, so I drew some up in Adobe Illustrator, printed them
on heavy card stock, got them laminated front & back at the local
office supply store, and cut them out.
The PDF file is available free at my web site http://andyshore.com/
Scroll down to 'Various Goodies / Contra Dance "Checkers"' where you
can see a thumbnail of what I'm talking about and download the file to
print.
I hope someone else finds these useful. Constructive suggestions for
improving them are welcome!
--
/Andy Shore
Fort Lauderdale, FL
http://andyshore.com/
best email - andyshore(a)gmail.com
21 Apr
21 Apr
12:29 a.m.
New subject: contra "checkers"/"dollies" file for download and print
Wow.
Thanks for these!
I have some questions about squares. Maybe you can help me.
Quick "square bio": I'm a long-time contra dancer, two-year club (Western)
square dancer. (My husband and I belong to our local gay square dance club.
They are tolerant, and kind enough to put up with us two straights.) I
started calling contras and English about three years ago.
I've been challenged to call a couple of squares at a contra dance in
August. "No New England Squares," they said. "They're too easy,
because
they're just contras in a different formation."
So how do you time your calls when you don't fit a dance to 64 counts? Do
most of the calls come on the "5,6,7,8" of the phrase like contra calls do
(for the most part)? If so, what do you do when part of the room isn't
ready? Wait for the next swan to go by? It all seems pretty mysterious to
me.
M
E
On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 4:29 PM, Andy Shore <square.a.shore(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
For years I've had a set of 8 plastic engraved
"checkers" for working
out square dance choreography.
Now that I'm a contra caller too, I wanted more dancers to push
through dances, so I drew some up in Adobe Illustrator, printed them
on heavy card stock, got them laminated front & back at the local
office supply store, and cut them out.
The PDF file is available free at my web site http://andyshore.com/
Scroll down to 'Various Goodies / Contra Dance "Checkers"' where you
can see a thumbnail of what I'm talking about and download the file to
print.
I hope someone else finds these useful. Constructive suggestions for
improving them are welcome!
--
/Andy Shore
Fort Lauderdale, FL
http://andyshore.com/
best email - andyshore(a)gmail.com
_______________________________________________
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--
For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
6:56 a.m.
New subject: Calling Squares
On Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:29:40 -0500, Martha Edwards wrote:
I've been challenged to call a couple of squares
at a contra dance
in August. "No New England Squares," they said. "They're too easy,
because they're just contras in a different formation."
It seems your dancers are equating "New England Squares" with "phrased
32-bar Squares" and condemning them as too simple. That may be true
if you look at the squares on the Tony Parkes / Yankee Ingenuity
"Kitchen Junket" album, but like most generalisations, it isn't always
true. Some of Ron Buchanan's Squares are very complicated, but I call
them as phrased squares. Or try one of mine, for instance Buffalo Gap
Square at http://www.colinhume.com/insts.htm#Buffalo - I'm quite sure
they won't find that too simple.
So how do you time your calls when you don't fit a
dance to 64
counts? Do most of the calls come on the "5,6,7,8" of the phrase
like contra calls do (for the most part)? If so, what do you do
when part of the room isn't ready? Wait for the next swan to go by?
It all seems pretty mysterious to me.
If you're calling unphrased, you're still with the music most of the
time, and the "5, 6, 7, 8" approach is fine. But if some squares are
behind the rest you can always add in fillers like "In to the middle
and back" or "Do-si-do your partner" while they catch up. And of
course a swing is great for catching up time. If the more experienced
people get ahead of the call because I'm slowing down for the bottom
set that's their problem - and I tell them so!
A lot of contra callers (even some big name ones) are scared of
squares because they aren't confident about fitting them to the music,
but the great thing about a square is that you're in charge - you can
add a filler, which you just can't do in a contra. So actually you
have more control when people are having problems, not less. And as
with most things, you get better by doing it. It's great that your
dancers would like to try some squares - go for it!
Colin Hume
4:30 p.m.
New subject: Modern Western Squares for Contra dancers
Modern Western Squares for Contra dancers!
Pam and I are hosting a weekend for contra dancers August 13-15, 2010. As in previous
years, this is a small gathering of callers and dance gypsies to do a high intensity
weekend of mind-blowing, confusing, wild and wacky squares at our house in Decatur, GA.
We will once again be bringing in the most fabulous Dan Sahlstrom from the twin cities.
Expect Teacup Chain, Pingpong circulate, Relay the Deucy, and lots of other stuff from
Plus, Advanced, and Challenge level square dancing. And stuff that isn't even on the
lists!
Dan has been doing a number of workshops on square HEXs - square dance moves done with 6
couples (http://www.tiac.net/~mabaker/hexagon.html), and so will lead that.
No Modern/Club squares experience required (though Contra experience expected).
This event will be limited to 18 people; held at our house in Decatur, GA. Food will be
potluck. Out of towners are welcome to crash here or with nearby dancers. The cost is $100
/ person plus 2 potluck dishes for 20 people or $25.
Email/FB message me if interested - only 9 slots left!
This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged
information. If the reader of this message is not the intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution
or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly
prohibited.
If you have received this message in error, please contact
the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the
original message (including attachments).
9:45 p.m.
New subject: Modern Western Squares for Contra dancers
Drat drat drat.
I would definitely be there if we weren't at English/American week at
Pinewoods until then. I think not much happens on Saturday there, but I'm
not sure we could really leave Pinewoods on Friday without its being rude,
and it's a bit out of our price range to come to Atlanta just for Sat
night/Sunday.
This is just such a great idea.
I enjoy Modern Western Squares but really would like to shake someone
sometime to get them to 1) stop insulting us when we get it wrong 2) teach
better so we could get it right and 3) not take it so seriously and 4) dance
to the music.
The thought of a bunch of good contra dancers doing this stuff together is
just so delicious!
M
E
On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 11:30 AM, Tepfer, Seth <labst(a)emory.edu> wrote:
Modern Western Squares for Contra dancers!
Pam and I are hosting a weekend for contra dancers August 13-15, 2010. As
in previous years, this is a small gathering of callers and dance gypsies to
do a high intensity weekend of mind-blowing, confusing, wild and wacky
squares at our house in Decatur, GA.
We will once again be bringing in the most fabulous Dan Sahlstrom from the
twin cities. Expect Teacup Chain, Pingpong circulate, Relay the Deucy, and
lots of other stuff from Plus, Advanced, and Challenge level square dancing.
And stuff that isn't even on the lists!
Dan has been doing a number of workshops on square HEXs - square dance
moves done with 6 couples
(http://www.tiac.net/~mabaker/hexagon.html<http://www.tiac.net/%7Emabaker…)l>),
and so will lead that.
No Modern/Club squares experience required (though Contra experience
expected).
This event will be limited to 18 people; held at our house in Decatur, GA.
Food will be potluck. Out of towners are welcome to crash here or with
nearby dancers. The cost is $100 / person plus 2 potluck dishes for 20
people or $25.
Email/FB message me if interested - only 9 slots left!
This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged
information. If the reader of this message is not the intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution
or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly
prohibited.
If you have received this message in error, please contact
the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the
original message (including attachments).
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
--
For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
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4 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Andy Shore -
Colin Hume -
Martha Edwards -
Tepfer, Seth