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Re: easy ONS dances where partner is kept? - report (Tina Fields) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:25:19 -0500 From: Keith Tuxhorn <keithlmt(a)gmail.com> To: millstone(a)valley.net, "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Subject: Re: [Callers] easy ONS dances where partner is kept? - report Message-ID: <BANLkTinp4oHzWGeST2dO+QdD-Dg8PmNpmQ(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I once had a caller say to me "I would never patronize a group by teaching them circle left and circle right." But he didn't really get the point: I'm not teaching circle left and circle right. The purpose of the first dance of the evening is to teach them to listen to the caller. Beth, whatever caller said this to you is probably not a very observant caller. Sounds like he's assume that hearing and hitting a beat is something inbred in us all, and just like breathing for anyone who's ever danced, when there's a huge percentage of people who either aren't raised with a sense of rhythm, or have to take time to learn it. I called a farmers' market dance two weekends ago. Because the experienced dancers arrived late, my first group dance was with 7-8 mothers and their 3-6-year-old kids who'd been hopping around to the band's warmups. I called "Circle Dance" at about 1/3 speed so the moms could lead the kids around--it was great! I did a few dances with the regular dancers, then the moms requested another dance for the kids. I did the same dance, this time with the regular dancers included in the half-speed version. they all enjoyed it. Beth, you said it (as did Tony, Dudley, and others): Make sure the dancers succeed, at whatever level they're dancing. Approaches should change for every audience you call for... David, great point about how to keep people involved. Make them earn their cake....! Keith Tuxhorn Austin, TX ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:56:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Tina Fields <tfields8(a)yahoo.com> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net Subject: Re: [Callers] easy ONS dances where partner is kept? - report Message-ID: <466613.87675.qm(a)web180101.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Beth said, Yes, I agree completely - and that's what I did. By saying I began with a "hash circle dance" I meant something very similar to your method: we did circle L, R, into the middle w/ a shout, do-si-dos w/N & P, plus allemande and swing, with variations. And they were into it. But still, a few dances later, once the dancers had been walked through a dance and also done it a couple of times to the music, one line got off & it was clear that they weren't hearing my prompts (due to sound glitches), or weren't heeding them if they did hear them. Their excitement fed their cheerful chattering, so that was overall an okay thing - after all, who wants a deathly silent barn dance? (Yeah, Beth, I'm with you about the 'tude!) So I didn't know what to do besides keep calling and go over there to physically prompt some big group moves like "head gent leads gents single file around the line of ladies now" as well, which I did. Their being off, plus talking a lot, plus the sound weakness is what made me think that it would have been a good idea, when I taught the next one, to overtly mention the importance of continuing to listen to the caller. (I don't know, though, as I didn't think of that till the dance was over.) Would you do something else in this case? Writing this after musing over your commentary, I think now maybe I should have initially hash-called more over the music in real time. I did it fully w/o music and a couple of times through with, but didn't do it long up to tempo, so maybe some of the dancers got the idea that once the music started, they were on their own. Hm. Thoughts, ideas, more strategies welcome. These little things can really affect a dance! David M. then brought up the shrewd strategy of not letting ONS dancers sit down (meaning they might stay away forever). Again, I agree - I've experienced that too, and am totally on board with the plan to continually "dance for 45 minutes before they cut the cake". Yet in this case, even though I held that intent (albeit with two planned halves as the organizers wanted 1.5 hours of dancing), a couple of times the dads bolted for the cool drinks in the kitchen as soon as a dance stopped! So I just let it go with their flow, then called them back for another dance after a little while when their faces seemed less red again. :-> And they came. Their daughters did need to earn their badges, after all. Given that behavior, would you do something different? If so, what? Beth, also thanks for the tip about Marian Rose's books. Tina ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers End of Callers Digest, Vol 80, Issue 14 ***************************************