Here, it's easy. We don't allow lifting people off the floor. We have one person with a very mild mental illness who wasn't judging very well when to do it and when not, and wasn't always doing it safely, so we just made it a rule, not to be broken, that no one does it, to make it easier for him to remember. We also have a board member who loves doing aerials, does them with safety and with permission and all other good stuff, but he can't do it at our dances either, just because the hard-and-fast rule is the only way we can keep the rest of us from being cut off at the knees when the other guy was swinging new dancers off their feet and their legs cut a six-foot circle sweep. I also saw a caller in Kansas City stop a dance once and tell a particularly aggressive dancer to stop lifting people off the ground. "I have liability here, and I'm not going to continue calling if you keep doing that." I think the dancers applauded. I had the pleasure of meeting Frankie Manning, who invented the aerial in swing dancing in 1935, and was particularly impressed with the amount of practice he and his partner did before they ever tried it on a dance floor - with mattresses covering the floor of his living room while they learned how. M E On Sat, Jul 9, 2011 at 10:22 AM, Greg McKenzie <grekenzie(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Mac asked about how other callerrs incorporate other formations into their programs. I call English (for 25+ years), barn dances, historical-themed (Regency/Early American, Civil War, Dickens) and contra (for the last five or so years, but only a few times a year). My answers are different for each kind of thing. For English, I typically call more duple minor (usually proper) than anything else, but try to mix it up with small-set dances (two-couple set, three-couple set, squares) and a triple minor or two in an evening. Since tunes go with particular dances, I also consider variety in mood, key, meter, and tempo when I'm making up the program. (I'll also use what I know about the musicians I have that night and try to keep away from notey reels for a fiddler with tendinitis, bias toward Bb tunes if I have a cello player, etc.) For barn dances, anything goes. Sicilians, threesome Sicilians, big circles, grand march, circle mixer, whatever. For historically-themed, it depends somewhat on what I can justify historically, so Regency has lots of longways duples and some triples, mixed with an occasional three-couple set (adapted from a triple minor, like Fandango, Prince William, etc), interspersed with waltzes. For Civil War / Victorian, Sicilians, threesome Sicilians, whole sets in longways formation (Gothic Dance, Virginia Reel/Roger de Coverley), mixed up with waltzes, polkas, schottisches and galops. Around here (SF Bay Area) if you do a whole evening of duple-minor improper contras at a contra dance, nobody complains about it. Some callers like to include a square or two in an evening. A noticeable number of people will sit down if they realize it's a square. (As a dancer, I've had a partner bail on me when she realized it was a square.) That doesn't happen as much at local weekend or week-long camps, but at regular dances with local callers, 10% or more of the people who'd be up for a contra sit down for a square. I'm not the miracle square dance caller who's going to change their minds about it, either, so I don't program squares. When I first started calling contras here, my ten-dance program might have a circle mixer in slot three and a triplet sometime after the break. I've had complaints relayed to me about calling 'gimmicky' dances, and I wasn't getting great response from the triplets, so I've dropped those. I want to get invited back to call again, and I don't need to change everybody's mind about what a good time is. My most recent program (a very successful outing in Monterey last month) had a circle mixer in slot three (setting the ground for the poussette figure I used in "Joyride" later) and a four-face-four right after the break, and I got positive response to both of those. (The music was great; if it weren't I could have had the best program in the world and it wouldn't have been a wonderful evening.) -- Alan -- =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON(a)SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025 ===============================================================================

On 7/9/2011 4:12 PM, Richard Mckeever wrote: I always try to include at least a couple of squares and a mixer of some sort, circle or scatter, in my contra evenings. I also often include 4 face 4 dances as well as other formations. The details vary from time to time and depend in part on the crowd. I like to throw in a proper contra now and then to keep the dancers on their toes, so to speak. Of course, when I'm leading English country dances I have a lot more variations in formation to choose from and usually half of the evenings dances will be in something other than duple. Jonathan ----- Jonathan Sivier Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances jsivier AT illinois DOT edu Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html ----- Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? A: It depends on what dance you call!

My region is not very square-friendly, at least not at a contra dance. (Some organizers say flat-out: "no squares!") Those who want squares or English go to a Square or English dance. Those who want swing or tango or electro-trad contra or vintage have their own dances. Individual dancers may cross several genres. So given the local atmosphere, I stick to mostly improper and Becket contra dances, and I can work in plenty of variety within those formations. Every so often, a proper dance wants to be in the program. However, for certain series whose organizers like squares, I'll make a point of including one square per 9 or 12 dance program. I will include a 4-facing-4 in nearly any program if there are enough dancers and space to dance them, but not every program needs that. I do like 4-F-4s in a general contra program because it helps familiarize contra dancers with square dance movement, while allowing them the fun of progressing to new faces. When I am feeling fiesty, I throw in an "indecent" formation or a triplet, but I need enough space in the hall to spread out the sets. Also, I'd not call triple minor dances (as opposed to stand alone triplets) because of the extra teaching time and patience required to be active. Circles or mixers I save for more beginning series where the dancers either need more fun, easy encouragement or are not already set into wanting only contras. At my home dance (central NC), the dancers might tolerate the rare mixer or circle dance, but not more than one per evening (week/month/quarter). It's a good area for calling interesting contras, but not so much for other formations. For a ONS gig, I rarely do contras. I'll use longways non-contras, circles (simple and Sicilian), scatter mixers, and wild-n-crazy spoke- wheel formations or things like longways sets of three-facing-threes. One barn dance series I've called a few times focuses on contra, but because it's mostly non-dancing kids wandering in and out of the hall, I've done shorts sets of easy contras, mixed in with scatter/circle mixers to accommodate the brand new dancers who show up every half hour. The one exception might be our area callers collective dances. We might get a variety of formations, depending on who is there and what we want to try out (and if there are enough of us to dance it). Interesting topic, "Mac" Richard, thanks! Joy Greenwolfe Durham, NC On Jul 9, 2011, at 5:12 PM, Richard Mckeever wrote:

Great Tongue Twister, Don: A proper petronella proved pretty popular. Makes me think of the Trout Fishing kids song "All I Want is a proper cup of coffee, made in a proper copper coffee pot..........." Sorry for the aside - just couldn't resist. Dorcas Hand -----Original Message----- From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Donald Perley Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 2:02 PM To: Richard Mckeever; Caller's discussion list Subject: Re: [Callers] alternate formations When David Millstone came to town for a chestnut workshop, he pointed out that in historical context the downtime of being inactive couple wasn't a bad thing (time for socializing, etc). In our dance last month it was mid 90's and pretty humid. To me that was a good opportunity for some dances with built in rest breaks. A proper petronella proved pretty popular. -Don Perley On Sat, Jul 9, 2011 at 5:12 PM, Richard Mckeever <macmck(a)ymail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

I can't quite say that "a proper petronella proved pretty popular" at the Nelson dance last night (Monday). But,, an improper petronella proved pretty popular. I called Petronell's Pin, by Dave Colestock. with great music by Gordon Perry, Rich Backes, and Skip Gorman Pictures, labeled, "Oh, What A Night" appeared on Facebook before I got home. Pretty popular and well enjoyed, it appears. Earlier in the evening, Don Primrose called Chorus Jig, as always. We often also dance Money Musk Hull's Victory, Sackett's Harbor and a number of other older proper dances at Nelson regularly.. I also note that Hull's Victory over the H. M. S. Guerriere occurred on August 19, 1812, so there will be a great reason to try that proper dance a few times next year. A second note, this Saturday, Aug. 6, Dudley Laufmann, will call the Nelson dance. I expect that there will be very, very few duple, improper dances on Saturday.. Rich Hart. Donald Perley remarked on 8/2/2011 3:01 PM: