Fwd: discussion of "Big Easy" by Becky Hill - Contra Callers

19 Jan 2008

A little more than a week ago, Chrissy Fowler called at the Scout House 
on a Thursday night with some rocking musicians. I wrote her an e-mail 
saying that there was a dance that I liked, wanted to get, but had a 
minor change for it. This is the discussion that followed, forwarded 
with her permission. Edited for clarity. Becky Hill's dance is in the 
Rosen-Hill collection. Chrissy and I thought that it would be fun to get 
other people's perspective on the stuff we were talking about. -Chris

Chris:
I wanted to get a dance from you that you called on Thursday. It was the 
second dance of the evening. It had a couple of ring balances (without 
twirls) and I think the B1 had a long lines, ladies allemande left 
1+1/2. I thought that the allemande left was a little awkward, but I 
liked the rest of the dance. Thanks!!

Chrissy:
I'm interested to know that the ladies all. L felt awkward, even though 
the L hand is the near one to that other lady that one would allemande.  
(I'm guessing you danced it as a lady?)  Do you think All R would be 
better?  Other suggestions?  I admit that I haven't danced it.  The 
dance is one I have down as Becky Hill's "Big Easy", which I got from 
Diane Silver.  Had to laugh when you named it as having "a couple of 
ring balances" since when I reviewed what was left of my program in the 
aftermath of the dance full of on-the-fly switches in the plan, I 
realized that I ended up calling several dances with ring balances of 
some sort or another.  (holy repetition, batman!)

Chris:
Ladies allemande left from facing couples is a pet peeve of mine from 
the gent's perspective. When I'm dancing, I'm constantly giving cues and 
leads to my partner and neighbor, and even the neighbor gent, when 
necessary. Especially when they're new. From a long lines, ladies 
allemande left, it's almost impossible for the gent to lead it. If the 
ladies allemande right, then I can use her left hand to guide her out 
and across my body. Her right hand is free and she has the diagonal 
momentum to meet the other lady at the right angle. I can't speak to how 
it feels from the lady's perspective, but from mine ladies allemande 
left removes the feeling of connectedness from that part of the dance.

Since it doesn't matter which hand they use in the dance, I would call 
it with an allemande right. It works either way, so call it the way you 
like. 8^)

We all have those repetitive nights. I seem to have less of them, 
though, when I do my programming on the fly instead of having one worked 
out beforehand. I have notes on every programmed I've called, so I 
should analyze them someday and see just how repetitive I am.

Unfortunately, I had to leave at the half. But the first half of the 
evening was great. Your dances worked, even for the beginners, and 
nothing got in the way of enjoying the music. 8^)

Chrissy:
Great explanation.  I hadn't thought about it that way, but it makes a 
lot of sense.  And yes, I was thinking to myself "Well, if he has some 
compelling reason why the all L 1.5 isn't good, I'll just call it as all 
R!"  And I guess that's why the men's all L is so ubiquitous, because 
the woman can assist him to the center in that same way you explained.

Interesting that you say you have less repetition when you program on 
the fly.  For me it's the other way.  When I am programming as it comes, 
or seriously reworking (on the fly) a program that I'd done ahead of 
time, I tend not to notice those repetition points until it's too late.  
(or even after the fact.)  I'm glad the dances worked for the new 
folks.  Always such a balancing act, to work both sides of that VFW/TNDC 
crowd - the throngs of new/young folks and the core of jaded/bored 
dancers who want spicy choreography. 

Also glad to hear your impression that nothing got in the way of the 
music - phenomenal as it was.  Wowzer.  It's so great to work with such 
talent.  Mmmmm.  I danced in Rehoboth the next night and had a blast, 
even doing the very simple dances required by the crowd.  Such 
life-affirming stuff we get to do!

Chris:
When I create a program in advance, I nitpick it to death and put a lot 
of effort into it. When I need to change something on the fly, I am 
reluctant to change more than one or two dances. That makes it more 
likely that the dance that I substitute will repeat something later in 
the program. When I program on the fly, I'm more free to change the 
dances later to match (and not repeat) the earlier ones.

To be honest, I haven't been doing my homework as a caller for a long 
time due to the rest of my life being pretty busy. I haven't been 
creating programs, so I've taught myself to program on the fly just by 
doing it. I do record all of my programs, so I should really go back and 
review to see how well I've been doing (or not!).

Chrissy:
Well, I don't do my homework every time either, especially if it's a 
dance where I can sort of get away with it.  But I always like to have 
something planned for some dances, including Boston, and even if I 
change it a lot (which I do more than half the time) it changes my 
tension level to have some sort of program done in advance.  (And I 
think I'm more attentive to the band and dancers when I'm less tense.)

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