11 Dec
2008
11 Dec
'08
7:20 p.m.
Hay folks,
Typically, how many Becket dances will you call in an
evening?
I seem to be on a Becket "kick" as of late, and don't wish to
over do it.
Thanks in advance Gale
11 Dec
11 Dec
11:40 p.m.
Gale wrote:
Hay folks,
Typically, how many Becket dances will you call in an
evening?
I seem to be on a Becket "kick" as of late, and don't wish to
over do it.
I don't think dancers particularly care about Becket vs improper per se.
They care (to some degree *) about the dances seeming too similar, but
I think what gives that impression is largely transitions (do they all start
the same? do they all end the same?), distinctive figures (do they all
have Rory O'Moore balance-in-lines in them?), to some degree mood (are they
*all* slinky? are they *all* rowdy?), not whether you have them circle left 1
place after they take hands four.
If you aren't boring the dancers with sameness, I don't think you have
to worry about the actual numbers.
That said, I seem to call somewhere between 0 and 4 out of 10.
-- 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
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12 Dec
12 Dec
4:01 a.m.
I too enjoy Becket dances. But when I think about the why of incorporating them in my
planning a dance, its more about variety of flow, dance moves, and level of difficulty. I
personally find dancing a night with 6 balance the waves or 4 Rory O'Moors, or
worse, the combination of them, very less enjoyable, regardless of the band, caller, or
dance partner(s). And I try to remember this in planning a program for others. Not
all Beckets are "difficult" so I use the "easier" Beckets to vary
programs when I'm working to enhance perspective and create variety and keep the more
experienced engaged in a dance evening. And I use the the more difficult, or engaging,
Beckets to challenge or enrich.
So I enjoy Beckets, and find that sometimes I have to "hold back". And I also
agree with what Alan has said.
Laurie
West Michigan/ Grand Rapids
--- On Thu, 12/11/08, Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing
<winston(a)slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing <winston(a)slac.stanford.edu>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Beckets
To: gtwood(a)worldpath.net
Cc: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Date: Thursday, December 11, 2008, 6:40 PM
Gale wrote:
Hay folks,
Typically, how many Becket dances will you call in an
evening?
I seem to be on a Becket "kick" as of late, and don't wish
to
over do it.
I don't think dancers particularly care about Becket vs improper per se.
They care (to some degree *) about the dances seeming too similar, but
I think what gives that impression is largely transitions (do they all start
the same? do they all end the same?), distinctive figures (do they all
have Rory O'Moore balance-in-lines in them?), to some degree mood (are they
*all* slinky? are they *all* rowdy?), not whether you have them circle left 1
place after they take hands four.
If you aren't boring the dancers with sameness, I don't think you have
to worry about the actual numbers.
That said, I seem to call somewhere between 0 and 4 out of 10.
-- 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
===============================================================================
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1:17 p.m.
On the topic of becket dances, I have a sort of minor questions:
The majority of beckets rotate left-flowing or clockwise (CW) but an
increasing number are being written and danced which flow to the right or
counter-clockwise (CCW). To setup for teaching a becket dance, most callers
will simply say, "take hands four and circle one place to the left to becket
formation" regardless of the direction of flow.
However, for a CCW dance, some callers will give the instruction to "take
hands four and circle one place to the right". Though this is technically
correct with regard to the flow of the dance it seems that, at least to the
dancers, it's not really necessary and they sometimes scratch their heads
about "circle to the right?".
More recently, I've noticed that as becket dances have become more common at
least at Greenfield, MA dances (which is generally a very experienced
crowd), the instructions are simply "this is a becket formation dance, so
stand with your partner beside you facing across the set to another couple
and take hands four".
Thoughts anyone?
Will Loving
2:03 p.m.
On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 08:17:57AM -0500, Will Loving wrote:
The majority of beckets rotate left-flowing or clockwise (CW) but an
increasing number are being written and danced which flow to the
right or counter-clockwise (CCW). To setup for teaching a becket
dance, most callers will simply say, "take hands four and circle one
place to the left to becket formation" regardless of the direction
of flow.
However, for a CCW dance, some callers will give the instruction to
"take hands four and circle one place to the right". Though this is
technically correct with regard to the flow of the dance it seems
that, at least to the dancers, it's not really necessary and they
sometimes scratch their heads about "circle to the right?".
I should think whether to tell people to circle one place to the right
for a CCW dance would depend on how important it is to the dancers to
be going the direction they thought they would be going when they
lined up.
In my experience, people who were dancing when there were more unequal
turn dances want to know if they are a one or a two. People who
started more recently often don't care. So what I would say would
depend on the crowd.
If you really want to start an argument, write an improper dance that
progresses backwards and ask people who are the ones and who are the
twos.
Jeff
12:01 a.m.
On 12/11/08, gtwood(a)worldpath.net <gtwood(a)worldpath.net> wrote:
Hay folks,
Typically, how many Becket dances will you call in an
evening?
I seem to be on a Becket "kick" as of late, and don't wish to
over do it.
Looking at my programs, it looks like in the last year of
15 contra dances, I've only called 18 Becket dances.
(Last week I realized I hadn't introduced Becket when I
got to the triple minor, and needed to use that term...)
But this isn't intentional. For me, Becket vs. Improper is
just a different way of starting the same dance. I don't
see any deep difference between them. Still, there are
a couple of factors that tilt me improper-wards:
-When programming I seek dances that don't always
end and start the same. Most Becket dances end with
a partner swing.
-Improper dances tend to be simpler than Becket dances,
hence more of them get done.
(This is because an improper choreography must reach three
choreographic mileposts during the dance -- progressed,
neighbor swung, and partner swung. Becket must reach two
mileposts -- neighbor swung and partner swung; so there's
more time in the dance to wander far, far away from these
mileposts/stations.)
(Drop the neighbor swing requirement and the above still holds.)
-My use of other dance formations -- squares,
four-face-fours, circle mixer, triplets, and so forth -- automatically
decreases both the number of improper and Becket dances.
-I think there's more good improper sequences out there than
Becket ones, quite possibly because that's what more
people have intentionally been trying to write. I have no data
to support this, however.
-Chris Page
San Diego
13 Dec
13 Dec
5:11 a.m.
FWIW, my rule of thumb is to simply try to not do too many Beckets in a row. I like to
vary patterns and configurations throughout
the program.
Ask the question the other way - how many longways duple minor impropers in a row is too
many?
Just a thought,
Ric Goldman
-----Original Message-----
From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
[mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of
gtwood(a)worldpath.net
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 11:21 AM
To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Beckets
Hay folks,
Typically, how many Becket dances will you call in an
evening?
I seem to be on a Becket "kick" as of late, and don't wish to
over do it.
Thanks in advance Gale
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6 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing -
cbr＠sccs.swarthmore.edu -
Chris Page -
gtwood＠worldpath.net -
Laur -
Ric Goldman -
Will Loving