I like your program, Chris. It gradually introduces moves. Maybe you could switch the
Carousel with Forgotten
Treasures. I think the dancers (beginners) would be more successful at the Carousel
having done two contras, one
having circle left 3/4 into a swing. Therefore the hey would be the only significant move
to teach the new
people. I have a suggestion for callers. Before calling an evening's dance make a
list of all of the contra
moves (like ladies chain, hey etc.) Then, besides each move list the frequency that each
move will be used for
the entire evening. Swings will usually get the most frequency. Circle right may not
occur at all. In the
program that Chris is going to use, there is almost a circle left in every dance (usually
circle left 3/4). But
I wouldn't worry about this. The way the program becomes difficult and then gets
easier toward the end is the
most important aspect of programming for me. I think I called an entire evening where all
but one dance had
forward and back. The dancers had a good time. I think one dancer noticed.
The idea of listing moves and their frequency came from (I think) the Southern California
Square Dancers Assoc.
Callers in this Assoc. decided to record an entire festival- multiple halls! They then
went over those recordings
and listed the frequency that each call was used. Considering how many moves are fit in
each dance, that was
quite an undertaking!!!!!! Western square dancers take lessons for a year before they
graduate. This square
dance assoc. structured their year long lessons on this frequency, teaching the most
called moves first. In
other words, the dancers practiced the more popular moves the mostest.
Tom
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. Re: Dec. 18 program for E. Sandwich (Chris Weiler)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:27:50 -0500
> From: Chris Weiler <chris.weiler(a)weirdtable.org>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Dec. 18 program for E. Sandwich
> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
> Cc: amy.larkin(a)netzero.com
> Message-ID: <41BE6BC6.5090109(a)weirdtable.org>
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