Hi All:
As Luke noted, there are two dances with similar names. The first is:
Return to Sender
Becket-L, double, 7/18/00
A1. L diagonal R and L through, ladies chain to neighbor
A2. Hey (LR, PL, GR, NL) - give R to N
B1. Balance, box the gnat and pull by R, gents allemande L 1 1/2
B2. Partner balance, swing
On 5/19/03 I wrote Return 2 Sender, the same dance below that Luke re-discovered. With a neighbor swing and a single progression, this is objectively better.
For both I offer the following teaching tip: at the end of the hey take R with neighbor and have all face across, so for Return 2 Sender the ladies are back to back. Then have all take a small step to their L as the ideal position to finish the hey (if facing across is 12 o'clock/6 o'clock, then slightly L of across is 1 o'clock/7 o'clock). Then after the box the gnat and pull by, the ladies have a clearer path into the allemande L -
Bob
BecketA1Circle left 3/4Neighbor swingA2Gents start hey for 4 by leftB1Right to neighbor (women back to back in middle), balance and box gnatPull by right, women allemande left 1 1/2B2Partner balance and swingSlide left
Happy dancing
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com
This discussion got me thinking about dances which have both a Gents RH chain and Ladies LH chain. I wasn't sure if any existed, so I wrote a few. I have no idea when I would ever call them, but it was a fun exercise :)
On a somewhat related note, I appear to have a thing for writing Becket dances, but I'm proud to say that none of these start with "Circle Left 3 places". In fact, they don't have any circles in them, so they can also help with the "dances without a circle left" campaign.
That's Not How We Do ItContra, BECKET, by Rona Wiener, Jan 2016
A1 (4) Balance the Ring (4) Gents Roll away P along set (8) Gents RIGHT HAND chain [To N] A2 (8) Gents [Gypsy] x1 (8) Neighbor Swing B1 (4) Balance the Ring (4) Ladies Roll away N along set (8) Ladies LEFT HAND chain [to P] B2 (8) On Right Diagonal Half a hey [Ladies lead by L] (8) Partner Swing
Slightly Less Wrong
Contra, BECKET, by Rona Wiener, Jan 2016
A1 (4) Balance the Ring (4) Spin R (as in Petronella), face NN (4) Balance the Ring (4) Spin R A2 (8) Star L x 1 [hands across, gents drop out] (8) Ladies LEFT HAND chain [to N] B1 (8) Star R x 1 [hands across, ladies drop out] (8) Gents RIGHT HAND chain [To P] B2 (4) Pass Through (12) Partner Swing
Double NegativeContra, BECKET, by Rona Wiener, Jan 2016
[Starts on side with P, Gents on R] A1 (8) Star R x 1 [hands across, ladies drop out] (8) Gents RIGHT HAND chain [To N] A2 (8) Star L x 1 [hands across, gents drop out] (8) Ladies LEFT HAND chain [to P] B1 (8) Half a hey [Ladies lead by L] (8) Partner Swing B2 (8) Right and Left Through (8) Pass Through, Single File Promenade along the set to NN
On Wednesday, January 20, 2016 10:17 PM, Alexandra Deis-Lauby via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I think I just danced one in CDH which both chains. But I can't remember who was chaining when because I was swapping anyway. But if anyone else was there and remembers...
On Sun, Jan 17, 2016 at 7:11 PM, Ron Blechner via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Anyone know any contras with gents chaining from right-hand position? I have four I wrote on the plane, and I don't think I've ever danced one. And considering the ro swapping I encounter at many of my gigs, maybe it's time I start calling them sometime.I know there's one by Gene Hubert where ladies chain, are rolled away with 1/2 sashay, and gents are right-hand chained from the right. Notes for that appreciated. I'd like dances where gents are doing a regular right hand chain.I'm not talking about "Gents chain", which is from the Left-hand side. For that matter, I want to make it clear that "gents chain" is named poorly. I called "gents, left-hand chain" the other night in Greenfield and it required less explanation than when I've called/taught it as "gents chain". But I digress.Thanks!
Ron Blechner
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Darwin,
Here are a few thoughts:
Besides working on mic technique, pay attention to enunciation.
Somecallerstendtoruntheirwordstogetheranditmakesthemimeanthecallerswellactuallyboththewordsandthcallerswhosaythosewordshardtounderstand.
I'm not saying that you should hyper-enunciate to the point of
sounding stilted, but if you want to be understood in spite of
room reverberation and competing sounds (crowd noise, music,
electric fans) a little hyper-enunciation can help.
One way to check yourself on enunciation (and more) is to make
a recording from the back of the hall and force yourself to
listen to it.
If you're a guest caller at someone else's dance, politely let
the sound tech know that your voice may be different from the
main caller's, and ask for whatever help (s)he can give to make
sure you're intelligible.
Try to arrive early at the gig so that you and the sound tech
can have a few minutes to experiment with what equalization
and what mic position work best for you (e.g., what's not too
close, but not too far), at a time when dancers aren't waiting
for a walk-thru to start.
If you don't 100% trust the sound tech to give ample priority
to caller intelligibility--and maybe even if you do--enlist a
trusted friend who can offer feedback during your sound check
and who can call problems to your attention while there's time
to do something about them, instead of after the dance is over.
I agree with those who have recommended speaking along the axis
of the mic. While there are people who have learned to get good
results with the ice-cream-cone style of mic hold, it's easier
for most of us if we point our mouth at the mic and point the
mic at our mouth. Keep the mic fairly close, but not to the
point of "eating" it.
As for overpowering the mic, I doubt that you would actually
be speaking loudly enough to force the mic element to the
extremes of its travel. It is possible that the first stage of
amplification (usually controlled, on analog mixers, by a knob
at the top of your mic channel labeled "sensitivity", "gain",
or "trim") could be set too high, resulting in clipping, which
could make you sound loud, horrible, and unintelligible all at
once. A competent sound tech will know how to set the gain
structure to avoid this. If the sound tech is a turf-conscious
clown, then you have a problem, but you won't solve it by trying
to offer advice based on stuff you read on an internet mailing
list while you yourself are inexpert.
You wrote:
> ... the sound guy was sitting there and I'm sure would have done something ...
If the sound board is near the stage, the sound tech can easily
be unaware of a problem until (s)he stands up and walks to the
middle or the back of the hall. Assuming the sound tech isn't
a turf-conscious clown, a request to "please check that I'm
intelligible in the back of the hall" can be part of the same
kind of polite conversation as "my voice may be different from
the main caller ...".
Good luck.
--Jim
> On May 18, 2016, at 7:09 PM, Darwin Gregory via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> I am a new caller, and I have called two dances. The first, I completely blew the microphone part. Since then, I practiced holding the mic close to my mouth like was suggested to me.
>
> The second dnce, I was told that my voice was too deep for the microphone, and I was overpowering it. It was suggested that I hold the microphone further away and project, which I tried, but again, not something I practiced.
>
> Someone afterwards suggested that it could have been dealt with by the sound board. Although, the sound guy was sitting there and I'm sure would have done something if it would have helped.
>
> So, any advice? Is there a particular mic or mic type that is good for deep voices? Any techniques to practice? Sound guy/gal need to be on the ball?
>
> Any advice welcome.
>
> ... Darwin
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
On 16-05-28 05:53 PM, Maia McCormick via Callers wrote:
> Danced this Mary Cay's Reel look-alike recently--anyone know the title and
> author?
> (becket L)
> A1: circle L 3/4
> N swing
> A2: llf&b
> ladies alle R 3/4, next lady alle L 3/4
> B1: pass P by R for full hey
> B2: P B&S
"Maid Marian's Fancy" by David Smukler:
http://davidsmukler.syracusecountrydancers.org/dances-i-have-created/#marian
-Michael
Danced this Mary Cay's Reel look-alike recently--anyone know the title and
author?
(becket L)
A1: circle L 3/4
N swing
A2: llf&b
ladies alle R 3/4, next lady alle L 3/4
B1: pass P by R for full hey
B2: P B&S
Thanks!
Maia
Hi,
I thought Don had some great suggestions for a periodic open caller dance.
I helped keep Seattle's Open Band/Open Caller monthly dance going for
awhile, and really liked having a host caller. The expectation was that the
host would help keep the flow of the evening going by calling the first and
last dance of the night, and fill in with others if needed, would arrange
the order of the other callers (so more experienced callers might alternate
with newer ones). The host caller would sometimes mentor (or chose a more
experienced caller who was willing to mentor) less experienced callers:
step in if they needed advice on choosing a dance, have dances to suggest
on hand, help with band signals and knowing when to end the dance (but as
Don says - also let it be learning experience - know how much to support &
give reassurance, without taking over).
We did not do sign-ups in advance, but put out a sign-up sheet during the
potluck before the dance. It was a given that signing up to call a dance
was not necessarily an indicator of the order.
Great for you for keeping this tradition going! Hope it goes well,
Valerie
Message: 3
Date: Mon, 23 May 2016 15:31:21 -0400
From: Don Veino via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
To: Chet Gray <chetgray+sharedweight(a)gmail.com>
Cc: Don Veino via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Organizing open calling
Message-ID:
<CAAJTtiJwmrQ4xH33jh3YE+i8rWkN8_t1gZDbrLVnnnhHr_X8QA(a)mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Hi,
Sue Rosen generally does this for the periodic NEFFA caller nights at the
Scout House Thursday dance. The expectation there is you have your wall
clock time slots (e.g.: 7:30-7:55) and you *end* your slot on time, no
matter what happened before or during your slot. Having slots specified as
real clock time instead of elapsed time makes staying on/recovering to
schedule much easier. I appreciate/leverage her approach and have taken it
a bit more on-line.
I've done this several times for our other Scout House series. My approach
is to set up a shared Google spreadsheet with the available time slots,
names assigned to slots. Generally in the first "half" (curiously, longer
than the second :), a given caller gets two dance slots in a row and one in
the second (one caller gets the flip assignment). I have the four callers
enter two dances for each slot. One choice for "beginner heavy" and the
other for "more experienced". Having them all in one place, we can
visualize the program choices and challenge arc of the selections. The
crowd that arrives leads us to which column will be the program that night.
People can comment in the sheet and we work out most conflicts or necessary
adjustments on-line (or by phone, etc.) before the evening. Of course there
may be some tweaks that night, but having the two program difficulty
choices spelled out minimizes that.
This process typically takes about 2 weeks. Can be done in less time but
would need to be led strongly with deadlines. People (particularly at this
level) have focus on their "primary" job/life and the turnaround time on
requests and changes can take days.
Other thoughts:
- Work out who'll introduce/recognize the band, sound, etc. (easily
overdone or forgot otherwise).
- Outgoing caller introduce the next one.
- Tape a copy of the program up near the caller's mic.
- Following caller helps enforce (gently) finishing clock time of
previous caller.
- Have slop slots built into your schedule (~7 minutes first half, ~5
second - not distributed into the caller slots and ideally remaining
unused) and explicitly schedule any waltz/scandi and break(s) too.
- You're the glue in this process. Be ready to help out but also stay
back to let them work out any issues themselves - that's part of their
learning too!
Good luck!
-Don
On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 2:04 PM, Chet Gray via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hello, all,
>
> After losing monthly open-calling evenings to venue schedule conflicts
> last year, the local contra group where I live (Louisville, KY) are
> re-implementing them on 5th-week dances (so, about four or so times a
> year). I am "organizing caller" for the first of these, next Monday, and
> I'm wondering if any of y'all have advice on coordinating an evening of
> open-calling.
>
> The extent of organization for our previous open-calling dances had been,
> essentially, callers put their name on a list and everyone hopes it works
> out, and, while this was usually serendipitous fun, it often led to
> long-running dances (both individually and for the evening overall) and
> less-than-enjoyable experiences for newer dancers. When our board was
> discussing re-starting open calling, I had recently been at the Jan Jam
> (Champaign/Urbana, IL) after party, where Lauren Peckman had coordinated
> open calling, and where I'd had the best open-calling experience?as both a
> dancer and a caller?I'd ever encountered. I suggested to our board that,
> this time around, the evenings each have an "organizing caller" to help
> ensure overall program flow, coordinate callers/dances with an eye to
> complexity/energy/time, incorporate and assist novice callers, wrangle
> callers if need be for time limits, fill in gaps in the program, have
> back-pocket dances at the ready, etc.
>
> Lo, they asked me to take a go at coordinating. Suggest a change, be the
> change, I suppose. ^_^
>
> The open calling has been announced at our weekly dances leading up, and
> tonight (a week before) I'll be asking (but not requiring) prospective
> callers to talk to me to help me get an idea for how I can best help the
> evening flow.
>
> Any suggestions/anecdotes/warnings from my more-experienced fellows would
> be greatly appreciated.
>
> ? Chet Gray
>
Hi Chet,
Here in Saint Louis we have a monthly dance called "Callers' Choice" We
use it as an opportunity to try new dances (either new to the caller or
newly written); to let new callers "get their feet wet" by calling to real
dancers in a friendly environment (After a while calling a dance to salt
and pepper shakers loses its charm); and to just mess around in general.
Almost always we have someone coordinating the evening (every now an then
no one volunteers and we wing it -- with mixed results.) People who want
to call send their dances to the coordinator usually by Wednesday before
the Saturday dance) and the coordinator tries to organize a coherent
program using these dances. This is also good practice for new callers who
need to learn to think about the entire evening rather than thinking about
single dances.
This has worked very well for us over the years, and we often hear from
dancers that Callers's Choice is "the most fun of any of the dances."
That's probably because the dancers feel invested in making things work
--- particularly with new callers -- and we can all laugh together at the
occasional mishaps.
Speaking of mishaps I had one recently where I was scheduled to call two
dances. The one I tried in the first half didn't work at all, so I ditched
it and went with Plan B (the other dance). Then in the second half I got
up and said -- "I figured out what was wrong and we're going to try again."
The response from crowd was amazingly positive (and the dance worked)
Dale
BTW although we normally pay our callers for Saint Louis dances, we don't
pay the callers at Callers' Choice. We do pay the band (mostly.)
On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 1:04 PM, Chet Gray via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hello, all,
>
> After losing monthly open-calling evenings to venue schedule conflicts
> last year, the local contra group where I live (Louisville, KY) are
> re-implementing them on 5th-week dances (so, about four or so times a
> year). I am "organizing caller" for the first of these, next Monday, and
> I'm wondering if any of y'all have advice on coordinating an evening of
> open-calling.
>
> The extent of organization for our previous open-calling dances had been,
> essentially, callers put their name on a list and everyone hopes it works
> out, and, while this was usually serendipitous fun, it often led to
> long-running dances (both individually and for the evening overall) and
> less-than-enjoyable experiences for newer dancers. When our board was
> discussing re-starting open calling, I had recently been at the Jan Jam
> (Champaign/Urbana, IL) after party, where Lauren Peckman had coordinated
> open calling, and where I'd had the best open-calling experience—as both a
> dancer and a caller—I'd ever encountered. I suggested to our board that,
> this time around, the evenings each have an "organizing caller" to help
> ensure overall program flow, coordinate callers/dances with an eye to
> complexity/energy/time, incorporate and assist novice callers, wrangle
> callers if need be for time limits, fill in gaps in the program, have
> back-pocket dances at the ready, etc.
>
> Lo, they asked me to take a go at coordinating. Suggest a change, be the
> change, I suppose. ^_^
>
> The open calling has been announced at our weekly dances leading up, and
> tonight (a week before) I'll be asking (but not requiring) prospective
> callers to talk to me to help me get an idea for how I can best help the
> evening flow.
>
> Any suggestions/anecdotes/warnings from my more-experienced fellows would
> be greatly appreciated.
>
> — Chet Gray
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>
>
--
Turn Observation into Data. Turn Data into Information
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Information>. Turn Information into
Knowledge. Turn Knowledge into Wisdom. Turn Wisdom into Beauty. Turn Beauty
into Love .
Hi,
Sue Rosen generally does this for the periodic NEFFA caller nights at the
Scout House Thursday dance. The expectation there is you have your wall
clock time slots (e.g.: 7:30-7:55) and you *end* your slot on time, no
matter what happened before or during your slot. Having slots specified as
real clock time instead of elapsed time makes staying on/recovering to
schedule much easier. I appreciate/leverage her approach and have taken it
a bit more on-line.
I've done this several times for our other Scout House series. My approach
is to set up a shared Google spreadsheet with the available time slots,
names assigned to slots. Generally in the first "half" (curiously, longer
than the second :), a given caller gets two dance slots in a row and one in
the second (one caller gets the flip assignment). I have the four callers
enter two dances for each slot. One choice for "beginner heavy" and the
other for "more experienced". Having them all in one place, we can
visualize the program choices and challenge arc of the selections. The
crowd that arrives leads us to which column will be the program that night.
People can comment in the sheet and we work out most conflicts or necessary
adjustments on-line (or by phone, etc.) before the evening. Of course there
may be some tweaks that night, but having the two program difficulty
choices spelled out minimizes that.
This process typically takes about 2 weeks. Can be done in less time but
would need to be led strongly with deadlines. People (particularly at this
level) have focus on their "primary" job/life and the turnaround time on
requests and changes can take days.
Other thoughts:
- Work out who'll introduce/recognize the band, sound, etc. (easily
overdone or forgot otherwise).
- Outgoing caller introduce the next one.
- Tape a copy of the program up near the caller's mic.
- Following caller helps enforce (gently) finishing clock time of
previous caller.
- Have slop slots built into your schedule (~7 minutes first half, ~5
second - not distributed into the caller slots and ideally remaining
unused) and explicitly schedule any waltz/scandi and break(s) too.
- You're the glue in this process. Be ready to help out but also stay
back to let them work out any issues themselves - that's part of their
learning too!
Good luck!
-Don
On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 2:04 PM, Chet Gray via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hello, all,
>
> After losing monthly open-calling evenings to venue schedule conflicts
> last year, the local contra group where I live (Louisville, KY) are
> re-implementing them on 5th-week dances (so, about four or so times a
> year). I am "organizing caller" for the first of these, next Monday, and
> I'm wondering if any of y'all have advice on coordinating an evening of
> open-calling.
>
> The extent of organization for our previous open-calling dances had been,
> essentially, callers put their name on a list and everyone hopes it works
> out, and, while this was usually serendipitous fun, it often led to
> long-running dances (both individually and for the evening overall) and
> less-than-enjoyable experiences for newer dancers. When our board was
> discussing re-starting open calling, I had recently been at the Jan Jam
> (Champaign/Urbana, IL) after party, where Lauren Peckman had coordinated
> open calling, and where I'd had the best open-calling experience—as both a
> dancer and a caller—I'd ever encountered. I suggested to our board that,
> this time around, the evenings each have an "organizing caller" to help
> ensure overall program flow, coordinate callers/dances with an eye to
> complexity/energy/time, incorporate and assist novice callers, wrangle
> callers if need be for time limits, fill in gaps in the program, have
> back-pocket dances at the ready, etc.
>
> Lo, they asked me to take a go at coordinating. Suggest a change, be the
> change, I suppose. ^_^
>
> The open calling has been announced at our weekly dances leading up, and
> tonight (a week before) I'll be asking (but not requiring) prospective
> callers to talk to me to help me get an idea for how I can best help the
> evening flow.
>
> Any suggestions/anecdotes/warnings from my more-experienced fellows would
> be greatly appreciated.
>
> — Chet Gray
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>
>
I would depend on whether this were for experienced callers or new
callers trying it out for the first (or second...) time.
With experienced callers you can ask them to call an easy introductory
dance at the beginning, an energetic dance midterm, or a slower dance
for a wind down at the end. With the newest callers, that seldom
works, as they just want to call a dance that they though as fun when
they danced it. They seldom have any idea how to chose a dance for the
crowd, or for the time during the evening.
Beginners will need a coach to help them pick a dance to call, and
then prompts to assure that the walk through and calling is
successful, and that they end the dance in a reasonable time, too.
Cary Ravits Notes on Calling Contra Dances, can be a very good source
for beginning callers: http://www.dance.ravitz.us/call.php#n
On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 2:04 PM, Chet Gray via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hello, all,
>
> After losing monthly open-calling evenings to venue schedule conflicts last
> year, the local contra group where I live (Louisville, KY) are
> re-implementing them on 5th-week dances (so, about four or so times a year).
> I am "organizing caller" for the first of these, next Monday, and I'm
> wondering if any of y'all have advice on coordinating an evening of
> open-calling.
>
> The extent of organization for our previous open-calling dances had been,
> essentially, callers put their name on a list and everyone hopes it works
> out, and, while this was usually serendipitous fun, it often led to
> long-running dances (both individually and for the evening overall) and
> less-than-enjoyable experiences for newer dancers. When our board was
> discussing re-starting open calling, I had recently been at the Jan Jam
> (Champaign/Urbana, IL) after party, where Lauren Peckman had coordinated
> open calling, and where I'd had the best open-calling experience—as both a
> dancer and a caller—I'd ever encountered. I suggested to our board that,
> this time around, the evenings each have an "organizing caller" to help
> ensure overall program flow, coordinate callers/dances with an eye to
> complexity/energy/time, incorporate and assist novice callers, wrangle
> callers if need be for time limits, fill in gaps in the program, have
> back-pocket dances at the ready, etc.
>
> Lo, they asked me to take a go at coordinating. Suggest a change, be the
> change, I suppose. ^_^
>
> The open calling has been announced at our weekly dances leading up, and
> tonight (a week before) I'll be asking (but not requiring) prospective
> callers to talk to me to help me get an idea for how I can best help the
> evening flow.
>
> Any suggestions/anecdotes/warnings from my more-experienced fellows would be
> greatly appreciated.
>
> — Chet Gray
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>
Hello, all,
After losing monthly open-calling evenings to venue schedule conflicts last
year, the local contra group where I live (Louisville, KY) are
re-implementing them on 5th-week dances (so, about four or so times a
year). I am "organizing caller" for the first of these, next Monday, and
I'm wondering if any of y'all have advice on coordinating an evening of
open-calling.
The extent of organization for our previous open-calling dances had been,
essentially, callers put their name on a list and everyone hopes it works
out, and, while this was usually serendipitous fun, it often led to
long-running dances (both individually and for the evening overall) and
less-than-enjoyable experiences for newer dancers. When our board was
discussing re-starting open calling, I had recently been at the Jan Jam
(Champaign/Urbana, IL) after party, where Lauren Peckman had coordinated
open calling, and where I'd had the best open-calling experience—as both a
dancer and a caller—I'd ever encountered. I suggested to our board that,
this time around, the evenings each have an "organizing caller" to help
ensure overall program flow, coordinate callers/dances with an eye to
complexity/energy/time, incorporate and assist novice callers, wrangle
callers if need be for time limits, fill in gaps in the program, have
back-pocket dances at the ready, etc.
Lo, they asked me to take a go at coordinating. Suggest a change, be the
change, I suppose. ^_^
The open calling has been announced at our weekly dances leading up, and
tonight (a week before) I'll be asking (but not requiring) prospective
callers to talk to me to help me get an idea for how I can best help the
evening flow.
Any suggestions/anecdotes/warnings from my more-experienced fellows would
be greatly appreciated.
— Chet Gray