Import1 February 2017

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35 discussions

Re: [Callers] I ♥ Dances - was: Contras which feature a "Dublin Bay" figure

by Don Veino via Callers

BTW, I ♥ Faeries video from this past Thursday now posted: https://youtu.be/Sg1Lu92NqNE On Sat, Feb 4, 2017 at 4:10 PM, Don Veino <sharedweight_net(a)veino.com> wrote: > In response to Ron's challenge, here's my take on a non-glossary way out > of the Dublin Bay figure - via a unique(?) twist on a Mad Robin. Good > response when called at the Concord, MA Scout House Thursday dance this > week (2/2/17). > [trimmed]

7 years, 11 months

[Callers] I ♥ Dances - was: Contras which feature a "Dublin Bay" figure

by Don Veino via Callers

In response to Ron's challenge, here's my take on a non-glossary way out of the Dublin Bay figure - via a unique(?) twist on a Mad Robin. Good response when called at the Concord, MA Scout House Thursday dance this week (2/2/17). Included below is a follow-up spin with a more traditional Down the Hall to simplify further. Names were contributed by our 5 year old daughter, which then inspired the choreography. Happy Dancing! Don *I ♥ Faeries - DI - Don Veino 20170125* *A1* Neighbor Balance & Swing, end facing down (Twos in center) *A2* Line/4 DTH and Back, Dublin Bay Style (4 steps fwd down the hall, turn single to face up, continue 4 steps down in reverse, 4 steps fwd up the hall, turn single to face down, continue 4 steps up in reverse) Bend the line (so Twos are above the Ones) *B1* Mirror Mad Robin - Ones Through the Center First (starting up towards head of the hall) [G1 and L2 dyad moving CW, L1 and G2 moving CCW] 1s Swing in Center, end facing UP *B2* 1s Half Figure 8 up through the 2s (around opposite role N, to end BELOW - improper and facing progression) 2s Swing, end facing UP Tune suggestion: Becky Tracy's Black Rock https://youtu.be/GHoJ3B-LgPY *I ♥ Unicorns - DI - Don Veino 20170203* NOTE: All swings in this dance end facing down. *A1* Neighbor Balance & Swing, end facing down (Twos in center) *A2* Line/4 DTH - Turn as a Couple - Return, Bend the Line (so 2s above 1s) *B1* Mirror Mad Robin - Twos Through the Center First (starting down towards foot of the hall) [G1 and L2 dyad moving CCW, L1 and G2 moving CW] Twos Swing in Center, end facing DOWN *B2* Twos Half Figure 8 DOWN through the Ones (around opposite role N, to end above - improper and facing progression) Ones Swing, end facing DOWN

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] ACK! First time calling night of *squares* -- any last minute advice?

by James Saxe via Callers

Amy, Could you say more about the group you'll be calling for? By a "... local community dance" do you mean that it's a regular (e.g., monthly or weekly) series where most of the attendees will be repeat dancers, thus somewhat experienced at whatever kind of dancing the series features? Or is it a one-time (or maybe annual) event with a preponderance of of first-time or very infrequent dancers? If it's a regular series, what's the usual program like? * all squares (except maybe a last waltz and another couple dance or two)? * squares plus stuff like whole set dances (e.g., Virginia Reel?), circle mixers, and such? * squares and contras? * almost all contras (but for some reason they've decide to have an evening of squares and inexplicably picked a mainly-contra caller to lead it)? Assuming it's a regular series where squares are the usual bulk of the program and if you haven't attended it at least occasionally, you might want to contact other callers who've called there and/or the organizers and find out a little about the usual repertoire and the likely dancer skill mix. Are the dancers used to phrased New-England-style squares or to more of a southern and/or trad. western repertoire? Are there certain dances that get done fairly often and would be familiar to many of the dancers (e.g., "Texas Star", "Forward Six" [Right Hand High, Left Hand Low], particular singing squares, particular visiting couple figures, ...). How familiar are the regular dancers with various things that come up in different kinds of squares? For example: * If you do a partner-changing figure and use grand right and left as part of a break, will they know that "meet your partner and promenade" refers to the partner they had at the start of the grand right and left (who may not be their original partner)? * Suppose you teach a dance where heads go out to the right, circle half with the sides, and head gents break to make lines of four at the sides of the set. If you then switch to having sides go out to the right, etc., will the experienced 90% of the dancers know that the lines of four should now form at the heads (and get new 10% to follow along)? Or are there likely to be squares where the lines have again formed at the sides (and with goodness knows who at the left end)? And so on. Or you could describe some dances you're thinking of calling and ask your informant(s) whether the dancers are familiar with those dances or ones like them. In sum (and at the risk of prattling on about what you already know), whether a particular figure or transition or pattern seems easy or difficult can depend immensely on whether it's already familiar to the majority of dancers present. The more you know about the dancers' skills--and also the more you know about their expectations--the better you can plan your program to suit them while also not getting too far out of your own comfort zone as a caller. --Jim On Feb 4, 2017, at 9:26 AM, Amy Cann via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > It's a friendly low-key local community dance, and they know I'm mainly a contra caller, so the potential for hurled tomatoes is low -- but I still want to not stink too much. > > Any suggestions for dance choices or thought-habit adjustments? > > Back to scribbling on my 3x5 cards and re-reading Lloyd Shaw... > > Amy > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net

7 years, 11 months

[Callers] ACK! First time calling night of *squares* -- any last minute advice?

by Amy Cann via Callers

It's a friendly low-key local community dance, and they know I'm mainly a contra caller, so the potential for hurled tomatoes is low -- but I still want to not stink too much. Any suggestions for dance choices or thought-habit adjustments? Back to scribbling on my 3x5 cards and re-reading Lloyd Shaw... Amy

7 years, 11 months

Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies"

by Donna Hunt via Callers

Amy, that's exactly why I'm wondering from those of us on sharedweight who might be reluctant to reply. If there's not enough folks willing to post their information then it's probably not worth putting in the effort to create the document. I agree with you completely about the "pressure". There's a lot of push back on this list when we voice concerns and opinions. Personally I think we should be kinder with those who are responding. There are many people who don't reply on this list and I personally believe it's because of the "pressure" and aggressive replies when different opinions are raised. Donna -----Original Message----- From: Amy Wimmer <amywimmer(a)gmail.com> To: Donna Hunt <dhuntdancer(a)aol.com> Cc: jeff <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu>; Dave Casserly <david.j.casserly(a)gmail.com>; callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> Sent: Tue, Jan 31, 2017 12:32 pm Subject: Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies" Donna, I can imagine a scenario in which organizers would be shy to share this information for fear of retaliation or pressure from those who want them to change their practices. Having received such pressure, personally, I am sure it will happen to others. I'm not saying all pressure to change is bad, but that some people don't like being pushed. It is a (smallish) issue around the term "gypsy" in my neck of the woods. -Amy On Jan 31, 2017 6:39 AM, "Donna Hunt via Callers" <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: If we were creating a doc for attendance and opening it up to the "world of contra dances organizers" to comment why not add some other categories that we've been discussing? Linda Leslie suggested the Organizers group might have stats. I'm wondering if CDSS keeps any? When Jeff replied to my query about LGBTQ dances and groups using non-gender terminology I wasn't at all surprised to see the list (since I know most of those groups), but I was surprised to realize that there were no groups in other major cities throughout the country. Topics that might be on the Doc: Dance Organizations that use non-gender terminology Dance Organizations that have considered but decided not to use non-gender terminology Dance Organizations that have decided to use a non "gypsy" terminology Dance Organizations that have considered but decided not to use non "gypsy" terminology There could be a write in section where Dance Organizations could state which terms they use. I would request that the attendance be under 25, 26-50, 51-75, 76-100, etc. Or even increments of 20. There are several small groups in this country that survive with under 20 attendance and other groups where a drop in 25 dancers means serious financial hardship. Dave is concerned that groups might be wary about posting such information. Are there groups represented on this list that might NOT participate in this information gathering? Seems useless to even create the Doc unless folks are willing to post the data. Donna Hunt -----Original Message----- From: Dave Casserly via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> To: Jeff Kaufman <jeff(a)alum.swarthmore.edu> Cc: callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> Sent: Mon, Jan 30, 2017 4:12 pm Subject: Re: [Callers] Another vote for "jets" and "rubies" What if we made a Google doc with more vague categories where dances could self-report their attendance? Something like, a column for the state where the dance is located, a column for 2015 average attendance, all done in ranges of 1-50, 51-100, etc, and another column for 2017 attendance, with the same ranges? I think that would be useful for purposes of knowing how many dances are suffering declining attendance, and where those dances are, but wouldn't give out enough specific information to make organizers queasy about publicly releasing data. On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 1:35 PM, Jeff Kaufman via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: For attendance, what I would love to see is dances making their attendance numbers fully public. Something like a googledocs spreadsheet that anyone can view where you put in attendance numbers. (I've advocated for this, internally to BIDA, for years (unsuccessfully). We do have a sheet like this, but it's not public.) On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 1:07 PM, Linda Leslie via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > It may be that the Organizers’ List for Shared Weight may have this kind of > data. > Linda > > On Jan 30, 2017, at 12:51 PM, Ron Blechner via Callers > <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > No, I haven't seen statistical analysis of this. Maybe it's worthwhile for > this to be polled out to various dances. > > Best regards, > Ron > > On Jan 30, 2017 10:54 AM, "Donna Hunt" <dhuntdancer(a)aol.com> wrote: > > Just getting back to this thread, lots to catch up on. > > Jeff and Ron: You both seem like the statisticians here. Is there any data > that reflects where in the country the LGBTQ gender-free dances are and > where the communities that use gender-free terminology are? > > Just curious. > > Ron: When you say that local dances attendance is down is there data about > that compared to dances where attendance is not down? Again, looking for > information country wide or even geographic area. > > Thanks > Donna Hunt > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net -- David Casserly (cell) 781 258-2761 _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net

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Import1 February 2017