I find Monkey in the Middle (by Sherry Nevins) a friendly variant of Ninepins. You are choosing a partner rather than scrambling and a person feeling left out.
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jan 31, 2018, at 3:59 PM, Chris Page via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> Ninepins?
>
> -Chris Page
> San Diego, CA
>
> On Tue, Jan 30, 2018 at 10:23 AM, Sue via Callers
> <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>> Sure they're all fun (we hope). I'm looking for a few dances that are
>> particularly playful, quirky, silly....something that typically gets the
>> dancers laughing.
>>
>> You get the idea. What are your favorites?
>>
>> Sue Gola
>> Princeton, NJ
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On Mar 21, 2019, at 2:29 PM, Rich Sbardella wrote (in part):
> Many MWSD calls have left versions. For example Pass Thru (by right shoulder) and Left Pass thru (by left shoulder). Swing Thru is another. Swing thru is turn half by the left, half by the right, but Left Swing Thru is turn half but the left, then half by the right. Left Square Thru is one that starts with the left hand, BUT the dancers walk the exact same pattern as a normal, right handed square thru.
>
> In the case of a star thru and slide thru, I have never danced or called a Left Star Thru or a Left Slide Thru. ...
The term "Left Star Thru" was indeed sometimes used in to refer to a varian of Star Thru using the gent's right hand and lady's left. That usage now appears to be deprecated. The reason, I presume, is that in contrast to calls like "Left Pass Thru" or "Left Swing Thru," the call "Left Star Thru" exhibits the historical bias of directing calls preferentially to the gents.
As an example, in the current version of the definition document for the CallerLab Advanced program, the call "Double Star Thru" is defined as follows:
From any appropriate formation (e.g. Normal Facing Couples):
Those who can Star Thru. Those who can do the mirror image
of a Star Thru (an arch is made with the man's left hand and
the woman's right hand; the man goes around the arch while the
lady goes under). In each part of the call, some dancers must
be active. Normal facing couples will end as sashayed couples
back-to-back.
I've seen versions of the document from c. 2000 that describe the second half of Double Star Thru as a "Left Star Thru" (for those who can) rather than as "the mirror image of a Star Thru."
--Jim
On Mar 24, 2019, at 3:53 PM, Andy Shore via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote (in part):
> Left Star Thru (edited slightly)
> From a boy facing a girl: boy holds left hand up and girl places her right palm against it. boy steps forward and does a quarter left as the girl passes the boy left shoulders under the raised arms and does a quarter right. Finishes as a couple.
> https://www.ceder.net/oldcalls/viewsingle.php?RecordId=3616
Keep calling. My experience has been that techo music has plenty of
beat and no phrasing. So dancers don't know when to stop the current
figure and start the next one. Some figures like circles, stars and
lines forward and back have a kind of natural timing so dances with
those figures work well. Some other figures such as heys, chains and
swings are less well defined as far as timing goes, and dancers tend to
rush heys and chains and go long on swings. So the dancers will all
take different amount of time for them. This means that if you stop
calling the various parts of the lines will start to diverge in where
they are in the dance and soon there will be parts of the room dancing
the A1 part while others places in the room they are dancing the A2 or
even B1 part. I think swings may be the biggest issue. Everyone likes
to swing and many dancers will go long on each swing, but they'll all go
long by a different amount.
Choose dances with figures that have really well-defined timing and
don't stop calling and you will be OK. You may be able to reduce the
amount of calling, but you will probably need to say something from time
to time to re-synchronize the dancers.
Jonathan
On 3/28/2019 4:13 PM, Maia McCormick via Callers wrote:
> Hey folks,
>
> I haven't called all that many techno contras, and I'm slated to do so
> this weekend. Any tips or things to keep in mind about how techno
> differs from your standard contra evening? (Particularly curious about
> anything relating to dance choice and dance length.)
>
> Cheers,
> Maia
Tossed this together last night to go with one of my techno DJ's tracks,
because I wanted petronellas in the B, but NOT Tica Tica Timing/Old Time
Elixir. Does this exist?
*Hold You In My Arms*, improper
A1: (new) larks alle. L 1 1/4 (ish)
partner swing
A2: long lines forward and back
ravens chain (to N)
B1: bal. the ring and spin R (2x)
B2: neighbor balance and swing
(look on slight L. diagonal for new larks)
Thanks for the advice, all! While it's fresh in my mind, wanted to report
back and call out a few pieces of advice from this thread that were
particularly helpful (or that I ignored to my own detriment). Just my
observations--hope this is helpful to someone!
*1. Demos are indeed hard*
I agree with everyone who warned me away from demos at a techno -- it's
dark and hard to see, and dancers just want to groove. "If you need a demo
for it, the dance is probably too hard" was a great yardstick for my
programming, thanks Chuck!
*2. Keep calling*
Jonathan nailed it -- if the phrasing is at all hard to follow, dancers
will tend to swing too long. I definitely found myself calling more than I
would in a non-techno contra (by the end of the dances, my calls were all
one beat, but I was often still calling at least some moves). Knowing to
look out for over-long swings in particular was super helpful, thanks!
*3. Choose easy dances*
I got cocky in the second half and programmed some stuff that was above the
level of the crowd, and had to fall back to Hey in the Barn when a weird
box circulate dance fell apart. The advice that many people gave is super
sound -- it's harder to see and harder to focus, dancers probably just want
to groove etc., and so easier dances are the way to go.
I want to add one more thing I noticed, which is that *I as a caller
couldn't get a read on the hall because it was so dark*. If I'd been better
able to see how ropy the previous dance had been, or that a lot of the
experienced people had left at the break, I would have been better able to
adjust my program. So there's another point in favor of calling easier
dances -- not so much that they dancers can't handle it, as a rule, but
rather that you as a caller can't tell as easily whether the dancers can
handle it.
*4. If you can, listen to the tracks in advance!*
I worked with Mark Moore (DJ Flourish) from Philly--he's great! Among other
things, he sent me his tracks in advance, which meant that I could get
extra precise with the dance/track pairing--super helpful because it's much
harder to request specific track features to go with a dance when working
with a DJ than with a band. Also, I knew how many potatoes to expect for
each track, if they were at all fake-out-y, etc.
On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 5:17 PM Maia McCormick <maiamcc(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Ah, more specific questions!
>
> - have you found on-the-floor demos doable at techno, or should I not even
> try?
> - techno no-walk-through's: do they work?
>
> On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 5:13 PM Maia McCormick <maiamcc(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hey folks,
>>
>> I haven't called all that many techno contras, and I'm slated to do so
>> this weekend. Any tips or things to keep in mind about how techno differs
>> from your standard contra evening? (Particularly curious about anything
>> relating to dance choice and dance length.)
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Maia
>>
>
I have a brand new Samson SE10 (earset microphone) which comes with several connectors to work with different beltpack transmitters. I move around way too much when calling and the original broke. Samson sent me a replacement under warranty so this is completely new: it still has the plastic baggies on all the items in the brand new box. Contact me for pictures or questions. I’m hoping to get $60 for this.
\Bob Peterson
Billerica, MA, USA
Maia:Don't believe that. I called with a DJ who didn't know how long their tracks were and couldn't tell me how they started and often went down on the floor to dance once the music started. One track ended in the middle of the A2. And there was no clear "start" to any of the phrasing in most of the tracks. Not a fun evening for me.
Donna
Web Site: donnahuntcaller.com
Email: dhuntdancer(a)aol.com
Cell: 215-565-6050
-----Original Message-----
From: Maia McCormick via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
To: jim saxe <jim.saxe(a)gmail.com>
Cc: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Sent: Fri, Mar 29, 2019 1:06 pm
Subject: Re: [Callers] Calling techno?
I don't think you would ever play a random non-vetted techno track for contra, though. The DJs who get booked for these events are specifically techno contra DJs.
On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 11:59 AM jim saxe via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On Mar 28, 2019, at 2:39 PM, Bob via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> ...
> Live or mixed recordings? If live then it should be perfectly square AABB. If mixed, the only thing you can count on is 8-beat phrases. ...
Can you even count on 8-beat phrases if someone, such as a caller or a knowledgeable DJ, hasn't vetted the tracks?
I know practically nothing about techno music, but recordings in other genres that aren't made for phrased dancing will not necessarily follow strict 8-beat phrasing. For instance ...
It's pretty common for a folk singers accompanying themselves to play a few bars of guitar strums--and not always the same number--while trying to remember the first line of the next verse. While I haven't gone looking for examples, I'd be surprised if such variable inter-verse vamping didn't sometimes appear even on studio recordings.
In some fiddle traditions, such as southern and Quebecois, besides straight tunes and wildly crooked tunes, there are also tunes that are mostly straight but have an occasional odd phrase. Even medleys of straight tunes can sometimes have some extra beats at the transitions between tunes, as heard around 0:59 in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUyg173n_M
Yo-Yo Ma - Fiddle Medley ft. Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile
Line dances are mostly choreographed to music that's in multiples of 8 beats, but exceptions are hardly unusual. Also, in order to fit recordings that were made for listening and not specifically for dance routines, line-dance step sheets may prescribe various irregularities in the routines. Here are just a few of the examples a little searching turned up:
https://www.learn2dance4fun.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Boot-Scootin-Boo…
Boot Scootin’ Boogie
38 count, 4 wall, beginner line dance
https://www.copperknob.co.uk/stepsheets/every-little-honky-tonk-ID132260.as…
Every Little Honky Tonk
32-count, 4 wall line dance with 12-count tag after wall 2
http://tinalinedancers.com/data/documents/Came-Here-To-Forget.pdf
Came Here To Forget
Description: Line Dance - 2 Wall (24ct.) - Intermediate 1 Restart, 2 Tags
Sequence: 24, 24, Tag 1, 14cts- Restart, 24, 24, Tag 2 (6cts.), 24, 24...
For some other examples of music that's largely, *but not entirely*, in chunks of 8 beats (or eight bars of triple meter), try listening to any of these while tapping your foot or fingers and counting along:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg0kfd7kow4
Paul McCartney - When I'm 64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33o32C0ogVM
Julie Andrews - My Favorite Things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww
Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
So here's my question, for those of you who are more familiar with techno music than I am: If you play a random track not already "vetted" for phrasing, if you find a place where there's sufficiently discernible phrasing to establish a starting point for your "mental metronome of 8 counts" (to quote Donna Hunt), if you use that mental metronome to carry you through a part where phrasing is less evident, and if you then get to another part with findable phrasing, how reliably (or not) can you expect that the phrases will still line up with your mental eight-counts?
--Jim
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Choose easy dances. The music is usually hard enough, and fun enough. Easy can allow for extra flourishes to add even more spice.
Live or mixed recordings? If live then it should be perfectly square AABB. If mixed, the only thing you can count on is 8-beat phrases. Also if mixed you need to listen in advance to know how long the intro is for the first phrase, and keep focus on which phrase you’re in somehow.
The specific questions about demos and walk through, yes, sure, depends on the crowd.
\Bob
Techno DJ/caller
> On Mar 28, 2019, at 17:17, Maia McCormick via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> Ah, more specific questions!
>
> - have you found on-the-floor demos doable at techno, or should I not even try?
> - techno no-walk-through's: do they work?
>
>> On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 5:13 PM Maia McCormick <maiamcc(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hey folks,
>>
>> I haven't called all that many techno contras, and I'm slated to do so this weekend. Any tips or things to keep in mind about how techno differs from your standard contra evening? (Particularly curious about anything relating to dance choice and dance length.)
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Maia
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Here is a contra I have had success with new dancers - but only if they are doing really well on the other stuff - otherwise I avoid contras.
A1 - Cir L - dosido neighborA2 ladies dosido, gents dosidoB1 Long Liine for & back - 1s swing in centerB2 Down hall line of 4 - don't let go - back up - centers (1s) arch - shoot 2s thru to new neighbors
They really need to understand 1s & 2s and when t change and how to wait out at the ends
With new dancers I only let them go down the hall 4 counts, back up 4 counts - then they have 8 counts to get the progression and get a new circle formed. Not how I would call it with experienced dancers.
Mac McKeever
On Friday, March 29, 2019, 12:53:24 PM CDT, Bree Kalb via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Do Si Three by Linda Leslie is another excellent dance for newbies. It has progression and swings (I encourage elbow swings) and it doesn't matter a bit where one ends up. It's always been a great success when I've called it.
On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 11:02 AM Rich Sbardella via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Casey,
In a one hour gig with lots of newbies, I would suggest not using any progressive contras. There are too many fun dances that usr similar basics without the complication of progression. I have been hired to call such contra dances, but found the most success calling dances likes "Rakes of Mallow", La Bastringue, Rural Felicity, Heel & Toe Polka, etc. Few people in the crowd understand what a "modern" contra dance is, they just want to move to the music.
Goodluck,Rich SbardellaStafford, CT
On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 10:05 AM Casey Carr via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I would also start with a circle - teach giving weight, hand holds, 8 counts. Might teach La Bastringue (keeping partners and 2 hand turn instead of swing). I would definitely not teach swings in an hour - no ladies chains. Just circles, stars, allemandes, dos si dos.
Depending on the crowd could start with Gallopede or Virginia Reel, then Family Contra would be perfect and end with another simple contra.
Casey Carr
On 3/29/2019 8:52 AM, Liz Burkhart via Callers wrote:
I have a gig coming up at a library wherein I have one hour to teach and call contra dances. It's a mixed crowd, and I heard there may be a lot of tweens present. I think I'd like to focus on bigger picture things - moving up and down the line, swinging, interacting with their set. I imagine I may even cut out courtesy turns in order to minimize the time we spend on the lesson. I've taught for small, mostly inexperienced crowds before but I usually have a lot more time. I'd really rather get them moving than to get bogged down in teaching. Does anyone have insight, suggestions, or advice?
Thanks,
Liz Burkhart
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Do Si Three by Linda Leslie is another excellent dance for newbies. It has
progression and swings (I encourage elbow swings) and it doesn't matter a
bit where one ends up. It's always been a great success when I've called it.
On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 11:02 AM Rich Sbardella via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Casey,
>
> In a one hour gig with lots of newbies, I would suggest not using any
> progressive contras. There are too many fun dances that usr similar basics
> without the complication of progression.
>
> I have been hired to call such contra dances, but found the most success
> calling dances likes "Rakes of Mallow", La Bastringue, Rural Felicity, Heel
> & Toe Polka, etc. Few people in the crowd understand what a "modern"
> contra dance is, they just want to move to the music.
>
> Goodluck,
> Rich Sbardella
> Stafford, CT
>
> On Fri, Mar 29, 2019 at 10:05 AM Casey Carr via Callers <
> callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> I would also start with a circle - teach giving weight, hand holds, 8
>> counts. Might teach La Bastringue (keeping partners and 2 hand turn
>> instead of swing). I would definitely not teach swings in an hour - no
>> ladies chains. Just circles, stars, allemandes, dos si dos.
>>
>> Depending on the crowd could start with Gallopede or Virginia Reel, then
>> Family Contra would be perfect and end with another simple contra.
>>
>> Casey Carr
>>
>> On 3/29/2019 8:52 AM, Liz Burkhart via Callers wrote:
>>
>> I have a gig coming up at a library wherein I have one hour to teach and
>> call contra dances. It's a mixed crowd, and I heard there may be a lot of
>> tweens present. I think I'd like to focus on bigger picture things - moving
>> up and down the line, swinging, interacting with their set. I imagine I may
>> even cut out courtesy turns in order to minimize the time we spend on the
>> lesson. I've taught for small, mostly inexperienced crowds before but I
>> usually have a lot more time. I'd really rather get them moving than to get
>> bogged down in teaching. Does anyone have insight, suggestions, or advice?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Liz Burkhart
>>
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>>
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>>
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