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2524 discussions

Re: [Callers] ID This dance? Square thru, shadow DsD

by Dugan Murphy via Callers

Hi, Jack - Yes, indeed. The dance is "Vallimont's Silver Hammer" by Luke Donforth. Luke shared it on Shared Weight recently. If the video you're talking about is https://www.facebook.com/DuganMurphyContraDanceCaller/videos/10367957730752…, that's me! Dugan Murphy dugan(a)duganmurphy.com > Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2016 22:30:01 +0000 > From: Jack Mitchell via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net> > Subject: [Callers] ID This dance? Square thru, shadow DsD > Message-ID: > < > CAP+XMj40fp4XDMRt1FyBYO5Pr6RKfXKQRvxaY_xh_O-8UcZNYA(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Spotted on a video earlier today..... > > A1 Circle L 3/4, N Sw > A2 N Promenade, Ladies Chain > B1 RH to N balace, N pull by R, Partner pull by L; Shadow DsD > B2 P B&S > > -- > Jack Mitchell > Durham, NC >

8 years, 7 months

[Callers] Warm weather dancing

by Lindsey Dono via Callers

Hi Callers, I’m booked to call a dance this Saturday; the temperature is predicted to be 98F. This is an unusually hightemperature for the area and time of year- this organization does not hold summerdances. I’ve emailed the organizers asking for their thoughts/contingency plans.My first priority is keeping the dancers safe. While I’m waiting to hear back from them, I’m brainstormingideas for how to make a hot weather dance a safe and fun experience (presumingit isn’t cancelled due to heat). Here’s what I’ve come up with generally: -Remind dancers to take time to hydrate/change shirts etcrather than rushing to maximize the number of dances called. -Offer ice/popsicles at the break. And specifically as a caller: -Run dances shorter. -Moderate band tempo -Select dances where ladies/gents/ones/twos/first corners/second corners get “solos.” Thehall tends to consist of two long lines, so I imagine that I might want to makeshorter lines if I call something uneven. -Avoid butterfly whirls -Walk all dances, but avoid unnecessarily long walk-throughs. Other thoughts? Are there figures that tend to take lessenergy? I’m imaging that sequential balances are less tiring than full heys,but I’m not certain of this. Also, suggestions for interesting dances with more recoverytime? A dance that comes to mind is Tecumseh (Dylan Bustin). Thanks! Lindsey (Tacoma, WA)

8 years, 7 months

Re: [Callers] ID This dance? Square thru, shadow DsD

by Ron Blechner via Callers

I believe it's Luke Donforth's "Vallimont's Silver Hammer". On Jun 2, 2016 6:30 PM, "Jack Mitchell via Callers" < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Spotted on a video earlier today..... > > A1 Circle L 3/4, N Sw > A2 N Promenade, Ladies Chain > B1 RH to N balace, N pull by R, Partner pull by L; Shadow DsD > B2 P B&S > > -- > Jack Mitchell > Durham, NC > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > >

8 years, 7 months

[Callers] ID This dance? Square thru, shadow DsD

by Jack Mitchell via Callers

Spotted on a video earlier today..... A1 Circle L 3/4, N Sw A2 N Promenade, Ladies Chain B1 RH to N balace, N pull by R, Partner pull by L; Shadow DsD B2 P B&S -- Jack Mitchell Durham, NC

8 years, 7 months

Re: [Callers] Dance ID?

by Michael Dyck via Callers

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

8 years, 7 months

[Callers] Dance ID?

by Maia McCormick via Callers

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

8 years, 7 months

Re: [Callers] Organized Open Calling

by Valerie Cohen via Callers

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 >

8 years, 7 months

Re: [Callers] Organizing open calling

by Dale Wilson via Callers

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 .

8 years, 7 months

Re: [Callers] Organizing open calling

by Don Veino via Callers

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 > >

8 years, 7 months

Re: [Callers] Organizing open calling

by Richard Hart via Callers

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 >

8 years, 7 months

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