Import1

import1@lists2.sharedweight.net

2524 discussions

[Callers] list of dances called at Warren's Roadhouse

by Michael Dyck

In Warren's Roadhouse at Seattle's Northwest Folklife Festival, there used to be (and probably still is) a notebook at the side of the stage, in which each caller would record the names of the dances they called. Has that info been put online? (My searches have been fruitless.) I seem to recall that someone had volunteered to do the data entry, but that was a while ago, and I forget who it was. -Michael

6 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] Feeling old and creaky. Recommend some "youth"?

by Maia McCormick

Oh gosh, this is an interesting question because as a young dancer/caller, I suppose I'm sort of like the fish who asks "what's water?" but for what it's worth, a few moves that I can think of as particularly popular with me and my cohort are box circulates, mad robins, and pousettes, as well as a good circle right. Maybe square through and Rory O'Moore make this list as well. A few dances I'd recommend: Folklike Frolic <https://contradb.com/dances/497> by Lindsey Dono, Playground Stomp <http://contradances.tumblr.com/post/117812007820/playground-stomp> by Ron Blechner, A Thing of Trust <https://contradb.com/dances/248> by Chris Page, or my own Barack Me Obamadeus <http://contra.maiamccormick.com/dances.html#barackmeobamadeus>, Neighbor Neighbor On the Wall <http://contra.maiamccormick.com/dances.html#neighborneighboronthewall>, or Violet Ice <http://contra.maiamccormick.com/dances.html#violetice> (the latter is a set up in difficulty but also was quiet literally written to be a cool-hip-young-people dance, so do with that what you will). You can of course get more where these came from by looking at stuff from the younger choreographer crowd -- in addition to the folks who wrote the above dances, Yoyo Zhou <https://epicyclic.org/dance/compositions.html> comes to mind as one of that demographic. I'm sure there are others that I'm blanking on at the moment. I've also yet to dance a boring Rick Mohr <http://rickmohr.net/contra/dances.asp#Introduction> dance. Let me know if you want any more specific recommendations! Best of luck, Maia On Fri, Nov 2, 2018 at 4:26 PM Amy Cann via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Hi all. I'm heading in to Boston this weekend to call a double bill for > BIDA -- family dance for an hour, then potluck, then the regular Sunday > evening. > > It's intergenerational, leans young/collegiate, uses "Larks/Ravens" (just > found this out) and is in general all things hip. > > I am staring at my cards and feeling... Ralph Page-y. Out of date. > Wayyyy too many proper dances. Not enough "cool moves". > > Old fashioned. > > Help me? > > What's your current dance that adapts well to gender-role-free, has an > interesting "hook", isn't too hard, keeps everyone moving, and in general > comes across as "cool"? > > Low mental piece count, but interesting pieces? > > Contras, sicilians, circles all welcome. Also links to any past threads on > here w/ a similar focus. > > I'm going to go drink my Postum. > > Amy > _______________________________________________ > List Name: Callers mailing list > List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/ >

6 years, 1 month

[Callers] Feeling old and creaky. Recommend some "youth"?

by Amy Cann

Hi all. I'm heading in to Boston this weekend to call a double bill for BIDA -- family dance for an hour, then potluck, then the regular Sunday evening. It's intergenerational, leans young/collegiate, uses "Larks/Ravens" (just found this out) and is in general all things hip. I am staring at my cards and feeling... Ralph Page-y. Out of date. Wayyyy too many proper dances. Not enough "cool moves". Old fashioned. Help me? What's your current dance that adapts well to gender-role-free, has an interesting "hook", isn't too hard, keeps everyone moving, and in general comes across as "cool"? Low mental piece count, but interesting pieces? Contras, sicilians, circles all welcome. Also links to any past threads on here w/ a similar focus. I'm going to go drink my Postum. Amy

6 years, 1 month

[Callers] Neffa 75th cotra choreography contest

by Greenleaf

NEFFA 75th Contra Contest To help NEFFA celebrate our Diamond Jubilee, we hereby open up the NEFFA 75th Anniversary Contra Choreography Contest. The winning dance, as judged by Bob Isaacs and Lisa Greenleaf, will be called by Mr. Isaacs at the Festival's celebration dance on Saturday, April 13. Besides fame and glory, the winner will also be awarded a Neffa T shirt. We are looking for a contra dance with good story line and flow, and would prefer to have a mostly equal-action dance with good movement for everyone, although we will entertain submissions that favor the ones, or that alternate between the ones and twos. Contra Choreography Parameters: -The title must reflect Neffa somehow, and perhaps the 75th -32 bars long -Contra formation -Intermediate skill level: commonly-used figures, moderate piece count, and nothing too complicated out of the minor set -Good flow -Limit three submissions per person -Deadline is Feb 15, 2019 -Do not need to be at the Festival to win Send your clearly worded and annotated-as-necessary submissions to Lisa Greenleaf at neffacontra(a)yahoo.com (or you can reply to this email; just don’t hit reply all). Don’t delay—get crackin’! Lisa Greenleaf

6 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] New dance, written by me! (It's my first) (Liam Binley)

by Liam Binley

Suddenly realised that the way I had copied the dance into the email hadn’t worked so here it is. Never Forgotten Longways: Beckett A1: (8) {L diagonal} Circle L ¾; (8) Neighbour swing. A2: (8) Lines forward & back; (8) Mad robin {men in front}. B1: (16) Ricochet reel {men pass L to start, ladies push back 2nd time they meet}. B2: (16) Partner balance & swing. Many Thanks, Liam Binley. liam.binley(a)me.com

6 years, 1 month

[Callers] New dance, written by me! (It's my first)

by Liam Binley

Afternoon all, So, whilst on a half term break from working in a school, I set myself a challenge to write my first dance… and I’ve done it. I have tried it with a small group of confident dancers to check that it works! But I am yet to try it on a big group, hoping to try it out in the next few weeks. I have copied it below so if you would like to give it a go, please do, and let me know what you think! The name (Never Forgotten) as you can probably guess, is a personal one, I don’t know what people think about giving dances names which have some personal meaning behind them, but for me, with a certain event coming up (I won’t divulge on here) it just seemed right. I have got a suggested track to use for it, but would rather people asked me directly about that, to be honest it would fit with most 32 bar reels.. I just have a preference. Anyway, let me know what you think, Many Thanks, Liam Binley. liam.binley(a)me.com

6 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] Callers Digest, Vol 54, Issue 14

by Darlene Hamilton

Hi Allison, I would echo Alan and Rich... especially if the folks LIKED those dances. I have run many beginner dancers events over the last ten years and folks want to do the dances they enjoyed from last time (sometimes you have to remind them that you have other new fun dances to teach too). :-) The one complaint I have heard from long time dancers are that some of the dance groups don't repeat favorite dances often enough in a goal to do as many different dances over the course of a year as possible so keep that “fun” factor in mind when selecting them. You have a nice list of dances! Don't forget about the classic Sicillian Circle dance where there's clapping and hooting when the gents go in then the ladies go in. Folks love to clap and hoot and it brings up the energy! Let us know how it went! Darlene Historical Tea & Dance Society Pasadena, CA On Wed, Oct 24, 2018 at 1:44 PM <callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > callers-owner(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. "Second" ONS (Allison Jonjak) > 2. Re: "Second" ONS (Winston, Alan P.) > 3. Re: "Second" ONS (Rich Sbardella) > 4. Re: "Second" ONS (jim saxe) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2018 12:25:51 -0500 > From: Allison Jonjak <allisonjonjak(a)gmail.com> > To: callers(a)sharedweight.net > Subject: [Callers] "Second" ONS > Message-ID: > < > CAK2+5bksFF_tEGH_YZcFuYn8qHJFw1BfdGagg2D5NSQJevL1Qg(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Hi all, > > I hail from a rural area with no nearby dance communities. This June I held > a free community barn dance, featuring lots of Linda Leslie's "very easy > dances". Through the magic of newspapers I was able to connect with a > string band, and we had about 25 dancers, lots of whom left their email > addresses 'so you can invite us again next time.' > > I'll head home for the holidays, the band is willing and the hall is > willing, so I'm planning to host another dance. The question is: should I > prepare > -the same dances > -the same easiness-level of dances, but different actual dances > -a dance or two that uses progressions? > > The dancers in June learned very quickly, and aced the proto-progressions > in both Jefferson & Liberty, and Peak Bagger. > > How much of that practice in June do I expect to carry forward to > November? Here was the program I wound up calling, > https://contradb.com/programs/76 , pardon that the calling notes are mixed > in with my followup notes. Here were the dances I had prepared: > https://contradb.com/programs/71 > > Thanks all in advance for your help! > > -- > Allison Jonjak, M.S., E.I.T. > allisonjonjak(a)gmail.com > allisonjonjak.com >

6 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] super-simple square for rollaway practice was: "Second" ONS

by Winston, Alan P.

Allison wrote (responding to Jim): > >Notes on the roll away dance say "succeeded at walkthrough, weren't > going to make it through the dance." If you could tell, did the > confusion seem to have to do with figuring out who was in what role, > or was it mostly about something else, such as getting from the star > to the lines of four? > > I think that the difficulty was that there were TWO roles to remember: > a person was a head OR a side, AND a raven OR a lark. That was too > much intricacy for people who don't know at least one of the roles on > autopilot. Lesson learned. > > > >[Two side comments on that dance: (1) Notes say "This variation is > Wade Pearson's, removing the right-left-through. ...", but the > "original" version you link to doesn't have a right and left through. > It has a cross trail. (2) Personally, I don't think it would be a > great loss to drop this dance from the repertoire, regardless of the > role terminology or the manner of setting up the lines of four. I > could say more on both points but don't want to go even further off > topic.] > > Agreed, I really wanted something with a rollaway since it's my > favorite move for "teaching giving weight," but it seems to require > intricate choreography to get people back to place. I hoped the square > would do it, but I overshot the audience. They were gracious when I > had us switch, at least :) > I'm interested in the rollaway for "teaching giving weight"; I mostly beat allemandes to death. Anyway, you might get to your goal with this dance which barely has choreography(La Guaracha, from "Companion to the Ballroom" 1827, here from the COmmunity Dances Manuals): ======================= SPANISH WALTZ (CDM, any 32-bar waltz, esp. "My Lodging is on the Cold Ground") Four couple square. A1&2: Balance forward, back, left hand woman to man's right hand. Four times. B: Waltz the set. ================================= That A1 is balance and roll away (with gent not half-sashaying); four times gets everybody home. For a barn dance where you can't rely on everybody being able to do a traveling waltz, you can easily adapt this in multiple ways; first off, sub a promenade for the waltz, or sub a circle left and promenade home. second, you can just make it duple meter if you prefer, and then make it balance and swing and promenade. Third, you can change it to be roll away with a half sashay, and it's more important to reach your partner than to get home on the rollaways; the promenade takes care of that. Fourth, change the figure to 1st time: all balance, ravens roll left to right in front of larks (start crossing neighbor) 4x 2nd time: all balance, larks roll left to right in front of ravens (start partner) (For ONS you might be fine just repeating those two times, but if you're a little ambitious ... 3d time: all balance, ravens roll left to right 2x, / all balance, larks roll left to right 2x, meet partner on other side ... Anyway, it's barely choreography but it gives you rollaway practice in square formation without having to do heads or sides. -- Alan

6 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] "Second" ONS

by Winston, Alan P.

In general, I'd say to prepare mostly the same easiness-level of dances, mostly different dances, a repeat of whatever the most popular dance was, and have a couple slightly more challenging ones - with progression, etc - up your sleeve but without any emotional investment in actually using them. Expect very little to carry over to a second dance five months later. Maybe more facility in getting lined up, but also (if you're lucky) they'll bring friends with no experience. -- Alan On 10/24/18 10:25 AM, Allison Jonjak via Callers wrote: Hi all, I hail from a rural area with no nearby dance communities. This June I held a free community barn dance, featuring lots of Linda Leslie's "very easy dances". Through the magic of newspapers I was able to connect with a string band, and we had about 25 dancers, lots of whom left their email addresses 'so you can invite us again next time.' I'll head home for the holidays, the band is willing and the hall is willing, so I'm planning to host another dance. The question is: should I prepare -the same dances -the same easiness-level of dances, but different actual dances -a dance or two that uses progressions? The dancers in June learned very quickly, and aced the proto-progressions in both Jefferson & Liberty, and Peak Bagger. How much of that practice in June do I expect to carry forward to November? Here was the program I wound up calling, https://contradb.com/programs/76 , pardon that the calling notes are mixed in with my followup notes. Here were the dances I had prepared: https://contradb.com/programs/71 Thanks all in advance for your help! -- Allison Jonjak, M.S., E.I.T. allisonjonjak(a)gmail.com<mailto:allisonjonjak@gmail.com> allisonjonjak.com<http://allisonjonjak.com> _______________________________________________ List Name: Callers mailing list List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:Callers@lists.sharedweight.net> Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/

6 years, 1 month

Re: [Callers] "Second" ONS

by jim saxe

Allison, Thanks for your answers. They were exactly on target at addressing the spirit of my questions and were quite informative. Thanks for clarifying that the issue about Mad Scatter was anxiety about not finding new partners, and not about anyone being fixated on some idea like "I want to do the last [set] dance with my favorite partner, darn it!" I presume the lost and (not?) found issue was largely a result of people making large "blobs". Not only is it more likely for people in a big blob not to naturally pair up, but it's even possible that someone looking for a partner could more readily grab another leftover person from an adjacent group than find the one on the far side of their own group. Then the remaining non-partnered people could be quite far apart. One of them might even give up and sit down. Etc. And how could you have even guessed that it might be useful to teach strategies for coping with the situation if you didn't anticipate the big blobs in the first place? Best of luck with your next dance. --Jim

6 years, 1 month

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

Import1