31 May
2017
31 May
'17
4:29 p.m.
Hi Martha,
If the band was playing a medley of tunes, was this tune 1st, 2nd, or
3rd? If there was still another tune in medley after this one, then I
would probably ask the band to switch to the next tune ASAP. And hope
for the best that the next tune was better than the current tune. If the
problem tune was the last tune in the medley, then I would just end the
dance early and as gracefully as possible. Thank the band profusely for
an "interesting" tune, everyone laughing. Then I would pull out a
rock-solid fun dance -- maybe even an easy no-walk-through -- for the
next dance and move on.
Woody
On 5/30/2017 2:16 PM, Martha Wild via Callers wrote:
So, a while back I was working with a band and they
played a tune that was sort of new for them, and the A part was fine, but the B part was
unusual anyway, and hard to know where the count was, in particular because they were
unfamiliar with it, and I tried to count and call so the dancers could keep going, and it
kept coming back together in the A, but falling apart in the B, until things snowballed
and the dance completely fell apart. What is the best thing to do or say in a situation
like that so that the band doesn’t feel too much as if it is their fault, and the dancers
don’t feel it’s their fault? And yes, it’s always the caller’s fault, since I couldn’t for
the life of me figure out what the heck was going on with that tune, but the dancers
couldn’t find their way in it either. Anyway, back to what to do to make everyone feel a
little better after that.
Martha