Either this topic hasn't inspired any comment, or I have not been receiving the posts. I did have some thoughts about it, and without seeing any of the original thread, here goes: New callers (in my experience) don't start out at local dances by calling a whole evening. They start by calling one or two dances in an evening, and then move up to half an evening. And by calling at 'open calling' dances. After this they may get the opportunity to call a whole evening. Then perhaps calling at other regional dances. In this way they begin to get recognized. I have heard of some people taking some calling workshops and then trying to get hired for "bigger" gigs, and as 'out of town' callers. For me, this indicates a lack of respect for all the people who have worked at calling a long time before they started calling nationally. Dancers have become very focused on the talent: name recognition of the band and caller. There are few dances where with open stage for bands and callers. To get the name recognition, both bands and callers have to start locally, build a following, before they should expect to be hired for "bigger" gigs, where name recognition is a big part of how the organizers choose who is on stage. Plus, organizers don't want someone to be learning or developing skills in a situation where dancers expect more than that. Local dances are appropriate for development. While I might consider an unknown caller for a local dance, I would never consider one for a special/weekend dance. Jeffrey Rovner chicago

Hi all, As many dancers know, the Friends of the Guiding Star Grange (Greenfield, MA) organize our annual Fall Frolic as our main fund raising event of the year. This year's Frolic, being held on Sunday, Nov. 9th, 2008, will be our 13th Fall Frolic. In the spirit of our organization's purpose, "... to promote and support the development of cultural programs that encourage music and dance in the building...", which we believe includes promoting new and experienced talent, last year we sandwiched a "Caller Showcase" with Bob Isaacs facilitating. I believe the Frolic's "showcase" is an example of how nicely dances can incorporate new callers. Having a more experienced and well known caller facilitate a fun and interesting "showcase" of dances with newer/less experienced callers seems, at least for the Frolic, to be a very successful way to "balance" the act. The "Showcase" was so well received by participants that we are including a new "Showcase" this year. Val LaBelle FGSG Board Member http://guidingstargrange.org/Events/events.html -----Original Message----- From: organizers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:organizers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Chrissy Fowler Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 8:31 PM To: organizers(a)sharedweight.net Subject: [Organizers] booking performers - balancing act Hi all, There has been an interesting discussion on the shared weight callers list, which is relevant to us as organizers. Basically, one of the newer/developing callers was sharing her frustration about feeling shut out of the "bigger" gigs, in part because some of those organizers weren't interested in experimenting with "untested" talent, in part because they wanted to maintain certain 'standards' of skill and performance. I could see her point, as a caller wanting other gigs, but also can see the point of the organizers, whose first responsibility is not necessarily to cultivate growth in the caller/musician community but is rather to run a series that meets the expectations of the dancers and the organizers themselves. Anyhow, I was curious about what the rest of you organizer folks might think about this tension and how you've balanced it. I'll send a condensed version of the content of the caller emails (without names and extraneous details) in a subsequent msg. - Chrissy Fowler Belfast, ME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org home 207-338-0979 cell 603-498-3506 _________________________________________________________________ Get thousands of games on your PC, your mobile phone, and the web with WindowsR. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/108588800/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Organizers mailing list Organizers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers