Hi Rob - the main concern I'd have with taking a single dance and teaching parts of it separately is that in a standard easy single-progression-at-the-end-of-the-B2 contra dance, if the dancers are learning just the A section(s) they'd be doing the same thing over and over again with the same neighbors (and depending on the moves, would also likely be out of position to restart), which would get boring pretty quickly. And it wouldn't teach them how to progress, which in my opinion is one of the key points to teach early and reinforce repeatedly. Heitzso specifically said the dances they used all built on each other, and all progressed.

I'm imagining something like:
16-count: circle left all the way (8), balance the ring (4), pass through (4) * 
24-count: long lines forward & back (8), circle left all the way (8), balance the ring & pass through
32-count: long lines forward, give & take to the larks' side (8), partner swing (8), circle left 3/4 (8), balance the ring & pass through (8)
64-count: neighbor balance & swing (16), long lines forward & back (8), robins allemande left once and a half (8), partner balance & swing (16) circle left 3/4 (8), balance the ring & pass through (8)
and look, we just built up to (a variant of) Airpants!

*I often use exactly this 16-count "dance" in my standard beginner lessons (generally without music) to get the new folks used to how contra dances progress, and give them a chance to practice waiting out at the ends, trading places, and coming back in - when lesson time is limited, we don't have time to walk a full dance through enough times for everyone to get that experience, but we can do this as many times as needed very quickly. I tell them they've just done the world's shortest contra dance, and that the dances we'll do in the rest of the evening will have more going on in between progressions, but that they'll generally all have that same idea -- identify your neighbors, do a pattern of moves with those neighbors, then move on and do the same pattern of moves with the next neighbors, and so on, waiting out at the ends for a full time through the dance, and then come back in when new neighbors need you. In a normal contra evening (with a mixed crowd) this 16-count structural walkthrough is usually enough build-up so that something along the lines of Airpants makes a great first dance of the evening.

I can see the potential for this kind of careful build up to be really helpful for a wedding crowd or similar situation with a ton of beginners, though! I think another key ingredient would be having tunes that fit each "increment" so that the dancers can also (subliminally) get used to fitting the dance to the phrases of the music, and repeating the dance with new neighbors when the tune repeats.

Koren Wake
(current caller & musician in Seattle, former organizer in Boston)


On Mon, Aug 7, 2023 at 9:41 PM Robert Matson via Organizers <organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Referring to Heitzso's note in mid-July, with a wonderful solution when a dance has a lot of beginners.

We started a contra dance from scratch, with all beginners, at the Univ. of Central Arkansas.  As such, our room is always full of eager novices and we endlessly need fun dances that can be taught quickly.  Generally, we start with teaching an easy 64-beat dance and slowly add new concepts, one at a time, over the evening.  Still, with our all-beginner dances, there is often a fair bit of time spent on walk-throughs.

I love Heitzso's method of starting with a short dance with a 16-count phrase, and build in steps through a 24-beat dance, a 32-beat dance, and culminate with a 64-count dance.  It's wonderful how everyone starts experiencing the fun of dancing very quickly and, also, spreads out the down time of teaching figures between all the dances.  For every level of dancer, more dancing and less standing around is a winning formula in my book.

I'm curious:  to Heitzso, or anyone who does the same, when you're working like this, do you build up through four _totally different_ dances (choreographies), where, as you wrote, the figures build on each other?  Or would you consider breaking down a 64-beat dance into these pieces.  E.g., you teach A1 and then dance it all-out.  Then add A2 to that previous A1 and dance it.  And then add B1, and dance it.  Etc.  I'm imagining I'd suggest people change partners at every "step up" in order to keep it fresh.

This could also work to teach A1 and A2, then dance it.  Then teach B1 and B2, then dance it.  Then put it all together.  Though these are larger chunks, it still gets people dancing sooner than teaching the entire dance before the music starts.

Is there a reason this wouldn't work pretty well?

Rob

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Robert Matson


On Wed, Jul 19, 2023 at 9:53 AM Heitzso via Organizers <organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I acknowledge that there are many ways to teach and value the tradition of contra dancing.
I'm pushing the edges a touch here, but felt, given the recent discussion re large % of beginners
and how do you pull in and keep younger dancers, that these two data points may be helpful.

Back in 2019 I was asked to run sound, provide canned music, and call contras at a wedding.
The bride had gone to a nearby college and was part of a cohort of students who came to my dance for awhile.
At the wedding reception I had an hour to teach and call contra dances
to some 45-50 dancers, 85% of whom had never danced contra.
I set the rule for myself of almost no "teaching" and lots of dancing to music.
I came up with a 16 count dance, a 24 count dance, a 32 count dance on up to the full 64.
The dances built on one another.  They all progressed. I had a small rectangular space so
two tight lines. I don't recall if I used improper or Beckett as the basic alignment.
I had several "contemporary/hot" contra music tunes lined up, e.g. Perpetual eMotion's Flying Tent.
So a few minutes to explain line and progression then a simple dance with music that progressed.
(e.g. ??? if I used improper maybe circle left 4 places, balance, pass through for 16 count dance, add in  do-si-do for a 24, ...
this probably isn't what I did but you get the idea)
It worked well. The high energy music was enjoyed by the wedding crowd and
they never stood still for more than a few minutes before dancing to some juicy music.

A local women's university had studied integration in the south and how simple dances,
such as the Virginia Reel, were used to socialize the northern white folks into
the Southern African American integration movement community leaders.
I was asked to teach and call the Virginia Reel, outdoors, to some 800 college students.
While the students were assembling, which took awhile, I played Perpetual eMotion over the sound system.
That juiced the students. You could see it in how they walked with a bounce in their step,
in how animated their faces were, etc. But when it came time for me to actually teach and
call the Virginia Reel I was told to pull back to old time string band music.
I did as I was told and the music shift from high energy to old time sucked
the energy completely out of the students. I called, and they reluctantly danced,
the Virginia Reel and then went back to their classes.
___

This Sunday the Neverland Ramblers are playing in my town with two out of town callers.
The Neverland Ramblers are composed of a keyboard player,
a classically trained violinist, and a been-playing-in-rock-bands-forever
lead (and follow, but easily throws out riffs based on the chord structure) guitarist.
The violinist plays in numerous symphonies, has about 50 students that she teaches,
and, besides the contra dance band, is in two cover bands, one easy listening and the
other raucous. I enjoy her and the guitarist launching into Psycho Killer.
I just got permission to call a 12 bar blues contra (several are out there and I've
adapted a few AABB contras over to 12 bar blues format). ... This will be good.
CAUTION most contra bands can't play 12 bar blues without rocketing past 120 BPM
because they're used to playing so many notes in a bar. So this paragraph is about
pulling in pop/blues music but also I want to flag that a 12 bar contra is easier to
remember than a 16 bar contra so easier to dance by a beginner.

Related, I'm thinking of how top weekend bands often have fun pop/other-genre inserts.
    Perpetual eMotion's Eleanor Rigby
    Playing with Fyre's Sweet Dreams
    Giant Robot's Hall of the Mountain King
    or everything Emily Rush plays when calling RushFest.
    etc.

Heitzso
Gainesville, Georgia
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