On Oct 18, 2017, at 7:46 PM, Claire Takemori via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: Paul and all, I’m curious what the child age ranges are for the family & community dances? It sounds like they are young? So then all the middle school kids and older go to regular contras? I’m hoping to start a dance in SF bay area in CA, but not sure if it should be a family dance series, an old time square dance series, or? Thanks Emily for getting this conversation going Claire Takemori SF Bay Area Message: 1 Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2017 23:47:18 -0400 From: Paul Rosenberg <paul(a)homespun.biz> To: Emily Addison <emilyladdison(a)gmail.com> Cc: organizers shared weight <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> Subject: Re: [Organizers] follow up to family dance questions :) Message-ID: <6928B4B1-F53F-470E-992D-03CB7E80DC6D(a)homespun.biz> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Hi Emily I?m curious: what were the two dances that DeLaura led at Ogontz? My series has been going since 1994. Generally it?s monthly from November through April. I am the regular caller. In the early years, I was inspired by seeing Peter Amidon and Andy Davis leading family dances, and I used a lot of their repertoire: Zodiac Chimes of Dunkirk Bridge of Athlone Black Joke Sweets of May Sasha Galopede Circassian Circle Old King Glory Brandy Rump Bump Gramma Moses Head and shoulders Down in the Valley Little Johnny Brown Step it Down Chee Chee Cha Heel & Toe Polka As the years went on, I learned more and more fun unique dances. Another factor in my repertoire change was my change in attitude. I became disenchanted with the evolution of the contra scene, with dance evenings becoming monotone. Contras only. No more circle mixers or squares. No more chestnut contras. Very few easy contras. Choreography that is ?unforgiving?. So I quit calling at contra series and for the last ten years or so, all of my dances are family and community dances. I find that lots of contra callers seem to want to groom the children to become contra dancers, and their choice of dances at the family dances are generally just simple contras. My goal is to provide a fun, exciting repertoire of dances appropriate for young children. Some may be a bit like contras, and some dances are totally different We have several dances that children request at most of the family dances: Spiral Hoe Ana (Polynesian sit-down canoeing dance I learned from Sanna Longden) Old Dan Tucker (longways dance I learned from a PE teacher) Zodiac Any dance with a ?Peel the Banana? figure, like Virginia Reel, Sweets of May, or Bridge of Athlone Funga Alafia (West African dance) Sasha Other dances the children love, but don?t request necessarily: Zemer Atik (Israeli dance) Looking for a Friend aka Hang Peng You (Chinese) 7 Jumps (Danish, learned from Marian Rose and many other sources) Mi Cuerpo Hace Musica (Puerto Rican) Dance du Castor (Quebecois) Baanopstekker (Dutch dance) Can?t Jump Josie (American singing game) Clap Your Hands (American) Buffalo Gals (Square) LaRaspa Chay Chat Koolay (West African) Yan Petit (Catalonian) Cshebogar (Hungarian) Le Bus (Quebecois) Damat Halayi (Turkish) Penguin Dance (I forgot where I got this) Marching Through Georgia (Square) Paul Rosenberg Albany, NY 518-482-9255 www.homespun.biz

On Oct 18, 2017, at 10:04 PM, Jeff Raymond <jeffraym(a)gmail.com> wrote: Howdy folks, The age the of family dance attendees may depend more on how you manage promotion, the age of the Contradancers starting families or the promoter and callers style. As for kids at Topsham I'd say 7-12, because my daughter is ten and I try to rope in as many of her friends as possible but even when none come with us there's a few close to her age, but they'd be the oldest and are all ready to dance the adult dance, depending the contra callers chops. There are a few younger, none older. In Maine we are so blessed with Waldorf School families and home schoolers. I'm going to say that Topsham and Belfast are in two of the more intellectually umm... stimulated, (in so far as the arts are concerned) areas of Maine. Chrissy may of speak for her own dance of course but Belfast area is way WAY cooler then Brunswick Topsham area with way more back to the earth energy (our "hippie" crowd may be aging out) and folks in that life do love a contra. Point: Reach out to farmers. When I was in charge I often let farm Apprentices and interns in for cheap. Be well, Jeff