19 Jul
2023
19 Jul
'23
2:53 p.m.
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
8 Aug
8 Aug
4:39 a.m.
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(a)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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To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
8:01 p.m.
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(a)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(a)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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To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
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8:15 p.m.
This is SO cool, IMH... in my humble sense of fun.
Thank you, Koren!
If anyone else wants to write and post some 16-24-32-64 beat progressing
progressions that you would like us to dance, please post!
Rob
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Robert Matson
(Organizer, caller, musician in Conway, AR)
Cell: (917) 626-2675
On Tue, Aug 8, 2023 at 3:01 PM Koren A. Wake <koren.a.wake(a)gmail.com> wrote:
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(a)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(a)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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To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
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9:44 p.m.
Country Line Dance groups do exactly this, and it's very helpful.
As an experienced dancer, you forget how many things a new dancer is facing
thar just don't register for you any more. Cutting the number of steps in
half, or more, is a great way to make it much easier on them.
Lex Spoon
510
days inactive
530
days old
organizers@lists.sharedweight.net
4 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Heitzso -
Koren A. Wake -
Lex Spoon -
Robert Matson