I’m forwarding this on behalf of Luke Donforth. Please make sure to copy him on any
replies since he is not a member of the list.
All the best,
Chris Weiler
List Moderator
Long version:
When I (Luke Donforth) get an inquiry about calling for a gig that I can't do, I often
refer them to the same handful of local callers that I know. But it's not always the
most useful if the inquiry came from far away, or the folks I personally know are busy.
I'm now trying to create a caller database; with geographic home-base of caller, how
far they'll travel, what they call, and contact information. Also, somewhere where
folks submit themselves; a way to hang their shingle, as it were.
I know there are lists of callers out there, such as Charlie's excellent contra dance
links, Ted Crane's extensive Dance Database, and the venerable Dance Gypsy. I was
thinking it would be useful to have it in database format where it could be sorted and
filtered. I'm also focusing on the callers, as opposed to the dances.
I've created a google form that allows people to submit information; with a linked
spreadsheet that would allow people to filter based on what they're looking for (both
geographically and dance style). My hope is to eventually develop a front end to help
filter that information, but for now I'm just sharing it with organizers as a
database.
The survey is at:
<https://goo.gl/forms/62beEKCKsyysepGk1>
https://goo.gl/forms/62beEKCKsyysepGk1
The results (~50 so far) are at
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZIWfYyFwMHHm6MpyMCD_N8ssQcOD5s6yndu…
I'm primarily a caller and doing this from the caller end, and I'd appreciate
feedback from organizers. (I've already reached out to some I personally know in the
formulation of this.) I'm making some effort to prevent e-mail addresses from being
harvested by spam-bots, and I'm not widely disseminating the database link. The more
interest, the more likely I'll put together a public front-end.
If you think it's useful, you can also mention it to callers that you work with and
encourage them to list themselves there.
I'm not on the Organizers Shared-Weight; but you can reach me directly at
calling.luke(a)gmail.com <mailto:calling.luke@gmail.com>
Happy dancing, and thanks for your feedback
--
Luke Donforth
calling.luke(a)gmail.com <mailto:ing.luke@gmail.com>