Emily Addison asked for ideas about a handout for new dancers. First, I wanted to echo Claire Takemori's remarks that no printed document can have much effect compared to aspects of a new dancer's actual experience: the quality of the music; the clarity of the teaching and calling; the energy and excitement level of the crowd; and especially the way new dancers are treated by the experienced dancers. That said, I guess there are still some folks who may want a written document. So here's info on some documents I know about. The Bay Area Country Dance Society home has these two pages on its web site: Welcome, Newcomers! http://www.bacds.org/newcomers/ What To Expect at a Dance http://www.bacds.org/expect Links to both are near the top of the righht hand column of our home page www.bacds.org The New England Folk Festival Association's home page www.neffa.org has a link to "Contra Dancing in Greater Boston" http://www.neffa.org/invite.shtml When I visited the Boston area in the early 1980's, I came across two handouts for new dancers. One was by Larry Jennings's "Almost All You Need to Know to Enjoy a New England Style Dance". The other was Tod Whittemore's "blue card", titled "Welcome to Tonight's Dance". Larry's handout filled the front and back of a letter-sized typewritten sheet. You can find a slightly edited version here: http://www.neffa.org/docs/how.html In her query to this list, Emily lamented: and indeed Larry's handout fits that description. Note that in the prefatory remarks to the online version, Larry writes: ... I emphasize: today I would talk about connection, phrasing, and customs, not about figures. Tod's "blue card" was a much shorter document and much more about customs, etc. It fit on one side of a 4.25" x 5.5" card. Tod had it printed 4-up on 8.5" x 11" sheets of blue card stock, which were then cut into quarters. Below is the text of a handout that I created years later based on Tod's blue card. My version is the same 4.25" x 5.5" size as Tod's, but has text on both sides. The front of my version is basically a lightly edited variant of Tod's text. (For example, I write "TRADITIONAL AMERICAN COUNTRY DANCE" where Tod's card had "NEW ENGLAND COUNTRY DANCE".) The back has whatever additional information I though might be useful and could cram into the available space without shrinking the font and the line spacing. In the transcription below, I've used asterisks to indicate text in *boldface* (the asterisks don't literally appear in the printed version), slashes to indicate text in /italics/, and indentation to indicate lines that are centered (though some mail handling software between my fingers and your eyes may take the liberty of trashing the indentation). I haven't attempted to indicate the exact line breaks. ================================================================= [FRONT:] *WELCOME TO TONIGHT'S DANCE* *You are in for a good time!* For many years Americans have been dancing Contras and Squares to great live music. Here are a few guidelines to get you started. *Line up and try it.* Learn by doing; watching doesn't help! Be sure to get into the first few dances, which are usually the easiest. *Mistakes are part of learning.* Everyone goofs at one time or another -- experienced dancers, too! After a while it will begin to make sense. *Singles are welcome!* *Couples:* Part of the tradition is dancing with many people. Please, split up at the beginning of the evening. Dancing with other folks will help you to learn faster and have more fun dancing with each other later on. *Questions?* Ask someone! Everybody remembers their first dance. You will find many experienced dancers eager to help. An evening of dancing will include easy, not-so-easy, familiar, and unusual dances. Most dances are taught; some are not. Staying alert and listening to the caller will make it easy to learn. In a short time you will be swept into the wonderful web of people, motion, and music that is *TRADITIONAL AMERICAN COUNTRY DANCE.* over--> ================================================================= [BACK:] *A FEW MORE TIPS on style, etiquette, and advancing your dancing.* *Choosing partners:* THis is the 21st century; men or women may offer or accept an invitation to dance. /The most valuable advice on this card:/ Don't fret that you'll be imposing on experienced dancers by asking to dance with them. We were all new at this once. Besides, it's only a ten minute dance, not a lifetime commitment. *Eye contact:* Don't be surprised by dancers making a lot of eye contact. It's friendly acknowledgment, not necessarily flirtation. *Feet:* For almost all figures, use a simple, smooooth, brisk walking step -- one step to each beat of music. Let the spring in your step propel you forward, not up and down. *Arms/hands:* Keep arm connections firm but not rigid, with comfortably bent elbows. Hold fingers slightly curved, with some muscle tone (no "dead fish" hands) but not gripping or grabbing. THis will let experienced dancers guide you gently through the figures, but also allow an easy release when you need to go in different directions. *Music:* In general dance figures fit the music, like the lines of song lyric. As you learn to listen, the music will tell you when to end one figure and start the next one. *Missed a move?* Don't worry about scrambling to make it up. Just try to get where you need to be for the next part. /Hint:/ Look around for someone looking for you. *Contradancing is more fun than reading about it.* It's an amusement park ride we make for ourselves. So put this card away right now, find a partner, and step aboard! [Sideways in right margin on back, in small print:] Bay Area Country Dance Society www.bacds.org with acknowledgments to Tod Whittemore ================================================================= In the text above, I tried to stick to things I thought might be of use to first-timers who were already at the dance. For example, I didn't include advice about shoes, figuring that people already at a dance were unlikely to go home to change shoes. Similarly I figured that dancers who came too warmly dressed would realize on their own that they should wear cooler clothing next time. I also left out remarks aimed at shaping up the etiquette of experienced dancers. I think I first heard the amusement park ride metaphor from Sandy Bradley. Under "Missed a move?" I considered drawing an analogy to forgetting a line while singing in a group. You catch up by joining in with whatever line everyone else is singing now, not by finally remembering the missed line and trying to sing it really fast while everyone else is already singing the next line. But I couldn't think of a way to state the analogy clearly and effectively in the space I was willing to allow. I also considered adding a suggestion along the lines of Reread this after the dance. Some things may make more sense then. based on a similar remark in Larry Jennings's handout. But again, it wouldn't fit in the available space, and I didn't have good ideas about how to shorten or eliminate something else to make room. I hope some of this is helpful. Cheers, --Jim