trad-callers March 2016

trad-callers@lists.sharedweight.net

40 participants
28 discussions

Caller and musicians in Virginia in July?

by chandler.dr＠gmail.com

Passing on a request... I'd like to request recommendations for a caller and musicians (at least a fiddler) for a 200 person wedding July 9th at Smith Mountain Lake in the south western corner of Virginia. Ideally, this would include an experienced caller from the region who is skilled at introducing CD to the uninitiated and enthusiastic. Any help appreciated. Thanks! David Chandler (New Jersey)

9 years, 1 month

Re: Community and One Nighter dances: Book and CDSS article

by Marian Rose

Hello Paul You are always full of good ideas and good energy. Just to let you know - I did a similar thing in 1999 - wrote an article for the CDSS News which resulted in the publication of a CDSS-produced pamphlet entitled 'Family and Community Dances' with contributions from Dudley, Andy Davis, Bob Dalsemer, Joan Shimer and myself. That article, now entitled 'Calling for Community and Family Groups: A Primer for Contradance Callers' has been revised many times since (including today) and I … [View More]

9 years, 1 month

6th Annual Spring Callers Workshop (mini-Pourparler) - April 2-3, 2016

by Patricia Campbell

Dear friends and colleagues, For the past 5 years, I've been hosting an annual Spring gathering of callers and musicians who primarily call (or play) for Community or school dances. Most of the attendees have been local caller friends and musicians and some of the people who attend the annual Pourparler Conference ("Pourparler is a yearly gathering of dance and music educators from North America who are dedicated to teaching folk/ethnic/world/traditional dance in schools and/or community … [View More]

9 years, 1 month

Appeal to restore historic folk music headquarters in Primrose Hill

by Chris J Brady

A BID to raise £200,000 to restore the main hall at the Primrose Hill home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society has been launched. Cecil Sharp House, in Regents Park Road, has been the headquarters for the society since it moved into the purpose-built building in 1930. But its principal room, Kennedy Hall, designed by architects Godfrey Pinkerton and Henry Fletcher, is in desperate need of a major overhaul to return it to its former glory. Half of the total cost of £400,000 has already … [View More]

9 years, 1 month

Teaching time vs. dancing time (was: Dances for One Nighters)

by Tony Parkes

Otto wrote: << and if a dance takes longer than one minute to show or teach, I don't use it. >> Don Armstrong (one of my chief role models) wrote in his column in American Squares in the 1950s that a dance should take less time to teach than to dance. He gave examples: If a square dance figure lasts about 30 seconds (once through an AABB tune) and is done four times, the walkthrough should take no more than two minutes. If you're teaching a break which will be done three times, the … [View More]

9 years, 1 month

Re: Contras for One Nighters

by Kalia Kliban

On 3/9/2016 6:48 AM, Tony Parkes tony(a)hands4.com [trad-dance-callers] wrote: > When I was a very young and unseasoned caller, I fell in love with > contras and tried to include them in my one-nighters. In order to get a > majority of people to understand the progression, I had to make the > walkthrough longer than the dance. It didn’t help that I was using > dances like Haymakers’ Jig, which has a ladies chain and needs a decent > swing to avoid falling flat. People … [View More]

9 years, 1 month

Re: Contras for One Nighters

by Tony Parkes

When I was a very young and unseasoned caller, I fell in love with contras and tried to include them in my one-nighters. In order to get a majority of people to understand the progression, I had to make the walkthrough longer than the dance. It didn't help that I was using dances like Haymakers' Jig, which has a ladies chain and needs a decent swing to avoid falling flat. People were giving up and sitting down before the music stopped. After a year or two I gave up on using contras with groups … [View More]of all first-timers. I had better luck with a twice-monthly series I co-produced in NYC for several years. I typically did one contra per night, sometimes two. (I've always tried to give people material they wouldn't otherwise have been exposed to: contras in those days when I was in an all-squares area, squares more recently as contras have become the norm.) At one-nighters these days I always do a Sicilian circle as the second dance of the evening, usually the first figure of Ed Durlacher's Sanita Hill Circle: circles, do-si-dos, stars, forward & back and pass through. (If there aren't enough people for a Sicilian, I change B.2 to a scatter promenade.) I tell the group (if I'm not doing the scatter version) that they may have heard the term "contra dances" and that this is an easy example. "In a square dance you do different things with the same people; in a contra dance you do the same thing with different people." In a Sicilian you get the repetition and the progression, which together provide most of the feel of a longways contra without requiring a lot of teaching about the different roles and the change of roles at the end of the line. Very often, during the initial inquiry and negotiations, the organizer will ask for contra dances as my part of the program, or will refer to the whole event as a contra dance. I've learned to ask what they're thinking of when they say "contra." Usually they mean the sort of thing I normally do: easy all-moving dances in a variety of formations. They call it "contra dancing" because that term is now more common than "square dancing" in New England outside the MWSD scene. Sometimes they have almost no idea what's involved; when I describe my typical ONS program, they say that's just what they want. I rarely encounter a ONS organizer who knows what duple contras are and definitely wants one or more. When that happens, it's usually because a substantial percentage of the group will be regular contra dancers. I may call something like Chorus Jig "for those who know," or something like Jefferson's for everyone, making sure the first-timers are dispersed throughout the set. Or both if time allows. My goal is always to provide a maximum amount of moving to music with a minimum of teaching. Tony Parkes Billerica, Mass. www.hands4.com<http://www.hands4.com> [View Less]

9 years, 1 month

Country to Contredanse to SCD, Contra, etc. map search

by JD Erskine

Hullo Dance folks, I'm searching for which publication I've seen a lovely map depicting the flow and adoption / adaptation of Country Dance as it Went Abroad (from England to France, nestling in as Contredanse/Quadrilles), back "home", and then to "North of the Border" (look! SCD), and possibly more. I'm hoping someone knows the one I'm speaking of. If I can find it in time I'll include it in a presentation I'm doing, and if not this time probably in the next. (I _did_ find one from … [View More]

9 years, 1 month

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trad-callers March 2016