I agree with Dudley. I call only ONS and I never have an even count of male and female
dancers. That means a right and left thru or a ladies chain are out, because men are not
going to put their arms around another man for the turns,
I call ONS to entertain, not to teach and if a dance takes longer than one minute to show
or teach, I don't use it. Why would you ever have the dancers standing around, when
you can have them enjoying the music and dancing?
Otto WartemanTrinity, Texas
From: "jdlaufman(a)comcast.net [trad-dance-callers]"
<trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com>
To: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com; ppalum(a)googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2016 4:14 PM
Subject: Re: [trad-dance-callers] Contras for One Nighters
The question of “contras” being called at ONSs has been raised before, and fairly
recently, and several of us chimed in quickly with “WHY?” If the gig is a one nighter, and
95% of the folks there have not been exposed to contras before, then no matter what you
choose for a dance, it will have to be taught and walked through, which, even if done
well, can throw a damper on that kind of a party. So, why? There are so many other good
dances, whole set, sets, circles. We played for a rowdy barn dance near here once for
another caller. After a few fairly successful whole sets and circles he said “Oh, we
haven’t done a duple contra yet.” and proceeded to spend the next half hour trying,
unsuccessfully, to doA-Roving. Train wreck and end of evening. What happens is that the
musicians are having a great time playing the chunes and the dancers appreciate that, and
the dancers are having a great foot stomping time, but the poor caller is sometimes not
getting much attention and so cooks up a figger too complex so that the dancers have to
work too hard to get it which they might not, so they don’t feel successful..... But if
you must do a “contra” at an ONS Jefferson & Liberty is the one. Even ONSers like to
swing, so I sometimes leave out the star, just call it A1 circle left & right,/ A2
down the outside and back/ B1 Down the center 4 in line, inside arch, outside under/ B2
All swing partners.. Or, do it with the stars, and do the swing at the end, adding an
extra 8 bars of music, making it a 40 bar dance. You can look around for a 40 bar chune,
or just roar into it and have it come out right occasionally. Dudley Dudley &
Jacqueline Laufman
PO Box 61, 322 Shaker Rd
Canterbury, NH 03224
www.laufman.org
603-783-4719
jdlaufman(a)comcast.net
Education book & CD at
www.humankinetics.com
Performance Calendar at
www.laufman.org From: mailto:trad-dance-callers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2016 1:44 PMTo: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com ;
Caller's discussion list Subject: [trad-dance-callers] Contras for One Nighters I
rarely call a contra at a One Night Party Dance, but occasionally I am asked to. I have a
few in my cards, but can anyone make some sure fire recommendations. Assume 95%-100% non
dancers. Thanks, RichStafford, CT #yiv4140969434 #yiv4140969434 -- #yiv4140969434ygrp-mkp
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