Hullo All,
I've been enjoying the "auto pilot" thread.
I loved Bob's "(Of course everybody knows this dance)" which I had to
grin at. I don't. Now I'll look for it now as it appears to be a
standard, somewhere.
The picture here -- Aside from Cumberland Square Eight and some dances
which occur in the ECD evenings in my "village" and area (like La Russe,
Heidenroslein, and Newcastle), I've yet to break into calling squares. I
have/had an opportunity to step into a MWSD callers workshop series,
however while challenging, it doesn't seem a fit to my interests or
needs. (I'm not in a club, and will likely not have an opportunity to
call in that form.)
Why am I interested? These trad./named dances exist, they're fun, and
few call them in these parts. I'd like to include them in
evenings/events that welcome them, and there is a geographically
near-enough monthly series of traditional square dances where a few
folks know how/what to call that I've been asked to participate in.
Any tips or suggestions of how to begin calling such dances, what
technique to learn first, and perhaps which basic dances go over well?
As I dance or call/lead a variety of dances/dance forms I'd suspect
formations or whole set dances aren't the issue. I suppose basic points
on comparisons of similarity or major differences to barn/community,
eCeilidh, ECD, SCD, "ACD" (Contra), Scottish ceilidh, etc. might be a
quick path to understanding, relaxing with this.
Thank you for any suggestions.
Cheers, John
--
J.D. Erskine
Victoria, BC