re:
Sun
Feb 5, 2017 3:45 pm (PST) . Posted by:
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Our (Asheville's) annual dance weekend, SplashDance, has always had
open calling all weekend long, but dancers complained on the
evaluations about the qualities described above, which often result
from an open calling format. So for several years I've been
facilitating the open-calling: callers sign-up with me ahead of
time via email to get on the list to call. There's a deadline a few
days before the weekend starts. On that day, I take the whole list
and figure out how many dance slots each caller can have, based on
how many want to call, and I do a line-up. (When they sign up, they
let me know if they aren't available any particular times during the
weekend -- e.g., not arriving til Sat.) Then, we have a
programming meeting prior to each dance session (one for Friday
night, one for Sat. night, one for Sunday afternoon). These take
place at Fri & Sat dinners, and Sun. brunch -- required
attendance for those on the line-up for that session, although
anyone else can sit in if they want. We all eat together and get
out our cards and put together the program. This creates a much
better flow for the dance session. It's better for the dancers, and
it also takes the pressure off all the callers from having to really
attend to what was called before their turn. The programming
meetings have taken the place of having a caller's workshop at the
weekend -- basically, it's a hands-on workshop on the art of
programming. There's a lot of good discussion about how dances do
or don't fit well together, and it's a chance to discuss ideas about
mood and flow and other programming considerations beyond the basics
of not repeating signature moves too many times, and having a good
balance of smooth vs. bouncy. A few folks have actually opted to
sit in on the programming meeting just to listen, even though they
don't want to call.
It's an evolving process, and I keep tweaking it every year, but I
think it's generally worked well the last few times. It IS a lot
more work for me, but it's my contribution to the weekend, to try to
help make the calling as good as possible while still providing an
open format to give lots of participants a chance to call.
Maybe this model will be useful to others with an open-calling
format for a whole dance weekend.
Diane Silver
Asheville, NC