3 Jan
2017
3 Jan
'17
11:25 a.m.
sounds like a bit of a joke to me - 10 mins waffle per dance? OK maybe if
at a dance club and members are learning a new slightly difficult
dance.....but should be a no-no at public dances or private events like
weddings/birthdays etc.
For private events for usually inexperienced dancers, I normally get
through about 6 dances per hour - 2 consecutive dances x 3 slots fits into
overall 60 mins approx.
Thus, 6 x (say) 5 mins per actual dance, plus 3 slots x 2 mins blathering
whilst coaxing/inviting up dancers/waiting to get people on the floor and
organised a bit, plus 2 x (say) 5 mins dancers' break between slots whilst
band does a song/set of tunes. Those minutes alone add up to 46 mins,
leaving 14 mins to run thru' 6 dances = approx 2 minutes per dance.
If it takes me any longer, then I would consider that I have mis-judged the
level of dancer competence. First couple of dances should give the caller
an enormous clue as to how responsive and capable the dancers generally
are. You don't want to bore them to death doing just do-si-do's all night
but likewise you don't want to baffle them with science! It's a judgement
call.
Of course, for dances involving keen, mostly experienced dancers, less
blather and run-thru' time is required = more dances per hour!
(Chris - did you tell anyone like organisers, or band or even the caller
directly that people were losing the will to live listening to him/her? You
might sound rude at the time doing that - but if they aren't told then they
will just carry on doing the same!)
On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 1:32 PM, Chris J Brady chrisjbrady(a)yahoo.com
[trad-dance-callers] <trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com> wrote:
That is - callers who talk too much .... in explaining how a dance goes.
I'm sitting on New Year's Day+1 - a Brit. so-called bank holiday - at the
prestigious Southbank Royal Festival Hall. They have a free ceilidh going
on in the Core Ballroom. Its moderately crowded.
I thought of joining in with the dancing - BUT .... for every dance the
'caller' is spending over 10 minutes explaining each dance - including
shouting into the mic. so that he can't actually be understood anyway.
Most ceilidh 'callers' are self-taught in the UK. Some explain dances at
great length then ignore the dancers concentrating on playing an
instrument. But what really gets me is the lengthy instructions they impose
upon the hapless dancers. Just now one dance took 20 minutes to explain - I
kid you not - I had time to decide not to join in, queued for a coffee, sat
down, started up my laptop, and logged into email - and the caller was
STILL explaining how to do the dance. How these callers and bands get
bookings is beyond me. Most appear to be on ego trips.
And the same issues arise at Folk Festivals where the callers and bands
are supposed to know what they are doing.
CJB.
--
Chris www.jigsnreels.com