For you, and many others, a repertoire of 30 - 40 suits your style. That’s the way your brain operates.
For me, and many others, a repertoire of 300 suits our style. That’s the way my brain operates.
Obviously, you are not afflicted (or blessed) with my “disorder" of ADD!
I will admit, I generally stick to a repertoire of the same basic 6 to 10 dances at a community dance, and private party gig; and the same 5 to 8 dances at weddings, and the same 8 to 10 dances at family dance gigs. I totally enjoy seeing different (or the same) people doing Virginia Reel, Circassian Circle, Buffalo Gals, Spiral, or Zodiac for the thousands of times I lead them, but i also get in the mood to try something different.
I love new (to me) dances, and whenever I learn a new one, I can’t wait to try it out on dancers!
Sort of like the thousands of great fiddle tunes. My brain likes to go beyond the same 40 - 50 tunes that our Tuesday night jam session goes through. Maybe it’s my ADD, but I love to play a few hundred tunes.
I say, let people have a big collection, and let them choose whether to stick to some favorites, or try something else.
When I was into contra calling, I loved Zesty Contras with all those dances. I was like a “kid in a candy store” with that book!
One direction I was thinking of going in this book was to list dances that are tried and true, and maybe use these 30 to 40 dances as a good core to have ready for any community or one nighter gigs.
Paul Rosenberg
Albany, NY
518-482-9255
Paul wrote:
"a collection of a few hundred great dances for community dance series as well as one nighters"
I just reviewed my own list. There are about ten dances I typically use for a onezie or community dance, and if there are demographic changes (ages, dancing capabilities) I might add a couple more.
A hundred dances would be overkill, and leads to the sort of "dead air" I've witnessed at onezies lead by others. If you have too many choices, you'll never have the perfect dance.
Here's a thought -- the link below shows "muddle and match" books for kids. Infinite combinations, just turn the pages and pull together some random combo for figures. (Some folks do this with fakebooks so they'll have a bazillion sets of medleys.)
https://youtu.be/R0f6KA-yG7E
--Karen D.
in Grand Rapids
who replied to this idea in 2012 if not earlier