Re: Callers who gab on too for far too long ....

5 Jan 2017

Re: "Have fun and make sure the dancers and the band know you are having fun.   If
the dance is executed perfectly by dancers who are annoyed or insulted, it's a
failure.   If mild chaos ensues but (most) everyone is enjoying muddling thru anyway, life
is good.

Dale"

BUT having fun whilst playing an instrument on the stage whilst also calling is NOT
professional - as I witnessed at the Southbank. Its having fun in a selfish way at the
expense of the dancers - who are the most important folk in the room. 

And Dave also brings me to another intense irritation. This is callers being patronising
to their dancers during a walkthru. Most dancers, if not all, are intelligent if perhaps
inexperienced. In the UK where we are so PC its insulting the terms 'ladies' and
'gents' are not acceptable only 'women' and 'men.' And at some
ceilidhs you are not even allowed to talk about left or right due to political
sensitivities. Too many ceilidh bands are composed of bleeding heart left wing liberals.
Even the EFDSS has gone all PC in fear of losing grants from arty farty left wing orgs. 

Chris B. 

--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 4/1/17, Dale Wilson dale.wilson(a)gmail.com [trad-dance-callers]
&lt;trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com&gt; wrote:

 Subject: Re: [trad-dance-callers] Callers who gab on too for far too long ....
 To: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com
 Date: Wednesday, 4 January, 2017, 22:29

        ....
 for every dance the 'caller' is spending over 10
 minutes explaining each dance - 
 This brings to mind a quote attributed to Blaise
 Pascal:   Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus
 longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire
 plus courte.

 Roughly translated
 as 
   I have made this [letter] longer
 than usual because I have not had time to make it
 shorter.
 In called-dance
 context:
 I am taking too long to explain
 this dance because I haven't invested the time to
 discover the best way to describe it.
 A couple of notes to
 myself:
 A dance walk-thru is rarely the time
 for a history lesson. [Although a rare short amusing
 anecdote before the start of a walk-thru may occasionally be
 forgiven.]
 If
 you come up with a really cool analogy -- for heaven's
 sake, don't use it! [Teaching a ricochet hey in terms of
 slices of pizza comes to mind.]

 Chose the right word for the
 occasion.  Before a balance and petronella I say "make
 a ring" not "make a circle" because if I
 mention the word "circle" most dancers will start
 moving [to the left!]
 Do not teach to one couple or one
 gender/role unless you identify them.  "Swing your
 neighbor below" only works for the actives.  With luck
 the inactives will translate, but they may well be looking
 below for the neighbor *they* should be swinging.
  "Ladies start a Mad Robin." leaves the gents
 standing still when they should be moving.

 Do not teach to individual dancers or
 even sets.  If, for example, you say "ladies
 chain" and all but one set does it, do NOT simply
 repeat "ladies chain".  The ones who dutifully
 followed your instructions the first time will do so again
 leaving EVERYONE confused and in the wrong spot.   Instead
 say something like "you should now be on the side of
 the set with your partner" then pause to let them sort
 things out -- with possible help from the experienced
 dancers around them.
 Speaking of experienced
 dancers:
 Trust your dancers, but give them a
 chance.  Watch the entire room.  If you see some ad-hoc
 teaching going on, be quiet and let it happen. [up to a
 point -- determining the point at which you step in and
 reassert the fact that you are the caller comes from
 experience.]
 Have fun and make sure the dancers and
 the band know you are having fun.   If the dance is
 executed perfectly by dancers who are annoyed or insulted,
 it's a failure.   If mild chaos ensues but (most)
 everyone is enjoying muddling thru anyway, life is
 good.
 Dale

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Re: Callers who gab on too for far too long ....