3 Jan
2017
3 Jan
'17
10:52 p.m.
Every time I teach a dance that I have not taught before, I video my presentation. I will
review how I presented the dance and check for length of presentation vs. length of dance.
I will also check to see if I could have used a different form of presenting it, such as,
less words and more visual instructions. You can precede your presentation with dances
that contain dance moves that would be included in your dance.
I always let the dancers know that the next three dances will be progressive, in that
moves taught will be combined into a dance that will come later and sitting out a dance
could mean you would not enjoy sitting out again because you don't know how to do it.
Otto WartemanTrinity, Texas
On Tuesday, January 3, 2017 5:25 AM, "Chris Mulvey jigs8reels(a)gmail.com
[trad-dance-callers]" <trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com> wrote:
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 #yiv9874371826 -- #yiv9874371826ygrp-mkp {border:1px solid
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