[Callers] Dance length/dances per evening

[Tim Klein via Callers]

I usually get 10 to 12 dances in a 3 hour evening with break. The difference seems to come down to how much time I spend teaching, since actual dance time is fairly constant. 

Lines at our dance run 8 to 14 couples, so spotting a couple works well -- down and maybe a little way back. I watch the clock more to hit the break and end of evening at the right time, not for time spent dancing.
At the end of some evenings, I have 5 to 8 experienced couples and dances run much shorter - no walk through required and dancers get tired/bored quickly. In the extreme case, 6 dances in the last 50 minutes.
For variety, I called a "small plates" contra dance one evening - easy dances with short or no walk through, and iterations limited to 8 to 10 times through. That was well received by dancers, though the band (despite the warning) had to adjust their thinking after the first dance.
Tim KleinKnoxville, TN
      From: Lenore Frigo via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
 To: Maia McCormick <maia.mcc at gmail.com> 
Cc: "callers at lists.sharedweight.net" <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> 
 Sent: Monday, April 27, 2015 3:06 PM
 Subject: Re: [Callers] Dance length/dances per evening
   
I also use a stopwatch. As a new caller, I find it difficult to use any of the other methods because they require me to calculate and/or REMEMBER one more bit of information and my brain is already quite fully engaged. When I started out calling guest calling just 1-2 dances per night, I was fine tracking tune changes, but calling all night long, it all blurs together too much.

I don't use the stop watch to tell me when to stop the dance, but it's the perfect way to answer the question "Just how long has this dance been going on?". I usually aim to wrap it up in about 8-9 minutes, but it all depends on all those situational factors that people have already mentioned.

-Lenore


On Sun, Apr 26, 2015 at 5:54 PM, Maia McCormick via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:



Just polling the masses here--how long do you generally run your dances (in times through the dance, time take, couples going up and back, etc.)? How many dances do you generally manage to fit into a 3-hour contra evening? I've heard different wisdom from different folks and am curious to add some more data points!
Cheers,Maia
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