Hi,
I picked up this dance at Flurry '17. Iirc, the caller (I think it was Bob
Isaacs, not sure, it was near the end of the festival, it's all kinda
fuzzy...) said he picked it up at another festival and didn't know the name
of it. He named the caller that he got it from - but I don't remember the
name...
Formation: square with a cpl in the middle (i.e. 5 cpls)
A:
Middle cpl 1/2 R&L with cpl #1, which becomes new middle cpl
That cpl uses momentum from courtesy turn to turn twd cpl #2, 1/2 R&L with
that cpl
Cpl #2 becomes middle, 1/2 R&L with cpl #3
Cpl #3 becomes middle, 1/2 R&L with cpl #4
Cpl #4 becomes middle [turns to face current #1, which is orig middle]
B:
Couples currently along up/dn axis (heads+middle) turn back on ptnr, now
all can form 2 rings of 5, circle L/R;
Ptnr swing (some ppl may have to spin around to find Ptnr)
Thanks!
Yaron Shragai
A quick question:
How many callers believe that one role does the majority of the work in a
courtesy turn or a butterfly whirl? If so, can you explain how the shared
weight that differs from an allemande?
I've always been taught about shared weight being essential in all contra
moves, and I guess I'm still surprised when I hear callers prompt "pick her
up and take her to the other side" as if the person in lady/raven role is
not giving any weight. (Or similar one-role-biased prompting.)
Thanks,
Ron Blechner
Hello all,
I'm remembering a few workshops I'd taken with Rick Mohr a few years ago,
and also an occasion where I collected a dance from his calling. He happily
gave me the name and author of the dance, but was also quick to note that
he had substituted out different moves for 16 counts of the dance, so that
it would work better with his evening's program.
Now, someone like Rick can just do this in his head. He has a data base of
common combinations of dance moves, and where everyone ends up after
executing them. As such, he can easily make substitutions on the fly,
because he knows offhand that A+B=X+Y.**
What I'm wondering is, has anyone bothered to write down and compile a list
of common choreography substitutions? I'm thinking a spreadsheet of some
sort, where we think about the net product of various combinations of dance
moves, and categorize the combinations based on their output.
For example: Neighbor Promenade across, Ladies Chain = Long Lines Forward
and Back, Gents Allemande L 11/2.
If no one has already done this, I'll start a new thread where we can begin
to collaboratively write one up!
Thanks, All!
Angela
**Yes, the momentum in each of these scenarios is probably different, and
one might be better than another. But this depends on the rest of the
dance's choreography, and for these purposes I don't especially care. :)
***Also worth acknowledging that substituting out an entire 16-count phrase
could easily result in calling a different dance written by a different
author, but I'm more concerned about using this technique for practical
programming purposes.
Hi All,
First, it's been quite a while since I've contributed, and I have 767 unread Callers' List emails... Life's been busy. And, I've just replied to a couple emails without reading the whole thread. Hope I didn't butt in too soon..
Then, I've recently written a couple of dances. One I'm sure is new. The other I need to check with y'all to see if I actually did come up with it, or if I just recalled it from some distant or recent dance...
>>>>>>>> The new one >>>>>>>>>
Turnstile
Becket-Erik Hoffman
A1) Circle Left ¾; Pass Thru up & down, New Neighbor Swing
A2) Women Chain Right to Shadow; Men Allemande Left 1½
NOTE: actually, men are start an allemande for 3 full turns!
B1) Pick woman across, take her half way,
Women loop back WHILE men (continue) allemande half
Pick up Partner, take her half way (to original side)
Butterfly whirl
B2) Women (across) Do Si Do; Partner swing
For some reason, men want to end the allemande every time they pick someone up... The second time I called this I had the men allemande three times around, in the hopes they would get the feel of it. I also developed the call:
Men Allemande one and a half,
Pick up that neighbor there, take her just half way
Drop her off & go another half
Pick up your partner
Or something like that.
There are two square dances: The Texas Star (in some versions), and The Chinese Fan, that have men (or women) in a double star, and have the women (or men) looping back to the men (or women) behind.
>>>>>>> The second dance >>>>>>>>>
This is the one that needs to be checked.
If I did make it up I'm calling it Sole Delight, as it was first danced at the Springfield, Missouri Sole Fest.
So:
(The proposed) Sole Delight
Becket
A1) Petronella Balance with an overspin to new Neighbor
Neighbor swing
A2) Hey, Men start, Left shoulder-end in long waves, Men facing in, Women out, same Neighbor in Right Hand
B1) Box Circulate x 2
(Balance wave, Men Cross while Women loop Right; Balance Wave, Women Cross as Men loop)
B2) Box Circulate x 1 (Men Cross, Women Loop) Partner Swing
Is it new?
~Erik Hoffman
Oakland, CA
Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave,
allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as
"balance left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the
dancers defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff
was happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense /
flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In
your opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential
unidiomaticness?
Cheers,
Maia
I had a Girl Scout Dance coming up Sunday and I was thinking how I would
get 150 six to nine year old girls to know which hand was right and which
hand is left. On the way to my contra calling gig on Saturday, the thought
arose that right hand sounds very close to red hand. On the way to the
Scout Dance, I stopped and purchased scissors and some red ribbon (the
store did not carry yarn) and asked that the leaders tie a red ribbon
bracelet around each scout as they entered the hall. When I called dances
with arm turns I called, "Turn your partner with your red hand, change
hands, other way back." It worked so well that I know I will do it again.
I thought I would share this trick, and then ask if anyone has useful
methods when working with only children. Please share some trade secrets.
Rich Sbardella
Stafford, CT
Hi Maia,
A balance, ideally, is first toward, then away from, the dancer with whom one is about to interact, and even better if it is in, then against, the flow of movement. Even better if the choreography does the work for you by flowing into the balance.
In this particular dance, you have the best of all worlds, but I slightly disagree with your preference.
The Allemande R has everyone flowing forward. The flow of the Allemande L is also, fundamentally, forward. In my opinion, a balance (gently) forward, and back, is ideal. The choreography helps a little with a left first lean as you reach for the next person's L hand. But in this case, I think the safe teach is for both balances to be forward and back. Noting before you say F&B, that body flow is supported by that choice helps mark it in people's minds. To further get people's minds away from the R balance, I'd not say R after the word balance at all, even if you decide to go for L instead of back.. You want them to only have in their heads words which reinforce the movement you want. Well worth the extra moment to emphasize the gathering of LEFT hands with the next, and letting the body flow of the forward movement of the first Allemande to go into the balance Fwd.
if the following move had been, for example, a Rory o More, I would have completely agreed with the L balance, FWIW. Body flow is partly there getting in, and the person you are interacting with and eventually moving past is on the L.
Good question.
Best,
Andrea
Sent from my external brain
Accidentally sent only to Maia.
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Winston, Alan P." <winston(a)slac.stanford.edu>
> Date: November 8, 2017 at 11:30:06 AM PST
> To: Maia McCormick <maia.mcc(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?
>
> I would say the potential unidiomaticness of the balance left is *very high*. In a regular Rory O’More kind of balance R&L, slide R, balance L&R, slide L, I always see a quarter to an eighth of the dancers balance right first both times. (I can get it down a lot by pointing out that you always balance to the same person first, but very rarely can get everybody.).
>
> So as you saw, if you try to overcome the “right first” balance you’re really fighting the tide, and it’s going to be a lot of work.
>
> In the particular case you describe I’d think you’d do a lot better (both for flow of the dance and for getting the dancers to do what you tell them) to strongly suggest they balance forward and back to set up the allemande rather than L&R *or* R&L.
>
> That said, to answer what you specifically asked, I agree that L&R makes more sense than R&L, but I don’t think it’s a *lot* more sense (that is, R&L isn’t even close to fatal) , and it’s not the hill I’d choose to die on.
>
> -- Alan
> From: Callers <callers-bounces(a)lists.sharedweight.net> on behalf of Maia McCormick via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 8, 2017 11:07:20 AM
> To: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> Subject: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?
>
> Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave, allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as "balance left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the dancers defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff was happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
>
> I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense / flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In your opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential unidiomaticness?
>
> Cheers,
> Maia
So after a gig, I find myself haunted by one or two missteps from an
evening — the rolling start that was a little muddy, the thing I didn’t
teach clearly enough so the dancers never quite got it — even though the
dancers adjusted and all had a good time, and I still had the hall’s trust
and goodwill at the end of the evening.
Is this a familiar experience for anyone? Assuming you’ve already learned
the lesson to be learned there, how do you move past it and stop
self-flagellating?Would love to hear some people’s thoughts!
Cheers,
Maia
Hi, Luke
I surf the web regularly for new-to-me choreography. When I do, I almost
always am looking up the collection of a choreographer I just heard of,
met, or whose choreography I just encountered at an event. In this case, I
look through the whole collection and pick out the ones that fit my
repertoire. As such, it is not typically important to me to see
categories, though perhaps a published date might be helpful if I am
returning to your collection after having gone through it in the past.
However, when I was a new caller, it seemed so hard to collect dances with
particular figures, transitions, orientations, or whatever, so those kinds
of categories would have been more useful to me years ago and thus may be
useful to many others now.
Hope this info is helpful!
Dugan Murphy
Portland, Maine
dugan at duganmurphy.comwww.DuganMurphy.comwww.PortlandIntownContraDance.comwww.NufSed.consulting
> From: Luke Donforth <luke.donev(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [Callers] Publishing dances on the web
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> I currently have a terrible system for publishing dances I've written on
> the web (blog-esque thing in wordpress; really hard to search through).
> There's been talk on and off of a big database of dances, but that doesn't
> seem to be happening so I thought I should do something for mine.
>
> I'm contemplating better ways of making dances my compositions more
> accessible; and since that would be for other people, I'm curious what's
> useful for other people.
>
> I'm envisioning four categories of dances; and then just lists of dances
> (title & sequence) on those pages. The categories I had in mind:
> Family dances
> Glossary contras
> Unique contras
> Odd formations
>
> Are there separate things you'd want to see in a list of dances when you're
> going through? Beckets, Closing dances, bouncy/smooth, etc.
>
> I've gotten really attached to Callers Companion (
> http://callerscompanion.com/), and really like how it lets searches happen
> on dances. Anyone have a good way to incorporate that, or the type of
> element checklist/flag it provides, into a web-based interface for dances?
>
> It might also be that most folks don't collect dances from websites; and
> this is wasted time. But it does seem like I've obfuscated finding my
> compositions, and I regret not making them more available.
>
> Thoughts, opinions, experience, and advice appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> --
> Luke Donforth
> Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com
>
