I'm sure every caller has been there, just as every dancer was once new and stumbling, and no matter how long we've been doing it, every one of us will make mistakes. You will take stock, and try to note patterns and correct them. But striving for perfect is never going to result in being perfect. I have come to believe the thing to strive for, in each moment, is joy. In the moment of a mistake, if your forever goal is joy, you will automatically reach for your smile, your humor, the sparkle inside yourself, and share it with the dancers, and instead of you or anyone feeling bad, people will remember the spark, the warmth, that kept things spinning along. If you catch yourself mid-flogging, you might could laugh at yourself for such a silly choice, and give yourself permission to think instead of a moment when you knew the dancers and band were all with you and that synergy was happening and be glad you could be part of it.
I have had to do a lot of self reflection as a result of things going badly when I'm on mic. I have realized some profound things about myself as a result of thinking about my patterns as a caller. They aren't just applicable in calling, but are one instance, in a big public forum, of patterns I have been acting out in all areas of my life forever. Yep. I'm working on them still, not just on stage, but all the time. I think it's finally making a difference. Those learning opportunities may go deeper than you think. And the beating up only increases the chances of repeating the mistakes, or reacting negatively to new mistakes. When you pick up the mic, reach inside for your place of joy, and share it. Enjoy your work in progress.
-Andrea
Sent from my external brain
Hi Luke,
Have you seen Chris Page’s website? I like that he states which he feels are tested, edited, and are tried and true.
I love seeing new choreography but only want to collect things I’ve danced and know feel good, or dance that the choreographer or another caller can say that it works and dancers liked it.
Maybe within those categories you listed, if you also assigned difficulty levels, that would be helpful.
It would be great to know what uses the dances have proven best for?
Looking forward to seeing what you create!
Claire Takemori
SF Bay Area
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2017 23:26:15 -0400
From: Luke Donforth <luke.donev(a)gmail.com <mailto:luke.donev@gmail.com>>
To: "Callers(a)Lists.Sharedweight.net <mailto:Callers@Lists.Sharedweight.net>" <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net>>
Subject: [Callers] Publishing dances on the web
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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/ <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 <mailto:Luke.Donforth@gmail.com> <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com <mailto:Luke.Donev@gmail.com>>
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 <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
I am interested in having recorded music to take with me to a class or possibly even a dance where there are no musicians. If I were to load music and callers companion onto a device which one(s) would be good to consider? Maybe I would only be able to load one or the other. I have taken my laptop for music to play through a speaker. I have never used callers companion and would like to try that.
Suggestions?
ThanksPat Reeser
Whilst trawling the archives, I came across Andrea Nettleton's description
of a California (or Nevada) Roll:
"*Partners take the handy hand, which is the Lady's R, the Gent's L, lift
joined hands, the lady curls in toward her partner and walks under while he
walks past, to swap, reverse direction, and face New Nbrs. Not yet proper,
they immediately do a Roll Away with a Half Sashay to swap places but
continue to face the New Neighbors*"
I was fascinated by this idea of this move, so tried it out with some of my
more experienced dancers. They struggled, mostly because the "Nevada
Twirl" (reverse California Twirl) is unusual for them, and the subsequent
roll away is "the wrong way round".
I still liked the move though, so I thought about doing the easier version
(California Twirl and Roll Away). After a few false starts, I realised
that the best way to use it was in a dance where the couples start "the
wrong way round", i.e. 1s proper, 2s improper - a formation I know as
"Indecent". So I came up with:
Indecent Proposal, by Jeremy Child
Formation: Indecent (longways duple minor, 2s improper)
A1: Neighbour Dosido & Swing
A2: Ladies Chain, Ladies pass R shoulder to Start a Hey for 4
B1: Finish the Hey, Partner Swing
B2: Circle Left 3/4, California Twirl & Roll Away across the set
Is this a new dance, or is there something already out there that's similar?
Jeremy
www.barndancecaller.net
Hi Folks,
I've got my collection of family dances that I use with mixed age groups.
But I wonder if anyone has recommendations for family dance stuff when you
don't have the full family?
What's good for ~12 pre-schoolers (age 3 to 5) when they aren't dancing
with their parents; and you have maybe 2 other adults total. It seems
dubious they'd get through even two dances, so give me your favorite if you
have one.
Thanks!
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
Luke,
The age range you describe actually has extremely variable abilities. A three year old is just learning to control their body, likely cannot yet skip, or leap from one foot among the many as yet unlearned skills. A five year old is much more in control of both their body, and their social self. But the whole age range can enjoy follow the leader and other imitative dance, the elder end readily do two hand turns, elbow swings, circles. They might enjoy being led through individual movements, even in a sitting circle, (butterfly knees, swan wings, upside down beetle, cat loaf, etc) and scattered about but moving (different kinds of jumping (like a frog, like a kangaroo), walking in different styles (stomping like and elephant, wading like an egret, scurrying like a squirrel...)). Moving to different rhythms and moods, swaying to slow stuff but bopping to fast stuff can be fun. Dance that tells a story can work if more of the kids are older. Enjoy!
Andrea
Sent from my external brain
Hi Luke
I tried a preschool group and would not recommend any dances with formations, holding hands, or set moves. That’s just not where they are developmentally.
What I’d recommend is the hokey pokey and other singing games. Old brass wagon, Sally goes round the sun, down by the station & you can do the trains.
You can also bring colorful scarves, balloons, a parachute if there are enough adults to hold it up, bubbles etc with songs and wandering around. They would enjoy freeze games too.
Good luck!
Claire Takemori
Sent from my iPhone
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2017 00:53:34 -0400
From: Luke Donforth <luke.donev(a)gmail.com>
To: "Callers(a)Lists.Sharedweight.net" <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] pre-school dances?
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Hi Folks,
I've got my collection of family dances that I use with mixed age groups.
But I wonder if anyone has recommendations for family dance stuff when you
don't have the full family?
What's good for ~12 pre-schoolers (age 3 to 5) when they aren't dancing
with their parents; and you have maybe 2 other adults total. It seems
dubious they'd get through even two dances, so give me your favorite if you
have one.
Thanks!
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
