Clarification: by "transgressive," I mean contras that progress between lines (pass through to a new line) as well as along them.
(Based on a YouTube video, Colin Hume's Kim's Game looks like a 4x4, but contains this "pass through to a new line" concept...)
On Apr 30, 2015, at 8:48 PM, Lindsey Dono via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi all,
I'd like to start exploring transgressive contras; care to share dances you've tried and the hall's reaction(s)?
Happy dancing!Lindsey Dono_______________________________________________
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I collected a dance recommended by someone and do not quite understand
part of it. I need a description of what the gents are doing in B2
when they "loop over their left shoulder." Can you 'splain me?
Catch a Falling Star, by Melanie Axel-Lute
A1 Nbr B&S
A2 Cir L 3/4
Ptr sw
B1 LLF&B
Star R (hands across)
B2 Bal star, ladies pull by to trade places while gents loop over
their left shoulder
Star L (hands across)
Thanks!
-Amy
I am hoping someone can help me find a dance I danced in the Late 1990's in San Francisco, (maybe Charlie Fenton was calling.)
It was a 4 facing 4 and I swear that each time through the dance,
my partner and I moved left to the right and back instead of progressing up and down the hall,
while there was a different couple next to us each time, and progressed along the set.
I think it was a double progression dance.
It was like there were half the dancers moving side to side, while the other half were weaving up and down the line.
Bob Fabinski
Since folks generally check here to see whether dance compositions have already been written, I thought I might as well. Tentatively calling this "Charm City Contra".
Becket dance
A1 Circle L 3/4Pass thru, swing next NA2 L chnLH starB1 Al rt shadow #1 to wavy line, gents facing inBal wave, spin rtB2 Bal & Sw P
Perry
I called a dance last night in the town where I grew up (Bellingham, WA).
It's always great to go back and see people with whom I learned to dance.
Calling there makes me a little nervous, though, because I didn't start
calling until I left there about 11 years ago.
Anyway, keeping in mind the recent discussion about clapping for the band,
I did my utmost to make sure last night's band was well appreciated. They
are a really good home-town band, and very fun to work with, so I didn't
feel a need to fake it.
After the first dance there was a smattering of applause, so I said, "It is
customary to applaud the band after each set." This sort of stopped them in
their tracks and they responded well. The band was grinning at me. I then
said, "I have also heard that bands perform better when they know they are
being appreciated." This brought even more applause. I said they were
dancing to the playing of "Northern Contraband" and I'd introduce the
individual members later.
During the evening I smiled broadly at the band members, they responded
with the same; I applauded at the ends of each dance, while looking and
smiling at them; I whooped when it was appropriate (they threw in some
really cool stuff, off the cuff) and the dancers joined in. All-in-all the
band was very well-received and appreciated, they responded well to the
attention, and the dancers were consistently appreciative the rest of the
evening. I introduced the individual band members twice - once in the first
half and once in the second. It helps that I know them and didn't have to
read their names. I mentioned the sound person a few times, too. Everyone
was smiling and happy. It was good.
I hope I can spread the joy at other gigs.
-Amy
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
Kappy Laning and I have organized a new all-ECD weekend at Timber Ridge
camp, May 23-25 (Memorial Day weekend), 2015. Scott Higgs, Gaye Fifer, Tom
Spilsbury calling. Eight fine local musicians. The camp is so eager to make
this a success that they have lowered their price to us. NINETY Dollars,
all inclusive -- we start at 2 pm on Saturday afternoon (so no fighting the
Friday holiday weekend traffic) through Monday afternoon, all means included
(and we'll celebrate CDSS's 100th anniversary with a grand tea on Sunday).
I'd be happy to provide more information. If you already dance ECD, or
have always wanted to try it -- the cost is trifling!!
Website is AnEnglishTrifle.org.
April Blum
On 4/22/2015 7:08 PM, Erik Hoffman via Callers wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> There are several places where almost no applause occurs after a dance. In some communities, when I've been subjected to that experience, I've asked, "were we off tonight?" The reply usually is something like, "no, the dance was fine (or even great), we just head for our next partner..." I know sometimes it's just the night. Sometimes, though, it's the community's habit. I spoke with a renowned musician the other day, who will no longer play for a certain series. One of the reasons: lack of applause -- lack of that palpable sense of appreciation.
>
> I think dancers don't often know that applause really makes the band and caller feel better. If they feel better they play better. And, as a dancer, applause usually makes me feel better, too. Any ideas on how to encourage applause? Or, if you're in one of those communities where applause is minimal, does it bother you?
I had that experience a while back at one of our local contras, when I
was calling with a really hot band. We'd finish a dance, get a few
claps and then just crickets. It was really depressing and upsetting.
The dances were going ok, the music was smoking and then... nothing.
I've just looked back into my dance log and the comment I wrote later
that night was "I don’t know what was up, but it felt bad-weird from the
stage." Applause really does make a difference.
Kalia
Hi Maia,
I used to organize my dance cards by difficulty, but currently, I use
categories in my box that are largely based on dance-defining figures
(Petronella, star promenade) and types of progression (slide left,
circle-pass-through). I find that system of organization to be more useful
when writing out a program for an evening.
Dugan Murphy
dugan(a)duganmurphy.com
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 13:53:01 -0400
> From: Maia McCormick via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> To: "callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net" <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Callers] Difficulty rankings?
> Message-ID:
> <CAHUcZGPHaCuWAZv+d+6EX1aJ7D25CDSvJUFD=
> VLYV8g43Fyr6A(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> As I overhaul my contra deck and realize that my difficulty ranking system
> is super incoherent, and most of my dance rankings are from way before I
> had any idea what actually makes a dance easy or hard, I've been thinking
> of scrapping this difficulty ranking system and just starting over. So I
> was wondering: if you rank your dances by difficulty, what is your system,
> what are your benchmarks for various difficulty levels, what sorts of
> things do you consider when determining the difficulty of a dance? If you
> DON'T
> rank your dances, why not?
>
> Cheers,
> Maia
>
> ***************************************
>
