The Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend committee is happy to announce
that the 2014 weekend will happen on MLK weekend in January at the
University of New Hampshire. We are also happy to welcome Dudley
Laufman and Susan Kevra as our featured callers, along with music by
Calliuope and Maivish. The Friday night dance will include calling by
Lisa Sieverts and Trip to Nelson, along with Susan and Dudley at the
microphone.
Details at the website: http://www.ralphpage.neffa.org/
Here is a link to my dances. They are more difficult to visualize than they are to dance or teach
http://aptsg.org/Dance/dances.html
I generally only call at dance weekends or weeks with open calling
Here are the ones from the above link I call most often
More advanced:
George's Neat Reel
A.O.'s No-No
Not Quite Fifty
Where's Alex?
Maybe You Should Write an Easy Dance
A Proper Potpourri
Hoots and Shouts
The Great Urbana Barn Dance
Mr. Johnson's Jig
One Shy of Twenty
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Doubly Good Ideas
Promises and Pearls
Say Go to the Do-Si-Do
Rory O Star
Third Easy Dance
More straightforward:
Where is Tim's Cup?
Dave Found the Missing Coffee Cup
E.J.M.J.F. in Cincinnati
More Carina
And Thinking About Coffee Cups
Michael Fuerst 802 N Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217-239-5844
Links to photos of many of my drawings and paintings are at www.ArtComesFuerst.com
Exciting! I'm pretty new to the calling game, but here are some of the
advanced dances in my box that I'm extra excited to be able to pull out
when the time comes.
The Magpie and the Seal // David Zinkin // double improper
A1: Star right below (8)
Star right above with old Ns (8)
A2: DSD 1.25 to wave of four (ladies take left, Ns take right) (8)
Balance wave, (4) alle N by R 1/2, gents pull by L (4)
B1: Bal/swing partner (16)
B2: Ladies chain (8)
1/2 hey (ladies start by R) (8)
Dr. Bluhm's Delight / Rick Mohr // Becket
A1: Slide left, circle L 3 places (8)
Swing N (8)
A2: LLFB (8)
Hands across LHS 1/2, gents drop (4)
Ladies keep allemanding L 3/4 more and take right with N (wave of 4) (4)
B1: Balance wave (4) and alle R 5/8 with N; gents take left with next gent
(diagonal wave) (4)
Balance wave (4); gents alle L 3/4 to take rights with partner in new
diagonal wave (4)
B2: Balance wave; swing partner (16)
Life, the Universe, and Everything / Carol Ormand // DI
A1: Ones pull by R, cross set, go down outside one place (8)
LLFB (8)
A2: Ones turn contra corners and do NOT let go of second corner's left;
take partner's right hand to form diagonal wave (16)
B1: Balance wave (4); drop hands and walk forward to form new wave with 2s
in center (One partners will not be in this wave) (4)
Balance wave (4); allemand right about 3/4
B2: 1s balance and swing; end improper, facing partner
(This can be an alternating corners dance; the twos go up the hall when
active if you choose to call it this way)
Have fun!
Zoë
zmadonna(a)oberlin.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Message: 1
>Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2014 11:04:04 -0500 (EST)
>From: Donna Hunt <dhuntdancer(a)aol.com>
>Subject: [Callers] complicated Contras
>
>Hi All:
>I have a few "experienced" afternoon workshops coming up and I'm tired of
>my material. I'm wondering if any of you have favorite challenging contras
>that you'd like to share? I'm looking for any dances that are intermediate
>or advanced in nature and dances that you wouldn't do on a regular night.
Hey Donna,
I know that felling :-) Maia, Seth and Zoe mentioned some of the dances I
would have suggested. A few more of my current faves are:
Dulcimer Lady - Jim Kitch
Fiddle Tales - Cary Ravitz
Flapjack Express - Joseph Pimentel
George is Reddy Willing and Able - Dean Snipes
Indigo Silk - Lynn Ackerson
Our House - Dean Snipes
Whirl of Fortune - Cary Ravitz
Hope that helps,
Bev
I also have a Shure Beta 58A wireless handheld. When I was first looking, the audio expert at the music store suggested Sennheiser. I tried them both out with their speakers, and we found it fascinating to realize that while the Sennheiser worked beautifully with his male voice, the Shure sounded far better with my middle-range female voice. Enlisting other volunteers, we also found this to be true with numerous men and women.
Because of this experience, I strongly suggest that you try the microphone in person yourself rather than just going by reviews.
Tina
Several folks asked what kind of SHURE mic I have. It is a PGX1 and comes
in either a headset or a stick mic. The transmitter is separate from the
headset, but I don't have any problems with it. It isn't very heavy and so
doesn't weigh down the waistband of my skirt. I also keep a tiny pouch
with a shoulder strap in the case so if I am wearing a dress and don't have
a waistband, I just slip it into the pouch.
JoLaine
--
JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
"We are as gods and might as well get good at it!"
- Stewart Brand
Square-through vs Cross-trail
Can anyone tell me what the difference is between these two figures, if
any? They show up in various different dances in my collection but they
both seem to be the figure that in English country dance we'd call "2
changes of rights and lefts" which is to say right hands to the person
across from you (either neighbor or partner, depending on where the
dance has taken you so far) and then left hands to the person in your
minor set who's next to you in line (again, either N or P). And in ECD
those 2 changes can sometimes start along the line instead of across,
which I assume can happen in contras as well though I haven't yet
encountered it.
And can anyone point to a really thorough online glossary of contra
terminology?
Kalia
I like a good well balanced proper dance
*La Poussette Peculiar* Proper by Jim Hemphill
A1 1/2 Poussette (clockwise)
2nd corners swing in the center
A2 Down the hall in lines of 4
Center 2 Turn as a couple, ends alone and come back
B1 Invert the line and swing your partner (1's arch as they bend the line,
lady 2 leads the end of the line thru the arch as they cross the set)
B2 Long lines forward, 2's roll away with 1/2 sashay on the way back
Circle right 3
The progression, as you complete the circle right 3, drop hands with
current neighbors, take 2 hands with partner and start the clockwise
poussette with next neighbors.
Delia,
Your band member is very observant, and your bands should respect your
request to not use tunes that don't work well for the dances. My
experience is, if I'm getting messed up by the music as a caller, the
dancers are as well, which affects the enjoyment of the dance. When
this happens on the fly, I often see if the band can change tunes in
midstream, which many good bands can do.
There are many French-Canadian and old-time tunes that are either
crooked (have extra or missing beats or measures), have extra or short
parts, or are highly syncopated. While many of these tunes are really
fun to dance to if you don't need a square tune (32 bars), for example
for a square dance, they obviously won't work for a contra dance. In
addition, I have had some old-time players insist that a tune is 32
bars, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I have counted these tunes,
and they either have a melody that crosses a phrase, making it
syncopated, starts on an upbeat, or just doesn't work, for whatever
reason. At least the bands that I ask to not play a particular tune are
willing to refrain from doing so. It helps if you can go to their
practice and hear what they are planning to play.
When I listen to "Sheepskin and Beeswax" (an excellent tune that's fun
to play) what I hear is that the 2 A phrases are almost identical, in
that they have 4-bar phrases repeated twice for each A part, and the
same is true for the B part. Because there is so much repetition in the
phrases, I can imagine that it might be difficult to differentiate
where you are in the part. Because I am a musician as well as a caller
and dancer, I have a fairly innate sense of 4- and 8-bar phrases, but
if you are not used to listening to such phrases, it can be a
challenge. I don't know your background, but if there is a tune that
gives you trouble, perhaps listening to a recording of it until you are
familiar with it could help.
Just a side story: I was dancing to a well-known Scottish-style
fiddler who had a rock-n-roll style guitarist and a jazz bassist (who
had never played for a dance before). Even I was having trouble
figuring out where we were in the music and so was having trouble with
the dance. I asked the inimitable Warren Argo, who was doing sound, if
he had noticed this problem. He said that the band actually mentioned
that even they hadn't known where they were in the music. (This was due
mostly to a lot of improvisation on the band's part.) Hopefully that
never happens to any of us!
Suzanne Girardot
Seattle, WA
-----Original Message-----
>From: Delia Clark
>Sent: Jan 7, 2014 8:58 AM
>To: Callers(a)sharedweight.net
>Subject: [Callers] Calling to the tune Sheepskin and Beeswax
>
>Hi all,
>I call regularly with the same band and I have noticed that there are
a couple of sets that they play in which I consistently mess up. In the
middle of an evening of everything going well, I suddenly find that I
am lost and have a hard time finding my way back, even with extreme
focus. This, needless to say, is not good!
>
>I've been trying to identify these tunes so that I can be prepared to
pay really close attention before they start. I have also begun to
wonder, though, whether some jigs/reels are just not as good for
dancing as others. I have been discussing this with the band, raising
the idea that maybe they could save these tunes that challenge me for
some of their non-dance gigs (fairs, bandstand, background music, etc).
Some of them are receptive, others not.
>
>I wonder whether any of you have noticed tunes that are particularly
difficult to call to, and how you have handled it.
>
>The one I have noticed most recently is Sheepskin and Beeswax. Here's
what one of the band members wrote to me about it: "Rhythmically, it's
a challenging tune for the band. There's a lot of syncopation going on
between instruments and because it's French Canadian to play it
properly means lots of upbeat emphasis. It's a challenging tune to play
well. Even if we played it very well and fast enough (and that's been a
problem for dancers and caller) I think it would still be challenging
to call to and dance to because of how the rhythm and notes don't go
well together."
>
>Thanks,
>Delia Clark
>
><>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
>
>Delia Clark
>PO Box 45
>Taftsville, VT 05073
>802-457-2075
>deliaclark8(a)gmail.com
>
>
>
>
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Hi All:
I have a few "experienced" afternoon workshops coming up and I'm tired of my material. I'm wondering if any of you have favorite challenging contras that you'd like to share? I'm looking for any dances that are intermediate or advanced in nature and dances that you wouldn't do on a regular night.
Thanks so much.
Donna Hunt
