Some clarification for those that didn't read the Blog post, but just read
my text in the email:
When I say that the experienced dancers teach - I mean that they teach by
connection, extending hands, physical cues etc. Our dance angels have
agreed to keep verbal cues to a minimum. It may be a regional thing, but
in general, the Florida communities are pretty good at this. If I see
someone heavily involved in a verbal teaching, I may walk over and see what
I can do to help,
As far as telling the newbies to find experienced partners vs telling the
experienced dancers to find newbies - I still stand by my original premise
that we put the responsibility on the experienced dancers. If I have to
weigh the very subtle message "these dancers have to be told to dance with
me" against the overt message "you're on your own here new dancer and its
up to you to figure out who is an experienced dancer and who isn't, and
even though you've already stretched your comfort zone by making an effort
to do something new in a room full of strangers, I'm going to make you
stretch it even more by telling you to walk up to these strangers and ask
them to dance with you."
I do acknowledge that different communities would present different
challenges depending on the cultural willingness to embrace newbies. I know
of communities where experienced dancers would only dance with newbies
under duress, and a different approach might be needed there, but I haven't
called in those communities yet.
--
JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
"We are as gods and might as well get good at it!"
- Stewart Brand
Barbara G posted Nick Boulet's "Warmin' Up the Car" and started with:
"start in ocean waves along the side of the set"
I have always thought that an Ocean Wave was a wave of four people; in a
contra they would normally be across the set.
I know these terms for waves:
Wave: a formation of two or more dancers holding adjacent hands and with
each dancer facing in the opposite direction to that of the adjoining
dancer(s).
Ocean Wave: Wave for four (though in a square dance it could be from 3
to 7 people - maybe more if you do a grid square!)
Tidal Wave: Wave for all along the line of the whole set (can be down
the centre for just the Ladies or just the Men)
Alamo (Style) Wave/Ring: Circular wave
Mini Wave: Wave for two
Radial Wave: Waves for two in a Circle Mixer - all the couples like the
spokes of a wheel
Microwave: Having described some of the above to the dancers, hold up
one hand and wiggle the fingertips saying "and this is a microwave". :-)
Are these universal? What other terms do people use?
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
Ryan Smith said:
> Out of a post-swing position (Man on Left, Lady on Right) the man's
> partner
> can give weight and assistance for him to go into an allemande Left,
> similarly the ladies partner can help her into an allemande Right.
> That's
> not really true for the Man doing an Allemande R or the lady doing an
> Allemande Left.
>
> It's a small thing, but it's the reason that men usually use lefts and
> ladies usually use rights (because you're usually in a post-swing
> position). Breaking this convention doesn't typically ruin the
> dance, but
> it does make it less satisfying.
I agree that there are instances where partners (and neighbors) can
help each by giving weight etc. Sure, after a swing it's very
useful. In my opinion, men rolling their neighbors away followed by
a ladies chain is actually bad flow but It's the team work that makes
that combination fun. I believe this combination would really suck
without giving weight.
But I have to disagree with you on the need to use outside hands in
all cases. In many dances there's a forward and back followed by
for example, the ladies doing an allemande left. One is Ashoken
Hello. There are many ways that choreographers give dancers new
combinations instead of the same old thing. Allemandes with 'the
other hand' after forward and back is just one example.
I too have the ladies allemande left in 3-33-33 but it's after a
forward and back, not after a swing. If you're dancing with someone
who is absolutely clueless simply take her left or his right and lead
it into the center of the set. I don't see using 'the other hand' as
a problem for those with any experience or ability. If you have many
dancers who don't have the skills, then calling 3-33-33 is probably a
bad idea no matter which ending you use.
tom
I totally agree with Greg's suggestion to utilize your experienced dancers
in the training of newcomers. They can gently lead the individuals through
the figures which, from the stage, you can only describe.
However, you have to be able to reclaim the attention of all the dancers
when you are ready to proceed to the next figure. The last thing you need
is "teachers" talking over the caller and confusing the newcomers even
more. It is a slippery slope from asking them to help with figures to
having them talk over your walk-through.
> 4. Re: New contra dancers and similar figures (Greg McKenzie)
>
> Message: 4
>
> Alan,
>
> Thank you for this great question. Situations like this are all too
> common. I see this as a problem of integration. The core principle I use
> is to remember that:
>
> The caller always takes full responsibility for anything that happens in
> the hall.
>
> If first-timers are not integrated with the regulars, this is the caller's
> problem, not the dancer's. At an open public contra dance, integration of
> the hall can be seen as a primary indicator of how well the caller is doing
> their job. The opposite of integration is disintegration...and that is a
> bad thing at contra dances.
>
> So how can the caller assure full integration of the first-timers? The
> answer to that question gets at the heart of good contra dance calling, and
> goes beyond the scope of this discussion because there are many, many
> techniques, strategies, and skills that affect this complex goal. Much of
> it has to do with building the confidence of the dancers.
>
> The ideal situation is that the regulars feel confident and enthusiastic
> about partnering with first-timers and look forward to that as one of the
> primary reasons they attend the dance. The goal is to make dancing with
> first-timers *more *fun than dancing with other regulars.
>
> I think most callers start calling because they really enjoy teaching
> dance. This is all well and good. But we need to remember that the
> regular dancers enjoy this process as much as the caller. One key to
> achieving full integration is to empower the regulars to become leaders who
> have a key role in the process of welcoming newcomers. That means building
> their confidence through precise, clear calling and structuring your calls
> so that the regulars--as well as the first-timers--get the information they
> need at just the moment they need it.
>
> The caller has the resource of dozens of intelligent and helpful hands on
> the dance floor that are more than willing to help the caller *show *the
> dancers all of the moves. My experience is that when the caller uses that
> resource skillfully, the regular dancers respond immediately with boundless
> enthusiasm. The excitement of seeing your partner "swept in" to the
> excitement of contra dancing is an ecstatic one. We all remember that.
> When other regulars see how this process is working most of them will,
> naturally, want to be a part of it and are much more likely to partner with
> a first-timer for the next dance.
>
> Part of this strategy is to be willing to "step back" and allow the
> regulars to take th lead role in this process.
>
> I would like to hear how other callers use this strategy in their calling.
>
> Greg McKenzie
> West Coast, USA
>
> ************************
>
> On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Alan Winston <winston(a)slac.stanford.edu
> >wrote:
>
> > Gang --
> >
> > Wasn't really sure of the subject line, but thought I might as well not
> > say "memetic entrapment" because who would want to read it?
> >
> > Anyway, a phenomenon I've noticed several times over the years is that
> > some fraction of people who were in a beginner workshop and who in the
> > walkthrough of the dance were able to do something like "women chain to
> > partner, women allemande 1x, partner balance and swing" are no longer
> able
> > to do it, instead pretty reliably doing "women pull by, partner swing"
> and
> > confusion. [That one's recoverable, although if they then stop swinging
> > early and move on to the after-the-swing figure it can require
> attention.]
> >
> > This is likelier to happen if both partners are new, and likeliest to
> > happen if all four in that set are new. But that couple that's new will
> > have that problem repeatedly. When I see that I continue to prompt the
> > figures, maybe with more emphasis - Ladies CHAIN and COURTESY TURN - and
> > it doesn't seem to make any difference.
> >
> > (I'm reminded of something that happens to beginning English dancers.
> > "Back to back" (non-spinning do-si-do) and "Cross and go below" start
> the
> > same way - striding out to pass partner by the right shoulder. If
> there's
> > a do-si-do in dance #1 and a "Cross and go below" in dance #2, they'll do
> > the cross and go below in the walkthrough once they get the idea, but
> once
> > the dance is up and running, when it comes time for that move they'll try
> > to do-si-do, with resultant levels of chaos. That one has the obvious
> > feature that even if half of the partnership is doing it right the other
> > half can't see them, so there's no feedback about anything going wrong
> > until the 2s move up to fill the spot that one of the 1s is still in, or
> > only one of the 2s moves up, or neither of the 2s moves up.)
> >
> > This either doesn't happen to dancers who have been coming for a while or
> > is corrected quickly if it does, maybe by noticing what everybody else in
> > the line is doing.
> >
> > My hypothesis is that these are people who are still drinking from the
> > firehose. (The first time you come you hear everything important about
> > contra dancing and probably get exposed to half or more of the common
> > figures. It's a big cognitive load. The second time you hear the same
> > things again and get exposed to many fewer new-to-you figures, and by the
> > third time you might be successfully associating the figures with the
> names
> > - the flow of novelty is at a trickle and easy to absorb.) They're not
> > ignoring the caller, per se, but they don't have CPU left over to process
> > the prompts and in any case the words aren't really meaning anything to
> > them yet; if a prompt changes what they're doing they're going to take
> > four-six beats to get organized enough to respond to the prompt. )
> >
> > This will get sorted out if they keep coming back, probably. But they
> may
> > be less likely to return if they were confused and overstretched through
> > the whole evening, and this is the kind of thing that leaves you
> confused.
> >
> > What do you guys do about this kind of thing? I already keep prompting
> > clearly and in a timely way, refrain from shouting "No!" over the
> > microphone, don't lose my cool (a place that took me a while to get to,
> > incidentally). What else can I do to help these people succeed?
> >
> > [Also happy to hear alternative views of what's going on inside these
> > people.)
> >
> > -- Alan
> >
>
--
Donna Calhoun
Knoxville Country Dancers
Knoxville, Tennessee
Although I consider 3,33-33 an excellent dance, so many have designated 3,33-33 as awesome that it, like the word awesome, has become overused.
Some years ago (I speculate 20 or so) Susan Kevra wrote this wonderful dance Trip to Phan Reel (http://www.prismnet.com/contradance/sequences/trip-to-phan-reel.html)
For a year or so one could hardly attend a dance weekend without dancing Trip to Phan Reel. Then it slowly subsided to very occasional use.
Does anyone have any ideas why the calling of 3-33-33 (of the same vintage, as suggested by http://www.cambridgefolk.org.uk/contra/dances/steve_zakon/three_33_33.html), has not similarly subsided ?
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
I base my introductory workshop on George Marshalls, and am a firm believer
that the experienced dancers are the main teachers of the dance. In my
workshop, I always pair the experienced dancers with the newbies. The
workshop doesn't start until every newbie has an experienced partner.
I tell everyone that I'll be calling, but if you're new it will probably
sound like Blah Blah Blah. But that's ok because it is your experienced
partner and neighbors who will help you through this. Then I teach about
connection, giving weight, and line them up to dance Broken Sixpence. The
only "move" I teach in the workshop is the swing.
At the end of Broken Sixpence I tell them that the tradition is that we
trade partners with every dance and that women ask men to dance, women ask
women, men ask women, men ask men. Then I tell the experienced dancers to
find the newbies to dance with. I often hear callers tell the newbies to
find experienced dancers. That's like telling a drowning person to go find
a lifeguard!
When the "real" dance begins, I follow Beth Molaro's advice of "Test - then
Teach." So I might tell them to Allemande R their neighbor. I watch for a
couple of seconds to see the dancers teaching their neighbors to
Allemande. I don't jump in to teach unless I see that there is a need for
it, and there usually isn't, depending on the ratio of newbies to
experienced dancers. And then I often ask a foursome to demonstrate, which
further reinforces the idea that the dancers are the real teachers here. I
verbally describe what is happening while the demonstration is going on, to
help them get used to the words that are describing the process.
The experienced dancers are my allies and will let me know if there is a
need for more instruction.
I wrote a blog post about it. You can find it here:
http://jolainejonespokorney.blogspot.com/2012/11/dancing-with-newbies.html
--
JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
"We are as gods and might as well get good at it!"
- Stewart Brand
I'm in the process of putting together a program for the Berkeley contra
this evening, and don't seem to be able to escape the words "circle left
3/4". I know there are dances where you don't do that, but in this
otherwise nicely balanced program every dance but 2 ("Cows are Watching"
by Bill Pope, and Carol Ormond's "Quilting Frolic" in which the cirle
3/4 is to the right) includes that move. Aargh.
Is this one of those invisible moves that's just part of the fabric of
the contra dance experience, or is this going to drive my dancers crazy?
Kalia (who is now combing through the cards for dances without circle L 3/4)
Depending on dance kinematics, music tempo, and crowd, naturally, but...
I can't be the only one who thinks do si do 1.5 times is often too rushed
for most new dancers?
I often change dances that end with DSD N 1.5x to Next N
To
Pass thru, DSD Next N
for this very reason.
In dance,
Ron Blechner
Alan said, "I continue to prompt the figures, maybe with more emphasis -
Ladies CHAIN and COURTESY TURN - and it doesn't seem to make any
difference."
If there are only lady first-timers I just tell them to walk straight
ahead going right-left and let all the experienced men lead them though
the move.
But if there are some first-timer men then:
- I emphasise that though it is called a LADIES' chain they need to move
straight away
- I tell them to get their right hip and their left hand ready
- I walk the move three times on the first walk-through (assuming there
is just one in the dance) so that they can start building some muscle
memory
_ If they are having problems then I get them to practice the courtesy
turn: "Ladies, stand beside your partner/neighbour, offer your left hand
in front and make like a teapot with your right hand; Men, take the
lady's left hand in yours, put your right arm around her waist. Now
imagine there is a pole between you - the lady walks forward around the
pole, the man walks backwards - try it. Great - that is called
pole-dancing :-)".
- If I am over-prompting I address it to the men: "Ladies' Chain, Turn
those ladies"
And if there are a significant number of first-timers then I avoid Right
& Left Throughs, especially in the same dance as a Ladies' Chain! (Or
substitute a half-promenade.)
Yes, I often see people doing a move that starts like the one I called
in all types of dancing. If their brain is on overload then there is
only so much you can do. Part of the solution is careful programming to
introduce the first-timers to the moves and then to develop them over a
series of dances. But it is hard work when you have to keep the
experienced dancers happy as well!
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
