We had a conversation at our dance tonight how many of our local callers get tune names from the bands and pass that along to the dancers right before starting.
Many visiting callers do not do this - is this just a local tradition or am I missing something?
Most of our local bands are old time but a few are more contemporary. We do this with visiting bands and they seem to appreciate it.
We feel the music is a major part of the tradition and deserves to be acknowledged along with the musicians and callers. Often we find a band is about to play a tune they wrote. Dancers also give a little cheer when we announce a tune they especially enjoy
Where are the rest of you on this?
Mac McKeeverSt Louis
We will be travelling in Canada over the next few weeks and we were wondering what contra events might be happening? We will be in Montreal and Halifax, and a few places in between. Also in Vancouver at the end.
Many thanks.
Graham K
Hi there everyone, glad to join the list.
I’m curious about duple minor contra sequences that are written for 3-part
AABBCC tunes. Can anyone share or point me to any such dances?
My question is partly inspired by Gene Hubert’s *Fan In The Doorwa*y,
written for three part *slip* jigs. I’m pretty sure I’ve run across
sequences written for AABCC tunes (no repeat on the B). I might even have
spotted some 4–face-4’s written for full 3-part tunes on ibiblio (the
database seems to be down as I write this so I can’t confirm). But so far
I’m coming up empty for AABBCC duple minors.
If you’ve got anything I’d be much obliged.
-Joseph Erhard-Hudson
Any advice for calling weddings? I've been asked to call my first one and I
don't see a lot of wedding-specific advice online. What do you ask them in
advance, how do you approach it, what are good dances to call?
I'm assuming that a workshop is impractical, so it's barn dances and maybe
working up to a contra by the end? Try to teach a swing? Some advice I've
gotten so far:
Band - can they play contras, am I DJing instead, if so what kind of music,
trad or pop?
Floor - make sure it's big enough, get length, width, and surface
Sound system - what is it and is there a sound tech?
Duration - how long they'll want to dance
Dancers - how many, any experienced guests?
Special dances - first, parents, bouquet, last?
Will the bride and groom dance? (If not, nobody will)
Will there be alcohol? (one person suggested doubling the fee if there is)
Will many women be in high heels?
I welcome any advice! My main goal in taking wedding gigs is recruiting
new dancers to our local scene, if that matters.
Thanks,
--jh--
Hey, folks! Another techy contra question.
I’m hunting for a music app where I can splice a track into intro, AABB,
and outro parts.
After the intro plays, the AABB could loop indefinitely until a button on
screen is pressed to signal that I’m ready for it to play the outro.
Bonus points if it's an iPhone app. Does such a thing exist yet?
On a related note, I've had difficulty finding longer recordings of dance
music (e.g. over five minutes).
Most tracks I find on Apple Music are but three or four minutes.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Harrison
Hey All,
Calling my first intentional "experienced" contras evening later this
month. While I've got quite a few suitable dance cards, I'd love to hear
about ones you feel are particularly successful in such a community series
(vs. camp or weekend) setting?
More than glossary yet suitable for no walk through?
Subtly tricky?
Particularly rewarding of on time execution & dancer skill?
Thanks!
Hi, Guys -
I want to collect contras where there is no wait-out at the end of the
line. A dance that comes to mind is Three Thirty-Three, because of the
grand R&L up and down the line. Can you name others? and other figures
that make a no wait-out possible?
Thanx,
Susan [image: 🎶] [image: ☺]
330-347-8155
woosterdance.com
Hi fellow contra callers :)
I was wondering if any of you are planning on going to the Helvetia Hoot in
September?
https://www.clawandfoot.com/#/https://www.facebook.com/events/893468761710760
I'm driving down from Ottawa (11hrs away) with a few friends as it sounds
super awesome. I believe it used to be the West Virginia Dare to be Square?
The event is going to be one of the release parties for the Circle Up Zine
(check out a bit about it here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/805284484476683/?ref=newsfeed)
Would be lovely to know if a few of you might be going too!
Emily in Ottawa
PS - I'll also post this on the trad callers and positional callers lists.
I love the current discussion of AABBCC dances and will use this as an opportunity to encourage the dance composers out there to write more! I began writing them for two main reasons:
(1) I adore the beautiful 48-bar reels and jigs that many bands can play if given the opportunity, but rarely get the chance.
(2) There are choreographic storylines that just can't fit into 32 bars of choreography, but can fit nicely into a 48-bar "story."
With those factors in mind, I wrote Utah Reel which Maia mentioned (turn all four contra corners plus a diagonal hey), Jabberwocky (a hey on the side with three neighbors, far outside the minor set), and Three-Day Weekend (grand right and left all the way through neighbor #5), all findable in Caller's Box. None of those figures would fit cleanly for me into a 32-bar dance, but they work with 48 bars and dancers at challenging/experienced dances can generally handle them. I'm happy to share tune recommendations and teaching tips with anyone who'd like them, for any of those dances. (Thanks to Chris Page for feedback during the composing process for all those dances.)
It's true that, as Bill Olson wrote, dancers need extra prompting nudges to remember that 48-bar dances go for more than 32 bars. But to me, it's worth it to get to dance to Reel Beatrice, or Ragtime Annie, or Reel des Accordéonistes, or lots of other great 48-bar tunes, plus get to do some fun uncommon figure combinations. I'm sure there are other fun choreographic storylines just waiting for their chance to star in a 48-bar dance -- let me know if you write a new one!
Jeremy Korr
Claremont, Calif. / Woods Hole, Mass.
