Andrea brings up a great point, and one that I'd like to address in my own
dance community. My husband and I are the only couple that attends dances
with our young child (4) although I know of at least three other families
in our age range, with kids, who have stopped dancing.
I think the biggest part of it is the time. In Chicago, we dance on Monday
nights, so parents with school-aged kids are not inclined to come out. When
our child gets older and has to be in bed earlier, I'm not sure what we're
going to do. We may end up trading weeks - one parent dances, the other
stays home - or we may end up not coming as often as we do now. Good grief,
we have trouble finding childcare when we are touring as a band and write
in advance to ask for help in locating a reliable local teen or college
student to watch our son on site.
It would be fun if there were a weekend dance, or a family dance, but so
far, finding a venue for either has been difficult.
I'm definitely interested in hearing what other communities have done about
retaining or otherwise serving this particular group ... good conversation!
meg
Leslie,
Dave Casserly hit on some really great points. To add,
- One thing that separates contra repertoire from the repertoire for
squares (etc) is the utility of jigs to provide a feeling of variety
between quite similar dances.
- A cheap trick that works well going from a first tune to a second is
changing tonalities from the major key to a related mode with same or
similar key signature, for example D major into E dorian mode such as
"Whiskey Before Breakfast" into "Cooley's Reel", or from a major to the
relative minor. The reverse of such changes can also create an energetic
burst, though a change of key signatures may be necessary to achieve that
effect when going from a mode (other than the relative minor) to major.
- If the band can execute them solidly, jig to reel transitions add a
MASSIVE energy burst. A jig-reel transition getting a lot of use around
Boston right now is "Seanamhac Tube Station" into "Devil in the Strawstack"
- tunes with similar melodic structures in the same key, but when paired
with an a-part wave balance it's like the dancers are on fire when they
hear that change.
Another tunebook which may be of value is "The New England Fiddler's
Repertoire" by Randy Miller.
Tempo is crucial. As a fiddler i find that it's often easy to play too fast
without realizing it, while as a dancer i find tempos around 118 (even for
reels!) to be the most satisfying.
Besides dancing to really great bands, it might help the fiddle-group
leader to listen to some popular contradance bands and pick up on what they
do. Off the top of my head a few favorites that illustrate great tune
changes are Great Bear Trio, Crowfoot, Wild Asparagus, Airdance, and Wake
the Neighbors (the band Ed Howe and John Cote anchored before they became
Perpetual eMotion).
Give the fiddlers my regards!
tavi merrill
My teen daughter plays in a performing fiddle group. I sometimes call family dances using the group. The director asked me 1. to suggest some tunes she could teach the group that would be ideal for contras 2. what makes a tune or medley of tunes work well for contras. (There are lots in their repertoire that seems to work for "Southern" squares or big circle dances). Besides being square, 32 bar tunes with A parts distinguishable from B, what makes a great contra tune? I like dancing to medleys where the second tune picks up the energy: how is that accomplished? Can anyone suggest a couple of tunes and (perhaps which recording of it) that are essential to a contra music repertoire?
Thanks very much to those who responded to my question about determining space for contra dancing. It was incredibly helpful and I learned something new from each response.
The Gainesville FL dance community has always provided childcare. We
hire someone to watch any children who don't want to dance. Parents
pay $5/child which goes to the childcare provider. We guarantee the
childcare provider $20 if no children show up (which is pretty rare).
Many of our children dance but also want to play with the other kids
some. We have had a few children grow up in our community and are
still dancing as adults. I am a huge advocate for providing
childcare!
--
JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
"We are as gods and might as well get good at it!"
- Stewart Brand
I am a new caller trying to log calling hours by hosting kitchen contra parties (with live music, beer and food). Could anyone tell me how many linear feet I need per couple? My friends' home is about 24 feet on the diagonal: how many couple in a longways can I (safely) accommodate? And what's the minimum number of couples in a contra line so that is still fun? Thanks for any advice.
I haven't yet gotten to dance Boston Harbor, but love Fairport Harbor.
From either a calling or dancing point of view, what would make you
choose one of these two dances over the other? What about end effects?
Seems like with both of them, as long as you get _everyone_ into the
big promenade circle it would work ok.
Kalia
Hi,
If you have called Gene Hubert's wonderful dance "Double Boomerang", I have
2 questions for you about end effects. The dance is below.
When the ladies chain on the left diagonal there are ladies at each end who
cannot do that as there is no one there. That's fine. I am used to that.
My questions are not about that.
They are:
(1) When a couple reaches an end ( I have only been able to watch
the top), where do they wait and for how long.
. The woman needs to get into position for the ladies chain on the
diagonal, which I think means that she needs to cross over as she waits for
that. The man also needs to cross over and stand next to her at that point.
. When however the second pass through is done (in B1), both the man
and the woman who are waiting out at that point need to be in position to
balance and swing with their partners (B2), which I think means that they
need to be in different lines from each other.
. Finally, as it is a Becket, at the end of the partner swing you and
your partner need to be together on the same side but - which side and how
do you get there.
(2) How do you teach all of this.
Really good dancers seem to understand where they need to be and get there,
but even experienced dancers have been having trouble with this and it has
thrown them.
Do you know the dance?
Can you help?
Thanks,
Rickey Holt, Fremont, NH
Here is the dance if you have forgotten it:
DOUBLE BOOMERANG, Gene Hubert (Becket)
A1 Gents Allemande Left (1 1/2)
Neighbor Swing
A2 ON THE LEFT DIAGONAL, Ladies chain
Long Lines Forward and Back
B1 Pass through straight across the set and turn alone.
Circle Left all of the way around
Up and down the set pass through
B2 Partner Balance and Swing
I'm not sure why my responses to some of you go only to you, and my
responses to others here go to the whole list, but here, for all of you
(this time for sure :>), are the two dances I've been wondering about:
Boston Harbor
Laura Johannes
A1 N dosido and swing
A2 Promenade w/Nbr CCW around the big ring, then turn as a cpl.
Promenade back, watching for Ptnr.
B1 Wo. Allemande R 1-1/2
Ptnr swing.
B2 Circle 3/4
Balance the ring and pass through
Fairport Harbor
Paul Balliet
Becket
A1 Men allemande L 1-1/2
Promenade w/Nbr CCW around the big ring
A2 Wo. roll back to Nbr behind for gypsy and swing, ending in promenade
position facing CW
B1 Promenade back to Ptnr
Ladies chain
B2 Pass through and swing Ptnr. (Men will want to reach R for new man)
I'm never quite sure which dances are so familiar that everyone knows
them, and which ones aren't :>)
Kalia
Is there a compilation (online or printed) of birthdays, anniversaries of notable events, death dates, etc. related to contradance, notable contra choreographers and musicians, dance series, and so on?
There are such resources for general events, classical music, and other categories. If there isn't already one for contradance, English country dance and related traditions, it would be interesting to start one.
Hilton Baxter
Hi neighbors, partners, and peers,
On a quest to deepen my bench of dances, my collection has much outgrown
the handy little recipe box i store them in. Shopping around i find that
the majority of boxes for 3x5 cards only hold 250-350. I'm wondering what
sorts of nifty 3x5 storage solutions - durable, portable, and at least a
little bit classy - other callers have come up with... and where you might
have found 'em.
thanks for sharing the weight!
tavi merrill
