d0nv wrote:
As a starting caller (and a dance committee member) I've got a genuine
interest. Is there a course or book saying this?
Thank you for your posting.
I don’t recall the original source, and I don’t want to encourage the
authoritarian leanings of this list so I won’t try to find it. For me the
principle stands on its own merits. I do recall that many callers stated
this principle as: “It’s always the caller’s fault.” This was to emphasize
that the caller should assume that any misunderstanding is an error on the
caller’s part…not the dancers. It can lower the confidence of many
first-timers if they believe that *they* are the reason something went
wrong, and that anxiety will make it difficult for those newcomers to
follow subsequent instructions. By taking responsibility for any
“mistakes” the caller defuses this anxiety reaction somewhat.
I think most callers, however, assumed that this principle was an
exaggeration intended as a form of humor. This is unfortunate because it
is the most useful framing I know of to cultivate leadership in the dance
community.
Note that this maxim also applies to many other roles where the speaker
uses a PA system. Any Master of Ceremonies with experience will also take
full responsibility for what happens in the hall. In the case of a dance
caller, this individual has the added authority vested in them by the
tradition they follow to instruct those in the room regarding their precise
physical movements. This is an awesome power which can only be wielded
effectively when the speaker also takes responsibility for the hall.
Notice that the dance caller:
- is at the front of the room, usually on an elevated platform, where
they can be seen by anyone in the room.
- is able to see anyone in the room from that position.
- is using a PA system that effectively makes them the only one in the
room who can project their voice clearly to every person in the room.
- is the only individual in the room who knows the requirements of the
dance, the capabilities of the band, and who also has a pretty good idea of
the capabilities of the dancers. (The caller knows all of this
simultaneously.)
The ideal situation is, of course, when everyone in the hall takes full
responsibility for what happens in the hall. In fact, this is the way
collective community dance works! But the person at the mike is in a
unique position.
Given the advantaged position described above it might be well to ask: If
the caller is not willing to take responsibility, then why should anyone
else?
Karen D. quoted, from the list archive, the following comments on what the
caller is probably NOT responsible for. Yet these are excellent examples
of challenges a caller can address by personally owning the problem. Here
are some of my thoughts just off the top of my head. (And these responses
must come off the top of your head when any emergency presents itself.) The
“wonderful dance community” frame is your best resource in an emergency:
I can stop and re-start the band several times, but it's not my "full
> responsibility" if they are determined to play at a certain tempo.
This is a real problem many of us face. Some musicians are unable to play
at higher dance tempos on some tunes. In that case the caller should
consider substituting dances that “work” better at the favored tempo. If
it is too slow the caller can add excitement through some other
means—perhaps with a punchy vocal emphasis. Bottom line: Make sure the
musicians feel good about what they do. Make sure they get applause.
The owner of the barn we're dancing in decides to make another loop on his
> tractor with the mosquito broadcaster, blowing bug spray through the open
> doors and windows.
The caller: First signals the band to cut off the music mid-tune and says
something appropriate on mike, such as, “My apologies. We have an
emergency situation with the farmer’s spray drift. Could some of you
please quickly close the windows and doors on that side of the hall. Perhaps
someone could reposition that fan to get some fresh air into the hall. Thank
you all for your understanding. Let’s take a short break until the hall is
danceable again.”
A crash occurs on the street adjacent to our parking lot dance hall, and
> dozens of participants run to see what happened.
Caller: “My apologies. There seems to have been an accident outside. Is
there a doctor in the house? Wonderful. Thank you. If there is anyone
else with medical training please go with her to check on the situation and
let us know if there is any assistance we could offer. Everyone else
should probably just wait here. I appreciate your understanding. Thank
you all.”
The host didn't think to provide cool water, there's no drinking fountain.
> "There's a Coke machine, they can buy a pop."
Caller: “I understand there is no cool water available. I’m sorry about
that. Is there someone here who would be willing to drive to a nearby
store and purchase some bottled water? Wonderful! Please, if you would
like some water, give some money to this man over here. Hopefully we’ll
have some water in time for the break.“
PA bleed from a nearby event that's louder and bigger and echo-y.
Caller: “My apologies. We seem to be competing with an amplified event
nearby. I’m going to ask all of you to pay careful attention and please,
do not talk during the walk-through. Thank you all for your understanding
and your assistance.”
I think you get the idea. The caller should lead by example. Everyone in
the hall wants to be proud of their dance community, and the caller can
take the lead in making that happen. Remember; it is a wonderful dance
community and you should expect them to react to any “situation” with grace
and compassion.
This is not rocket science. It is certainly easier than memorizing all of
your dances. If the caller is either unable, or unwilling to take
responsibility then s/he should hand the microphone to someone who will.
Speaking of untoward situations in the hall....
I remember once seeing an actual fight break out on a dance floor between
two women. This was a full-on altercation with swinging fists and hair
pulling. The caller did *not* lead effectively. He did NOT apologize but
treated the incident as a distraction from his dance. Luckily there were
many dancers nearby who took action. Three of us actually restrained a man
who wanted to join the fray. Others separated the combatants, and still
others moved in to stand between the belligerent parties. The caller
failed to own the problem and, rather, simply tried to get the sets to
re-form so he could re-start the dance. Some dancers motioned for the
caller to just shut up and everyone, correctly I think, ignored the
caller’s instructions so that the situation could be resolved to help put
folks at ease.
For a more positive example....
I also remember, more recently during a contra dance, when some of us
noticed some severe scratches in the newly-refinished floor. A dancer had
broken off a heel on his dance shoe and continued dancing without
it—thinking that it would do no damage and unaware that there were still
nail tips sticking out where the heel had been. It did damage the
floor—during the one dance in which he continued dancing—to the tune of
hundreds of dollars in floor repair and refinishing. Luckily we had a
visiting caller who took ownership of the situation immediately when we
showed her the broken heel.
I remember the caller standing on stage and holding the broken heel up in
the air. She did not try to blame any individual but insisted that we
locate the shoe that had lost that heel. She cautioned the dancers that
this problem could make us lose access to the hall we were dancing in and
she refused to start the next walk-through until she had verified that the
dancer with the broken heel had left the hall to change shoes. That caller
was Andrea Nettleton of Atlanta Georgia. She is a very good caller.
She showed leadership as a caller. It would have been easier to simply
assume that this was “not her responsibility.” Taking responsibility makes
a difference. It sets an example for everyone. We need more of that from
callers, not less.
- Greg McKenzie
We are currently adding on to our house and when done will have a 50’ x 20’
family room/dance hall. Ultimately we want wood flooring, but our starting
point will be finished concrete. I am looking for advice on and
experiences with installing wood floor over concrete.
Thanks
Jim Hemphill
Arcadian35(a)gmail.com
I think my A.D.D. has helped give me a good perspective on the role of the
caller.
I see a dance as being like a three-legged stool. The band, dancers and
caller are the three legs. It is primarily the caller's job to keep things
level. This is how it usually works. However, the band and dancers must also do
their part. I have led dances during which the energy and enthusiasm of the
dancers kept me level. I have also led dances where the band kept us level
through its choice of tunes, playfulness, and musicianship. It is a true joy
when the three legs keep each other level.
I have been an organizer/producer for several series, the sound guy, a
dancer, and a member of the band. I have tried to remember that even those who
don't get the "glory" have an important part in making a dance successful.
The caller may get the thanks, but all of us make things happen.
John B. Freeman, SFTPOCTJ
I can think of some others:
Present a program consistent with the vision of the producer. If this means for example "one chestnut per night", then so be it.
Raise the dancing level of the crowd a wee bit each time.
Be as prepared as you can be.
Dan
Callers fill one of many roles required for conducting a successful contra
dance and building a dance community (along with dance organizers,
musicians, dancers, etc.) and therefore have their own unique set of
responsibilities to fill that role.
If you accept this view, what would the unique duties/responsibilities of a
caller be?
Some possible caller responsibilities:
- Responsible for preparing and selecting dances to match the dancers
and enhance their enjoyment of the event
- Responsible for coordinating with the musicians to match tunes and
dance selections
- Responsible for managing the dance program timing to meet organizers'
schedule
- ?
What do you think?
-Don
As a beneficiary of Bob and Martha's Calling parties I can't think of a
better environment to learn calling skills. They combine practice with
live dancers, instantanious feedback on what you are doing right and what
you can improve upon and access to several really good mentors. Thanks
Martha, Bob, Dale, Karen and the other callers who occasionally drop in.
I developed an interest in choreography when I began calling, and as Martha
said, the calling parties are the ideal environment to try out new dances.
If you would like to see the process in action, check out the link below.
http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/contra/contra-modern/298-the-square-engli…
Jim Hemphill
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: New choreo list / traffic volume (Martha Edwards)
> 2. Re: Mentorship for Choreographers (Martha Edwards)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 13:34:29 -0500
> From: Martha Edwards <meedwards(a)westendweb.com>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] New choreo list / traffic volume
> Message-ID:
> <CAJjmMcNf=kM+GFbGsCCA7+PxTwO9qia6JW23wj-a5UYKD9SZEg(a)mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> I'm definitely in favor of one list, and yes, list-serve ettiquette demands
> deleting everything except what is relevant to your post. Also,
> remembering to make the subject line actually reflect the discussion is
> key, although I'm not really happy to see discussions bifurcated when
> someone makes a small change to the subject line.
>
> Perhaps what could help is a code word in the subject - like a tag -
> "newdance", say, or "choreo" or whatever. Those of us who use email
> filtering could then use our email settings to automatically delete the
> posts in question, or, like me, automatically file them in a special folder
> for later viewing.
>
> M
> E
>
>
> On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 9:42 PM, Paul Wilde <zenyente(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I totally agree w/ Chrissy, John, & Hilton,
> >
> > Please delete everything that has already been posted which is not
> > absolutely essential to your new post.
> >
> > Thank you everyone,
> > Paul
> > _______________________________________________
> > Callers mailing list
> > Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
> >
>
>
>
> --
> As you set out for Ithaka, pray that your journey be long, full of
> adventure, full of discovery...
> May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, with what joy,
> you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time.
> ~Constantine Cavafy, "Ithaka" 1911
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 13:57:01 -0500
> From: Martha Edwards <meedwards(a)westendweb.com>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Mentorship for Choreographers
> Message-ID:
> <CAJjmMcN6Vu3GN7vQ7NABspTuHnKen2wD1xPJAc1733PrQctUFQ(a)mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> I've said this before, but this may be a good thread on which to repeat it.
> One of the unexpected delights of our Calling Parties, set up to give us a
> place to call dances in private before we call them in public, to find out
> where the trouble spots might be, has been the development of dance
> writers.
>
> And not just our dance writers.
>
> A select group of people from around the country send us dances, and we try
> them out at our Calling Parties, take videos of the Good, the Bad, and the
> Ugly and send them back to the choreographer, who can tell where and why we
> went wrong, and whether we enjoyed it, both of which we often do. Voila!
> Instant mentorship, straight from the sorts of people who will be doing the
> dances, namely, dancers.
>
> You could do the same thing. Buy a camera (ours is a Zoom, since we first
> wanted a pretty good sound recorder) and a gorillapod/tripod and invite
> over some people, call your dance and see where it needs to go back to the
> drawing board. I've seen some dances go through ten or more revisions over
> several months - but in the end, they turned into a dance for the ages.
>
> If you do this, you will never have to waste dancers' time at a regular
> dance with something that just doesn't work. Or, if it does work, but just
> needs better calling, you'll have a place to make that happen, too.
>
> Start having Calling Parties!
>
> M
> E
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
In your calling career, do you now or have you ever had a mentor? If so, who was
it and what specific things did they do to help you grow as a caller and a
person?
thanks,
Lynn
Hello SW callers,
I finally caught up on my e-mail and have read the discussion about
starting a new choreography list. My thought is that most if not all
callers would want to be on both lists, so why not have them be the same
list? My only answer that I could think of why not is if the callers
list volume is getting too heavy for some people.
So I would like to know is if there are many people who would _not_
subscribe to a choreography list?
Also, what do you think of the traffic volume lately? If you think that
the volume is too heavy lately, would you rather have it divided into
two lists to increase the signal to noise ratio?
Thanks to everyone for your interest and participation, even if it's
just lurking.
Chris Weiler
Your friendly neighborhood SharedWeight moderator.
Craftsbury, VT
Gee, Alan, it sounds like you're ready to to be a mentor! It's a relationship that enriches both sides. Often the mentor learns as much from the mentee (is that a word?) as the "student" from the "master". I use quotes because I think the true master always feels a bit of a fraud just because they know how much they don't know.
Rich
----- Reply message -----
From: "Winston, Alan P." <winston(a)slac.stanford.edu>
To: "'Caller's discussion list'" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] mentorship
Date: Mon, May 7, 2012 5:49 pm
Part of me would still like to get formally mentored; part of me thinks that might be kind of emotionally
Difficult when I've been calling for 27 years and am (in some ways) pretty good, and in a fair amount of
demand (when you add up the ONS, Regency, Civil War, English, and contra, I gigged about 50 times last year
and seem to be on track to do that again this year). I know I don't know everything, by a long shot.
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
Hi all,
I haven't followed the whole thread, so I apologize if I am repeating
something.
I can't speak for everyone here, but I know that this applies to some of
us. I have been calling for over thirty years. I am now on "emeritus" status,
but am still very grateful to all of the callers, dancers, and musicians who
mentored me. Some of these callers are still active: Glen Morningstar, Tony
Parks, Larry Edelman, Fred Parks, and my hero, Bill Alkire come to mind.
Each of these callers made a huge impression on me through classes,
observation, and in their willingness to discuss our craft. Some of my early
influences have passed on: Ted Sannela, Gene Ward, Bud Pierce, Dean Wooden, and my
dear friend, David Park Williams are some of those I remember.
How many of us have shown how much we appreciate what others have shared
with us? I sometimes wonder. David Park Williams was past his prime when I met
him, but his enthusiasm for dancing and his willingness to share continued
until his death at 86. I thought it was important for others to see how it
used to be, so I had David share the microphone with me at most of my public
dances. I know that he was grateful. He went out of his way to mentor a few
newer callers at our Grange's monthly family dance. I know that David
enjoyed the after dance discussions we had. Several new callers were thus able to
learn from him and to continue to share with a new generation of dancers. I
was able to pick Ted's brain at Pinewoods in the early 90s. I still am
mindful of some of his tips when I call these days. Several of us often went to
dance to Gene Ward's calling at the late Webberville, Michigan Square dance.
This was a very different culture than the dances we were used to! I was so
thrilled when Gene called his version of the "Northern Lights" square at my
wedding reception.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that we should be mindful that it's really
important to remember that what we are doing is part of a long living
tradition. Sure, some of us get left behind by change. I wouldn't recognize a "Mad
Robin" if it bit me on my rear. Remember those who helped you get to where
you are, and do your part to make sure that this continues for generations to
come.
John B. Freeman, SFTPOCTJ
