Hi, I realize I owed a report back on my first gig experience.
In the simplest summary, it went great. I had planned a program of more
basic, very connected dances based upon the crowd I was expecting. It
turned out that we had zero newbies and kept most of the crowd from the
start right through to the end, which made me want to stretch the material
in the second half. I ended up pulling up a few cards I'd prepped for
another venue, and modified a bit for better connection/orientation (eg: in
*A Rare Bird* making the pass bys into pull bys, gypsy to allemande, etc.)
and all went well.
To the best of my recollection, my program was:
Alamo Intro - Circle - Al Green
Get Me Going - DI - Lisa Greenleaf
Broken Transcription - DI - Don Veino (yet another variant on Broken
Sixpence)
Polymorphous' Reel - DI - Christine Hale (dance written in honor of the
prior incarnation of the band, request by organizer)
You're Among Friends - DI - Bob Isaacs
Butter - Becket - Gene Hubert (my video of this night's walk-through and
dance at http://youtu.be/pqSoOvu2wI0 )
---
Nail That Catfish To The Tree - DI - Walter Davies [+Bob Dalsemer]
(unfortunately, tune was not in the band's portfolio)
Special Delivery - Becket - Nell Wright
Redbeard Reel - Becket - Bob Isaacs (written for dancers that were present)
A Rare Bird - DI - Bob Isaacs, var: Lisa Greenleaf, plus mods on the fly by
me
The Big Easy - DI - Becky Hill
I had two points of trickiness in my teaching. In Special Delivery, my prep
notes were unclear about whether the B2 L Chain was across or on diagonal
so I taught it straight across then figured it out in the walkthrough it
was diagonal. In Rare Bird, I had not refined my language enough in prep to
clearly describe the current N pull by coming out of the LH Star at the
bottom of the B2, resulting in me having to talk more than I planned and
run through a second time to get it across. I now have better card notes
for both.
Thanks for the tips and info from this list! I put a bunch of it to good
use and hope to apply more soon. I got good feedback from several dancers,
had fun with the band, and the organizer was very happy (and has invited me
back).
-Don
In regard to the dip and dive dances,
Here's one that we in Wendy Graham's dance writing class at Augusta
Dance week last summer-- Wendy, Hilton Baxter, Pamela Moe, Susannah Gal,
and I-- wrote. It's on Wendy's web site
http://www.folkmads.org/wendy_dancetext.html. The imagery the class
worked with was mountains, tunnels, and rivers.However, I think it might
capture the idea of an ambivalent ground hog, ducking in and out, not
sure whether he/she saw its shadow or not.The rest of the dance might
imply that the shadow was not seen, since it continued, possibly as a
rite of spring.
Augusta ReelimproperWendy Graham's dance writing class, August, 2011
A1:Arches ( #2s arch, #1s duck thru, #1s arch, #2s duck back
thru);Neighbor swing
A2:Gents pull by with left hand to partner, swing.
B1:Women step forward to long wavy line, balance; allemande left about
three fourths around to face partner, gypsy partner and return to place
B2:Gents step forward to long wavy line, balance; do-si-do once and a
half to progressed position.(The women need to face in the progressed
direction, ready to join hands with partner as he approaches)
Others are:Ellen's Green Jig (Roy Dommett); Ashokan Hello (Tony Parkes);
and Jefferson and Lincoln (Seth Tepfer)
I've used a proper Tunnel Dance also.
A1: Forward and back, pass thru across and turn around
A2: ditto, to return to original side
B1: All except top couple make an arch with partner; top couple chassez
down to the end; Top Woman dances back up thru the tunnel as Top Gent
dances back up the outside
B2: Top Gent dances down thru the tunnel as Top Woman dances down the
outside; All swing partners.
Walter
Mural favorite dances are Gene Hubert's Summer of '84 and Tom Hinds' Batja's Breakdown. Tried and true favorites.
Sent from my iPad
On Dec 25, 2011, at 12:00 PM, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. Shadow Dances? (Luke Donforth)
> 2. Re: Shadow Dances? (Richard Mckeever)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2011 09:22:12 -0500
> From: Luke Donforth <luke.donev(a)gmail.com>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Callers] Shadow Dances?
> Message-ID:
> <CAFrKOZaPVNpXg7ouGyWJCv6VPEqxYPh1SezzGkwvhhFtNrKgRg(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hello all,
>
> Ground Hog's Day is more than a month away, but I wanted to send the
> question out now. What are your favorite dances with shadows (or trail
> buddies)?
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Luke Donforth
> Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
> www.lukedonev.com
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2011 08:16:06 -0800 (PST)
> From: Richard Mckeever <macmck(a)ymail.com>
> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Shadow Dances?
> Message-ID:
> <1324829766.42447.YahooMailNeo(a)web120401.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> I like Susan Kevra's 'Trip to Phane' reel - but it seems to get called more around Thanksgiving - maybe it is ready for a second holiday.
>
>
> Mac
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Luke Donforth <luke.donev(a)gmail.com>
> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Sent: Sunday, December 25, 2011 8:22 AM
> Subject: [Callers] Shadow Dances?
>
> Hello all,
>
> Ground Hog's Day is more than a month away, but I wanted to send the
> question out now. What are your favorite dances with shadows (or trail
> buddies)?
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Luke Donforth
> Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
> www.lukedonev.com
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
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> End of Callers Digest, Vol 88, Issue 26
> ***************************************
Recently someone posted a dance sequence and rather then hijack that thread I'm starting a new one.
> Right hand turn, Left hand turn
> Two hand turn, No hand turn (do-si-do)
> Balance and swing
> Promenade and slip the clutch (ladies turn right and meet the next gent)
Outside of modern square dancing you can define slip the clutch any way you like, of course, but within MSD, a slip the clutch requires both dancers in the couple to already be facing in opposite directions. What would be borrowed here from MSD is a "ladies rollback while the gents move forward".
What's good here is the definition for this rare contra call is included. What's bad is this exactly not the definition in squares. I know slip the clutch sounds cooler and is shorter to say.
Its likely this was misobserved, misremembered or a coincidence of invention. It could even be a very old definition that diverged in the two dance styles. It's still going to (mildly) confuse the handful of people who dance both contras and MSD-they'll either mess up or hesitate. I can dance a contra to whatever words the caller wants to use as the caller defines it, but if this were undefined and sprung on me, say in a medley, I'd do something the contra caller did not intend. So again I'm glad the definition is included in the choreography.
(Here's and easy reference to the rollback and slip the clutch calls from MSD: http://www.mit.edu/~tech-squares/lessons/lesson6.html. There are more precise definitions at the callerlab site.)
What do you think?
\bob
Hi Hanny,
Re: Report from New Zealand (Hanny Budnick)
You referred to "proper traditional contras". Are you
suggesting that there are some improper ones? (And I assume you don't
just mean the starting position!) :-)
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 &
07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
Hi Hanny,
Sorry, I really thought you meant "proper" meaning "genuine",
but you meant "Proper", as in "all the men on one side".
It was, in that context, just meant as a humorous riposte...
Which obviously failed... :-(
Anyway, we would have to agree on definitions for "traditional"
and "contra" before we could discuss whether your statement "traditional
contras were always 'proper'" is a valid statement. But since those the
meaning of those terms is fluid and depends on the speaker, the context,
the country and the century, let's not go there :-)
I would however like to point out an example of an early
improper contra:
The King of Poland - Playford 1698:
http://www.izaak.unh.edu/nhltmd/indexes/dancingmaster/Dance/Play4045.htmhttp://www.srcf.ucam.org/round/dances/cdb/cdb4/king
"First Man on his Woman's side"
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 &
07802 940 574
http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive Events, Instructional DVDs and
Interactive Maps
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
From: Hanny Budnick <kyrmyt(a)cavtel.net>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Re Proper Traditional Contras
Message-ID: <4EEB21C8.6040208(a)cavtel.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Hi John,
As you know, traditional contras were always 'proper' - all men on the
same side to start the dance.
Casting off with regards,
Hanny
[with apologies for duplicate posting for those also on the trad-dance-callers
list]
Callers interested in square dances may enjoy a new series of videos that I've
been uploading from the Dare To Be Square weekend held last month at the John
C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. They are the first videos posted to
the new YouTube channel started for the Square Dance History project. Here's a
link that will take you to the channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SquareDanceHistory
Callers at the weekend were Bob Dalsemer, Tony Parkes, Phil Jamison, Bill Litchman,
Larry Edelman, and Jim Mayo. Funding for the videography-- superbly done by John-Michael
Seng-Wheeler, of Charlottesville, VA-- was provided by CDSS. Thank you!
At the moment, there are sixteen Brasstown videos available, with another ten
in the queue being uploaded tonight, and there are scores more waiting to be edited,
compressed, and uploaded. I don't plan to announce each new batch on this list,
so if you're interested, you could subscribeto that SquareDanceHistory channel
and you'd receive automatic notifications when new videos were available.
Some videos just show the dancing, while others include relevant parts of a walkthrough.
In all cases, the caller's voice has been boosted a little to make it stand out
above the music.
Enjoy!
David Millstone
Lebanon, NH
Hi Folks,
Brand new to the list. I'm one of the organizers for the MondayContras
series at the Concord, MA Scout House and have been an avid dancer for just
over 4 years now. Hi to those I already know and to those of you I'll get
to know from here!
I've been an occasional caller for dances on shared evening programs and
camper nights, etc. but have my first full evening coming up later this
month, which I'm excited about. This is for a smaller regional dance that
attracts a mixed crowd of mostly periodic dancers. I've done some basic
"how to call" workshops at festivals, etc. but have not taken a formal
caller's course.
I'm planning to tailor my dance selection to the expected crowd and build
in some flexibility to address variability. I'm pretty confident in my
dance selection skills but I'm definitely still counting my way through the
music to call. So one concern is with making sure I stay firmly anchored to
the music, without depending upon the crowd for cues. I craft my calls to
fit the phrasing and rehearse with music to get confident but dance
breakdowns are a fear. I've come close a couple of times early on but have
been able to set things right somehow on the fly... however, I was not very
confident doing so at the time.
So with that concern, a couple of related questions:
- Do you have practiced recovery routines (more than just "get home and
swing your partner")? Is that common? Or do most callers just make it up on
the spot?
- In working with the musicians, are there any customary "I've lost track,
where are we in the music?" signals?
I look forward to learning from the shared wisdom of the group here and am
open to any other tips you may have.
Thanks,
Don
Hello All,
In the near future, I get to call for my first gender free dance. I'm
looking forward to it, and thinking about my program. I was contemplating
putting in Bands chains. The gents chain is a move that seems by and large
ignored in conventional contra dancing; the occasional dance I've seen
using it is usually greeted with grumbling. Are gender free dancers more
open to the move?
I was thinking of the following dance (where barearms are on the right
after a swing)
*A1*
Neighbor Balance and Swing
*A2*
Promenade Neighbor across and courtesy turn
Barearms chain across the set (pull by right)
*B1*
Barearms do-si-do 1x
Partner swing
*B2*
Bands chain across (pull by left, courtesy turned by neighbor)
Right Hand Star 1x
I've sent the question directly to the dance organizer, and I'm
cross-posting on facebook, but I also wanted to poll the folks here.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
www.lukedonev.com
