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next steps between barn dance & contra, focus on fun figures

by Allison Jonjak

Hopefully a fun question. At the same time as the pandemic, I moved to my rural hometown, and (after some years of hunkering) have gone from 'sometimes' to 'occasionally' to now monthly hosting a barn dance with a great band on a wonderful dance floor here. I have promised the dancers "as we get practice, and as we build up skills in the community, gradually we can start doing dances with more moves," and some of the regulars asked for a 'practice dance' with a few of these fun ones, so I now get to plan one. But I suddenly realized, I haven't myself danced contra in such a long time that most of the names of the 'old favorites" have abdicated the brainspace they used to hold. So, *what I'm asking for: * *Remind me the names of simple, fun dances that include some of my favorite figures (roll-away with half sashay, Rory O'Moore, maybe box circulate or butterfly whirl?) *I want to give them a taste for "why it's worth it to get more complex" without actually getting TOO complex yet (probably going to avoid becket formation, and I don't think I want to teach heys yet. I haven't taught courtesy turns (chain, R&L through, et al) yet, but I could probably do so either at this practice or a future one. Most of our progression thus far have been "pass through", but if there's a good candidate dance with a non 'pass through' progression, I can modify it a skosh to keep things consistent. I am attaching the program from our last dance to give you a sense of where we are ( https://contradb.com/programs/278 ). This practice dance is going to have 12 dancers, who have understood progression as we've done it in Do Si Three and in Jefferson's Remorse, and on the dance floor they've been some of the ones helping newcomers understand. Thanks in advance for your recommendations! Allison -- Allison Jonjak allisonjonjak(a)gmail.com allisonjonjak.com

2 years, 9 months

Dance invasion

by Joe Harrington

We had an interesting and challenging situation come up at Contra Knights, the UCF student contra club, last night. I’m interested in your thoughts and advice, in case it has come up before, which it must have. I’m going to relate it as I perceived it, though someone more perceptive might have made some observations early on that would have alerted them to the nature of the situation. Last night was the second dance of the semester and officer elections were scheduled during the break. Just at the end of my newbie lesson, a group of nine women dribbled in as a group. They were really enthusiastic to learn, and they were about 30% of the people in the room at that point, so I rewound the lesson a bit to at least teach them the swing. They had joined the teaching circle with their purses and backpacks. I invited them to put their stuff on the chairs at the sides, including their jackets, as we dance to up-tempo pop music and it can get sweaty. That’s where it got interesting. Some put their stuff down, but they couldn’t take off their jackets. That’s when I noticed some of them wearing headscarves. Ok, no worries, wear jackets, that’s fine. We love diversity here. I tried matching them with experienced dancers, which some accepted and some did not. Some said they just wanted to dance together and not with anybody else. O-kay. I explained that in this dance we all dance with each other in a sequence and we don’t control whom we’re dancing with. Well, that’s ok, as long as we don’t touch men. This, of course, explained the refused partners; they were all men. How are we going to manage that in a gender-neutral dance? It’s not like I could put them in the men’s role. Someone suggested they turn all moves into do-si-dos. I was at a momentary loss, when our club president-to-be (elected later in the night) suggested putting them in a line of their own. That made them happy, though it was a very short line. Then the rest of what turned out to be the Lebanese Student Society came into the room. Their meeting in a neighboring room had just ended. There were more women, enough to make the small line danceable. There were a lot of men, and they had a really difficult time taking partners. I had minor sets with five or six dancers (yes, experienced dancers can do it). I told them it would not work that way, but they said they’d make it work, and nothing I could say got anywhere. I was conscious of the original dancers who had been there 30 minutes now, had done the workshop, and were eager to dance. So, the men also got their own line, but things in that line got a bit crazy during the first walk-through. Possibly because of the discomfort some may have felt dancing with other men, many there were more interested in goofing off or boasting to one another than in paying any attention to me, even after I cranked the mic volume way up and admonished them to be quiet and listen. There was some genuine interest in that line, and one of the louder argument points I heard was someone shouting to quiet the line, as they were here to learn. At this point there were around 30 Lebanese students in two lines of 3-4 minor sets each and 20 originals, who had joined through the newbie session, which was evenly split between newbies and experienced dancers. Their line was quiet, but getting quite impatient at this point. I was afraid to lose them. I was really afraid of what would happen in the election later on if the Lebanese club stayed, as they outnumbered the originals. It became clear that the Lebanese men were not going to get far, but they didn’t realize it yet. I really didn’t want to throw them out, since some really did want to learn and we are an inclusive club with too few members. I did say I would kick them out if they didn’t quiet down, which worked momentarily. I decided to forge ahead and call to the group of 20. Either the guys were going to get it or they’d maybe leave. If their noise disrupted the line of originals, then I would ask them to leave. I put on a tune and called an easy dance, cranking the volume above the din. The originals danced it fine and seemed to have a good time. The guy line dispersed and said they’d come in time for the workshop next time. The ladies left with them. The originals nearly all stayed. We had a fun rest of our night and held our officer election. While last night was a unique event, 50% newbies is common and we think it’s why we get so few dancers to stay in the club more than three nights. So, one of the changes is a new, occasional, no-newbies night, so the experienced dancers can dance something more complex than Airpants. Are there ways to calm an unruly crowd? I have a fairly decent one-night stand routine, but I worried I’d lose my originals if we went over to that. I felt I could have taught them something if only I could just have gotten their attention. Throwing them out would have been uncomfortable, at best. So, could I have done this any better? Has your dance ever been invaded, and how did you handle it? Thanks, —jh— Joe Harrington Faculty advisor and caller to Contra Knights, the UCF contra club Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance Contraknights.org FB, Ig: Contra Knights contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com

2 years, 9 months

choreography books for [re]sale

by Bob Peterson

I have 4 duplicate choreography books for sale. All are in good condition, but have my name written in them, and possibly some hand notations. List prices shown in brackets but I’ll take less. Mailing costs are extra, but I live in eastern Massachusetts so maybe we can negotiate a handoff. [$7] No Rest for the Wicked, by Tom Hinds. Contras and squares. (c) 2011 https://cdss.force.com/commons/s/product/no-rest-for-the-wicked/01t1M00000L… [$7] Dances from a Confused Caller’s PDA, by Tom Hinds. Contras and squares. (c) 2005 https://cdss.force.com/commons/s/product/dances-from-a-confused-callers-pda… [$7] Dance All Night 2, by Tom Hinds. Contras, squares & circles. (c)1991 https://cdss.force.com/commons/s/product/dance-all-night-2/01t1M00000LvEcsQ… [$12] Twice as Nice, A Second Book of Dances, by Melanie Axel-Lute. Contras and ECDs. (c) 2016 https://cdss.force.com/commons/s/product/twice-as-nice/01t1M00000LvEg0QAF \Bob Peterson PLEASE reply off-list to bob(a)contracorner.com P.S. Yes, I now keep a book list on my phone so this doesn’t happen again!

2 years, 9 months

mechanical sorting systems

by Joe Harrington

The short version of this post is, how should I organize my dances? But, I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly spotty on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no summary or comparison. And I'm not just asking for myself. While I've got a whopping 15 evenings of dance calling under my belt, I'm being called on to train some students to call for our college club, and they're asking the same question. So, I'm looking for one or more summaries from those wiser than I (ok, low bar!) of the kinds of systems for cards. This might better be asked as, what are the different approaches to programming dances, and what organizing systems make each of those easier? In a workshop of his last summer, Bob Isaacs related his system of colored cards for easy, hard, bouncy, flowy, sweetheart, and divorce-reconcile dances (I think those were the categories). Call easy dances first, call a sweetheart right after the break when they're most likely to dance with the person they came with. Save hard for festivals. Give them variety. But, I've wanted more categories, and what about finding the bouncy sweethearts? I'm really busy, so the idea of re-copying a hundred or more cards to make a new system doesn't thrill me, if I don't like my initial system. Maybe I'll get a database system to select dances with, and then have a set of alphabetized printed cards for the actual calling, though what if I'm wrong and need to change my program, as has already happened a few times when a ton of newbies shows up? I'm interested in hearing about anything particularly clever or efficient, especially if it doesn't involve a computer or tablet. A comparison of the different computer systems would also be welcome. I'm aware of programs by Will Loving and Colin Hume. I asked on one Facebook group for a comparison of these but got no response. Is the Caller's Box up to real-time dance selection at an event? That presumes wi-fi, of course, or at least cell signal. I'll toss in one amusing and possibly workable paper system, for a dedicated and extremely nerdy caller, which might be me... I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical sorting system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith punched card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this? Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, sweetheart (keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes near the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards if you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card, punch out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card for each hole the card DOESN'T match. So, for an easy dance, you'd punch out the rest of the paper for the medium and hard holes (among others), but leave the easy hole intact. If you make a mistake, just fold a piece of tape over the gap above the hole to close the gap. Now, when you want to look at your easy, flowy, sweetheart dances, flip the stack so the holes are up, push a pencil or knitting needle through the "easy" hole and lift. Then, in the ones you pulled, push through the flowy hole and lift, and finally for that set poke through the sweetheart hole and lift. Those are the easy, flowy, sweetheart dances. If you want the medium or hard dances that are bouncy and that separate partners, you pull first the medium and then the hard dances, combine them, and then pull the bouncies from that set and the separators from that third pull. And so on. Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you are a real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card edges, but that would limit the writing space. I predict this will be all the rage, post-apocalypse...at least until we run out of cards. ;-) --jh-- Joe Harrington Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club contraknights.org FB, Ig: Contra Knights contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com

2 years, 9 months

Marking dance cards to highlight certain moments???

by Emily Addison

Hi fellow callers :) I'm doing a big reorg of my dance cards. This includes looking closely at the dances I have, hunting out new material to fill some gaps, and also rethink how I organize my dance cards (which are on paper). I have a related question.... Do you use any highlights, underlines, or other ways to visually emphasize specific moments in your dances? For instance, maybe you highlight swings or underline recovery spots in a dance? I'm currently wondering about marking the spots where movements stop/change. I remember being in a dance musician workshop with Andrew VanNorstrand long ago where he talked about the key points of the dance being where dancers stopped their flow in one direction. (I'm not phrasing the concept nearly as well as he did). ... ... think of the LLFB (that moment of being) or coming together for a balance. I'm feeling like those moments would be great to flag in a strong visual way so I can quickly see them as I think they impact the experience of the dance, tips to provide the musicians, etc. However, I'm interested in any visual cues you use on your cards to highlight key information. Thoughts on all this??? Thanks! Emily Addison Ottawa, Ontario

2 years, 9 months

Another Easy Contra

by Susan English

First contra for new dancers. Inspired by "Jefferson and Liberty" but doesn't drift down the hall and everybody learns B&S. Named for the black squirrels of Wooster. BLACK SQUIRREL CONTRA (Duple Improper) By Susan English 2023 A1 Star R Star L A2 Circle L Circle R B1 N. B&S (end facing down in line of 4) B2 Down in 4, turn alone Return, twos arch, ones dive under It takes teamwork to accomplish the arch and dive in time for the RH star with the next couple. Susan [image: 🎶] [image: ☺] 330-347-8155 woosterdance.com

2 years, 9 months

does this dance already exist?

by Tepfer, Seth

Hello callers and friends I needed a gentle warm up dance last night and riffed this on the spot. My assumption is that someone has already written and named this sequence: Formation: improper A1: Circle left; circle right A2: right hand star; neighbor do si do B1: Neighbor balance and swing B2: long lines; one swing, end facing next neighbors (down) Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his) Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center

2 years, 9 months

Name for this dance? ... have been digging and haven't found!

by Emily Addison

Hi folks, I'm wondering if anyone might know the name of this dance? I've done some digging on caller's box but haven't been able to find it. N Bal & Box-the-Gnat N DSD N Al R 1.5 Robins Al L 1.5 P Bal & Sw Robins Chain LH Star

2 years, 9 months

dances for your consideration

by Tepfer, Seth

Have this dance been written before? Working title: The Bodacious Babe and her Fabulous Femmes (in memory of Donna Newman) Formation: Becket (barely) A1: Circle left 3 places (6), neighbor swing (10) A2: Long lines* (8); robins walk forward to make a wavy line of robins but on the 4th step twirl 180 degrees to give RIGHT hands to their opposite and end up with their back to their partner and facing their neighbor (4), balance the wave (4) B1: Robins turn contra corners (1st corner is neighbor they just swung, 2nd corner is next neighbor) B2: Robins pass right to partner swing; slide left to next couple Note: *In the long lines, one hand is holding current neighbor, other hand is holding next neighbor. These will be your corners. Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his) Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center

2 years, 9 months

Contras with Grand R+L the set with Partner and shadows

by Julian Blechner

A dance this past Friday had a balance partner on the side, square Thru 4 and got me thinking: Do people know any dances with a grand R+L for the set, like 3,33-33, but with partner and 2 shadows? I checked Caller's Box, no luck. I'd love to add a couple to my box. Here's my tentative contribution: A1 slide L, Robins Pull By R (2,2)* NS (12) A2 R+L Thru (8), form ring Bal ring, spin R (4,4), face P, take RHs B1 P Bal RH, pull by R, Shadow 1 pull by L, Shad2 bal RH + Box Gnat (4,2,2,4,4) B2 Shad2 pull by R, Shad2 pull by (2,2,2) PS (10) * A1 could be a slide-circle-swing, but we have plenty of those, and I like the longer NS before a R+L through, for less-tight timing. In dance, Julian Blechner

2 years, 9 months

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