A big thanks to everyone.
Richard Hart, you were correct, it is identical to Tom Caldwell's "Early Bird Special"
His notes say he wrote it for the same reasons that I needed it.
Jane Ewing
Grant, AL
Also similar to Nice Combination.
On Sep 21, 2009, at 9:00 AM, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. Title assistance please......... (Jane Ewing)
> 2. Re: Title assistance please......... (Michael Barraclough)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:26:37 -0500
> From: "Jane Ewing" <contradance(a)charter.net>
> To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Callers] Title assistance please.........
> Message-ID: <9AADB31CCF974D7FAC472A0F5DB77CCE@TEAPOT>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> For various reasons I need a dance with these moves and find
> nothing in my
> stack.
> Does anyone recognize this combo as being an existing dance and if
> so can
> you please give me title and author.
> Thanks.
>
> A1 Neighbor DSD & Swing
>
> A2 4 in line down-turn alone
>
> B1 Circle left 3, Partner Swing
>
> B2 Right & Left Thru, Ladies Chain
>
> Jane Ewing
> Grant, AL
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:10:45 -0400
> From: "Michael Barraclough" <michael(a)michaelbarraclough.com>
> To: "'Caller's discussion list'" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Title assistance please.........
> Message-ID: <004101ca3acd$b25545c0$16ffd140$@com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Its not in my stack either. However, it is quite similar to
> Inflation Reel
> by Tony Parkes. A1 and A2 are the same and Inflation Reel has your
> B2 as
> it's B1.
>
> Michael Barraclough
> http://www.michaelbarraclough.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
> [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Jane Ewing
> Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 10:27 AM
> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
> Subject: [Callers] Title assistance please.........
>
> For various reasons I need a dance with these moves and find
> nothing in my
> stack.
> Does anyone recognize this combo as being an existing dance and if
> so can
> you please give me title and author.
> Thanks.
>
> A1 Neighbor DSD & Swing
>
> A2 4 in line down-turn alone
>
> B1 Circle left 3, Partner Swing
>
> B2 Right & Left Thru, Ladies Chain
>
> Jane Ewing
> Grant, AL
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 61, Issue 15
> ***************************************
For various reasons I need a dance with these moves and find nothing in my
stack.
Does anyone recognize this combo as being an existing dance and if so can
you please give me title and author.
Thanks.
A1 Neighbor DSD & Swing
A2 4 in line down-turn alone
B1 Circle left 3, Partner Swing
B2 Right & Left Thru, Ladies Chain
Jane Ewing
Grant, AL
Chrissy has some great things to say about starting a dance series. Wish
I could go!
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH
-------- Original Message --------
chris -
gaye fifer and i have put together a weekend for organizers and
callers. it will be held in blacksburg, va.
could you post this announcement to the sharedweight list?
thanks,
shawn brenneman
---------------------------------
The Virginia Dance Leadership Conference is an event designed for
organizers and callers from our region to come together and
collaborate about how to build the dance community.
It will be held the weekend of Oct 16-18, 2009, in Blacksburg, Va.
It's a two track event - one for organizers and one for callers.
Chrissy Fowler of Belfast, ME, will be leading sessions for
organizers, focusing on creating a clear vision and running a
successful community dance series. Bob Dalsemer will be leading the
session for callers, focusing on a better understanding of
choreography, working with musicians, and engaging new dancers.
Conference participants will all join in at the regular Blacksburg
contra dance Saturday night, which will be called by Bob's calling
class particpants.
Registration fee of $45 includes a Friday night social, 4 Saturday
workshops, Saturday night contra dance admission, meals on Saturday,
Sunday morning brunch and followup session. Hosting is available for
out of town participants.
Find the details at:
http://www.twodogwaltz.com/conference.html
Workshop space is limited to 22 organizers and 10 callers.
Print out a registration form (from the website) and send it in to
reserve your spot!
More info: Contact Gaye at 434-244-7858 or Shawn at sbrenneman(a)gmail.com
This event is funded in part by the Mary Kay Friday Fund of the CDSS
(Country Dance and Song Society).
http://www.cdss.org/mary-kay-friday-leadership-fund.html
Your workshop sounds great, Barbara! Congrats.
One tidbit that I might add from my own experience as a gleeful gender-swapper during dances:
Barbara Groh said, "There was a little confusion, of course, as folks forgot which
side to be on after a swing and were not able to use visual cues of
gender to do the dance."
If swapping roles during the partner swing (often an easy time to do so), we've discovered that simply offering the hands differently can serve as an excellent clue. For a balance & sw, the person who will become the lead/male/band holds the offering hands up; the person who will become the follow/female/barearm holds her hands down, ultimately placing them in the waiting hands of the other. If no balance but only swing, the arm placements are similarly offered as clues: if leading, it's the left arm out straightish and right high & around; vv for following. These are tangible visual cues, and even one person remembering to do them can make all the difference.
Of course, if necessary one can also default to a muttered "I'm the boy; I'm the boy; I'm the boy."
Tina
Hey, fellow callers,
I had lots of great suggestions from many of you re: putting together a
gender-swapping w.s., and a couple of people asked me to report on how it
went. So here goes:
The workshop took place at the Moondance weekend in S.C., and we had a good
turnout....a couple of longways sets for most of it. The dancers were all
very experienced, and many of them had done some gender swapping at regular
dances. We spent several minutes talking about the swing, the change of arm
position (I liked Jack's suggestion not to do the symmetrical swing at the
w.s.), how many counts to twirl someone out of a swing, and the complaints
that each gender can have about the other gender's bad habits in a swing.
i.e. giving too much, or not enough, weight; forced twirls; awkward body
positions, hanging on the shoulder of your partner. I had folks swap gender
roles with their partner and practice a little bit, with an opportunity to
give each other feedback. Then we danced a simple dance (Robert Cromartie's
Pooh Bear's Holiday) that had a P and a N swing, but no chain.
For the next dance I had folks pair up w/ someone of the same gender. We
talked about the joys of a regular courtesy turn, the twirl, how to signal
that you don't want to twirl, and how to guide the twirlee to be ready for
the next move. I also reminded followers not to back-lead a twirl. They
practiced chaining in groups of four, & then we danced Summer Sunshine by
Paul Balliet.
Before the 3rd dance, we talked about gender swapping at a regular dance
that includes beginners, and how and when to swap back if you see someone
coming who would be confused or irritated by your swap.
Then we just danced for the rest of the time, & folks chose same gender or
opp. gender for each dance. I thought everyone did really well. There was a
little confusion, of course, as folks forgot which side to be on after a
swing and were not able to use visual cues of gender to do the dance. I
was glad I stuck w/ easy dances, because the dancers had enough to think
about.
I had several people tell me they enjoyed the workshop, so I want to thank
all of you who took time to send suggestions. They were very helpful!
Happy calling,
Barbara
Three thoughts, or parts thereof:
1. Dancers might benefit from a mention in the beginner workshops that they
should not be too surprised if the person they are to do a move with is of
the unexpected gender, that it's just done for fun and is okay. Forewarned
is forearmed. New dancers might think we're strange, but they won't have to
panic and think they've done something wrong. Maybe they'll even laugh as
they get the joke.
2. All respect to Chris Ricciotti's wonderful treatment of gender-free
calling, I still wish we could find something other than "bands and bares".
If it's the local custom, I'd wear armbands, but I really would rather just
dance the other role without worrying about whether I was dressed right.
Positional dancing really isn't all that hard, so all we really need is
better words to describe the positions. If everyone was bilingual (English
and Contra) we could use the English Country Dance terms "partner, neighbor,
and corner". Those terms pretty much define everyone in the set without
using gender. We'd just have to figure out whether we want "first corners"
to be the *"*position at the time of the call", or the "people who were
first corners when the set was formed", as in English. Either way, the pesky
"ladies chain" would simply be "second (or first ) corners chain."
3. In the meantime, however, I prefer to keep the regular terms, men (or
gents) and ladies. But I sure like the square dance terms "boy" and "girl"
because of the nice plosive consonant at the beginning of the words, making
them easy to distinguish in an echoey hall.
M
E
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 8:57 AM, Jack Mitchell <jamitch3(a)mindspring.com>wrote:
> One other thing I had thought about doing in a workshop is to have a
> few people in each line with a red ball cap or a particular shirt or
> some other identifying mark, and challenge folks in the workshop to
> make sure that they're not swapping when they get to those particular
> people in the line. At regular dances, I have particular local dancers
> that I know don't react well to switching parts -- mostly because it
> confuses them -- and I try to switch back when I see them coming. I
> also attempt (mostly successfully) to make sure that I don't switch
> parts when one of the folks in the next couple is a new dancer. The
> partner swing is a nice time to look ahead to see who the next couple
> is and quickly switch back if needed.
> Jack
> At 09:36 AM 9/11/2009, you wrote:
>
> Following up on Mark Galipeau's note:
> In a workshop, it may be good to offer a little context on when
> gender-role-swapping is appropriate (or inappropriate). For example,
> at most
> dance weekends your neighbors will welcome or at least understand.
> At many
> monthly dances, there are neighbors who may become confused either
> because
> they are new, rigidly devoted to traditional gender roles, or any
> number of
> other reasons. Some may even try to correct us (if they don't know
> us).
> Before swapping, I look ahead in the line to be sure that our next
> neighbors
> will be part of the "game" and not put off by it.
> (Mark indicates the idea of there being a time and a place for this,
> I
> merely offer an additional tip).
> --Jerome
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 15:27:15 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: Mark Galipeau <red72impala(a)yahoo.com>
> > To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Callers] Gender Swapping
> > Message-ID: <964380.63567.qm(a)web83604.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> >
> > If the group is alert, what my dance partners and I occasionally
> enjoy, is
> > memorizing both roles in the dance, then each iteration when there
> is a
> > swing your partner, we swap gender roles.
> > ie: first swing I lead, then the next time we come back to swing
> my partner
> > immediately takes the lead role and swings me.? Some dances are
> challenging
> > and if the grey matter is slow, or it is late in the evening this
> can really
> > snafu the line.
> > ?
> > Chris Ricciotti has a great web resouce on Gender Free Contra on
> this web
> > site.
> > [1]http://www.lcfd.org/Articles/GFManual/index.html
> > ?
> > Mark Galipeau
> > Queer Contra Dancer
> > We swing both ways, and then some.
> >
> >
> >
> --
> Jerome Grisanti
> 660-528-0858
> [2]http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
> For the good are always the merry,
> Save by an evil chance,
> And the merry love the fiddle
> And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
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>
> References
>
> 1. http://www.lcfd.org/Articles/GFManual/index.html
> 2. http://www.jeromegrisanti.com/
> 3. http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
--
For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
I just learned of a need for a caller and band for a Bat Mitzvah in
Washington, DC. The date and time are October 17, 7 - 11 p.m. As I
understand it, it would be pretty much of a party dance for mostly
inexperienced dancers. If anyone is interested in pursuing the matter,
please contact Renee Brachfeld <kesem(a)verizon.net> for more details.
Walter Daves
Jeff K wrote:
How did sun assembly do gender free where you didn't need to find a
partner?
At Durham, N.C. Sun Assembly dances folks sometimes just line up and someone will join you as your partner. It's also fine to ask someone specfically to dance. It's a smallish, casual group and this seems to work just fine. Not sure how it would work with a larger group.
Bree Kalb
Carrboro NC
Alan wrote:
I'm with you, and so is, eg "Heather and Rose" in Oregon and "Triangle Country
Dancers" in North Carolina. But I think that train has probably left the
station on self-consciously gender-free contra dancing.
Actually, Triangle Country Dancers, primarily a contra dance group, is not gender-free. Sun Assembly, the English group in our area, is. That's where I learned to dance and call English and it was strange the first time I danced elsewhere and had to acclimate to "Ladies" and "Men." (Even though I'd been dancing and calling contras using gendered language.) I like the more relaxed atmosphere of not needing to find a partner and no concern about gender balance.
Bree Kalb
Carrboro, NC
