--
Jerome Grisanti (http://www.jeromegrisanti.com) asked me where a tweaked
version of Ellen's Green Jig comes from. The source would be me, but I
never got around to naming it. If folks think it's worthy of an
independent identity, maybe it should be "Knights of Pythias" because
that's the little hall in Danville where I started substituting it for
Ellen's Green Jig a good number of years ago.
The dance again, with a few of the walkthrough cues that have helped
beginners:
A1: Couples ("partners welded together") slide left into a do-si-do around
each other; all four circle LEFT (flows very nicely; could do in opposite
order)
A2: All balance and swing (or just the ones, if you need the twos to keep
the ones oriented correctly when the swing ends); "face the other couple"
B1: Right-hand star; circle RIGHT to home place, "keep the circle"
B2: With hands joined all the while, twos arch, ones duck under and
retreat; ones arch and twos duck; "twos over, ones under, on to the next."
Chip Hedler
chiph(a)rumney.org
chedler(a)rumney.org
David Millstone had provided the figures for a dance proven to be as close to sure-fire as a genuine contra can get at many, many events I've called where the dancers are all beginners and very young and/or very old. I find it much more effective than Jefferson and Liberty, a "chestnut" often recommended for beginners.
Ellen's Green Jig (Roy Dommett)
longways, duple minor
A1 Do-si-do neighbor
Do-si-do partner
A2 Ones balance and swing
B1 Circle left; Circle right
B2 Square dance figure, Duck for the Oyster, Dive for the Clam: Still joined in
a circle, twos arch and ones duck partially under and then back up to place.
Ones arch and twos duck under and then back up. Ones duck all the way through
Twos' arch, drop hands with old neighbors to meet new neighbors.)
"Duck for the oyster, dive for the clam, duck through the hole in the old tin
can" or similar patter
========================
Here's a dance based on Ellen's Green Jig that has turned out to be very nearly as successful with more action and stronger connection:
A1: Couples ("partners welded together") do-si-do each other; all four circle LEFT (flows very nicely; could do in opposite order)
A2: All balance and swing (or just the ones, if you need the twos to keep the ones oriented correctly when the swing ends)
B1: Right-hand star; circle RIGHT
B2: Same as Ellen's Green Jig. I describe the duck/peek through the arch as a sneak preview
of both couples' final destination and have twos initiate the progression by carrying their arch over the ones, who should duck down and then step forward through the arch. Otherwise, the set migrates away from the music significantly.
This is a good dance for introducing stuff like the improper formation and the orthodox way to end a swing, but ignoring both of those issues has not impaired its success.
Chip Hedler
chiph(a)rumney.org
chedler(a)rumney.org
Ellen's Green Jig (Roy Dommett)
longways, duple minor
A1 Do-si-do neighbor
Do-si-do partner
A2 Ones balance and swing
B1 Circle left; Circle right
B2 Square dance figure, Duck for the Oyster, Dive for the Clam: Still joined in
a circle, twos arch and ones duck partially under and then back up to place.
Ones arch and twos duck under and then back up. Ones duck all the way through
Twos' arch, drop hands with old neighbors to meet new neighbors.)
"Duck for the oyster, dive for the clam, duck through the hole in the old tin
can" or similar patter
> my 20 odd (quite odd) years of dancing and involvement in the dance community
in New England, mostly Vermont (Etna, Norwich, Thetford, to Northern Spy etc.)
Well, well, well... nice to hear what's emerged from our local dance series long
ago!
I've no experience teaching dances in Japan, but:
a) I've taught dances in Denmark (good number of English speakers), in the Czech
Republic (some English speakers nut fewer), and to kids in Bratislava, Slovak
Republic (virtually no English speakers)
b) I know several ofther folks who have taught dance in Japan
Bottom line: I don't foresee many problems.
As a Czech dance teacher told me, based on lots of experience working with
Japanese dancers who come to Prague to learn traditional Czech dance (which does
involve physical contact) and who has taught in Japan as well, "Japanese are the
best
dancers and students in the world and it is a pleasure to work with them. They
can repeat almost everything and are very orderly."
Ahmet Luleci, who travels internationally teaching Turkish dance, tells the
story of the time he was teaching to a group of several hundred in Japan. In the
middle of a complicated dance, his translator had to leave the room, so Ahmet
continued on his own. Suddenly, he noticed that that his shoelace was untied. He
bent down to tie his shoe, and upon rising, also wiped some sweat from his
forehead. He looked around the room and saw several hundred people bent over
shoelaces and/or wiping their foreheads, copying his every move.
Lessons (most reiterating what others have said, for emphasis):
1a) Keep your dances simple. The idea is to give them a taste of American style
dancing, with American music.
1b) Simple dances can be taught more quickly, which increases the amount of time
spent dancing to music and minimizes the time spent listening to translated
instructions.
2) You can get through the event just fine without calling any bonafide contras.
(see note below)
3) Show more than you speak. A clear demonstration will let people learn all
kinds of movement without language. I taught Rod's Quad #2 to a group in Prague
a few years ago-- it's a complex double quadrille-- and once one group got it
and was able to demonstrate it, the hall of 200+ dancers was able to replicate
the dance.
4) Use English words for figures. If, as you hope, this may turn into something
that continues, people might as well learn the vocabulary. It's possible to call
dances in Denmark-- home of the world's most thriving contra and traditional
square dance community-- to folks who cannot speak English but who do know the
names of twenty or thirty basic figures. Why? Because thirty years ago, when she
was getting this scene started, Margot Gunzenhauser decided that she would make
sure that figures are called in English. This means that American and English
callers can visit often-- and they do-- and that Danish dancers can dance
contras and squares elsewhere with pleasure, using a shared vocabulary.
5) Pick great music!
Let us all know how it turns out.
David Millstone
Lebanon, NH
P.S. If you really want to call a contra, I'd recommend this one.
Family Contra (Sherry Nevins)
duple minor-- don't worry about gender, proper or improper
A1 Balance ring 2x, circle left 1x
("Go IN... and OUT... and IN... and OUT)
A2 Balance ring 2x, circle right 1x
B1 DSD with neighbor, DSD with partner
B2 Facing other couple and with inside hands joined with partner, DSD 1.5 as a
couple to progress
[n.b. this has been 'cross posted' to the yahoo traditional callers list, in case anyone is on
both lists...]
This post from a llooonnnngg time dancer and first time caller who is
requesting some advice for an unusual situation...but as it is my
first post, I will explain a little about myself, and along the way
that will explain the unusual situation and help guide and refine any
replies.
My name is david crespo, a name some of you no doubt fear -- I mean
recognize -- or would (recognize, that is) (if you saw my ugly
mug) (well, maybe fear...) from my 20 odd (quite odd) years of
dancing and involvement in the dance community in New England, mostly
Vermont (Etna, Norwich, Thetford, to Northern Spy etc.) and Maine
(SMFA (Yarmouth), Falmouth, Bates, Bowdoinham...). As some of you
thus know, about 3 years ago, at a Wake the Neighbors Bates dance I
was met by a cute and not very frightening Japanese exchange student,
Yukie, who with a very little gentle nudging at Deffa a week later,
eventually (rapidly, that is) was able to parlay that happenstance
circumstance into what is now a beautiful and happy marriage. She
returned to Japan shortly after we completed our courtship and about
a year later I followed. We're living in Kyoto.
Alas, there is one tragic note attending this otherwise joyous and
perfect scenario. Japan, you see, is a land thouroughly devoid of one
essential nutrient: contradancing. You can imagine my dismay, tears,
and lamentations. Sadly, then, since my arrival, I have been quietly
(well not so quietly) teaching english while secretly incubating evil
plans to conquer Japan, then Asia, then the world in 64 (drastic)
measures (hmmm--- good name for a dance). This month, my long patient
agony of waiting has begun to pay off. I have been given the
opportunity to indoctrinate a few trusting and innocent souls into
the sublime mysteries of la dance du contra and create an army of
swiftfooted robots, ready and willing to do my bidding at every call.
SOON I WILL CONQUER THE WORLD!!!
ahem.
please excuse me while my medicine kicks in. Ah, yes, thank you. OK,
where was I? The fact is, my wife and I have been invited to lead a
contradance workshop at a local festival on October 20. When we found
out, we began doing as much research as we could on calling and so
on. We found a few basic dances, like Baby Rose and Diane's Visit and
Atonement Reel that we like and figured would be suitable and we have
been practicing calling them. But I really welcome any suggestions...
Actually, above and beyond some decades of doing things proper and
improper, I took a caller workshop or two from Rick Mohr (thanks
Rick) so I have a rough idea of what's involved. And I've learned a
bit from practicing calling and writing a few ad hoc dances on my
own. For example, I learned that being a dancer has habituated me to
act ON the beat, but as a caller I need to act BEFORE the beat,
eh....this flustered me at first. Are there any other typical first
caller pointers we should be on the lookout for?
In addition, there are a few other associated circumstances in this
project that create the aforementioned unique situation. In brief
(HA! fooled you), since I've rattled on too long, here is what I mean:
I don't speak more than the rudiments of Japanese. My wife is still a
beginner dancer, to wit, she isn't a strong enough one to call on her
own. Between us we are trying to teach each other what the other
lacks and hopefully make one good caller out of the two of us. One
question that has come up is is it better to keep the standard names
for the figures, or to Japanify them. (We are leaning to the
former...Japanese has a very high percentage of english loan words,
and they learn english (poooooorly) in school.) Still, has anyone
ever tried to call across a language barrier?
Japanese are touch sensitve. They don't touch, they don't give eye
contact. They don't give weight. (They give wait). They don't hug.
They don't even say I love you. They are very shy. For example, I am
told that this is to the point that standing in a line of men facing
a line of women is likely be uncomfortable, even for the younger
generation, so Yukie feels we should use mixed couples with armbands
to distinguish "gender"--I mean position. As we build a community of
experienced dancers, it would be expected that some of this
inhibition might wear off...). You can see why they need to dance. On
the other hand, they are good followers. Any advice for working with
a shy crowd?
Some or many of the attendees at this workshop, we just found out,
are likely to be children. Depending on the percentage, it may be
necessary to do a kids dance, or at least a dance kids could enjoy. I
am good at working with kids in general, but I would love any advice
for doing a dance with young people. I don't know or haven't been
able to find any children's dances, though I assume the Family Dance
in Yarmouth is still up and I plan to contact Jeff Raymond about it,
because I can't remember the caller's name (Nancy....) (though we
have danced and chatted about dancing and calling several times at
the May Day Festival...gads! say hi if you're listening..).
So, children's dances are one thing I am looking for.
We are working in a small space...maybe two lines of six couples
each. Advice for small spaces???　
We are doing three workshops. If the same people return, we may do
more advanced things, or we may just repeat teh workshop...but I
would like to try different dances each time, for my practice.
The room will be full of beginners, so no experienced dancers to rely
on. Ballroom dancing had a certain following here (and in Kyoto there
is a small set dancing group that we visited...small 14 or so... and
a square dancing group that we plan to visit. ) but not enough to be
helpful, in the sense that there are few cultural supports for
learning (i.e. in the US most everyone knows (even if they don't
admit it) how to at least fake a waltz or ballroom position...not
here.) Think martian territory...
I should add that we are seriously working towards starting a regular
dance here (we've found an available and very suitable space, a
church hall in a nearby church, for example) and this is for us a
tryout and possible stepping stone. We want to whet people's
appetite, and leave them wanting more. We have a half hour to do it...
OK...apologies for the verbose and windy post. Fond regards to all of
you I know, hajimemashite ("nice to meet you" in japanese, literally
"beginning") to the rest and many thanks in advance for your time and
help...cheers...david
nothing rhymes with nostril...
____________________________________________________________________________________
Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a reality with Yahoo! Autos.
http://autos.yahoo.com/index.html
David,
I was likely calling the dance when you met Yukie. Congratulations! No
wonder I haven't seen you around lately.
I have to very strongly urge you to follow the advice of Lindsey and Lisa.
That is exactly what I would do. Keep it VERY BASIC or as Ted Sannella
advised, KISS!
That said, check with Eric Black <eric(a)mirador.com>. I know Eric from
NEFFA among other venues. He has lived in Tokyo and led contra dancing
there. I can't vouch for the above email but he was in the Bay Area last I knew.
Good lick, John McIntire, Unity Maine
David,
Greetings from Maine, glad to hear all is well with you...
We've been presenting some community contradances for non-dancers/beginners this past summer, we are both new callers... We've had great results starting with a Bastringue style circle dance, then a Galopede longways set... Both are easy to call and dance to at the same time, and being right in the dance helps a lot because you're teaching by example... If people don't quite understand your instructions, they can watch and see what you are doing, and then the instruction makes more sense... These two dances, with instruction and walk through and some dancing should take up most of a half hour...
After these two dances, we have a good idea whether we should continue on to a contra that progresses, and if so, we do Haste to the Wedding... We only add one new figure with each new dance that gets taught, and we look for that point where the dancers are not picking up anything new... From that point on, we select dances that have all the moves learned up to that point, but different sequences with different music so it feels like a new dance...
Have plenty of flexibility in your program so that you can stay at the beginner level with circles & longways sets, and also have some easy duple contras in the event that the crowd gets it and wants to do more... Remember, if the dancers are having a good time, you're doing a great job!
Good luck, and nice to hear from you...
Richard & Pam Green
callers-request(a)sharedweight.net wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Japan dance and self intro/update
(sharedweight.99.kyoto(a)spamgourmet.com)
2. Re: Japan dance and self intro/update (Lindsay Morris)
3. Re: Japan dance and self intro/update (Greg McKenzie)
4. Re: Japan dance and self intro/update
(Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing)
5. Re: Japan dance and self intro/update (Lisa Sieverts)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 11:59:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: sharedweight.99.kyoto(a)spamgourmet.com
Subject: [Callers] Japan dance and self intro/update
To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Message-ID: <74363.4139.qm(a)web38705.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
[n.b. this has been 'cross posted' to the yahoo traditional callers list, in case anyone is on
both lists...]
This post from a llooonnnngg time dancer and first time caller who is
requesting some advice for an unusual situation...but as it is my
first post, I will explain a little about myself, and along the way
that will explain the unusual situation and help guide and refine any
replies.
My name is david crespo, a name some of you no doubt fear -- I mean
recognize -- or would (recognize, that is) (if you saw my ugly
mug) (well, maybe fear...) from my 20 odd (quite odd) years of
dancing and involvement in the dance community in New England, mostly
Vermont (Etna, Norwich, Thetford, to Northern Spy etc.) and Maine
(SMFA (Yarmouth), Falmouth, Bates, Bowdoinham...). As some of you
thus know, about 3 years ago, at a Wake the Neighbors Bates dance I
was met by a cute and not very frightening Japanese exchange student,
Yukie, who with a very little gentle nudging at Deffa a week later,
eventually (rapidly, that is) was able to parlay that happenstance
circumstance into what is now a beautiful and happy marriage. She
returned to Japan shortly after we completed our courtship and about
a year later I followed. We're living in Kyoto.
Alas, there is one tragic note attending this otherwise joyous and
perfect scenario. Japan, you see, is a land thouroughly devoid of one
essential nutrient: contradancing. You can imagine my dismay, tears,
and lamentations. Sadly, then, since my arrival, I have been quietly
(well not so quietly) teaching english while secretly incubating evil
plans to conquer Japan, then Asia, then the world in 64 (drastic)
measures (hmmm--- good name for a dance). This month, my long patient
agony of waiting has begun to pay off. I have been given the
opportunity to indoctrinate a few trusting and innocent souls into
the sublime mysteries of la dance du contra and create an army of
swiftfooted robots, ready and willing to do my bidding at every call.
SOON I WILL CONQUER THE WORLD!!!
ahem.
please excuse me while my medicine kicks in. Ah, yes, thank you. OK,
where was I? The fact is, my wife and I have been invited to lead a
contradance workshop at a local festival on October 20. When we found
out, we began doing as much research as we could on calling and so
on. We found a few basic dances, like Baby Rose and Diane's Visit and
Atonement Reel that we like and figured would be suitable and we have
been practicing calling them. But I really welcome any suggestions...
Actually, above and beyond some decades of doing things proper and
improper, I took a caller workshop or two from Rick Mohr (thanks
Rick) so I have a rough idea of what's involved. And I've learned a
bit from practicing calling and writing a few ad hoc dances on my
own. For example, I learned that being a dancer has habituated me to
act ON the beat, but as a caller I need to act BEFORE the beat,
eh....this flustered me at first. Are there any other typical first
caller pointers we should be on the lookout for?
In addition, there are a few other associated circumstances in this
project that create the aforementioned unique situation. In brief
(HA! fooled you), since I've rattled on too long, here is what I mean:
I don't speak more than the rudiments of Japanese. My wife is still a
beginner dancer, to wit, she isn't a strong enough one to call on her
own. Between us we are trying to teach each other what the other
lacks and hopefully make one good caller out of the two of us. One
question that has come up is is it better to keep the standard names
for the figures, or to Japanify them. (We are leaning to the
former...Japanese has a very high percentage of english loan words,
and they learn english (poooooorly) in school.) Still, has anyone
ever tried to call across a language barrier?
Japanese are touch sensitve. They don't touch, they don't give eye
contact. They don't give weight. (They give wait). They don't hug.
They don't even say I love you. They are very shy. For example, I am
told that this is to the point that standing in a line of men facing
a line of women is likely be uncomfortable, even for the younger
generation, so Yukie feels we should use mixed couples with armbands
to distinguish "gender"--I mean position. As we build a community of
experienced dancers, it would be expected that some of this
inhibition might wear off...). You can see why they need to dance. On
the other hand, they are good followers. Any advice for working with
a shy crowd?
Some or many of the attendees at this workshop, we just found out,
are likely to be children. Depending on the percentage, it may be
necessary to do a kids dance, or at least a dance kids could enjoy. I
am good at working with kids in general, but I would love any advice
for doing a dance with young people. I don't know or haven't been
able to find any children's dances, though I assume the Family Dance
in Yarmouth is still up and I plan to contact Jeff Raymond about it,
because I can't remember the caller's name (Nancy....) (though we
have danced and chatted about dancing and calling several times at
the May Day Festival...gads! say hi if you're listening..).
So, children's dances are one thing I am looking for.
We are working in a small space...maybe two lines of six couples
each. Advice for small spaces???@
We are doing three workshops. If the same people return, we may do
more advanced things, or we may just repeat teh workshop...but I
would like to try different dances each time, for my practice.
The room will be full of beginners, so no experienced dancers to rely
on. Ballroom dancing had a certain following here (and in Kyoto there
is a small set dancing group that we visited...small 14 or so... and
a square dancing group that we plan to visit. ) but not enough to be
helpful, in the sense that there are few cultural supports for
learning (i.e. in the US most everyone knows (even if they don't
admit it) how to at least fake a waltz or ballroom position...not
here.) Think martian territory...
I should add that we are seriously working towards starting a regular
dance here (we've found an available and very suitable space, a
church hall in a nearby church, for example) and this is for us a
tryout and possible stepping stone. We want to whet people's
appetite, and leave them wanting more. We have a half hour to do it...
OK...apologies for the verbose and windy post. Fond regards to all of
you I know, hajimemashite ("nice to meet you" in japanese, literally
"beginning") to the rest and many thanks in advance for your time and
help...cheers...david
nothing rhymes with nostril...
____________________________________________________________________________________
Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a reality with Yahoo! Autos.
http://autos.yahoo.com/index.html
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:23:07 -0400
From: Lindsay Morris
Subject: Re: [Callers] Japan dance and self intro/update
To: Caller's discussion list
Message-ID: <47029A9B.1020203(a)tsmworks.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Wow, you're biting off too much.
Teach them community-dance stuff first - circle mixers, easy things to
get them used to touching, allemanding, and giving weight.
If they refuse to take hands and circle left, then I suggest you fake a
heart attack and get out.
Lindsay Morris
Principal
TSMworks
[1]www.tsmworks.com
859-539-9900
[2]sharedweight.99.kyoto(a)spamgourmet.com wrote:
[n.b. this has been 'cross posted' to the yahoo traditional callers list, in cas
e anyone is on
both lists...]
This post from a llooonnnngg time dancer and first time caller who is
requesting some advice for an unusual situation...but as it is my
first post, I will explain a little about myself, and along the way
that will explain the unusual situation and help guide and refine any
replies.
My name is david crespo, a name some of you no doubt fear -- I mean
recognize -- or would (recognize, that is) (if you saw my ugly
mug) (well, maybe fear...) from my 20 odd (quite odd) years of
dancing and involvement in the dance community in New England, mostly
Vermont (Etna, Norwich, Thetford, to Northern Spy etc.) and Maine
(SMFA (Yarmouth), Falmouth, Bates, Bowdoinham...). As some of you
thus know, about 3 years ago, at a Wake the Neighbors Bates dance I
was met by a cute and not very frightening Japanese exchange student,
Yukie, who with a very little gentle nudging at Deffa a week later,
eventually (rapidly, that is) was able to parlay that happenstance
circumstance into what is now a beautiful and happy marriage. She
returned to Japan shortly after we completed our courtship and about
a year later I followed. We're living in Kyoto.
Alas, there is one tragic note attending this otherwise joyous and
perfect scenario. Japan, you see, is a land thouroughly devoid of one
essential nutrient: contradancing. You can imagine my dismay, tears,
and lamentations. Sadly, then, since my arrival, I have been quietly
(well not so quietly) teaching english while secretly incubating evil
plans to conquer Japan, then Asia, then the world in 64 (drastic)
measures (hmmm--- good name for a dance). This month, my long patient
agony of waiting has begun to pay off. I have been given the
opportunity to indoctrinate a few trusting and innocent souls into
the sublime mysteries of la dance du contra and create an army of
swiftfooted robots, ready and willing to do my bidding at every call.
SOON I WILL CONQUER THE WORLD!!!
ahem.
please excuse me while my medicine kicks in. Ah, yes, thank you. OK,
where was I? The fact is, my wife and I have been invited to lead a
contradance workshop at a local festival on October 20. When we found
out, we began doing as much research as we could on calling and so
on. We found a few basic dances, like Baby Rose and Diane's Visit and
Atonement Reel that we like and figured would be suitable and we have
been practicing calling them. But I really welcome any suggestions...
Actually, above and beyond some decades of doing things proper and
improper, I took a caller workshop or two from Rick Mohr (thanks
Rick) so I have a rough idea of what's involved. And I've learned a
bit from practicing calling and writing a few ad hoc dances on my
own. For example, I learned that being a dancer has habituated me to
act ON the beat, but as a caller I need to act BEFORE the beat,
eh....this flustered me at first. Are there any other typical first
caller pointers we should be on the lookout for?
In addition, there are a few other associated circumstances in this
project that create the aforementioned unique situation. In brief
(HA! fooled you), since I've rattled on too long, here is what I mean:
I don't speak more than the rudiments of Japanese. My wife is still a
beginner dancer, to wit, she isn't a strong enough one to call on her
own. Between us we are trying to teach each other what the other
lacks and hopefully make one good caller out of the two of us. One
question that has come up is is it better to keep the standard names
for the figures, or to Japanify them. (We are leaning to the
former...Japanese has a very high percentage of english loan words,
and they learn english (poooooorly) in school.) Still, has anyone
ever tried to call across a language barrier?
Japanese are touch sensitve. They don't touch, they don't give eye
contact. They don't give weight. (They give wait). They don't hug.
They don't even say I love you. They are very shy. For example, I am
told that this is to the point that standing in a line of men facing
a line of women is likely be uncomfortable, even for the younger
generation, so Yukie feels we should use mixed couples with armbands
to distinguish "gender"--I mean position. As we build a community of
experienced dancers, it would be expected that some of this
inhibition might wear off...). You can see why they need to dance. On
the other hand, they are good followers. Any advice for working with
a shy crowd?
Some or many of the attendees at this workshop, we just found out,
are likely to be children. Depending on the percentage, it may be
necessary to do a kids dance, or at least a dance kids could enjoy. I
am good at working with kids in general, but I would love any advice
for doing a dance with young people. I don't know or haven't been
able to find any children's dances, though I assume the Family Dance
in Yarmouth is still up and I plan to contact Jeff Raymond about it,
because I can't remember the caller's name (Nancy....) (though we
have danced and chatted about dancing and calling several times at
the May Day Festival...gads! say hi if you're listening..).
So, children's dances are one thing I am looking for.
We are working in a small space...maybe two lines of six couples
each. Advice for small spaces???@
We are doing three workshops. If the same people return, we may do
more advanced things, or we may just repeat teh workshop...but I
would like to try different dances each time, for my practice.
The room will be full of beginners, so no experienced dancers to rely
on. Ballroom dancing had a certain following here (and in Kyoto there
is a small set dancing group that we visited...small 14 or so... and
a square dancing group that we plan to visit. ) but not enough to be
helpful, in the sense that there are few cultural supports for
learning (i.e. in the US most everyone knows (even if they don't
admit it) how to at least fake a waltz or ballroom position...not
here.) Think martian territory...
I should add that we are seriously working towards starting a regular
dance here (we've found an available and very suitable space, a
church hall in a nearby church, for example) and this is for us a
tryout and possible stepping stone. We want to whet people's
appetite, and leave them wanting more. We have a half hour to do it...
OK...apologies for the verbose and windy post. Fond regards to all of
you I know, hajimemashite ("nice to meet you" in japanese, literally
"beginning") to the rest and many thanks in advance for your time and
help...cheers...david
nothing rhymes with nostril...
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Hey, David,
Here's an experience you may find instructive:
Back when I was pretty darn new to this calling business, I was asked to call a dance for a mixed group of high school kids -- about 30 American and 60 Russian. The event was in Hardwick, VT in the high school gym and it was the Russian visitors who pulled things together for the American kids, who looked and acted like the last thing they wanted was to do some weird dancing to weirder fiddle tunes. As is often the case, there were more English speakers among the Russians than Russian speakers among the Americans, and very few American kids felt up to finding Russian partners -- it was usually the Russian girls who would put an American kid on the spot and claim him as a partner. Sounds like you won't have a mixed group, though--it might be all, or almost all, Japanese.
To cut to the chase, there was an interpreter with the visitors, a blowsy woman with a voice any caller would be happy to have. She stood beside me and translated my instructions in what sounded like very succinct and clear terms. After forming the set and getting everyone's "hands joined in circles of four", I went down to the center set and used the "duck-duck-goose" method of showing who the ones and twos were, using gestures to indicate how they would interact then progress in opposite directions. Before I could get too smug about how their eager smiles and nods reflected on my own skills, I suddenly realized that the interpreter had shadowed me closely, mimicking my every move and gesture to everyone's great amusement and insight. I pantomimed arriving at the end of the set to find no more couples, turning around and waiting, and starting back up the set, the entire time still being copied by the interpreter. The whole deal took about three minutes, but it broke the ice and reluctance for everybody on the floor and the rest of the walkthrough was a piece of cake. The rest of the evening was a complete success, thanks to that interpreter. With her, it probably would have been possible to do well with a 100% Russian group. Without her, things that night might have had an entirely different outcome.
The moral of the story for me was "act out more and speak less," and have a good interpreter if possible. Since you're dealing with festival-goers, you won't have to cope with outright aversion to even being there, but I suspect you'll be able to take the actual temperature of your group as soon as you see the manner in which they collect on the floor. Be ready to adapt on the fly. There have been many great suggestions in this email group about the best dances for beginners, and about the importance of choosing dances where the foursome maintains strong unambiguous physical connection as much as possible.
You didn't mention the musical resources you'll have or won't have, and they will probably be as critical as anything else. A live band, I hope? Strongly-phrased tunes with steady rhythms seem more important than the actual choice of tunes or the band's level of virtuosity, but good music really does make for good dancing. If you have tunes with easily-noticed differences between the A and B parts, it'll make it easier for you to keep track of where you are in the process. Don't ask the band to play much slower than usual--it's much harder to dance in slow motion--but you don't want the band racing through the tunes in an attempt to make them seem more exciting.
There will probably be many more good suggestions from the many truly talented contributors to this group, but I hope these will be of some value.
Good luck!
Chip Hedler
(Norwich, VT!)
Dear David,
I agree with Lindsay. Contras are hinged to a deep tradition and a well-established ritual. To start from scratch it will take at least a generation to get a "real" contra dance going.
I suggest you put out the word through whatever media you can and try to contact other contra dancers in Japan. You may be surprised to learn how many there are. If you can get a crowd with at least 20% dancers with some contra experience you can make it work...provided your calling is very precise.
I have organized three contra dance tours of the former Soviet Union. One thing I learned is that you don't need a caller who speaks the native tongue, as long as you have a core of experienced dancers. In fact, calling in English is recommended. The new dancers will learn by watching and dancing with those who have done it before. They won't learn from verbal descriptions in any language.
Good Luck,
Greg McKenzie
-----Original Message-----
>From: Lindsay Morris <lindsay(a)tsmworks.com>
>Sent: Oct 2, 2007 3:23 PM
>To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
>Subject: Re: [Callers] Japan dance and self intro/update
>
> Wow, you're biting off too much.
> Teach them community-dance stuff first - circle mixers, easy things to
> get them used to touching, allemanding, and giving weight.
> If they refuse to take hands and circle left, then I suggest you fake a
> heart attack and get out.
>Lindsay Morris
>Principal
>TSMworks
>[1]www.tsmworks.com
>859-539-9900
Hi Folks,
I'm finally getting ready to consider buying a wireless microphone -
handheld, not a headset. What are the minimum requirements I should
consider? What should I expect to pay for such a mic (with receiver)?
Any/all advice is appreciated. Feel free to point me elsewhere.
Thanks,
Warren
