There have been terrific suggestions regarding beginner party contra
dances (eg, David Kaynor's booklet -
http://www.davidkaynor.com/booklet.html - which I recently received
and have enjoyed very much).
However, most of the gigs that I have done have not included live
music. As a beginnning contra dance caller (I mostly call square
dances), I would find very helpful suggestions to specific
"purchasable" recordings (and cuts within the CDs) that people have
enjoyed using for specific contra dances - especially contra dances
appropriate for beginner parties. As a made-up example (since I don't
have the CD in front of me), "for a teenage crowd I really like to use
The Privy Tippers - cut 2 - The Curvy Line for Haymakers Jig - except
that the music starts at A1 with no pickup, and at 4:15 it is a
somewhat short".
I'm especially interested in high energy and good quality recordings
that could project nicely through a decent sound system.
Any suggestions - or places to look for this kind of info?
(I'm aware of Dudley Laufman's collections and of the New England
Dancing Masters.)
Thanks very much. And apologies in advance if this is an old question
that is being re-asked for the n-th time. (So many topics do seem to
be unintentionally revisited yearly on mailing lists. :)
Peter Ostapenko (San Diego, CA) http://www.pirkadat.org/caller
Hi all,
First I would like to thank all of you who have been answering my questions
so far. At first I didnt know how to email back only those who had
answered rather than the whole list, and then I thought that I would see you
at NEFFA. That did not happen either so here is a general thanks.
Secondly, I have two versions of Gene Huberts Summer of 84 (written with
Steve Schnur ?), that differ in A1 and A2, and I was wondering which if any,
was correct. I would love to call one of these versions this Thursday. Both
versions are duple improper. The two versions are:
Version 1
(A1) forward and back all (8), Men allemande left (1 ½), Right to Partner to
a wavy line across (8)
(A2) balance that wavy line (4), walk forward (leaving Partner) to new wavy
line across (4), balance there (4), Allemande Right shadow (4) and back to
Partner
Version 2
(A1) forward and back all (8), Men allemande RIGHT ( ½ ) (2), Partner
Allemande left to a wavy line across (6)
(A2) balance the wave (4), walk forward (leaving Partner) to new wavy line
across (4), Balance that wavy line (4), Allemande LEFT ( ¾ ) to Partner
The B sections are the same.
Finally, I would like to ask your opinion about starting a new dance series
in a town that already has a series. In the case I am thinking of there
already is a well established dance in the same town, and it is not at all
clear that the town can support two dance series every month.
Thank you all in advance for your replies,
Rickey Holt.
Hi Everyone who was at NEFFA,
It was very fun getting to meet many of you in person. I think it worked well to have a couple of options and different times for gatherings.
Aside from the great dancing and getting to call, my favorite part about NEFFA is getting to meet and talk with other callers. It's one of the few times I get to even DANCE with caller friends -- Jeremy Korr and I had our first dance, had to go to Boston to do it, even though we are both in California!
It was also an amazing experience to cheer on the other callers before and after everyone called their gigs/ spots. It was great comraderie and not often that we can all be there to support friends; as we're usually off at seperate locations, calling dances.
Even the sound engineer in the Main Hall said to me on the stage while I was calling "wow, you have your own cheering section"! when my caller friends clapped, cheered and smiled from the bleachers when I "saved" my second dance...
I also enjoyed how easy it was to find people. Most were either in the Main Hall, the Lower Hall, or hanging out in the cafeteria, which we did a lot of. So wonderful to just have some time to sit with each other, talk and exchange ideas, share learnings.
I took a few pictures which I'll hope to post, with other's permission. But I probably won't get to that until 1 - 2 weeks.
Thanks again, and hope to see at Pinewoods, for those that are going.
Karen Fontana
California
PS: let me know if you come out this way!
<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
Karen Fontana
www.karenscontracorner.com
karen_fontana(a)yahoo.com
(H) 650-691-9663
<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
Hello!
I am proud to introduce the Mill City Contra Dance! The dance will be
held 3rd Fridays year 'round at the Mill-a-Round Dance Studio
(http://www.millaround.com/) in Manchester, NH.
Our first dance is on May 19th. I will be calling with the wonderful
music of Apple Crisp! (http://applecrispcontra.com/)
Beginner lesson at 7:30, dance at 8:00. $7 per person, under 12 free.
More information and directions: http://www.nhdances.org/millcity/
The Mill-a-Round is located in the Millyard in Manchester. It is in the
Waumbec Mill, a renovated mill building with high ceilings, a wood floor
and plenty of space. It is a wonderful hall to dance in. It is air
conditioned in the summer time. Take a look at the link above for more
information.
Please tell your friends, your enemies and random people on the street!
We're going to have a great time!
Feel free to print out the flyer on the website and distribute it.
Let me know if you have any questions,
Chris Weiler
http://www.chrisweiler.ws/
H:603-668-1086
Chris,
I really like the Saturday morning at 9 am plan. But the doors to the
building don't open to the public until 9:30 (unless there's been a recent
change). How about meeting outside instead at 9 am for the brunch, in the
front courtyard?
Jeremy
>
>Great idea, Karen!
>
>Instead of trying to find a time when none of us are performing or
>dancing, how about we get together on Saturday morning at 9am in the
>cafeteria. Let's have a potluck brunch! I could bring some bagels with
>cream cheese.
There is a lot that goes on at NEFFA and it may be easy to miss certain
gems.
I urge you to consider attending Lisa Greenleaf's
Callers & Dancetunes
North Star Room -- Saturday 11:00 am - Noon
This is an interactive workshop for contra callers: How to pick the
right kind of tunes for contra dancing; how styles of music affect the
dance feel; and how to communicate with musicians.
Lisa is a master at this and I know we will learn a lot that can't be
picked up by book learning.
--
Clark Baker, Belmont, MA
cmbaker(a)tiac.net
Hi All,
Here's two opportunities:
1. Friday evening:
9:15 - 9:45pm in the Main Hall; this leaves time to dance 1 - 2 Role Free contras...
If on the dance floor, face the band, meet in bleachers to the LEFT of the stage...
Then, of course, we all want to be there for the next session (10 - 11:30pm) to support Chris Weiler!
2. Saturday afternoon:
3pm - 4pm in the int'l bazaar cafeteria
This means, we can attend two dances of each square session....
The only other opportunity I saw was:
8 - 9pm Saturday evening....
If anyone has any preference, or other suggestions, good meeting places - outside?, let me know, otherwise, I'll plan to be at #1 and #2 and hope to meet as many of you as possible!
Karen Fontana
<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
Karen Fontana
www.karenscontracorner.com
karen_fontana(a)yahoo.com
(H) 650-691-9663
<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
Hi Shared Weight friends,
I will be coming from California to NEFFA, and it would be great to meet as many of you as possible.
I am thinking to set up up a mtg time (maybe two?), that we can meet either in the cafeteria/ int'l food bazaar, or perhaps after hours? Similar to what you did at RPLW.
Any interest? I'll need to take a closer look at the schedule, so much good stuff, that I'm sure we all don't want to miss.
Please let me know if anyone else is interested,
I will also be at the Thursday nite Springstep dance, so pls say HELLO.
Looking forward to next week,
Karen Fontana
California
<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
Karen Fontana
www.karenscontracorner.com
karen_fontana(a)yahoo.com
(H) 650-691-9663
<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>
Anyone recognize this dance? I got it from Ron Buchanan in January in FL
(at Snowball) but have not been able to get a title or author ...
Title:?
Author: ?
A1: (8) F&B; (8) on left diagonal, gents allemande left 1.5
A2: (16) that neighbor balance and swing (partner of guy just allemanded)
B1: (6) circle left .75, (2) pass thru; (8) partner swing
B2: (8) gents start 1/2 hey; (8) partner swing
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"A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought." -Dorothy
L. Sayers
Hello Everyone,
Recently, some people have been posting questions to both SharedWeight
and to trad-dance-callers more frequently. I understand the desire to
reach the most number of people and how easy it is to post to both
lists. However, you may not realize that the majority of experienced
callers on this list also belong to t-d-c. You also may not realize
that there are people on t-d-c who are hitting "reply all" when
responding to the messages and triggering moderator requests when
their messages try to post to SharedWeight.
Seth and I have discussed this a few times, and while we don't want to
discourage discussion on this list, the topics and threads on t-d-c
tend to drift towards discussions of minutia or historical events or
cultural differences between dance styles. While these topics are
interesting and valuable to experienced callers with broad
experiences, we hope to keep discussion on this list directed towards
topics of use to beginner or intermediate callers of contra and
traditional squares. Our hope for this list is to be a different place
for discussion instead of a subset or extension of the t-d-c list. We
hope that the people in this group feel the same way.
We will not bring this up again unless there are complaints by members
of t= his list.
Thank you for your attention,
Chris Weiler and Seth Seeger
http://www.sharedweight.net/
