Hello Friends,
For those who haven't heard yet, Mark Jones has organized a wonderful
event for new callers to try their stuff. At the Scout House! We had a
meeting Sunday night to try out our material and it's going to be great!
Personally, it's a thrill to be calling while David Kaynor is playing
since I learned how to dance at his Friday dances in Greenfield years ago.
Come out and support us if you can!
Chris
Feb 13, 2005 (2nd Sunday) - Scout House 7:30 PM
"New Voices: New Callers"
Seth Seeger, Chris Weiler, Nathaniel Jack
Jenna Watson, Cortni Frecha, Mark Jones
(Sue Rosen coordinating)
Lissa Schneckenberger, fiddle
David Kaynor, fiddle
Bruce Rosen, keyboard
Flyer:www.cds-boston.org/american/images/new_voices.pdf
_HomeGallery_ magazine has just published my article "Contra Dancing is
Back in Full Swing." The article is part of a continuing series called "Off
the Beaten Path" ("designed to take readers to places and activities they
might not otherwise know about in our richly diverse region" [southeastern
Massachusetts and Rhode Island]. As such, the article provides an overview
and history of contra dancing, tells the reader why contra dancing is so
enjoyable, and lists venues where interested readers may go to dance. I note
this for sharedweight.net subscribers because the article begins and ends
with descriptions of Seth Seeger's calling debut at the East Sandwich Grange
on Cape Cod a few months ago. I can send JPEGs of the three-page article to
any of you who'd like to see it, or I can just send the text in an e-mail.
I'd like to share two quotes from Linda Leslie and Amy Larkin, which
close the article. Both women are responding to how they feel after Seth's
debut as a caller.
Linda - "Seth, and other young people like him, are the future of our
dances. It is thrilling to see young adults develop into the next generation
of new callers, musicians, and dancers."
Amy - "This represents the very best of our Yankee heritage. It's
traditional New England culture, still alive and growing, and being passed
along to the next generation. It's participatory, not passive. In these
times, it is marvelous to focus on joy through art, through dance and music
shared with others." .... Bob
----------------------------------------------------
Robert Jon Golder
164 Maxfield Street robertgolder(a)comcast.net
New Bedford, MA 02740 (508) 999-2486 voice
Hi all,
Re: Lynn's questions:
> 1) Have you ever received a set of such guidelines (or sent them out from
your dance), and if so, would you be willing to share them with us? > 2)
As a caller, what information would you like to have included in such a
document?
I've never received a set of guidelines from any of the dance communities
I've called in to date. But I have a set of questions that I ask organizers
of new communities, many of which are similar to Lisa S's. Here are the
questions I ask in addition to hers:
- What style of music the band plays, and whether they'd find it helpful to
have my program in advance of the dance and who to send it to (with the
proviso that I have the right to switch dances as required.)
- Whether the teaching session before the dance is typically done by the
evening caller or by a local. Sometimes with a new community, I prefer to
see what they teach in a teaching session. It gives me a sense of their more
experienced community, what they think is important, etc. What things I then
emphasize within my dances, to add to the session or cover gaps.
- Any figures or formations to avoid, or conversely that they're
specifically wanting to include, for whatever reason. Lately, I've had
communities ask me to include contra corners right before the dance. And I'd
prefer to know that in advance.
- If beckets, contra corners and double progressions are ok to call.
- Whether the crowd hates mixers.
- How many dances are typically called in an evening. That's kind of along
the lines of the interval between dances, but also gives me a sense of
whether they like the dances to go longer or shorter.
- Anything (unusual) about the size/shape of the hall.
> 3) As a dance organizer, what information would you like to convey to
incoming callers?
And as far as I know, the Toronto dance doesn't send a set of guidelines per
se. However, since September 2004 the local callers have been specifically
working on raising the level of the intermediate level dancers, so we have
asked non-local callers to address a specific concept sometime.
4) How much detail would you like such documents contain?
It was very interesting to read the Cambridge dance guidelines, and I was
not surprised to see that level of detail for that dance/crowd, especially
after having danced there. I agree with Lisa G's comment that they are a
very demanding clientele and I would definitely want to know this and the
details well in advance of calling there. I don't see it as micro managing,
but rather making sure up front that the caller is well prepared and that
the dancers get what they expect. Tom's examples were very interesting too.
I would definitely want to know in advance if a community required a
specific dance or figure to be called. I'm still at the stage where I like
to plan a program in advance to make sure that I vary the story lines and
include the "meat." Changing thing up on the fly is getting easier for me,
but I prefer to make sure that I work specific details in. Interesting
comment about the placement of a mixer in a program. I used to include one
in the second or third slot in my programs but then called a bunch of dances
in a row where there weren't enough dancers to pull it off. Then, I moved
the mixer to the first dance after the break but I sometimes find that
people who hate mixers continue the break, rather than dance. Knowing when
to put it in an evening to help balance the lines would be very helpful. I
think ultimately, the level of detail should be determined by the community.
As a caller, I want the community to have an enjoyable evening. So I'd like
to know whatever level of detail they feel is important for me to know to
help make sure that happens.
Good topic. Thanks for raising it Lynn.
Bev
*****************************************
The Witful Turnip wturnip(a)sympatico.ca
"If you're gonna eat shit, don't nibble."
- said by Tom Hinds re: calling square dances
*****************************************
Hi!
I need some help in identifying a dance. This was shared with me
recently and I hope to call it at some point and would like to be able
to credit it.
becket
A1 long lines forward and back, ladies chain
A2 left hand star, w/ next neigh allem. right 1 1/2 (to long waves with
men facing in and ladies facing out)
B1 bal. wave, circulate, bal. wave, circulate
B2 bal. wave, circulate and swing partner
It seems familiar, so I think that I've danced it before. At least the figure with the bal., circ., bal., circ., swing. (Circulate is a modern western square dance term. If you're facing into the set, walk across; if you're facing out, loop right to take the place to your right facing in.)
Thanks for your help!
Chris
On May 17th, the MIT dance in Cambridge, MA is having a "Caller Sampler
End of Semester Fiesta". They are looking for callers to participate.
This is a good venue to get some practice calling. We will call 1-4
dances each.
Contact Ann Cowan if you're interested: acowan3(a)earthlink.net
During the past month, I've had more exposure to dance guidelines and people wanting to write dance guidelines than I've ever had before. What I'm talking about is guidelines that the programmer/organizer of a regular dance series provides to callers who will be calling at that dance. I've found some to be very helpful, especially when I've never been to that dance. Others provide way too much information and almost feel like micromanaging.
So, my questions for you all are: 1) Have you ever received a set of such guidelines (or sent them out from your dance), and if so, would you be willing to share them with us? 2) As a caller, what information would you like to have included in such a document? 3) As a dance organizer, what information would you like to convey to incoming callers? 4) How much detail would you like such documents contain?
Thanks,
Lynn
I've been presented with some interesting guidelines relating to programming:
End the evening with La bastrangue
Include 1 contra with contra corners in the evening
Don't call squares
Don't call contras (at the Blacksburg square dance).
As a person booking the dances in C'ville I noticed that during one summer, ALL of the callers called an entire evening composed of dances in the pattern of:
A1 swing neighbor (variations of)
A2 some easy moves in order to....
B1 swing partner (including all the variations)
B2 some easy moves in order to.........
The experienced dancers got really bored.
So I had to request that callers vary the story lines and actually include some meat in their programs.
We've moved to a smaller hall that requires short lines. I suggested no double progression dances and a circle mixer as the 3rd or so dance- people tickled in and this is when the numbers were too many for one line and too few for 2 lines.
Tom
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. dance guidelines (lynn ackerson)
> 2. Re: dance guidelines (Lisa Sieverts)
> 3. Re: dance guidelines (Lisa Greenleaf)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 15:04:13 -0800 (PST)
> From: lynn ackerson <callynn1(a)pacbell.net>
> Subject: [Callers] dance guidelines
> To: callers <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID: <20050126230413.29985.qmail(a)web81610.mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> During the past month, I've had more exposure to dance guidelines and people wanting to write dance guidelines than I've ever had before. What I'm talking about is guidelines that the programmer/organizer of a regular dance series provides to callers who will be calling at that dance. I've found some to be very helpful, especially when I've never been to that dance. Others provide way too much information and almost feel like micromanaging.
>
> So, my questions for you all are: 1) Have you ever received a set of such guidelines (or sent them out from your dance), and if so, would you be willing to share them with us? 2) As a caller, what information would you like to have included in such a document? 3) As a dance organizer, what information would you like to convey to incoming callers? 4) How much detail would you like such documents contain?
>
> Thanks,
> Lynn
>
Chris asked: "Does anyone know if anyone makes a patch cable to go directly from
a sound board to an iPod?"
I'd contact the folks at Equipment Emporium in LA:
800-473-4554
http://www.equipmentemporium.com/
Their particular expertise is audio for film and video productions, including
separate recordings via tape recorders, DAT, mini-disk, etc. They carry patch
cords of every description. More importantly, they have the experience to be
able to say what will work and what won't. You can't order from their website.
Instead, give them a call and see what they have to say. It's possible to take
line-level signals from a mixing board via XLR cables and end with a mini-plug
at mic level going into my camcorder. Don't know the specifications for an iPod,
but I'm sure it can be done.
If you want to check a company that specializes in cords, try Markertek. If
there's a cable made anywhere, they probably carry it:
1-800-522-2025
http://www.markertek.com/
I was able to obtain from them-- stock item, not custom made-- a particularly
weird cable that lets me send an S-video signal from my digital video editing
deck to an ancient Commodore computer monitor. (Don't ask!)
Lisa mentioned getting good sound with her mic on a nearby chair. You'll get the
best sound with a mic close to your voice. One easy suggestion, if you're only
interested in hearing your voice, is to fasten the iPod to your mic stand--
let's hear it for Velcro! You can also fasten the iPod mic onto your regular
microphone (assuming that it's not cordless) and you'll be sending a clear
signal to both at the same time.
David
I am very much of the school of thought that says record your own
calling, then listen to the recordings and make improvements based on
what you hear. (Yes, I admit to hanging out with Larry Jennings from
time to time :-).
So, on to technology. I've been recording to MP3 for several years,
using a Pogo Ripflash device. It was OK, but the sound quality wasn't
great -- it always sounded over-driven. But the device is tiny and I
can hang it from the microphone without looking too dorky.
However, I recently invested in an Apple iPod with a Griffin iTalk mic.
I used this at my last gig and was quite pleased with the result. The
device wasn't particularly close to me -- I placed it on the chair next
to me, but the sound quality was better than with the Pogo. The Griffin
mic has an automatic input volume control, something that not all iPod
mics have.
You'd never use this setup to record the music, but it's plenty good
enough for evaluating your own calling.
Lisa
I'm posting here a note I recently received from two caller friends that may be
of interest to folks on this list. The senders' e-mails are contained near the
end of the note so contact them directly off-list if you're interested in
participating.
If you're a new caller and haven't yet discovered the Ted Sannella legacy, I'd
recommend that you immediately contact Country Dance and Song Society
(sales(a)cdss.org) and purchase copies of Ted's two books, "Balance and Swing" and
"Swing the Next." They are excellent collections of dances (mostly by Ted, but
also including some traditional material and compositions by others as well) AND
Ted's notes on how to teach each dance are wonderful guides into the thinking of
a master caller.
CDSS is in the process of publishing Ted's manuscript on calling squares; the
hope is to include a CD of Ted calling.
I've programmed entire evenings of nothing but Ted Sannella compositions and
have been continually amazed by his creativity-- contras, squares, triplets,
circle dances, mixers, simple dances for beginners to quite complex... he did it
all!
David Millstone
=====
We are all looking forward to wonderful dance and music events in 2005. Amongst
other things 2005 will mark the tenth anniversary of Ted Sannella's death. Ted
passed away on 18 November 1995. Ted was our common mentor and inspiration. His
dance legacy is alive and we want to help keep it alive for future generations.
We were just together at a Christmas dance camp where we starting talking about
Ted. We would like to do something special to remember Ted this year, and hope
you can join us in that.
We would like you to join us in declaring the "week" of 11-20 November 2005 the
Ted Sannella memorial dance week. What might we do to commemorate Ted? One or
more of Ted's dances could be programmed during one of your community's contra
dances. Perhaps you'd like to do an evening of Ted's dances. Maybe fellow
callers and musicians could tell an anecdote or share photos to bring back
memories. You might want to put on a workshop and devote it to Ted's dances and
philosophy. There are many possibilities.
Whatever you would like to do that would work well for your local dance
community would be great. The important thing is that the commemoration happen
during November 11-20. We'd like to have dancers, callers, musicians and
organizers from all over thinking of Ted and his contributions to the dancing we
love and to our common dance heritage.
If you're interested in participating in this memorial dance event, please
contact Mary Devlin (mary(a)mdevlin.com) and/or Philippe Callens
(upcal01(a)yahoo.com). Let us know what you're thinking of doing. If it's OK with
you, we can share plans among the participants.
Mary Devlin (Portland, Oregon)
Philippe Callens (Antwerp, Belgium)
