Contra Callers

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40 participants
4387 discussions

by David.Millstone＠valley.net

Hi Chris, Delighted to see Chorus Jig in that program! A few thoughts that occurred to me when I read your note... I think you said the dance is 8 - 11:30, and you're planning on taking a break around 9:30. I find that taking the break a little more than halfway through works well. That way, the folks who plan to leave at the break get in plenty of dancing. Our usual Northern Spy dance, for example, is scheduled to run from 8 - 11, although we sometimes go longer. On a typical night, I'll start the break around 9:45 or 9:50, and then we come back after ten minutes or so for the last part of the evening, typically five dances. Ted's #38-- when we danced it as part of our Triplets Marathon, we used a rag for the tune, which made a nice change of pace and fit the zippy feeling of the dance. You might want to get a few more simple dances to have as a backup. Who knows? Hearing that there's an unfamiliar caller lined up may bring in masses of newcomers and it's nice to be ready if you need to stick to easier fare. Let us know how it all goes. David Millstone

20 years, 3 months

thoughts for Chris W.

by Linda A. Leslie

Dear Chris, Good luck and have fun in Maine! A few thoughts about your program: your first half has three dances with some form of going to the center (two with 4 in line, and another with actives); then you have a fourth one in the second half. I would encourage you to strive for more variety. How about a dance with some Petronella balances/twirls, Give & Take, Rory O'More type Balance/slides? I have also found that doing triplets in the first half works out a bit better. If I wait for the second half, the energy level is sometimes reduced a bit too much; but they are perfect for some variety early on. In the second half, almost all of the dances have the women in the center (allemandes or chains mostly), so I would suggest taking a look at trying to replace at least one. Since it is a long evening, you might want to consider calling at least one dance that has only one swing (partner). Hope these ideas help! warmly, Linda Leslie

20 years, 3 months

Author/Name???

by Jeffrey M.Petrovitch

Hello Ev= eryone!!! Does anyone know the author and name of = this dance??? I have heard this danced called plenty of times, but = have never found out the author or name. Thanks... A1: Neighbors do-si-do Neighbors allemende left three quarters<= /FONT> Gents allemende once around A2: Right shoulder full hey for four B1: Neighbors gypsy Neighbors swing B2: Circle left Active couples swing Thanks, Jeff Petrovitch

20 years, 3 months

N. Whitefield, ME program for May 27th

by Chris Weiler

Hi everyone! I have been working on my program for the May 27th North Whitefield, ME dance, making tweaks here and there. I would love to get some feedback from the group about the program. I was able to get up there and attend the dance last month to get a feel for the crowd. Generally, they are high energy dancers without much polish or smoothness. They can do the more difficult dances (as Ted Crane proved while I was there), but they have more fun with the simpler dances. The dance goes from 8-11:30, so I added a couple of dances to make it a 14 dance program. I'm still going to have the break around 9:30ish. Below are the titles and authors of the dances, but I have also attached a PDF document of my cards put in the evening's order. The Nice Combination Gene Hubert Love and Kisses Ted Sannella Midwest Folklore Orace Johnson Hay in the Barn Chart Guthrie Forgotten Treasure Beth Parkes Chorus Jig Marian's Delight Carol Kopp Waltz - Break - Hambo The Carousel Tom Hinds Square Affair Becky Hill Ted's Triplet #38 Ted Sannella Frederick Contra Tom Hinds Weave the Line Kathy Anderson Spring Fever Tony Parkes The Baby Rose David Kaynor I'm not so sure about the inclusion of the triplet, but I think that it's a fun one to dance and including a couple of Ted's dances seems very appropriate here (this is the dance series that Ted founded when he retired to Maine). I have a few dances in reserve that are both more and less difficult (though not many of the less difficult) that I can substitute if needed. I could see putting Mary Cay's Reel or 333-33 in the program fairly easily. Thank you very much to Chrissy Fowler for the opportunity to fill in for her. And many thanks to Lisa Sieverts for her notes from calling at this dance (they were very helpful and also solidified my impressions from attending the dance). Thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide. All the best, Chris

20 years, 3 months

Calling Experiences ~ Nelson

by Jeffrey M.Petrovitch

Hey Ever= yone! Just thought I would chime in with some = of my calling experiences... Well, I would say that I am a fairly i= nexperienced caller, since I have only been calling since the beginning o= f the year. I really believe that there may be no better place to l= earn to call, then Nelson, New Hampshire, and of course for a couple diff erent reasons: 1: The Nelson Contra Dance happens every= Monday night (all 56 Mondays of the year), and that simply means more ti= me to call. I usually call about 2 or 3 dances every week, sometime= s more, sometimes less, but calling every week has really allowed me to l= earn a lot. 2. Nelson Contra Dancers are great= !!! When you have experienced dancers, it really helps a new caller= . The dancers really make the caller look good, so that is always= a confidence boost when you are calling. 3. And of course Don Primrose and = Lisa Sieverts, two great callers, that I have learned a lot from and cont= inue to learn a lot from. When you have good calling mentors, it re= ally helps your growth as a caller. Everytime I call, usually at th= e end of the dance I talk with Lisa about how my calling was. Feedb= ack is such a great tool, and I would encourage new callers to seek out f= eedback. There is always something that can be better about your ca= lling... I really love calling, there is just som= ething about being up on stage, that is just really amazing, but you have= to pratice, pratice, pratice... If there is one thing that Lisa ha= s really instilled into me, it is the the two T's. Teaching and tim= ing. Teaching is so important and of the things that I do along wit= h praticing calling a dance, I also pratice the walk-through. In my= opinion, a walk-through has to be detailed, yet quick, concise, with no = wasted words. Three minutes tops and very rarely there should ever = be a need for a second walk-through. There are of course some dance= s with strange end effects that may require a second walk-through, but 9 = out of 10 times, 1 time is good enough... And of course there is timing. Fla= re and style will come after timing, as it should. Don't be late, d= on't be early. Know where the phrase ends, know when you need to st= art caling a call, and know when you need to stop calling a call. B= e right on the beat... So all and all, I really feel that I come al= ong way in a short five months of my calling career. The last coupl= es weeks, have been right on for me, so hopefully it is only up for here.= One thing that has really helped me call better is my comfort leve= l on stage. You have to have fun, when you are calling or it just i= s not worth it. Do whatever you need to, to be relaxed, comfortable= , and having fun on stage, to call a good dance. I usually will dan= ce around, jump down on the dance floor and dance with the dancers as it = is going on... Just have fun!!! See you on the dance floor or maybe the = stage... Sincerely, Jeff Petrovitch Jeffrey M. Petrovitch jeffrey.m.petrovitch(a)usa.net "Five nights of contra dancing... through 'top-notch' style and technique, with the love and passion for the dance, the title above all others was awarded. I am an 'Iron Dancer'." - J.M. Petrovitch

20 years, 3 months

Update

by Chris Weiler

Hi all, It's been a while since I posted an update on what I have been doing about learning to be a better caller, so here it is. It's not that I've been really busy with work and not doing anything about calling lately, but it's close. Back in late March, I made it up to Nelson to attend the open mic. again. One of the challenging things that I find about calling in Nelson is the need for spontaneity in picking dances. This particular night, I didn't do myself any favors by one, being very tired and two, not practicing or preparing beforehand. So I got up to call 2 dances and the first one went ok, but on the second one (one that I had never called or practiced until 5 minutes before I got on stage) I made a mistake and broke down the set. Don and Lisa were able to get everyone moving again and I picked it up from there, but we ended up off from the music (you'll see in a moment that this could be considered a theme...). Overall another valuable experience and lesson in preparing carefully. This week on Tuesday, I participated in a multi-caller night at the MIT contra dance. Again it's challenging because you never know who you're going to have, especially earlier in the evening. Seth and had the 1st and 2nd slots and we had talked about having a triplet first. I had one (Ted's #38) that I (again) had not practiced, but chosen for another gig that I have coming up, so we decided that I would go first. I quickly ran through it with some music provided by my iPod mini and jumped up on stage with maybe 3 couples in the hall. While people were lining up, three more couples materialized out of nowhere. As I started to teach the dance, however, one of the couples interrupted me and informed me that they had never done this before and needed help. Immediately, another couple in the other set identified themselves as new people. Seth and his wife Bethany kindly split up the 1st couple to give both of them experienced partners and Clark Baker and his partner split up the other 2. Since the dance started with a balance and swing, there was a brief pause while 4 independent mini workshops in "balance and swing" took place. That done, we got started with the walk through, going slow to allow the experienced dancers to guide the beginners. I decided that we definitely needed a 2nd walk through (by this time a 3rd set had appeared). After the 2nd walk through, people were complaining that they did not have their partners (I realized afterwards that I left out the Gents Al L 1 1/2). We got everyone their partners back and walked it through a third time with better success. We were ready to start (and more than half of my time slot was gone), and so we woke up the band and got going. I was a little flustered by working with the beginners and the problems during the walk through, so I forgot the thinly prepared patter that I had come up with. After some stumbling, I finally remembered and got into the patter I had prepared, but we were 16 beats off from the music. I could tell that we were off, but I didn't have any attention to spare on fixing it. In the back of my mind, I was trying to figure out how I was going to signal the band that I wanted the dance to end and just went ahead and gave them the "2" sign during the A1. This was the only time that I wasn't calling since the beginners didn't seem able to carry on when I tried to drop out. We came to a rather ragged halt when Emily Troll and I miscommunicated and she finally asked me "out?" and I nodded my head. After many apologies to the band and introducing Seth, I got off the stage to catch my breath. I take some pride in getting everyone (including the beginners) up and dancing, but think I have a ways to go towards making it smoother. It was instructional to me to realize how heavily you rely on the experienced dancers to integrate the beginners into the dance. I had another slot later in the evening, but gave it up to a young man (Ron was his name) who asked for a slot. I was pretty wiped out by that first dance and then dancing with beginners later, so was just as happy to give it up. Coming up in about a week, I am going to be substituting for Chrissy Fowler at the North Whitefield, ME dance. I went up there last month to scout it out and it's a great dance. I am doing some revising of my program at the moment, but will post it soon here for comments. I'm looking forward to tackling an entire evening and getting a rhythm going and having somewhat of a plan going in. I'm also going back to MIT next month and doing a half evening with Mark Schneider which should go a little smoother than the 6 caller evening did. See you dancing! Chris http://www.fortytwo.ws/~weiler/caller/

20 years, 3 months

So what have you been up to?

by Chris Weiler

Hi everyone, I'm sure that people would be interested in hearing about experiences that you've had lately in calling. People that are new to calling, please tell us about what you're doing to gain experience and learn. Experienced callers, let us know about any unusual things that you have encountered lately (or learned lately). 8^) All the best, Chris Weiler

20 years, 3 months

Fwd: Wanted! New callers!

by Lisa Sieverts

Contact David directly if you are interested. Begin forwarded message: > From: David.Millstone(a)valley.net (David Millstone) > Date: April 28, 2005 7:19:30 PM EDT > To: (Recipient list suppressed) > Subject: Wanted! New callers! > Reply-To: millstone(a)valley.net > > Calling all potential callers! > > I'm looking at the possibility of starting up a class in the fall for > people who > would like to learn to call traditional American dance-- contras, > squares, and > other related dances. Your interest might be in calling at a regular > dance > series with experienced dancers, or you might be inclined toward the > repertoire > of dances that are useful for working with children, family groups, > and other > less-experienced dancers. > > I have a calling apprentice at the moment, with funding provided > through the > Vermont Folklife Center, and that's been a good one-on-one > arrangement. One > difficulty, though, has been that it's hard to practice in the absence > of > dancers; this is especially true when trying to teach a dance, which > in many > cases is harder than the actual calling. This next time around, I'm > thinking > that having a small group (eight people would be ideal) might work > well. > > I'm open to working with all ages, and I'm especially hopeful that > some of our > younger dancers might take a step toward becoming callers. We do have > some good > younger musicians in the area and it's fun to contemplate a new > generation > inheriting our thriving dance scene. > > So, would you like to learn how to be the person on the other side of > the > microphone? > > I'm imagining a regular series of meetings, once or twice a month, > starting in > the fall of 2005 and running through spring of 2006. We'd meet as a > group and > participants would have opportunities to practice on each other and to > offer > support and encouragement. I'll share my thoughts as well, will direct > you to > helpful resources, and will offer specific suggestions as well. I'd > hope that > the members of the group could call at area dances. I know I'd be > happy to have > a "new caller" slot at our monthly Northern Spy dances. > > Before putting more effort into planning this project, however, it'll > be helpful > to know if there are enough possible participants. Please let me know > sometime > in the next week or two if this is something you might enjoy doing. > Once I have > a list of interested folks, we can talk more and figure out the details > together. You can phone me at 603-448-29050 or simply reply to this > e-mail. > > Looking forward to working with some of you! > > David Millstone >

20 years, 3 months

Fwd: [pvcd] Montague dance Sunday, May 1

by Lisa Sieverts

Come out and call! Begin forwarded message: > From: Rebecca Hollingsworth <rebeccarebecca(a)verizon.net> > Date: April 29, 2005 2:45:09 PM EDT > To: pvcd(a)yahoogroups.com > Subject: [pvcd] Montague dance Sunday, May 1 > Reply-To: pvcd(a)yahoogroups.com > > For all who haven't seen flyers or been otherwise reminded: The next > Montague dance is this Sunday, May 1, at the grange hall by the common > in Montague Center. > > Co-host callers are Lisa Sieverts and David Kaynor, both of whom > encourage other callers and proto-callers to take a turn; music is by > the All-Comers Band, which can be joined on the spot by anyone who has > an acoustic instrument that will fit in or near the stage. Most > members of this totally ad-hoc group play some and dance some; at > this > dance, the line between the stage and the dance floor is the merest > shadow of a concept. > > Dancers are also welcome. Admission is by self-determined donation > (i.e., you decide how much to toss in the fiddle case). All proceeds > from this particular dance will go to a local family that has incurred > some heart-breaking medical expenses. > > Potluck at 6:00; dance starts at 7:30 with a Grand March. See David > Kaynor's recent e-mail for details on events earlier in the day. We > expect that there will be a number of long-time grange members present > for at least the beginning of the evening. This could be a great, and > fun, chance for the spheres to intersect. > > Becky > rebecca(a)fastermac.net > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > • To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pvcd/ > > • To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > pvcd-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com > > • Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of > Service. >

20 years, 3 months

[Callers] Sit-in musicians welcome at 4/30 Cape Cod, MA contra dance

by Robert Golder

In addition to developing calling skills, some of you may also be developing your dance band instrumental skills. If so, you're invited to bring your instrument and join the band at a fifth Saturday contra dance sponsored by the Falmouth Fiddlers Association. Saturday, April 30, 2005, 8:00 - 11:00 pm, North Falmouth Congregational Church Hall, 155 Old Main Street, North Falmouth, Massachusetts. $6 admission. More info about this event, and travel directions, at http://www.schoonerflagpoles.com/DanceFF.html More info about Falmouth Fiddlers Association at http://www.schoonerflagpoles.com/falmouthfiddlers.htm Falmouth Fiddlers Association, 508-563-9494, falmouthfiddlers(a)yahoo.com ---------------------------------------------------- Robert Jon Golder 164 Maxfield Street robertgolder(a)comcast.net New Bedford, MA 02740 (508) 999-2486 voice

20 years, 4 months

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Contra Callers