Wow, I was ready for a horror story; I'm so glad that everyone, including you and the band, ended up having a great time! Good show!
Somewhat relevantly: Q: What did the family of cows have for dinner? A: Hay for Four! Nyuck nyuck nyuck, -Angela On Jul 31, 2017 12:59 PM, "Amy Wimmer via Callers" < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi All, > > I recently had the opportunity to call a contra to a group of rank > beginners in a difficult situation: outdoors, on sloping concrete, without > amplification for either myself or the band, to people not expecting a > dance, with a band mostly unfamiliar with either contra or fiddle tunes, > who had no opportunity to practice or choose tunes. It was a staff party > with a barnyard theme. Granted, this particular good of people is > accustomed to being spontaneous and silly at times, most are in their 20's, > and it's a liberal, accepting group. > > The organizers wanted to use the terms "cows" and "chickens" instead of > any other usual terms for dancers. When they arrived at the party each > person chose a name tag with either a cow or a chicken on it. They didn't > know it, but this determined which role they'd play in the dance. I > arbitrarily chose to "put the chicken on the right, because the chicken is > always right." (I keep chickens, and they ARE always right) > > There was not time for much of a lesson, either. It'd have been much > easier if everyone had joined the dance at the beginning. All said, just > about everyone had a really great time, myself included. The band was hyped > up to try another dance evening later in the week, though that never > materialized. > > I never mentioned gender in any way. That part just seemed to not matter. > They were dancing with their friends. It didn't matter that they weren't > experts or even very good. > > I was heartened and encouraged to try something like this again, perhaps > with more widely used dancer terms. > > -Amy > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > >
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