On Dec 16, 2004, at 6:42 AM, Chris Weiler wrote:
On a side note: A funny thing happened to me on the way to the square
dance... 8^) As some of you know, I go Modern Western Square Dancing
on Tuesday nights at MIT. Well, this past Tuesday, the MIT contra
dance was across the hall from Tech Squares. The caller didn't show
that night. Clark, who likes to bounce between the two dances, came in
and told Seth and I about it and asked if we could remember any dances
to go call. I volunteered (after some thought) that I could remember
The Baby Rose off the top of my head. So I went across the hall and
called it. After trading off with the organizer trying to remember
dances a couple of times (and mangling them), I went to my car and got
my cards for Saturday's program and called the second half from them.
The crowd was small (I usually was calling to a group of 6-10
dancers). Some friends were in the band and were easy to work with. It
was great, because I had a chance to practice a few of my dances for
Saturday, and I didn't have any chance to worry and get nervous, so I
was pretty relaxed about it. The really amusing thing was watching all
of the Tech Squares people (who had heard what was going on) kept
coming across the hall to poke their heads in and see what was
happening. I suppose it looked pretty funny with me, in shorts and a
Tech Squares T-shirt, standing at the head of a contra dance line,
calling the action. 8^)
Several comments.
1) I think that all callers should have some number (say 2 or 3) easy
dances that they can call without having their cards with them. I can
count at least 5 times when I have attended a dance where a caller was
needed. Perhaps the booked caller was late, double booked, forgot,
whatever. You can save the day (or at least save the start of the
dance).
2) Also, if you accidently overreach and get bogged down in a lengthy
walkthru or even get stuck with a dance you can't make work, you need a
quick way to recover. Resetting the dancers to "hands 4" and calling a
simple no walkthru is a great way to keep on track. But, you must have
that dance ready. You never know when you might need it.
3) Carry your cards (or a copy of them) in your car at all times. They
can come in handy as they did for Chris.
4) Chris did one dance which ended with a men allemande left (probably
1 1/2) star promenade neighbor, butterfly whirl. Then the dance
started with a balance and swing. I found the timing very tight on
this. Not only that, disengaging from the butterfly whirl and facing
the next neighbor required some dance skill. I wouldn't use this early
in the evening with new dancers. Perhaps not use it at all.
5) I just found a good web site with some suggestions for dances for
new callers (i.e., easy to call because of the timing), dances for new
dancers, etc.
Check out
http://www.dancerhapsody.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=CallersWorkshops
6) I also thought the "What kind of caller are you?" quiz on that page
was interesting.
--
Clark Baker, Belmont, MA
[email protected]
