sounds great Jack. I'll start to seriously look for flights. I've been preoccupied with my father's passing and my mother. She's having a rough time and I've been to NJ twice already. Scheduled to return this saturday. It would be nice to have a break. And this week I got a cold.
I guess I'll decide if I'm coming a day earlier or leaving a day later based on flights. Obviously I need housing - as you know. I prefer no dogs as I'm allergic to most, but since they'll be little time in the house as long as its not in a sleeping area it may be okay if there isn't another choice. I prefer not to sleep with cats, pigs or crawling things. Just as a matter of point. I do plan on attending the caller workshop. As for looking around, is there something to look around at? I just think if you travel to an area you have never been to before it would be nice to see the countryside or - things that are of general interest to the people that live there. I've taken several dance trips to mid-west and canada and it was a mad dash to drive to the dance, get to the dance and get back. Obviously it would be best for me financially not to have to rent a car. What are your thoughts on that. I have to look up where you said to fly into again. RDU you said I think. I'll send a separate blurb in response to the caller workshop information you requested. Hack sneeze back to work. I did mention that I get up at 5 to go to work and don't get back until 6:15 most days. .. My mom has also needed some attention, she's so lonely, so I've gotten into the habit of calling her when she goes to bed. I've got to stop that. Last night it was 1 a.m. before I felt comfortable getting off the phone with her. yikes. OH - I'm calling Becky's brouhaha in two weeks - Called and danced it out at the caller consortium and everyone loves the dance. If there's ever a dance you've written and want our group to walk it through, please feel free. I know you have your own resources, but in case you'd like to know how it feels from strangers in another part of the world.. Our group has two veterans - gol, they've been calling forever. Jan was actually on the east coast for a while. Both Mike and Jan are dance leaders and dance community leaders too. Jan also calls and writes English dances. Mike plays with an english group for the local dances. The others are people that Mike mentored from the workshop I got going in early 2005, maybe fall 2004. There is one musician, she leads an incredible old time contra band, that also pulls in music from notorious hotpoint, and others, who calls when she can fit it in, and is very good. We've shared a few dance nights, I have one scheduled in April where she'll play and I call, in fact; and then there's about 4 of us that call regularly, that being a few dances at a dance at least once a month, with some community gigs here and there. I do a little more than the others since I also program every other month for one of our dances (so I get to call half the dance), and I do open mic's around the area, and have been booked to share a night with others at local groups a few times, and do community gigs. Two of us are driving to Indiana in a week so we can do open mic there. They are reluctant to bring in other callers so this way they'll get to check us out. I am also going to get in touch with Valparaiso, Ind, they've started back with a dance there and are always open for callers. Both are a ways out but heck. Anyway, we meet once a month to work on things and we have a yahoo group list for discussion. So if you have a dance and want an impression - try us out. Gotta go. See you --- Jack Mitchell <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello All-- > > The First Saturday Dance and Triangle Country > Dancers will be hosting > the Winter Whirlwind weekend February 29 - March 2 > in Durham and > Carrboro, NC. We will have three dances plus a > callers workshop, all > led by Becky Hill. On Friday 2/29, there will be a > dance at Pleasant > Green Community Center in Durham with the Elftones. > On Saturday > (3/1) afternoon, we will have an advance dance, also > with the > Elftones and Becky. Then on Saturday evening, we > will have a dance > with Footloose and Becky. Finally, on Sunday > afternoon (beginning at > 12:30), Becky will lead an intermediate level > callers workshop > (Becky's more detailed description of the workshop > is at the end of > this message. More information about the weekend > can be found at > www.winterwhirlwind.com. If you know if any other > callers that might > be interseted in attending, please pass this on to > them! > > I hope that many of you will be able to join us for > some or all of > these events. If you are interested in attending > the callers' > workshop, please let me know as soon as possible. > We do require > advance registration for the workshop. Since I'm > also the one that's > coordinating housing for out of town folks, if you > need housing with > a local dancer, please let me know that as well > (even if you think I > already know!!!) > > So, I need the following information: > > Who you are > That you're planning on coming to the workshop > What calling experience (in a sentence or so) you've > had (ie. "Called > some single dances in an evening." "Been calling > for 20 years." etc) > If you need housing with a dancer (and if so, for > which nights) > --if you need housing, are you allergic to anything > (cats, dogs, > stupidity.....) > > Let me know if you have any questions!! > > Hope to see many of you next month. > > Jack > > > Workshop Description/Details: > > 1. We will begin the workshop by pairing new callers > with experienced > ones. Each team of two will "chart" a dance which > will enable callers > to parse the dance for the walkthrus, including > specifics such as who > and where each person lands in the line, > discovering shadows, and > negotiating knotty end effects. > > 2. Programming: each team will be given 11 dances > sequenced in the > best order to program for a given evening. We will > all share the > outcome and explain how each team made their > decisions. > > 3. Precision calling: the participants will be given > dances with > dicey timing issues. Using the empty timing sheets > in the large > handout, the participants will fill in the blanks so > that the timing > is precise with the music. > > 4. Voice control: breathing from the diaphragm and > "on the fly" deep > relaxation techniques in the face of adversity. We > will do some > exercises for both men and women, so that they may > avoid shrill > female voices and angry sounding male voices. > > 5. Positive teaching techniques; avoiding the use of > negative words; > praising the dancers and the band for a job well > done. > > 6. Maintaining variety; the participants will fill > out the "Dance-at > -a Glance" sheets with a sample program using the > previous > programming exercise to check for variety of dance > moves. > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > ~~ ~ What the heart has once owned.....it shall never lose. ~ ~ Henry Ward Beecher~ ~~ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
