Who wants to take bets that the answers to this poll shake out thusly: 1. one walk-through - East and West coast 2. two walk-throughs - all others
Though I am from the two-walk-through part of the country, I particularly agree with Dan's point number 2 - dancers would learn to pay attention right away if they were used to one walk-through. But life out here in the hinterlands is, in fact, more relaxed, and we seem to like it that way. Having lived in Boston for 25 years, I'm a bit on the fence about it, myself. For instance, I liked Boston driving when I lived there - saw it as a fine sport - but I've become a complete wuss, and prefer long, slow, signaled lane changes and stopping at red lights now. M E On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Dan Pearl <[email protected]> wrote: > I just led a session on conducting walk-throughs at NEFFA, so the topic is > fresh on my mind. (BTW if anyone wants a copy of the handout from that > session, drop me a line, and I'll send you a pdf.) > > I have a hard-and-fast rule about walk-throughs: "There are no hard and > fast rules." The number of walk-throughs depends on a zillion factors, so I > usually make the decision about another walk-through at the end of the first > walk through. But because I'm a big-city-slicker from the East Coast, my > goal is usually one walk through. Why? > 1) I like the pace of the evening to be at a reasonable clip. Extra > walk-throughs tend to slow the evening down, in my opinion. > 2) I want to train the dancers to pay attention the first time, and not > rely on omnipresent subsequent walk-throughs. > 3) I want to maintain my credibility by doing the right amount of teaching > that a dance requires. > 4) The level of the evening should be attainable by most, with just a few > challenges. > 5) I think the dancers want to dance. > > Exceptions? Sure! Here are some: > a) Monthly dance, lots of new dancers? Two walk-throughs (especially 1st > half of the evening). This is where I explain about "out at the ends". I > might go to one walk-through later in the evening. > b) Experienced crowd? Maybe no walk-through. [Actually, a real-time > walk-through with music, if you get my drift] > c) Triple Minor dance? Two walk-throughs. (so the 2's and 3's can > experience the "other" role). > > Decision Time: Do another one? > LISTEN to the crowd at the end of walkthrough 1 and differentiate between > friendly chit-chat sounds, and worried murmurs of people asking each other > what to do. > > I would recommend to all callers that have tried one walk-through with > little success to > a) Examine the material you have chosen. Is it reasonable dance material, > or challenging, unorthodox, etc.? > b) Record yourself and analyze later whether the words you chose were the > best ones to get the dancers to do what you wanted. If not, figure out > better ones. In my mind, better = shorter, less ambiguous, more memorable, > etc. > > Happy dancing! > Dan > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > -- For the good are always the merry, Save by an evil chance, And the merry love the fiddle And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
