I think you don't need to consider all the assumptions below, because
I doubt that there is any hard and fast rule. What I find easiest in
terms of dropping out is to wean the dancers off the cueing fairly
rapidly. The first time through, if there are lots of beginners, I
use a lot more words - e.g. face across and right and left through,
or long lines forward and back. The next time I might say "right and
left" or "long lines", and then the next time just "lines"). For most
dances you can pretty quickly stop bothering to say "swing" - people
tend to remember that they are supposed to do that. If there is a
really good sequence that makes sense, I may call just the first call
into it and leave the rest out pretty early. In the first few dances
of the evening, you may have to call more times before you are able
to drop out completely because the beginners are less experienced and
are all dancing. Then they tire out and by dance three or four you
can often drop calls out very quickly. But it also depends on the
dances you are calling and the time of night and the heat of the
hall. Heat and lateness will tax the brains of the dancers, and
towards the end of the evening, especially in the summer in our non-
air-conditioned hall here in San Diego, I often find that I have to
start prompting much more again. And some dances, particularly those
with two swings, may require almost continual prompting specifically
after each swing, especially late in the evening, when the entire set
may suddenly, in an amazing display of solidarity, all launch into
lines forward and back, which was supposed to come after the second
swing, not the first. It's a great chain reaction to watch, one
person puts their hands out and the whole line telegraphs the motion
and chaos ensues. Another thing I watch out for is beginners who are
becoming #1 couples, especially if the ones and twos do different
things and their 2s aren't able to help them much. Even if I haven't
been calling at all for a while, I might pop in briefly with a cue
for the clueless at a critical moment the first time they do it. And
of course there are the occasional brain teaser dances that require
more cueing than others. We have had a couple of callers come through
here that were of the opinion they should call the dance through
twice and then ignore the dancers, even if the dance was not going
smoothly, and the dancers were not happy about it. I've heard the
dancers yell out "Keep calling!" I do like to have people dancing to
the music, not to me, so I try to call dances with good flow that can
dance themselves, so to speak. I also like people to have a good
experience dancing, a confidence-building experience. Weaning the
dancers seems to be a good compromise for me to the "sink or swim"
sudden cessation of prompting.
Martha
On Feb 11, 2011, at 9:00 AM, [email protected] wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. How much is too much? How little is too little? (Martha Edwards)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:58:28 -0600
From: Martha Edwards <[email protected]>
To: "Caller's discussion list" <[email protected]>
Subject: [Callers] How much is too much? How little is too little?
Message-ID:
<[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
We had a discussion the other night - not about how many
walkthroughs, but
about how many times the caller should call before dropping out.
Obviously, it depends.
So, for the purpose of this discussion, let's assume a new-dancer to
intermediate dancer to experienced dancer ratio of 1:2:1. If
everyone were
evenly scattered by dance level, each group of four would have two
intermediate dancers, one beginner and one very experienced
dancer. Let's
not assume that the dancers are evenly scattered, but are slightly
clumped,
so that beginners do encounter each other occasionally, sometimes
with only
a couple of intermediate dancers to help them.
Let's further assume that the dance is in the part of the country
where two
walkthroughs is considered appropriate - where, even if the first
walkthrough goes just fine, the second one cements the learning and
leaves
you in a position to "dance it from here." Let's further assume
that the
dance lasts about nine minutes (17 times through).
Here's the question: If you have taught an easy dance clearly, *and
the
dance appears to be going well*, how many times through the dance
should you
call? Once or twice with full calls ("join hands and circle to the
left"),
once or twice with shortened calls ("circle left") and then
nothing? Or five
times through with full calls, three times with shortened calls, then
nothing?
How much is too much? How little is too little?
M
E
--
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
------------------------------
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End of Callers Digest, Vol 78, Issue 9
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