Don, Congratulations! I'm sure you will do well. Remember that all of the dancers want, very much, for you to succeed and will help in any way they can. The first tip is to work on getting all of the first-timers matched up with the regulars. This will allow them to help you more effectively. If you can integrate the hall in this way you will eliminate most of the problems that could crop up.
Call to the entire hall and watch the entire hall. If there is "trouble" in some part of the hall you will see it out of the corner of your eye. It is important to *not *look directly at the confused dancers! There is seldom anything you can learn from them and it is likely to throw you off if you watch them carefully. (It can also throw them off because it may make them nervous if they see the caller watching them.) Regardless of what the confused dancers are doing the solution is almost always the same: Call clearly, succinctly, in time with the music, and use effective word order in forming your calls. Most set breakdowns are the result of the caller watching and desperately trying to "help" the confused dancers. I know there is real trouble when I hear the caller say something like: "No! Swing the *other *one, the one on your RIGHT!!" That kind of targeted instruction-from-the-mike comes from watching the confused dancers carefully. It always ends badly. Also, let the dancers know that you are impressed with how well they are doing. Just a simple word like "Good!" during the walk-through will put many dancers at ease. If the dancers believe you are pleased with them they will listen to you more carefully. Good luck! Greg McKenzie **************** On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 10:20 PM, Don Veino <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi Folks, > > Brand new to the list. I'm one of the organizers for the MondayContras > series at the Concord, MA Scout House and have been an avid dancer for just > over 4 years now. Hi to those I already know and to those of you I'll get > to know from here! > > I've been an occasional caller for dances on shared evening programs and > camper nights, etc. but have my first full evening coming up later this > month, which I'm excited about. This is for a smaller regional dance that > attracts a mixed crowd of mostly periodic dancers. I've done some basic > "how to call" workshops at festivals, etc. but have not taken a formal > caller's course. > > I'm planning to tailor my dance selection to the expected crowd and build > in some flexibility to address variability. I'm pretty confident in my > dance selection skills but I'm definitely still counting my way through the > music to call. So one concern is with making sure I stay firmly anchored to > the music, without depending upon the crowd for cues. I craft my calls to > fit the phrasing and rehearse with music to get confident but dance > breakdowns are a fear. I've come close a couple of times early on but have > been able to set things right somehow on the fly... however, I was not very > confident doing so at the time. > > So with that concern, a couple of related questions: > - Do you have practiced recovery routines (more than just "get home and > swing your partner")? Is that common? Or do most callers just make it up on > the spot? > - In working with the musicians, are there any customary "I've lost track, > where are we in the music?" signals? > > I look forward to learning from the shared wisdom of the group here and am > open to any other tips you may have. > > Thanks, > Don > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
