LOL, I could write out the Ladies Chain calls, as I do them pretty much the same way every time. But the patter is something that happens when the music is good and the crowd rockin' and it all comes together for a good time. I could neither remember nor write out most of what I said in that dance. But it is definitely a big part of the fun, both for me and for the dancers.
So here's Ladies Chain: The head two ladies chain, turn them around. Chain back again You chain right back on the same old track, then Side two ladies chain. Turn them around. Chain back again You chain right back on the same old track, then Look for the corner: well you do-si-do your corner, swing that corner round Swing 'em round and round and round Then promenade that corner home. Promenade to the gent's home place in the square. Note it is not a singing square, just quasi singing in that I pitch my voice to the music and do it the same way just about every time. The swing lines are rarely done the same way twice (could be "swing em once or twice or three" or "any old way but upside down" or whatever. ) Calling squares is so tied to the music! It is the music that says what to say, how to say it and when. It is a sad thing about Modern Western Square Dancing that they have lost much of this connection to the music. And even with modern contra dance callers, while the dance is done to the music, many callers think that their calling is just telling the dancers what to do. Good calling is so much more than that. By the way, I don't know what happened to my line breaks in the dance notation. They had them originally and a bunch of the lines got mushed together. Makes it harder to read than it looked leaving my machine....sigh. Beth -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James Saxe Beth, you described the square "Ladies Chain" (named after a featured figure) as a "quasi-singing call" and you described "Heads Arch" as done "with Midwestern patter calling" but your descriptions of both dances simply state the choreography without giving the calls. Could you share the "quasi-singing" words you use for "Ladies Chain" and the patter you use for "Heads Arch"? If so, it could be helpful if you would also give some indication of the timing, for example by writing out the calls 4 or 8 beats to a line with black lines lines separating 8-bar or 16-bar chunks. I recognize that call timing can sometimes involve syncopations or other nuances that are very hard to communicate in print without the aid of an audio recording. I also recognize that any caller who wanted to use one of these dances would have the responsibility of adapting the calls, if necessary, to a form that he or she could deliver comfortably and effectively to dancers present. But I'd still be interesting in seeing call lines that you might use. --Jim _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list [email protected] http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
