Richard makes a very good point, a contra dance is a social event, not a
military drill. When I first started calling I attended a callers'
workshop once where we were asked why we were interested in calling
contra. My joking reply was that "I have a deep desire to tell people
what to do". Even though I was only kidding, maybe there was something
in that reply, possibly because of all my years as a single parent and
step-parent of teenagers, constantly trying to impose a little order on
the chaos around me.
At the end of many dances I sometimes feel a little frustrated by the
number of people that didn't seem to "get" the dances I was calling,
then I'm surprised when some of those dancers come up to me and tell me
what a great time they had. Our principal goal as callers should be to
bring joy to our dance community. We have to learn to embrace the chaos.
Lewis Land
On 11/13/2012 7:15 AM, Richard Mckeever wrote:
I like Andrea's approach.
Remember - these are social events - let them socialize a bit - there is no
race to see how fast you can start the next dance.
Mention they need to take hands 4 a time or two while the lines are forming.
If (when) that doesn't happen, it looks like most of the dancers are lined up
and the caller feels it is time - here is what I do. I don't go quite as far
as Andrea and give a fake figure. I usually just say something like - 'face
your neighbor' - that usually gets everyone's attention.
It might be really impressive if everyone just lined up and automatically got
organized - but it may be more important to the caller than to most of the
dancers - so let it go. I don't like a lot of regimentation - we are there for
the dancers - not the other way around. A few dancers will get annoyed - but
the caller needs to be aware and get thing moving at a time that keeps that to
a minimum without being pushy.
Mac.
________________________________
From: Donald Perley <[email protected]>
To: Caller's discussion list <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 7:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Callers] Taking hands four
I haven't seen it in our dance, but sometimes folks downstream of the break
wave 4 fingers to urge/shame the foursome in question to get on the ball.
That also makes it clear to the caller that the process hasn't reached the
far end.
On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 8:10 AM, Andrea Nettleton <[email protected]
wrote:
I like to think of it as meaning the dancers are happy, because they are
chatting instead of fussing. I say hands four, as you line up, consult the
band re tunes, say it again. If they still appear disorganized, I'll pick
a random move like N Allemande L , or Cir L all the way. They think I'm
teaching the dance, so scramble to get hands four. Then I can say, OK, now
that you have hands 4, here's what you really do. Usually they are a
little quicker after that. Will they ever just take hands four
automatically? I seriously doubt it. Not in this country. The Danes are
rumored to line themselves up silently. We are more unruly in general.
Best luck
Andrea
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 12, 2012, at 8:38 PM, Kalia Kliban <[email protected]> wrote:
This may have been discussed before, but why does the idea that they
should take hands four seem to come as a complete surprise to at least half
the dancers, every single freakin' time?
It's not hard. You can do it while you're talking. It's a complete and
total no-brainer for contemporary contras. And yet...
Anyone have successful strategies for helping this process along that
doesn't involve specially-trained dogs?
Kalia
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