Have you listened to Susan Kevra on her CD? She is very musical and entertaining. Her calls are intergrated into the call. Beth Molaro? Rich Sbardella Stafford, CT
________________________________ From: Dave Casserly <[email protected]> To: Caller's discussion list <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 1:05 PM Subject: Re: [Callers] Calling squares at contra. I agree with others who have mentioned that squares take longer to set up and walk through, but have less dancing time, which can lead to some frustration by dancers who came to dance and not to spend time setting up. I used to much prefer when a caller did two squares in a row, because of the reduced set-up time, and particularly if one of those squares is a mixer. But I've come to see the point JoLaine and others have made that doing so shuts out people who want to sit out one dance and not both. In the dance I'm involved with here in DC, it's at least a semi-official rule not to call two squares in a row (our booker informs callers not to do so). But my main reason for disliking squares has nothing to do with the dances themselves, or even the greater setup time. It's that, as a musician, I come to contra dances to hear the band play exciting, live music more than I do to hear the caller's voice. With contra dances, this means that when I'm dancing or playing, I want the caller to drop out as soon as possible, and not to come back in and call the last time through, even if it's just to end the dance with a partner swing. The end of the dance, with no intervening voice, is the time when the band can really shine the most. With squares, it's a totally different situation. The caller's calling the entire time through, and the dance is as much about the calls as it is about the music. As both a musician and a dancer, I find this pretty unsatisfying. If I don't like the band much, or if it's a band that plays monotonous music, then I'd just as soon dance a square as a contra. But if it's a smoking hot New England dance band, I just don't want to hear the caller's voice that much. I want the music to have a chance to shine. If Crowfoot's on the stage, even when somebody who calls great squares efficiently, like Lisa Greenleaf, announces to line up for a square, it's pretty disappointing, and has nothing to do with how much I like that particular square or caller. -Dave ______ > From: JoLaine Jones-Pokorney <[email protected]> > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > Sent: Monday, September 9, 2013 8:47 AM > Subject: [Callers] Calling squares at contra. > > > Speaking as a dancer here and not a caller, I enjoy a square now and then > but I really don't like it when the caller calls two squares back to back. > If I sat out the first one, that generally means I have to sit out the next > one too. The last time that happened in our community, one of the dancers > complained that he had driven two hours to get there and had only gotten > two dances in the second half because the caller had called two squares > back to back and took a really long time to teach both of them. In my > experience, the main reason contra dancers don't like squares is that it > takes a long time to get set up, there is a chance you will get left out if > you're slow to find a partner and then can't get enough other people to > make a square, and that it often takes more teaching time. I don't think it > has anything at all to do with the dance itself. > So my advice is to call one square in the first half and one square in the > second half and find something that can be taught quickly and is > interesting and fun. I will happily dance those squares! > JoLaine > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > -- David Casserly (cell) 781 258-2761 _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list [email protected] http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
