In the local MWSD scene, each caller gets one dance per amateur evening. A small percentage of those amateurs ever make it to a full calling engagement without starting their own caller run group/club. This arrangement actually keeps clubs from hiring callers who are not ready, but allows those callers with skills to develop. Dancers in the MWSD community are very gracious to these new callers no matter what the skill level. I am not sure how many clubs still offer these nights, but they are a fun experience that serves a greater good to the whole community. Rich Sbardella Stafford, CT
________________________________ From: Lindsay Morris <[email protected]> To: Caller's discussion list <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 1:24 PM Subject: Re: [Callers] Scheduling/programmer Question Twice I have seen groups encourage new callers, then put them on the local dance schedule. It was bad. The new callers only got a chance to call once every 2-3 months. They never improved. The community was saddled with several less-than-stellar callers for 2 years. Just something to consider. ------ Lindsay Morris 859-539-9900 On Oct 1, 2013, at 1:18 PM, Aahz Maruch <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Oct 01, 2013, rich sbardella wrote: >> >> Several MWSD clubs host an "Amateur Callers Night". That is how I >> got started. I local contra dances did the same, new callers would >> have opportunities to get stated and to gain exposure. It would be a >> great service to both the calling and dancing communities. Although >> some dancers may skip that night, aspiring callers would may up with >> partners/friends and pay admission. > > There are definitely equivalents in the contra community, I called two > days ago (Sunday) in Hayward for the "community dance", which also > featured a community band (and it's how I got started a year ago, at the > SF dance). But it's really not clear how to make the jump to calling > more in contra (and despite being on this list since January, I haven't > learned much about that). > > By contrast, probably largely due to Callerlab, the MWSD community seems > more oriented to bringing new callers on board. It's also quite likely > that I'm missing something in the contra community due to my hearing, but > lots of people suck at informal information gathering even with good > hearing, and if the contra community wants more diversity in callers, > we'll have to figure out ways to introduce more formality to bringing in > new callers. > -- > Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/ > <*> <*> <*> > Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list [email protected] http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
