Harold, I call a LOT of weddings and private parties.. It is very unusual that I would call a duple improper or other "normal contradance" at such an event.. You're right, often the couple has been at another wedding or party which had (let's call it) old time country dancing.. and it was really fun, so they want it at THEIR wedding.. Sometimes, in the process of hiring a band or caller, they will come to a regular contradance to scope things out. It's at THIS point that I normally "have the talk" with the couple and tell them that what they will get at the wedding "will be a LOT easier than this". The dancers don't care, they just want to have fun, often have been consuming alcohol, and need something that is accessible for everyone often KIDS too.... Some people won't want to dance at first, but often relent after a while if it looks easy and fun and the bride "insists".. If there are "experienced contradancers" at the party they will be happy to go along with what ever you are calling just to be part of the fun.. So, that being said, you need a bunch of simple dances.. usually "WHOLE SET" contras , like Galopede, Virginia Reel, "Une deux trois poussez" (whatever the actual name of that dance is), there are a ton of them and many I don't even have names for.. There are some easy circle dances too (La Bastringue where you stay with your partner the whole time).. For a crowd that seems to "get it", I might call Haste to the Wedding as a "duple proper" dance.. proper so they don't have to worry about "crossing over at the ends".. but this would be only occasionally. I'm sure there will be TONS of dance suggestions following so I won't need to go into more specifics.. Some times at a wedding, (remember there are OTHER things on the agenda besides "contradancing") you might do only 2 or 3 dances the whole evening - honest! - and the bride and groom are TOTALLY happy, pay the big bucks along with a tip and on they go with the DJ for the next part of the party and off you go home.. Down side is occasionally dealing with drunk people and sometimes being treated like 'the help'.. hope this rambling is helpful to some.. bill
> From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:33:03 +0000 > Subject: [Callers] Calling weddings and private parties > > Good morning everyone. > > I've been calling for 15 years and to this day, the hardest dances for me to > call are private parties, like weddings. Usually, a "soon to be wed" couple > comes to a regular dance for the first time, has a great time, and that's > what they want at their wedding reception. What they fail to realize is the > atmosphere of a wedding reception is completely different than a normal > contra dance. The focus of attendees to a contra dance is the dance. The > attendees of a wedding reception are there to socialize and usually drink. > > I learned through trial and mostly errors that actual contra dances are > rarely a good idea at such an event. The stumbling block is the contra > progression and has caused more private dances to crash and burn than I can > count. You don't want to spend much time teaching as the dancers will lose > interest very quickly. So, I keep a stash of very simple proper dances, > circles, and squares which seems to work the best. The Virginia Reel is > always a favorite because it can become totally messed up, will still be fun, > and is easy to recover. Even little kids can join in. > > Would other callers share some of their experiences and solutions for these > types of events? What dances have you found to be the most successful? I > thought this might be relevant because if you call dances long enough, at > some point you will be asked to do one of these. > > Harold > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harold E. Watson > Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 9:03 AM > To: Caller's discussion list > Subject: Re: [Callers] Programming on-the-fly > > I echo the congrats on your full evening! I still remember mine. Balancing > the planned program with the crowd you end up having is almost always a > challenge. Your idea of a backup program was absolutely correct but > sometimes you have to "dumb it down" further than you first thought. As with > Alan, I keep an emergency list of very easy dances as a fallback. I call > this list my "wedding" dances because if you ever call a dance for a wedding > or a private party of non-contra dancers, this list is a must have (usually > alcohol is involved). Maybe I'll start a thread on that. > > Harold > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Winston, Alan P. > Sent: Sunday, February 9, 2014 5:30 PM > To: Caller's discussion list > Subject: Re: [Callers] Programming on-the-fly > > Congratulations, Danielle, on your first full evening. > > What I do: > > - I have a file of easy contra dances with me. > - I know a bunch of one-night-stand (super easy, often whole-set rather than > duple-minor) dances, including mixers, and will whip them out when necessary. > - Even without a bunch of beginners, no battle plan survives initial > contact with the energy. Always evaluate how your program is going, whether > the next dance you had is what's best for the people on the floor, etc. > (Sometimes they can handle more than you thought they could.) > > I echo Andrea's point that as you develop as a caller you'll be able to teach > beginners more in less time. > > -- Alan > > ________________________________________ > From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Danielle Boudreau [[email protected]] > Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2014 10:16 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Callers] Programming on-the-fly > > Good morning, > > My name is Danielle, and I am a new caller in New Mexico. I just called my > first full evening last night. We ended up having a rather large group of > beginners, so much so that I could use neither my planned program nor even my > backup program that I thought would be appropriate for a mixed crowd. I ended > up programming on the fly, which didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. > > I'd love to hear what other callers do in this situation, or how they are > able to avoid it with prep work beforehand. > > Thanks! > Danielle > > -- > Danielle Boudreau > <[email protected]> [email protected] > cell: (505) 377-3071 > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
