Re: [Callers] Calling weddings and private parties

[Erik Hoffman]

A couple things:

First, I wrote a book on this subject: /Old-Time Dance Calling for 
Weddings, Parties, and One Night Stands/.  Still available. I think 
there's only one "hands four" dance in the book, and recommended only 
for a group that really gets into the dance, and is ready for a bit of 
teaching. Otherwise it's whole-set dances, mixers, and fun dances.

Second, as Bill Olson pointed out: the dancing at weddings is not the 
main event. Make the dance serve the event, usually bringing people 
together, and honoring the honorees. Doing this with grace and humor 
puts people at ease; it makes people comfortable with each other.

I'd like to also echo the sentiment that one or three dances is often 
enough. Remember, at most of these events, our dancing is totally new, 
and most people will never come to a contra, square, ceilidh, or barn 
dance. For them time is different: they're caught up in the frenzy of 
trying something new and it stretches the seconds.

Susan Michaels is a wonderful, and extremely creative humorist. Her use 
of funny descriptive terms can be a great help if it fits your style. 
Use it!

Lastly, right & left: I have no problem with this, either. In a 
foursome, I'll often say, "right hand star, other hand star." No worries...

~erik hoffman
    oakland, ca


On 2/10/2014 7:59 AM, Les Addison wrote:
I went to a great workshop that Susan Michaels taught on this topic.

Some of the highlights that I remember from that workshop:

* Pied piper or conga line-type way to round up the dancers
* Use terms that are not gendered for the dance roles (e.g., suns and
moons) since this avoids lots of problems.  "Talls" and "Smalls" is also a
good pairing, and gets you an adult in each pair.
* Circle dances are good
* A dosido is "drive into the garage/back out of the garage"
* Don't use any figure in both the left and right direction-- star, circle,
allemande, or two hand turn should only go one direction.
* Feel free to use calls from English, contra or squares if their name is
easy/self-explanatory (two hand turns are easier than swings if you have a
group that doesn't do any sort of couple dancing, and doesn't require a
gent-and-lady hand position)

Les


On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 7:48 AM, barb kirchner <barbkirch...@hotmail.com>wrote:

by far, the best thing i ever learned to do was to engage the couple (or
party organizers, or somebody who is known to the crowd) in the
programming.  if the bride gets up and says "let's dance!", people will.

if they want to do something else (and they might!), ask them to designate
some energetic types to help you round up people.

best accidental thing i ever did - an afternoon reception with food and
drink outside.  when the bride was ready, some of the musicians (those with
portable instruments) walked through the crowd, playing.  people followed
them back into the hall, just like the pied piper!

don't be afraid to make things up as you go - just stay calm and go ahead
and do your job :-)   i know that a lot of stuff i call at family dances
and parties comes to me on the fly, and so i just do it.

and i don't think of these gigs as "dances" - so i don't feel constrained
to do "dances", per se.  esp at family dances, i'm likely to ask the kids
what they'd like to do - it's okay with me if they just wanna gallop around
in time to the music for awhile.

good luck to you!

barb


From: hwat...@uark.edu
To: call...@sharedweight.net
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

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