ha ha! i've got one short comment. i called a dance one time for some people who really wanted to dance, but didn't speak english. we learned four simple dances, took a break, and then did the same four dances again. they loved it the second time - they knew what they were doing!!
> Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 14:14:24 -0800 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Callers] Calling weddings and private parties > > > People have said a lot of what I was going to say, but I'm gonna say it > anyway. I've called a fair amount for weddings, private parties, and > public non-dancing groups of various sizes. > > 1) It's not your dance, it's their party. You facilitate people having > fun. That's it. They're not beginners, you're not promoting the local > contra, etc. You're not obliged to do anything recognizable as a > contra. If everything runs over and your hour of dancing is 15 minutes, > that's cool. Make sure the 15 minutes is fun. You get paid regardless. > > 2) If you have a band that's good at it, you can have them add a B if > the dancers are behind. Or if they fall consistently behind and get out > of sync with the tune repeat, IT DOESN'T MATTER. Most of them will have > no idea there's a problem unless you make it a problem! > > 3) Get them moving first without having to be taught and you earn some > credibility so you can teach something. > > I've had good luck in situations with a lot of little kids in just > having everybody take hands in a line. Snake around a bunch and visit > the corners of the room, then curl the line around into a circle. Take > the hand of the last person in line and call out "Circle Left" (they're > already doing it and they don't stop, "and back to the right" with body > language that makes it clear it's gonna happen. "Into the center! (and > go in forcefully, and out forcefully) "and do it again!" You can cause > this to be phrased if you call clearly and on time. Then the A1 comes > around and you let go of the person in your left hand and peel out over > your left shoulder and you're back to a snake. You can do all the snake > stuff - wind up the ball of twine, zig-zag back and forth - and take 16 > bars or 48 bars or as long as you need to; just get yourself back to the > circle at the top of any phrase. This is pretty great for getting > non-dancers (and sometimes non-English speakers, and kids who can't let > go of their parents, etc) moving expeditiously, and once they're moving > most of them will > feel like it's fun.) > > (Erik Hoffman is a master of getting them moving; I've seen him walk out > on the floor and just good-naturedly start allemanding with some random > person, somehow pulling focus without saying a word.) > > Anyway, the Community Dances Manuals have a bunch of fine > one-night-stand dances, and come with sheet music. (There's also > recordings of all the music in the CDM.) > > Some dances I like, from various sources: > > - Do a Grand March or a spiral or start paired up and then join > hands in a big line and snake around. > - Haste to the Wedding as a Sicilian. > - Cumberland Square > - Up the Sides and Down the MIddle (4, 5, or 6 couple longways.) > - Roger de Coverly / Virginia Reel > - Three Meet (Threesome Sicilian - forward and back, promenade in > threes to change places and face back in, repeat to home. I like to do > opposites do-si-do, opposites two hand turn for B1, then forward and > back, forward and pass through, greet next neighbors, but you can make > up other stuff.) > - Rustic Reel (16-bar threesome Sicilian) > - If it's a particularly attentive crowd and I have a band that can > handle it, My Lord Byron's Maggot is goofy fun. (Yes, a duple minor.) > - La Bastringue as a circle mixer is cool. > - Progressive Gay Gordons (All-American Promenade). > - Circle Waltz (I have a gender-free version with a two-hand turn > instead of the waltz at the end and divide people in travelers and stayers.) > - I made a version of the Scottish Flowers of Edinburgh for three > couple sets with no poussette, and that's fun. > - Gothic Dance (Civil War era) is fun for a lively crowd. > - Blobs > - Orcadian Strip the Willow (huge long set, top couple starts a > double strip, new top couple starts at the top of A1 and B1; terrific > swirling mass of chaos, and everybody interacts with everybody else in > the course of it.) > - Galopede > > I don't like to do "Lucky Seven" in these circumstances because it tends > to fall apart. Dances failing hilariously can be goofy fun but some > people will feel like they've failed and you don't want that to happen. > > It kind of depends how many people you have, what you judge they can > handle, how vigorous they are, etc. Memorize 20 dances and you're > probably cool. > > > 4) I was at the same workshop Les was with Susan Michaels, and Susan > gave her formula for making up one-night-stand dances (typically whole > set longways.) > > 1) Have a part everyone does with their partner. (right-hand > turn, left-hand turn, dosido and two-hand turn, pattycake, whatever.) > > 2) Have a show-off part where the top couple solos. (They > pattycake, they truck down the middle and back, they carry an arch over > the men's line and over the women's line, whatever.) > > 3) Have a progression - tops down the middle and back and cast to > the bottom, everybody moving up, or tops cast to the bottom with their > lines following them and make an arch at the bottom and everybody goes > under it, or tops strip the willow to the bottom or tops lace the boot > or tops swing down the middle or tops galop/sashay down the middle. > > It was a revelation to me when she pointed that out. I was able to see > how most published whole set dances fit this pattern. (Virginia Reel > kinda has two progressions in it, etc.) And since then I've used that > template on the fly to make up dances for the number of people I had in > front of me. > > > 5) I have The Talk with the people booking me (for weddings, > especially). I tell them that if they want the dance part to be > successful they have to be involved; if they think the wedding party can > go off for pictures for two hours while the guests dance that probably > won't fly. We typically set expected start times and hard end times > (which I'm willing to overstay if the band is cool, etc, but they > shouldn't expect that just because the food was late and the toasts ran > over that our 10:00 pm end time can be an 11:00 pm end time, or whatever > it is. We're available for the agreed upon time.) > > Note: If the bride and groom are in the contra dance community and they > tell you most of the guests will be contra dancers, great; you can maybe > call contra dances. But it's likely to turn out that there's a bunch of > not-previously-dancing family, and you can't get them to split up and > dance with the experienced dancers, so you still need to have stuff in > your bag. (A few mixers are good.) > > 6) At a regular dance you're lucky if everybody hears 50% of what you > say over the microphone (because they were talking, or sneezed at the > wrong moment, or didn't start listening at the beginning, or there was > an echo, or you didn't articulate correctly.) At this you'll be lucky > if everyone hears 30%. Don't fuss. Choose your words carefully, keep > it few, repeat as necessary, use body language, demo, don't tell them > what NOT to do. > > 7) As my Regency bandleader James Langdell said once: "Same figures, > different tune - different dance!" It's true. You can also repeat the > identical dance (and sometimes you will get requests to repeat something > that somebody particularly liked) but you can also repeat the figures, > use a tune in a different meter (reels instead of jigs) and people are > likely to get it right away without understanding why. > > 8) You have to be happy to be there, calling or not calling, leading the > dorkiest, least challenging things, enjoying figuring out the thing that > will work for the 17 people who got up to dance, and if you can't be > delighted to be there in a situation that's just the opposite of calling > dances for an experienced crowd, don't take the gig. > > > -- Alan > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
