I've danced to both versions of techno contras, and either called or played music for both, too. The earlier techno contras I danced at, including at Youth Dance Weekend in 2008 and 2009, were the long-format version. People just put in a CD they'd mixed ahead of time, or something like that, and let it go the whole dance, and the callers called a few different dances in a medley. I've never done one of those at a normal dance, rather than a dance weekend. So the crowd always knew what they were doing, no beginners to integrate, several callers who would just take over and call when they felt like switching dances. I don't think it works very well for a normal dance, but it's fine for a late-night activity when somebody just wants to pop in a CD and get going, or if you want to have a long medley with a bunch of experienced dancers.
I don't think I've ever called for the more common kind of techno contra, the kind you'd find Douple Apex or Firecloud or DJ Improper or Phase X or whatnot performing. I've played music for it, though. As a dancer, I definitely have preferred the continuous kind, since, well, it's always a lot of fun dancers just having a good time long after sane dancers have gone to bed. And I've never objected to chaotic partner and role switching. But I think the second version works better for a regular series, since you can teach each dance, switch partners in an orderly fashion, or otherwise run the night like a typical contra dance. So, I basically see these two versions of techno contra as fulfilling totally different needs. As far as where goes, I think I've only danced continuous-style techno contra at YDW, and that's the only time I've called for a techno contra, except for one or two dances at Glen Echo near DC. I think there was a 30- or 40-minute medley at one of the Spark in the Darks with Double Apex in the Boston area that I also danced at, but I don't remember for sure. As far as the normal contra-style techno dances, I've danced them in several places along the east coast, mainly in the DC and Boston areas (and have played for them a couple times in DC). -Dave On Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 1:30 PM, Les Addison <[email protected]> wrote: > I've done both as a dancer, and as a caller, I've only done a slot as a > regular length dance. > > I've also danced to both live music and DJed music at techno contras. > > As a dancer, I prefer to have the dances be of a length that I expect-- it > keeps me from needing to negotiate with my partner when to jump in/how long > to dance. I've done techno contras with some really awesome callers, and > most of them seem to end up with a bit more challenge about tracking where > we are in the dance, so end up with a bit of calling to correct the > dancers, and I feel like a continuous dance setup would make that even > harder. > > I would have preferred, when doing the long long dances, to have been told > that it was not only okay to drop out at the end, but expected. > > Les > > > > > On Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 9:46 AM, Kalia Kliban <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi all > > > > I have a question about two different styles of techno contra. The > > question is mostly directed at folks who have done both, since I'm > curious > > about whether you have a preference and if so, why. Some techno contras > > have continuous music -- the dancers just drop in or out at the bottom > > whenever they feel like it, and the caller treats the night like one long > > medley. The other kind is more like a regular contra. The caller > teaches > > a dance, the music starts, the dance runs for however long it runs, and > > then it stops and folks re-partner for the next one. > > > > As a dancer, which style do you prefer? How about as a caller? > > > > Kalia > > _______________________________________________ > > 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
