Ah, whoops, wrong link: http://contra.maiamccormick.com/blog/2019/04/07/techno-reflections/
On Sun, Apr 7, 2019 at 12:26 PM Maia McCormick <maia...@gmail.com> wrote: > (And if anyone wants to refer back to this, it's up on my blog > <http://contra.maiamccormick.com/blog/2019/03/31/techno-reflections/>!) > > On Sun, Mar 31, 2019 at 4:27 PM Maia McCormick <maia...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Thanks for the advice, all! While it's fresh in my mind, wanted to report >> back and call out a few pieces of advice from this thread that were >> particularly helpful (or that I ignored to my own detriment). Just my >> observations--hope this is helpful to someone! >> >> *1. Demos are indeed hard* >> I agree with everyone who warned me away from demos at a techno -- it's >> dark and hard to see, and dancers just want to groove. "If you need a demo >> for it, the dance is probably too hard" was a great yardstick for my >> programming, thanks Chuck! >> >> *2. Keep calling* >> Jonathan nailed it -- if the phrasing is at all hard to follow, dancers >> will tend to swing too long. I definitely found myself calling more than I >> would in a non-techno contra (by the end of the dances, my calls were all >> one beat, but I was often still calling at least some moves). Knowing to >> look out for over-long swings in particular was super helpful, thanks! >> >> *3. Choose easy dances* >> I got cocky in the second half and programmed some stuff that was above >> the level of the crowd, and had to fall back to Hey in the Barn when a >> weird box circulate dance fell apart. The advice that many people gave is >> super sound -- it's harder to see and harder to focus, dancers probably >> just want to groove etc., and so easier dances are the way to go. >> >> I want to add one more thing I noticed, which is that *I as a caller >> couldn't get a read on the hall because it was so dark*. If I'd been >> better able to see how ropy the previous dance had been, or that a lot of >> the experienced people had left at the break, I would have been better able >> to adjust my program. So there's another point in favor of calling easier >> dances -- not so much that they dancers can't handle it, as a rule, but >> rather that you as a caller can't tell as easily whether the dancers can >> handle it. >> >> *4. If you can, listen to the tracks in advance!* >> I worked with Mark Moore (DJ Flourish) from Philly--he's great! Among >> other things, he sent me his tracks in advance, which meant that I could >> get extra precise with the dance/track pairing--super helpful because it's >> much harder to request specific track features to go with a dance when >> working with a DJ than with a band. Also, I knew how many potatoes to >> expect for each track, if they were at all fake-out-y, etc. >> >> On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 5:17 PM Maia McCormick <maia...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Ah, more specific questions! >>> >>> - have you found on-the-floor demos doable at techno, or should I not >>> even try? >>> - techno no-walk-through's: do they work? >>> >>> On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 5:13 PM Maia McCormick <maia...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Hey folks, >>>> >>>> I haven't called all that many techno contras, and I'm slated to do so >>>> this weekend. Any tips or things to keep in mind about how techno differs >>>> from your standard contra evening? (Particularly curious about anything >>>> relating to dance choice and dance length.) >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> Maia >>>> >>>
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