I was at that Philly dance the other night myself, and I believe the way they
did this is that the live musicians (who live with each other so at least all
the musicians were at the same location) played music live, but they were muted
on zoom. The music was transmitted to the caller through some other means
(like a nearby iPad or something) so the caller was able to be in time with the
music with no lag. At least that's how I think it was described, but if
someone from the Philly dance can describe it better, that would be helpful.
I also heard about the zoom bombing of another zoom dance, so I'm thinking that
it may also be useful to adopt the Philly way of inviting people - that people
need to request an invite from the organizers. The organizers then ask you to
pre register on Zoom. You do so and then you're sent ANOTHER email from the
registration that gives you a password to join. I'm not entirely sure how all
that's done, but it may have entailed a more advanced version of Zoom.
I also think that shorter dances (6 times thru) and a shorter dancing time (1
hr or so) works pretty well, because otherwise it might get a little
monotonous.
I don't know if I can get to the Toronto dance tonight, but now that I've
experienced one I might be interested to call one.
Thanks!
Perry
On Saturday, May 23, 2020, 11:47:57 AM EDT, Becky Liddle via Contra Callers
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Bob!
Thanks for your thoughts!We adopted most of these excellent suggestions already
at our first (smaller, trial) zoom dance, also as a result of attending a few
other (braver!) groups’ early zoom dances:
In my intro I explain that there’s no such thing as messing up the line with a
“mistake” so we’re not worrying about details of the dance (so we don’t take
questions after the walk-thru—just move to the music & enjoy!)
Each dance is only 5-6 times thru, to avoid monotony (since we don’t have the
joy of new faces coming up the line or the magic of the line silently moving
together w/o the caller).
All dancers will be muted (without the option to unmute) except for a 5-second
group un-muting after each dance to allow for applause and whoops of delight,
before all being muted again for the next walk-thru & dance. Because the
Scissortail dance was disrupted by internet trolls last night, in addition to
our other precautions (e.g., no participant screen sharing, participants
removed cannot return, you cannot unmute yourself) we may have to also
eliminate the 5-second cheering/applause moment (along with eliminating chat).
So mentioning the waving of hands is a great idea. Because our dance has been
so widely publicized, and because of the zoom bombing incident last night at
that other dance, we will also have a dedicated volunteer co-host whose job
will be to keep scrolling through the pages of participants to boot out anyone
posting offensive material. Sad but necessary.
We’ve been altering the dances slightly to eliminate the progression so that
folks don’t end up in the next room by the end of the dance, tho we may have to
loosen up on that preference as we go along, because some dances modify easily
(e.g., eliminate slide left or pass-thru) whereas others (e.g., ending in
Calif. twirl) do not. So I’ve told callers who prefer not to remove the
progression to just warn folks that they’ll need to adjust to avoid
accidentally ending up in the kitchen. :-)
Personally, I find swinging alone (using a buzz step) to be quite
easy/pleasant. But for those who walk around to swing rather than using a buzz
step, swings would be exhausting. Drew Delaware (who will be our first caller
tonight) just wrote a new dance, avoiding the neighbour swing (to minimize
swinging but to allow those lucky enough to have a partner at home to swing
them) and also avoiding the progression. He called it “Let’s stay home” which I
thought was a lovely double-meaning title! :-)
I like the idea of dusting off the 1’s swing chestnuts. And thanks for the tip
about Petronella!
Sadly, we have not found a way to use live music given the Zoom lag, but I will
be picking your brain privately to learn how you’ve managed that in
Philadelphia! We would love to find a way to do that. In the mean time, we have
(when possible) asked permission of the musicians whose music we use, and then
we post the names of the bands and tracks after the dance along with where to
buy their music. We are also encouraging folks who had a good time to donate to
musicians on the CDSS site in gratitude.
Keep dancing!! Hope to see you all in person on the other side of this!Becky
On May 23, 2020, at 5:54 AM, Bob Isaacs <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi All:
Thanks to Toronto for holding these dances, and for expanding their license to
welcome us all. Hope to see you there tonight.
Perhaps these dances will proliferate until regular dances resume. If so, what
makes a good Zoom dance? I've "been" to a couple held by Philadelphia, and
here a some observations.
The audience is likely all contra-deprived regulars, so the usual
beginner-friendly programming at the start of the night isn't necessary.
Just about everyone was dancing by themselves or as couples. As a result, the
dances should focus on partner action and avoid multiple neighbors. If the
dance doesn't progress, no problem!
There's no need to run these the usual length - maybe half length is best. The
bands should adjust their tune sets accordingly. Since we're not worried about
getting everyone active, this might be time to dust off those older 1s active,
2s watch contras.
It's hard to swing by yourself, so minimizing swings helps. This past Thursday
Sue Gola called the no-swing chestnut Petronella to good effect.
Folks can find "partners" by pinning someone, and if they agree you'll only see
each other. It's a bit strange at first, but a chance to dance with someone
from far away you don't normally see.
Given that the audience is experienced, one walkthrough should do - and let
them know up front that's the way it's going to be. If everyone but the caller
is muted, no need to worry about people talking during the walkthrough.
It's best to call all the way through, but minimize the calls after the first
few rounds. Some folks will tune in just to hear the live music they've come
to love.
Encourage hand-waving after each dance so the band hears that virtual applause.
Your thoughts?
Good health and happiness to you all -
Bob
From: Becky Liddle via Contra Callers <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2020 11:50 AM
To: Shared Weight callers list <[email protected]>
Subject: [Callers] Virtual (Zoom) Contra Dance this Saturday! Hello Fellow
Callers!
This post has 2 purposes: to invite you all to the dance, and also to drum up
interested callers who might want to donate their calling to future dances
(which will be the 2nd & 4th Saturday of each month at 7:30PM Eastern time in
North America).
Our first attempt at a Zoom contra early in May went great, and we’ve decided
to do this twice a month for the duration!Our first (minimally publicized)
dance hit our 100 participant Zoom limit (and 67 were still dancing at the end,
so they must have been having fun!). This time we have a 500 participant limit
and we’re publicizing it far and wide.
More info and the link to join appears in announcement below. This week’s
callers will be Bev Bernbaum, Drew Delaware, and me (Becky Liddle).Hope to see
you there!
Becky
Dancing in Isolation - A Virtual Contra Dance by Zoom, Saturday May 23, 2020,
at 7:30PM Eastern Contra dance alone or with other dancers in your household,
along with dancers across the continent! We'll be dancing to recorded music
(due to tech limitations) and live calling. Dancing with imaginary people
("ghosts") is challenging, so we are assuming everyone is a reasonably
experienced contra dancer. There will be no beginners’ lesson. But the good
news is that when you dance alone in your living room, the contra line is
exactly where you imagine it, and unexpected moves become glorious new
choreography! Everyone is welcome to join!
https://zoom.us/j/99530765467?pwd=YUEyZms5ZnlZbDlqa0tvREp1QkZyZz09
Meeting ID: 995 3076 5467
Password: 007 Join the Zoom meeting any time between 7:00 and 7:30PM Eastern on
Saturday, but try to join by 7:20 if possible. There will be an introduction to
the dance at 7:25 and dancing will begin promptly at 7:30 Eastern.
We hope to have these dances every 2nd and 4th Saturday evening until we can
dance in person again. You can keep track of scheduled dances here or on the
Toronto Contra Dance Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/TorontoContraDance . At our first dance we hit our 100
participant limit, but this time we can have up to 500 participants, so tell
your contra dancing friends, and feel free to repost this announcement to your
local contra dance websites! Participation is free, but if you enjoy the dance,
we ask that you make a donation (in an amount you are comfortable with) to
benefit freelance artists in our music & dance community who are struggling
with the loss of income due to COVID-19 shutting down all our in-person events.
CDSS has a donation page here:
https://www.cdss.org/community/covid19/send-love-to-freelancerswhere you can
donate to a freelance musician or caller. You are welcome to choose an artist
of your choice, but the list loads in random order, so you can also simply
donate to whoever is top on the list when you load the page, knowing that
others will be donating to someone else, and everybody ends up getting a little
help in a difficult time. Or, if you like the specific music we play at the
dance, we encourage you to donate to (or buy music from) the musicians whose
music we use. We will post a list of those artists to the Toronto Contra Dance
Facebook page after each dance. Please come to the dance, and afterwards decide
what it was worth to you, and give generously to keep the music going until we
can all meet in joy on the other side of this pandemic. The dance is organized
by Becky Liddle, ably assisted by Drew Delaware, with a great deal of help from
other Toronto area folks. Becky happens to be president of Toronto Contra
Dance, but this dance is only loosely associated with TCD. So if you have any
complaints, please blame Becky or Drew, not TCD! :-)
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