Perhaps no walk-thru medleys would work.
On 5/23/2020 11:29, Bob Isaacs via Contra Callers 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-freelancers
where 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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