Seth, I do my best to categorize difficulty by the dance and not the context. I think my Section III might include minor ventures outside the minor set, for example, but not big movements away. At a place like Pinewoods I might never touch a dance from Sections I or II.
On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 2:34 PM Tepfer, Seth <[email protected]> wrote: > Angela > > I love the idea of the colored stickers on the top. That sounds so > colorful and enticing. > > When I started calling and building a collection of dances, I did a > similar sorting by difficulty - Easy, Medium, Complex. And mostly, it > works. However, My definition of difficulty changes in several different > ways. > > - As I learn how to teach a dance - there are dances that previously I > thought were challenging. But once I learned how to teach them effectively, > it turns out there were not that challenging. It was me that was making > them challenging > - Context makes a huge difference as to what is an easy or challenging > dance. > - A dance that might be considered easy for a regular dance might > suddenly become very challenging. We have had a huge influx of first > time > dancers in January - we call them the "New Years Resolution crowds". > "Air > pants" by Lisa G has no chain or courtesy turn, but would be far too > difficult for the first dance of the night with all these first timers. > I'm > pulling back to "Family Contra" or similar. > - On the other hand, if I'm calling in a school or for a wedding, I > MIGHT call family contra late in the session - but it would be one I > would > build up to. In that context, "Family Contra" is advanced. > - Finally, at a dance weekend, a dance that in other contexts might > be considered intermediate difficulty becomes "no walk thru" easy. > > > > Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his) > Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center > ------------------------------ > *From:* Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 11, 2023 1:48 PM > *To:* Michael Dyck <[email protected]> > *Cc:* [email protected] < > [email protected]> > *Subject:* [External] [Callers] Re: mechanical sorting systems > > I love that Joe remembered the edge-notched sorting system I told him > about and also really love Jeff's suggestion of getting spiral-bound cards > and removing the spiral! I've drilled holes in index cards before as Joe > described, but the results weren't clean. > > *I don't remember who I first heard about this sorting system from, but I > recall that they said some well-known caller/choreographer organized his > cards this way. Anyone know who this was?* I've always wanted to > rediscover this knowledge! > > For my cards, I've only in the last year developed a system I'm happy with > after a decade of prototyping: > > - First, my box is divided into five sections (I, II, III, IV, and V) > according to *difficulty*. Dances in the I section are easiest and > won't even include a courtesy turn. Sections II and III are my most-used; a > typical regular dance evening will pull from these sections. IV is for > tricky dances — you could get away with one or two at a regular dance with > a competent crowd, or you could save them for Advanced Dance events. V is > really wacky hard stuff. Advanced as it gets. > - Second, each card has a colored sticker (something like these > > <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.webstaurantstore.com%2Favery-5796-1-4-round-assorted-removable-see-through-color-coding-dot-labels-pack%2F15405796.html%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dfreeclicks%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleShopping&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=X92GqD513UOOFl%2FEw8Jmrs3hVyz317TO8qQ9kgCukzc%3D&reserved=0>) > to give a sense of the dance's *disposition*. Pink is very balance-y, > orange is moderately balance-y, yellow is moderately smooth, green is very > smooth. The important distinction here is that I'm not wed to how a > particular bit of choreography should be danced (i.e., a band could > successfully play a smooth tune to an orange-coded dance) but my coding > does give a sense of where to look for certain moves: if I want > petronellas, I look in the pink dances first. > - *The stickers are placed along the top edge of the cards and > positioned according to difficulty, with dances in Section I having > stickers on the left of that edge and dances in Section V toward the > right. > This makes sorting and identifying dances very easy.* > - Finally, within each colored section I alphabetize. Occasionally > I know the name of a dance I'm looking for (though not always!) and in > those cases I usually remember enough about the dance to guess where in my > box it will be. > > I've been really happy with this sorting system. Programming is easier. It > means that if I need to change plans, I can select dances very quickly. It > also means I can replace dances and re-sort my box at the end of the > evening without trouble. I used removable stickers so that I could change > my mind if needed, and this is the only thing I'd do differently so far; > these stickers fall off too easily, even when folded over the top edge. > > Bonus: My box looks like rainbow stripes from the top. > > And another mechanic: > > - I always add a tally to the back of a card after I call it... > - Regular at the top left, medley inclusion at the bottom > - This allows me to turn my box around and select for favorites ("I > need an old stand-by") or newly-collected ("I'm bored") > - ...and I also add dance titles to a google spreadsheet before I > re-sort the cards back into their categories > - What did I call last time I was at this dance? What worked and > what didn't? > - I can also pull an old program from a comparable event if I don't > have time to program from scratch > > > > > On Wed, Jan 11, 2023 at 11:26 AM Michael Dyck via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > > On 2023-01-11 12:44 a.m., Joe Harrington via Contra Callers wrote: > > > > I heard recently (I believe from Angela DeCarlis) of a mechanical > sorting > > system based on the Jacquard loom concept that became the Hollerith > punched > > card system. I've never seen it in use. Does anyone do this? > > See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card > <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEdge-notched_card&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=flN8KaAZJR3pf74clihLeTnkL4d8RO27SXe0BMODAAg%3D&reserved=0> > > [Ah, Jeff Kaufman beat me to it.] > > > Figure out the ten or so characteristics you might want to sort on. For > > example, easy, medium, hard, bouncy, flowy, separates partners, > sweetheart > > (keeps partners together), etc. Take a stack of cards and drill holes > near > > the bottom edge, one per characteristic (you can drill a stack of cards > if > > you sandwich them between wood and clamp them). Now, on a given card, > punch > > out the rest of the paper between the hole and the edge of the card for > each > > hole the card DOESN'T match. > > Alternatively, you could punch out the margin when it *does* match (which > would probably be less work). Then in the selection procedure, the cards > that fall out (as opposed to the ones that stay on the needle) are the > selected ones. > > > [...] > > > > Good hole alignment and clean punching would matter, I think. If you > are a > > real dance sorting fanatic, you could get like 30 holes around the card > > edges, but that would limit the writing space. > > Back when I was young and had lots of time (and no computer), I made a > deck > of edge-notched cards to 'play' the game Mastermind: > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game) > <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMastermind_(board_game)&data=05%7C01%7Clabst%40emory.edu%7C320567296483459d017e08daf4047b2e%7Ce004fb9cb0a4424fbcd0322606d5df38%7C0%7C0%7C638090597349435039%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Fs%2BuqPhPZtbpVy5IoYMzEOQairVzH9ugrbuyp0DKFnA%3D&reserved=0> > > (4 pegs of 6 possible colors, so 1296 cards, each with 24 holes and 4 > notches.) As I recall, during the selection procedure, cards with a notch > at > the selected hole (which *should* fall out) would sometimes 'stay on' the > needle just from friction with the neighboring cards. So I'd have to > jostle > the deck a bit to shake those loose. > > Also, V-shaped notches increased the chances that a card would fall out > when > it should. > > One way to avoid these problems is to have two opposite sets of holes, > with > complementary notches. In the selection procedure, you use two needles, > placed in complementary holes, and you pull them apart to separate the > cards > you want from the ones you don't. > > -Michael > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > >
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