> On Feb 10, 2023, at 1:51 PM, Winston, Alan P. <wins...@slac.stanford.edu> > wrote: > > Jeff Spero wrote: > > -------------- > But… as dancing resumed, there seemed to be a shortage of callers here and I > ended up being asked to call the first dance since the beginning of the > pandemic. I was not thrilled about calling ladies/gents, nor was I prepared > to call larks/ravens. So I tackled positional calling, and there were no > complaints. None. Just compliments. I’ve called since then and have been > experimenting with ECD terminology of first corners / second corners, and > that seemed to work quite nicely - and it has the added benefit of helping > bridge the gap between dancers who only dance in one of those communities. > Hopefully, it will catch on with other local callers here, as that’s where > I’m headed. > ----------------- > > That this is working is fantastic! I've certainly found "corners" incredibly > useful in calling ECD geographically. > > Do you use first corners as quondam role names - that is, the people who > started out on the first corners, wherever they are now - or instantaneously > positional? What do you about Becket dances? (In duple minor improper first > corners = robins; in Becket, same corners with respect to the stage = > larks.). > > DId you have enough English dancers on the contra floor that this was an easy > sell? (In my community there's not a huge overlap in the two groups.). > > —Alan >
I am still calling positionally - the corners are places, not faces. That allows me to use those words no matter if the dance is proper, improper, or Becket. When I called that way, I would stop during the teach to make certain that the corners in question were well aware that I was referring to them. The only times that I remember having to be creative was in positions such as short wavy lines. But it was all quite doable, and not really all that difficult to do as a caller. And yes, I was fortunate to have some English dancers dancing that day… but no contra dancers seemed phased by it. And none complained (at least not to me!). J. _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net
