Hi Joe,
Apologies for the late response – too busy dancing! :-)
Some more thoughts:
I call a lot of barn dances for parties/weddings/etc. No matter how careful I
am and how much I warn them, at least once a year someone falls over! Check
the surface and warn the dancers if it is slippery or sticky or uneven. Point
out danger areas where two types of floors meet, or there are ridges. Tell
them to be careful. As has been mentioned, avoid small bevelled-edge dance
floors – brides have been known to break their ankles on them! Make sure that
you are insured. I have never needed to use mine, but it is comforting to know
that I have it!
Find out as much as you can about the venue in advance – especially if it is in
a marquee. I have had to cart my PA uphill and across muddy fields, and had to
call dances on sloping uneven grass!
If it is an old building or a barn or a marquee, then allow extra time to get
set up. I have had two gigs where it took up to half an hour to find a
reliable electricity supply!
I never use the building’s sound system. There is too much chance of it being
incompatible and the controls being too far away.
I run a lot of one night stands/barn dances – I would estimate that only one or
two people out a thousand will come to one of my regular dances.
Swings are an integral part of dancing and I would never dream of not teaching
the dancers how to swing. If they just cross their hands and hold each other’s
hands then they are too far apart; they have no connection or control; and they
are likely to crash into each other, especially if they lean back or one dancer
tries to swing the other around themself. Ballroom holds are way too complex.
I always teach a forearm hold with the fingers hooked around the other person’s
elbow. You can see this swing being taught at 1:26 in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUiXStkCHGs – lots more information at
http://contrafusion.co.uk/SwingWorkshop.html. I usually teach it in the
Virginia Reel variation shown below, with a Promenade after it. It works
really well as they just have to slide the right hands down until they are
holding right hands and they have learnt how to take a Promenade Hold.
I do feel sometimes, reading entries on various forums, that some callers
underestimate the capabilities of the dancers and make things too simple. With
just a little bit of teaching you can give the dancers a much richer and more
varied experience.
I average about six dances for a wedding. The pattern is usually: dance, play
a tune, dance, play a tune, dance, interval, dance, play a tune, dance, Grand
March. Once I did the third dance of the evening and the bride rushed over and
said that that was fantastic, but they were going back to the disco now;
afterwards she sent me effusive thanks and told me how much everyone had
enjoyed it!
I use a wireless head-mike so I can be on the dance-floor, help make sets up,
demonstrate, join in if I need to make up numbers, etc.
I always start with my version of Welcome to the Dance – very similar to the
one Tony described. You can see it at https://youtu.be/OKrqit3qyYQ
I always start the walk-through by teaching B2 twice so that they understand
the progression and their direction of travel.
The next dance is usually Witch’s Reel or Virginia Reel Circle Mixer #24:
http://contrafusion.co.uk/Dances/VirginiaReelCircleMixer24.html
(the 24 is a random variant number as I have no idea how many other variants
there are already!)
I have also used this as a Snowball: Teach the bride and groom; they dance it;
they separate and take Karen and myself as new partners; we two couples dance
it; we all separate and get new partners from the side of the dance-floor; etc.
Another great and easy Circle Mixer is The Redwing Mixer:
https://youtu.be/3mtgnsxnkPM
The last three dances are usually these:
The Russian Ballet:
http://contrafusion.co.uk/Dances/EFDS8206-TheRussianBallet.html
https://youtu.be/1t_TO8wZywg
(The Hey is usually replaced by: middle person Dosido each way.)
Newington Applause: http://contrafusion.co.uk/Dances/NewingtonApplause.html
(They already know everything apart from the clapping.)
Grand March: https://youtu.be/V3RFVVmG8Sc
There were a lot of dancers at that gig! I would have changed a couple of
things with more experience of a group that big.
There are lots of great moves in the Grand March/Appalachian Big Set. Birdie
in the Cage is a really easy one to get them to do with no teaching.
If I have a live band I always promenade everyone up to clap them at the end.
I hope some of that helps.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected] 01233 625 362 & 07802 940
574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
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