Hi Brian, I like your joke: "long time dancer, first time caller."
Our 3-year old project is similar to yours: creating a dance community from scratch, where the dancers and community are new to contra, the caller was new to calling as well as contra dancing, and nearby resources are lacking. Our 51st (!) dance will be this Saturday. The callers class at John C Campbell Folk School <https://www.folkschool.org/>, written and taught by Diane Silver, was pivotal to our success, as was the moral support of a handful of mentors. "Starting and growing a dance series from scratch" is the topic of a session I led at NEFFA for the last two years and plan to offer in 2025. Several of the participants, all of whom are starting dances from scratch, continue to meet remotely, by video chat. If you'd like to participate in the video conferences, drop me a personal note. Good luck with your new series. Rob - - - - - - - - - - - - Robert Matson Cell: (917) 626-2675 On Wed, Feb 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM Jerome Grisanti via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > It may be worthwhile to ingratiate yourself with the existing square dance > communities in Austria. I believe they call in English; there's certainly > considerable overlap in moves (allemande, do-si-do, chain, right and left > through). They may not swing as much as we do in contra, but certainly > worth visiting if they're close, maybe even worth taking classes. It's a > different flavor, so take an attitude of "I'd like to learn from your > tradition while trying to grow this other tradition." > > If I visit Austria I'd love to drop in. > > Jerome > > > > On Wed, Feb 12, 2025, 5:36 PM Jerome Grisanti <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Brian, >> >> It's one thing to learn calling for dedicated dancers who already know >> the tradition and can in fact help you. Your challenge — calling for people >> who aren't (yet) in the tradition — is something I'm well familiar with. >> You will be the "expert," looked up to, and you will find the most success >> initially with very simple material that often doesn't even look like >> contras. Finding a way to make all these dances varied and fun as you help >> build skills toward a dedicated contra dance is a long term project. >> >> As well, the organizational piece is yet another skill. If you have other >> folks willing to help, recruit them and cherish them. >> >> Jerome Grisanti >> > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
_______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
