This is SO cool, IMH... in my humble sense of fun. Thank you, Koren!
If anyone else wants to write and post some 16-24-32-64 beat progressing progressions that you would like us to dance, please post! Rob - - - - - - - - - - - - Robert Matson (Organizer, caller, musician in Conway, AR) Cell: (917) 626-2675 On Tue, Aug 8, 2023 at 3:01 PM Koren A. Wake <koren.a.w...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Rob - the main concern I'd have with taking a single dance and teaching > parts of it separately is that in a standard easy > single-progression-at-the-end-of-the-B2 contra dance, if the dancers are > learning just the A section(s) they'd be doing the same thing over and over > again with the same neighbors (and depending on the moves, would also > likely be out of position to restart), which would get boring pretty > quickly. And it wouldn't teach them how to progress, which in my opinion is > one of the key points to teach early and reinforce repeatedly. Heitzso > specifically said the dances they used all built on each other, and all > *progressed*. > > I'm imagining something like: > 16-count: circle left all the way (8), balance the ring (4), pass through > (4) * > 24-count: long lines forward & back (8), circle left all the way (8), > balance the ring & pass through > 32-count: long lines forward, give & take to the larks' side (8), partner > swing (8), circle left 3/4 (8), balance the ring & pass through (8) > 64-count: neighbor balance & swing (16), long lines forward & back (8), > robins allemande left once and a half (8), partner balance & swing (16) > circle left 3/4 (8), balance the ring & pass through (8) > and look, we just built up to (a variant of) Airpants! > > *I often use exactly this 16-count "dance" in my standard beginner lessons > (generally without music) to get the new folks used to how contra dances > progress, and give them a chance to practice waiting out at the ends, > trading places, and coming back in - when lesson time is limited, we don't > have time to walk a full dance through enough times for everyone to get > that experience, but we can do *this* as many times as needed very > quickly. I tell them they've just done the world's shortest contra dance, > and that the dances we'll do in the rest of the evening will have more > going on in between progressions, but that they'll generally all have that > same idea -- identify your neighbors, do a pattern of moves with those > neighbors, then move on and do the same pattern of moves with the next > neighbors, and so on, waiting out at the ends for a full time through the > dance, and then come back in when new neighbors need you. In a normal > contra evening (with a mixed crowd) this 16-count structural walkthrough is > usually enough build-up so that something along the lines of Airpants makes > a great first dance of the evening. > > I can see the potential for this kind of careful build up to be really > helpful for a wedding crowd or similar situation with a *ton* > of beginners, though! I think another key ingredient would be having tunes > that fit each "increment" so that the dancers can also (subliminally) get > used to fitting the dance to the phrases of the music, and repeating the > dance with new neighbors when the tune repeats. > > Koren Wake > (current caller & musician in Seattle, former organizer in Boston) > > > On Mon, Aug 7, 2023 at 9:41 PM Robert Matson via Organizers < > organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > >> Referring to Heitzso's note in mid-July, with a wonderful solution when a >> dance has a lot of beginners. >> >> We started a contra dance from scratch, with all beginners, at the Univ. >> of Central Arkansas. As such, our room is always full of eager novices and >> we endlessly need fun dances that can be taught quickly. Generally, we >> start with teaching an easy 64-beat dance and slowly add new concepts, one >> at a time, over the evening. Still, with our all-beginner dances, there is >> often a fair bit of time spent on walk-throughs. >> >> I love Heitzso's method of starting with a short dance with a 16-count >> phrase, and build in steps through a 24-beat dance, a 32-beat dance, and >> culminate with a 64-count dance. It's wonderful how everyone starts >> experiencing the fun of dancing very quickly and, also, spreads out the >> down time of teaching figures between all the dances. For every level of >> dancer, more dancing and less standing around is a winning formula in my >> book. >> >> I'm curious: to Heitzso, or anyone who does the same, when you're >> working like this, do you build up through four _totally different_ dances >> (choreographies), where, as you wrote, the figures build on each other? Or >> would you consider breaking down a 64-beat dance into these pieces. E.g., >> you teach A1 and then dance it all-out. Then add A2 to that previous A1 >> and dance it. And then add B1, and dance it. Etc. I'm imagining I'd >> suggest people change partners at every "step up" in order to keep it fresh. >> >> This could also work to teach A1 and A2, then dance it. Then teach B1 >> and B2, then dance it. Then put it all together. Though these are larger >> chunks, it still gets people dancing sooner than teaching the entire dance >> before the music starts. >> >> Is there a reason this wouldn't work pretty well? >> >> Rob >> >> - - - - - - - - - - - - >> >> Robert Matson >> >> >> On Wed, Jul 19, 2023 at 9:53 AM Heitzso via Organizers < >> organizers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: >> >>> I acknowledge that there are many ways to teach and value the tradition >>> of contra dancing. >>> I'm pushing the edges a touch here, but felt, given the recent >>> discussion re large % of beginners >>> and how do you pull in and keep younger dancers, that these two data >>> points may be helpful. >>> >>> Back in 2019 I was asked to run sound, provide canned music, and call >>> contras at a wedding. >>> The bride had gone to a nearby college and was part of a cohort of >>> students who came to my dance for awhile. >>> At the wedding reception I had an hour to teach and call contra dances >>> to some 45-50 dancers, 85% of whom had never danced contra. >>> I set the rule for myself of almost no "teaching" and lots of dancing to >>> music. >>> I came up with a 16 count dance, a 24 count dance, a 32 count dance on >>> up to the full 64. >>> The dances built on one another. They all progressed. I had a small >>> rectangular space so >>> two tight lines. I don't recall if I used improper or Beckett as the >>> basic alignment. >>> I had several "contemporary/hot" contra music tunes lined up, e.g. >>> Perpetual eMotion's Flying Tent. >>> So a few minutes to explain line and progression then a simple dance >>> with music that progressed. >>> (e.g. ??? if I used improper maybe circle left 4 places, balance, pass >>> through for 16 count dance, add in do-si-do for a 24, ... >>> this probably isn't what I did but you get the idea) >>> It worked well. The *high energy music* was enjoyed by the wedding >>> crowd and >>> *they never stood still for more than a few minutes* before dancing to >>> some juicy music. >>> >>> A local women's university had studied integration in the south and how >>> simple dances, >>> such as the Virginia Reel, were used to socialize the northern white >>> folks into >>> the Southern African American integration movement community leaders. >>> I was asked to teach and call the Virginia Reel, outdoors, to some 800 >>> college students. >>> While the students were assembling, which took awhile, I played >>> Perpetual eMotion over the sound system. >>> That juiced the students. You could see it in how they walked with a >>> bounce in their step, >>> in how animated their faces were, etc. But when it came time for me to >>> actually teach and >>> call the Virginia Reel I was told to pull back to old time string band >>> music. >>> I did as I was told and the music shift from high energy to old time >>> sucked >>> the energy completely out of the students. I called, and they >>> reluctantly danced, >>> the Virginia Reel and then went back to their classes. >>> ___ >>> >>> This Sunday the Neverland Ramblers are playing in my town with two out >>> of town callers. >>> The Neverland Ramblers are composed of a keyboard player, >>> a classically trained violinist, and a been-playing-in-rock-bands-forever >>> lead (and follow, but easily throws out riffs based on the chord >>> structure) guitarist. >>> The violinist plays in numerous symphonies, has about 50 students that >>> she teaches, >>> and, besides the contra dance band, is in two cover bands, one easy >>> listening and the >>> other raucous. I enjoy her and the guitarist launching into Psycho >>> Killer. >>> I just got permission to call a 12 bar blues contra (several are out >>> there and I've >>> adapted a few AABB contras over to 12 bar blues format). ... This will >>> be good. >>> CAUTION most contra bands can't play 12 bar blues without rocketing past >>> 120 BPM >>> because they're used to playing so many notes in a bar. So this >>> paragraph is about >>> pulling in pop/blues music but also I want to flag that a 12 bar contra >>> is easier to >>> remember than a 16 bar contra so easier to dance by a beginner. >>> >>> Related, I'm thinking of how top weekend bands often have fun >>> pop/other-genre inserts. >>> Perpetual eMotion's Eleanor Rigby >>> Playing with Fyre's Sweet Dreams >>> Giant Robot's Hall of the Mountain King >>> or everything Emily Rush plays when calling RushFest. >>> etc. >>> >>> Heitzso >>> Gainesville, Georgia >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Organizers mailing list -- organizers@lists.sharedweight.net >>> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Organizers mailing list -- organizers@lists.sharedweight.net >> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net >> >
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