Re: [Callers] Can you name this dance ? Well I can !

[The Witful Turnip]

Hey gang,
Kathy's in Costa Rica at the moment (I'm so envious!) but took a minute to
email and let me know that she wrote the dance I asked about below. It's
called Top Spin.
There you go...
Bev

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Message: 1
List-Post: callers@lists.sharedweight.net
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:25:36 -0500
From: "The Witful Turnip" 
Subject: [Callers] Can you name this dance ?
To: 
Message-ID: <01c870f3$3bf22d30$6d00a8c0@BB1>
Content-Type: text/plain;   charset="us-ascii"

Hi all,
I was poking around on YouTube for banjo tunes and happened to stumble
across a video of Kathy Anderson calling this dance in St Louis. Does anyone
know the name and author of this dance? 
Thanks in advance! 
Bev

A1. (starts in a wavy line, ladies in ctr by L, neigh in R)
 Balance wave, neighbors allemande R 1/2
 Gents allemande L 3/4 to long wave down the ctr, balance wave


A2. Gents allemande L 3/4, partner swing


B1. Ladies allemande R 1 1/2
Neighbor swing


B2. Partners R hand balance across, pull by R, pull by neighbour L (sq thru)
With the next, do si do (into the wave)


***
The Witful Turnip   wtur...@sympatico.ca
"Ambition is the last refuge of failure."
 - Oscar Wilde
***





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End of Callers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 15
***

Re: [Callers] My own Down East session

[Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing]

Chris wrote:


> I have the opposite problem from Richard at the Down East Festival in
> March. My session, titled "Unbalanced Contras", was intended to feature
> smooth, flowing dances. The session has been scheduled opposite the
> dance medley. I'm concerned about the mix of the crowd that I will get
> in my session. Will I only get beginner dancers? Or are there
> experienced dancers that will come? I know that there are several
> veterans of the Down East Festival on this list, so maybe they can share
> their experiences if they called during this slot. I'd also like to hear
> from anyone who has ideas about dances that I could call. What are your
> favorite flowing dances? Maybe you think that I should only call wild,
> wacky and crazy dances to use another meaning of "unbalanced". 8^)


I'm completely unfamiliar with the Down East Festival, but I gotta say,
"Unbalanced Contras" doesn't in the least suggest "smooth and flowing" to me.
(I'm guessing you wanted to suggest "dances with no balances" and thus smooth
and flowing.)

What "Unbalanced" immediately suggested to me - other than crazy - was
"unequal"; dances where the 1s and 2s have distinctly different roles.
Why not go with that?  It'll really be the opposite of what's going on in 
medley session, allow you to use an array of chestnut and modern dances, give
you some variety - and if you have short sets because people are drawn to the
medley, you're better off.

For this idea, a smooth-and-flowing-and-unequal dance is Lynn Ackerson's
"Indigo Silk" (a modern proper contra).  I love it, but it'll explode the heads
of people who can only do equal improper contra.

If your dancers can actually phrase, you might check out Adrienne Moser's
"Three Ceremonies" (Becket, ladies chain to Mad Robin to hey for four ...) -
that's equal but smooth.  I got it out of 

"Hey, Gorgeous" (Luis Gamez - I got it from Karen Fontana on this list) is
another balance-free dance with enough punctuation to be interesting.

I can share notation off-list if you want it; I don't think I should be
publishing people's dance sequences without their permission.

-- Alan





> Thanks for you help,

> Chris Weiler
> Goffstown, NH


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===
 Alan Winston --- wins...@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu
 Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL   Phone:  650/926-3056
 Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA   94025
===

[Callers] My own Down East session

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone,

I have the opposite problem from Richard at the Down East Festival in 
March. My session, titled "Unbalanced Contras", was intended to feature 
smooth, flowing dances. The session has been scheduled opposite the 
dance medley. I'm concerned about the mix of the crowd that I will get 
in my session. Will I only get beginner dancers? Or are there 
experienced dancers that will come? I know that there are several 
veterans of the Down East Festival on this list, so maybe they can share 
their experiences if they called during this slot. I'd also like to hear 
from anyone who has ideas about dances that I could call. What are your 
favorite flowing dances? Maybe you think that I should only call wild, 
wacky and crazy dances to use another meaning of "unbalanced". 8^)


Thanks for you help,

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Re: [Callers] challenging contras

[Chris Weiler]

Hi Richard,

[For those of you that are not subscribed to trad-dance-callers, this 
thread has provoked quite a response and discussion from the membership.]


Richard, congrats on taking on the challenge of calling several sessions 
at Down East. From experience, I know it takes some courage to reach and 
do things that I haven't done before.


There are several things that can make a dance challenging. The trick is 
deciding what you think the dancers are expecting. Some of the ways to 
make a dance challenging:


No walk thru
Unusual/unfamiliar formation
Unusual/unfamiliar figures
Dances requiring "change of focus" (more on this below)
Figures that leave the minor set (shadow, future or past neighbor 
interaction)
Poor flow (the next move is not the one they will expect or have 
momentum to do)

Poor teaching (even the simplest dance can be challenging)
Any dance above the skill level of the dancers

I'm sure that there are other things that make a dance challenging, but 
this list is just off the top of my head.


I would think that you would not want to call a dance that fit any of 
the last three categories. No walk thru dances are not very challenging, 
but do rely on the dancers knowing the figures cold. This is the only 
category above where the dancers can still "turn off their brains" and 
have an enjoyable dance experience. The others will require them to 
think about what they are doing. I think that unusual formations and 
figures speak for themselves. Dances that require "change of focus" are 
dances that require them to change who they are dancing with in the 
middle of the dance. i.e. Balance, Petronella spin one place to the 
right and spin a half more to face new neighbors. Or balance long waves 
on the side of the set, neighbor in your right hand, allemande left with 
the next neighbor. There are many more. Figures that leave the minor set 
should also be self explanatory. There are some fun reunion dances out 
there that take you far away from your partner before reuniting you at 
the last moment.


You can mix up these categories during your session, too. You can start 
off with (or end with) a no walk thru dance, do one "wrack your brain" 
dance in the middle and put a triplet or four-facing-four dance into the 
program as well.


Please remember to remind everyone at the beginning of the session that 
it is for experienced dancers only. Let them know that simpler dances 
will be done across the hall in the auditorium.


Good Luck!! I hope this has helped.

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH




Richard Green wrote:

Hello, I am posting this on both the sharedweight and trad-dance-callers
lists:

Next month at the Downeast Festival in Maine I am scheduled to do a short
session which I have called "challenging contras."  At the time that I
suggested it, I thought that I fondly remembered enjoying challenging dance
sessions at dance festivals.  But as I think more about it I realize that
the only ones I can actually remember were sessions where the dances seemed
so complex that it was almost impossible to get 4 or 6 people together at
once who understood what to do, or on the other hand being somewhat
disappointed because the dances didn't seem challenging enough.  I am sure
the line between too much and too little is probably different for everyone.

Can anyone suggest dances that experienced dancers might find somewhat
challenging, perhaps something with an unusual figure?  I have heard several
people on this list mention that anyone can dance anything as long as the
teaching is good enough, so that will be my own challenge.  I plan to try a
couple dances that are not the standard duple formation, but I would like to
find at least one that is duple, so any suggestions or advice are welcome.
If you can also include the transcription or tell me where to find the
dances I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Richard
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[Callers] challenging contras

[Richard Green]

Hello, I am posting this on both the sharedweight and trad-dance-callers
lists:

Next month at the Downeast Festival in Maine I am scheduled to do a short
session which I have called "challenging contras."  At the time that I
suggested it, I thought that I fondly remembered enjoying challenging dance
sessions at dance festivals.  But as I think more about it I realize that
the only ones I can actually remember were sessions where the dances seemed
so complex that it was almost impossible to get 4 or 6 people together at
once who understood what to do, or on the other hand being somewhat
disappointed because the dances didn't seem challenging enough.  I am sure
the line between too much and too little is probably different for everyone.

Can anyone suggest dances that experienced dancers might find somewhat
challenging, perhaps something with an unusual figure?  I have heard several
people on this list mention that anyone can dance anything as long as the
teaching is good enough, so that will be my own challenge.  I plan to try a
couple dances that are not the standard duple formation, but I would like to
find at least one that is duple, so any suggestions or advice are welcome.
If you can also include the transcription or tell me where to find the
dances I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Richard