Re: [Callers] Similar list for musicians?

[Chris Weiler via Callers]

Hi Everyone,

 

The other SharedWeight lists are fairly low traffic, but there is something 
that people can do about that. The more people ask questions, the more the 
members of the list remember that it’s there as a resource and the more 
questions that are posted. The Caller’s list got started because I was a new 
caller and had lots of questions and got the ball rolling. The other lists 
(Musicians, Organizers & Web Content) need people to get the ball rolling. Once 
the momentum gets started, more people join and the more information gets 
shared. I hope that some of you will take it upon yourselves to join those 
lists and get things going.

 

All the best,

Chris Weiler

Co-founder SharedWeight

 

 

From: Callers [mailto:callers-boun...@lists.sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Meg 
Dedolph via Callers
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2017 2:32 PM
To: Bree Kalb <breek...@gmail.com>; callers@lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] Similar list for musicians?

 

There is, though it's low-traffic.  But people are generally responsive when 
someone asks a question. I think this is the link that takes you to a page that 
tells you about it. 

http://www.sharedweight.net/index.php?pagestate=music_about

 

meg

 

On Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 1:03 PM Bree Kalb via Callers 
<callers@lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net> > wrote:

A brand new baby contra band is eager to learn more. Is there a list like this 
one for musicians?

Bree Kalb

Carrboro, NC


 

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Re: [Callers] Good ender

[Chris Weiler (home) via Callers]

You're very welcome. 

Chris

> On Jun 3, 2014, at 7:20 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers 
> <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> 
> If Chris Weiler, who wrote A1 Reel, is reading this, I'd like to thank you 
> for a really good ender dance.  
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Re: [Callers] Community

[Chris Weiler (Home)]

Dave,

Thanks for the alternate interpretation. I hadn't considered it from 
that perspective.


Chris

On 2/24/2014 2:43 PM, Dave Casserly wrote:

Hi Chris,

I don't think Jean was saying what you think.  "The ultimate result of
shielding men from the results of folly is to fill the world with fools"
means, DON'T ban or expel anybody, even if you think what they're saying is
folly, because we will all turn into fools without having our ideas tested.
  In other words, Jean was trying to agree with you.

-Dave


On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 2:29 PM, Chris Weiler (Home) <
chris.wei...@weirdtable.org> wrote:


Jean,

Do you really believe that is what is happening here? The man was
chastised and offered a sincere apology. Do you really believe that his
"crime" deserves the punishment of expulsion? Or is it a overblown response
because he rubs people the wrong way sometimes?

Put yourself in his shoes. You misspeak while talking to your friends. The
next thing you know, you're cast out of that social circle with no chance
of redemption. Is that a fair response?

These are not rhetorical questions. I would really like to know what you
think.

Chris


On 2/24/2014 11:10 AM, jean francis wrote:


"The ultimate result of shielding men from the results of folly is to
fill the world with fools." Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)



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Re: [Callers] Community

[Chris Weiler (Home)]

Jean,

Do you really believe that is what is happening here? The man was 
chastised and offered a sincere apology. Do you really believe that his 
"crime" deserves the punishment of expulsion? Or is it a overblown 
response because he rubs people the wrong way sometimes?


Put yourself in his shoes. You misspeak while talking to your friends. 
The next thing you know, you're cast out of that social circle with no 
chance of redemption. Is that a fair response?


These are not rhetorical questions. I would really like to know what you 
think.


Chris

On 2/24/2014 11:10 AM, jean francis wrote:

”The ultimate result of shielding men from the results of folly is to fill the world 
with fools." Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

[Callers] Community

[Chris Weiler (Home)]

Callers list members,

First, let me apologize. Due to my health problems and the recent 
arrival of my infant son, I have not been able to give this list the 
attention it deserves. I have not been on top of moderation requests and 
have not kept up with conversations. The most I've been able to do, most 
of the time, is read the subject lines.


Now, I was very concerned when the tread titled "A Call For Civility" 
hit my inbox and read it. Shortly after, I received Greg McKenzie's 
unsubscription notification. I now have been able to read the 
conversations leading up to that thread. I've been struggling with how 
to respond to the callers list community about this, but I can't let 
this go any longer, so I'm just going to have to go with my gut and stop 
trying to puzzle it out with my head.


One of the things, actually it's the thing I love the most about the 
contra dance community is it's inclusive and tolerant nature. When I 
started dancing, I was socially awkward and bumbling. The community 
welcomed me each week. I made friends. I got better at social 
situations. I found a home. I found love there on the dance floor. I 
have seen it over and over again at dances: socially marginal people 
being welcomed, tolerated and accommodated in ways that they had never 
experienced anywhere else. This is the ideal that makes our community 
special. This is why I dedicate myself to creating this community 
wherever I live, dance or call. It's why I started this list, so we 
could learn how to make it better together.


That's why I've been so disappointed with how Greg was treated by this 
community. We are supposed to be the leaders. We are supposed to be the 
bearers of the ideals and show our dance communities how it's done. I've 
never really understood the problems that people had with Greg. Yes, he 
has strong opinions. Yes, he is socially awkward and doesn't always 
communicate his intentions clearly. But I've always found him to be 
straightforward with his opinions, positive in his criticism, creative 
in his thinking and open to feedback. He and I butted heads many times 
early in the list history and over on trad-dance-callers. I've learned a 
lot in my discussions with him and reading his posts. I never took any 
of his criticisms personally, because he criticized my ideas, not me. He 
challenged my thinking on this list and I came out better for it. Not 
because he convinced me, but because I thought through my ideas better 
and understood why they were right. Although a lot of times, he 
convinced me to change my ideas, too.


As part of his social awkwardness, sometimes he crossed the line in a 
post. Every time, when people pointed it out to him, he apologized. Yes, 
he crossed the line when he criticized the calling of people in an 
easily identifiable video. But he apologized for it. Twice. And then was 
repeatedly taken to task afterwards. Then talked about derisively in the 
third person on-list. And he was right - other people added the 
identifying names, not him. A valuable voice in this community was 
driven out because his intentions were misunderstood. Several 
disapproved of his "tone". I'm not sure how people can interpret "tone" 
in an e-mail. It's a medium fraught with opportunities for 
misinterpretation. To think that you understand the "tone" that the 
author was intending seems crazy to me. We have to give each other the 
benefit of the doubt if we are going to continue to be a healthy and 
supportive community.


Now, I'm very sad to hear that people have decided not to post because 
of Greg. I understand how hard it is to have your ideas challenged and 
criticized. But I don't think that I ever read a post of his that was 
purposefully mean-spirited or an individual attack. If you have an 
example of such and instance, then please forward it to me off-list. 
Let's not start another public bash-fest. If you have solid, factual 
criticisms of him, then I do want to hear them. It's just that what is 
being said now isn't justified by my experience with him.


I encourage people to put their ideas forward. We're here to find the 
best ideas here and make the dancer's experience the best it can be. To 
become the best callers we can be, we need ideas to be shared, 
discussed, challenged and debated so we can find the best ones. We also 
need this to be a safe place for people to ask their questions and share 
their ideas, so keep being the positive, supportive community I know you 
can be.


We're better than this. We can have the free exchange of ideas with the 
same acceptance and tolerance that we have on the dance floor. This is 
what has made this list special for the last 9 1/2 years. Let's not 
loose sight of what's important.


Chris Weiler
SharedWeight co-founder/moderator
Craftsbury, VT

Re: [Callers] Forum vs email list?

[Chris Weiler (Home)]

This list will stay in it's current form. If someone wants to set up a 
competing web-based forum, then they are free to and then people could vote 
with their feet.

Chris Weiler
SharedWeight moderator
Craftsbury, VT


> On Feb 19, 2014, at 9:22 AM, Lindsay Morris <lind...@tsmworks.com> wrote:
> 
> How many of us (you lurkers included) would be willing to see this forum
> move to a web-based forum?
> 
> 

Re: [Callers] 2014 Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend

[Chris Weiler (Home)]

Unfortunately, I will not be there this year. Anne and I will be home 
taking care of our 2mo. old son. But I'm sure that people will set the 
table up and make it happen. If not, you can do it, right? :)


Have a great time, everyone! I'm so sorry to miss it.

Chris Weiler
Craftsbury, VT

On 1/16/2014 1:56 PM, Delia Clark wrote:

Does anyone know if there are plans for a callers lunch table at RPDLW this 
year, as in past years?

[Callers] Purpose of the List

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

Hello all,

I've started to become aware of a few trends in the community around the 
Shared Weight Callers list:


1. The list volume has increased

2. The subject matter is increasingly focused on tiny details of the 
calling experience, usually only of interest to someone who has been 
calling for many, many years. And these details are debated at length 
(increasing the volume of the list).


3. People are leaving. Not in mass droves, but a noticeable amount. And 
some are telling me that the list does not serve their needs.


This list was started 9 years ago (next week!) with the express purpose 
of supporting and encouraging the newer caller. An open forum where the 
most basic of question was not only tolerated, but celebrated. We 
succeeded in creating that community for many years, but lately, that 
vision seems to have been lost along the way. It would be a shame to 
lose that part of what made this group special.


Seth and I started this list, but all we did was start the ball rolling. 
This is your community, your forum for discussion. I will support 
whatever this list wants to become. I just want us to be conscious and 
deliberate about deciding what it will be.


So, let's start a discussion about the Purpose of the List and the 
future of Shared Weight. Here are some thoughts to consider:


A. Since there seems to be a split in the discussion, should we split 
the list? On one side is experienced callers discussing master-level 
details of calling, programming, teaching and history. On the other side 
is the mentoring of newer callers who need help at the apprentice and 
journeyman levels. We could start a master-call...@sharedweight.net list 
quite easily. People could change their subscription based on their 
interest.


B. If we keep this list as-is, how do we make it easy for someone to 
determine what will be relevant to their level of interest? How do we 
know when to ask someone to take their debate of a trivial issue off list?


C. How do we keep the experience of the list useful and relevant to the 
most number of people at the widest range of experience levels?


Thanks to all of you for your participation, whether you post, or just 
lurk. I love being a part of the traditional dance community and 
especially part of our subset of dance callers.


Happy Dancing,
Chris Weiler
SharedWeight Founder/admin/moderator
Craftsbury, VT

Re: [Callers] dances with down-the-halls

[Chris Weiler (Home)]

Please be careful and cautious when using the Dublin Bay down the hall. 
I have a vivid memory of dancing this at the Greenfield Grange in very 
crowded conditions (many many years ago). During the 2nd backing up the 
hall, I tripped over the foot of someone in the next line and fell on my 
rear end. I looked up at the wall of people backing up towards me with 
no idea that I had fallen. I never got to my feet so fast in my life.


Chris Weiler
Craftsbury, VT


On 8/29/2013 5:36 PM, Kalia Kliban wrote:


Al Olson's "Leaving Home" features a Dublin-Bay-style (that's an 
English country dance, for those who aren't familiar with the name) 
down the hall.


.
A2 Line of 4 lead down for 4, turn toward N to face up but keep 
backing down the hall for another 4, then lead up for 4, turn toward N 
to face down and keep backing up the hall, bending the line at the 
very end. The 1s are below.

[Callers] Requests for Michael's List

[Chris Weiler (Home)]

Please send requests to Michael directly, and not to the list. It 
creates too much traffic for the rest of us.


I have e-mailed him and let him know that it's ok to send it to the group.

Please trim your posts to be kind to fellow list members and especially 
those on digest.


Thank you for your participation and thoughtfulness. You make this 
community work!


Chris Weiler
SharedWeight Admin.

[Callers] SW gatherings at Ralph Page

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hello everyone!

This weekend is the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend at the University of 
New Hampshire in Durham. As usual, it will be a wonderful gathering of 
dancers, callers and musicians to celebrate the history our wonderful 
tradition and those who continue to make it live. We have a blast and 
you won't find a group of dancers that is more elegant, fun, warm and 
friendly out there.


As usual, on both Saturday and Sunday, SW has encouraged list 
participants (and those of a like mind) to push some tables together in 
the dining area and discuss matters related to dancing, calling, 
organizing or playing music for dances. We just geek right out for an 
hour or so! You're all welcome to join in and participate. It's a 
wonderful opportunity to meet and hang out with some fantastic people 
who provide such sage advice on our lists.


My wife, Anne Obelnicki, and I will be there this year after sadly 
missing last year's. I look forward to meeting many new people from the 
list and greeting many old friends.


Happy Dancing!

Chris Weiler
SharedWeight moderator, co-founder
Craftsbury, VT

P.S. If you don't know about the Ralph Page Weekend, here's the link. A 
highly recommended festival for those interested in the history of our 
tradition and meeting many of the people who made it possible for us to 
do this.


http://ralphpage.neffa.org/

Re: [Callers] YouTube of contra dancing to entice nondancers?

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hi Leslie,

Try this one out. It's not my favorite way to portray the dance 
community (because of the comments on "segregating" and the focus only 
the younger part of the communty instead of the inclusiveness of it), 
but it might be what you need to get your group excited about the dance.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuPbte5knOY

Chris Weiler
Craftsbury, VT


On 1/2/2013 4:16 PM, Leslie Gotfrit wrote:

I'm a new contra caller who does community/family dances, kitchen parties and one night 
stands. I'm calling a dance for about 60 adults, almost none of whom have even heard of 
contra dancing, but they do know each other. The organizers have asked for a YouTube that 
would convey the fun of contra dancing, without scaring off newbies. I've looked at 
dozens and can't find one where 1. The calls and music are heard (otherwise they'll 
really wonder what they are paying me and the band for) 2. People are having fun (but not 
twirling and flourishing so much people will think they need to be experts 3. The dancers 
look a bit "cool" and aren't all on the other side of middle aged (it's a young 
adult crowd and most people in my (red)neck of the woods only know about western 
squares,/retired couples in costumes) 4. The quality of the filming and music recording 
is good or great (again, to avoid the hokey label). 5. Does all of that in under five 
minutes.

I know it's a tall order.  Any suggestions? I'll take 4/5.

Leslie

Re: [Callers] Yet more mystery dances!

[Chris Weiler (home)]

I was at the Montpelier dance when he called "Young Adult Rose". It's a 
variation on "The Baby Rose".


Dup imp
A1 N Bal. & Sw
A2 Cir. L 3/4, pass thru
  Shadow Al. L 1x
B1 P Bal. & Sw
B2 Ladies Chain
 LH Star 1x

It's identical to "Baby" except for the A2.

Chris Weiler
Craftsbury, VT


On 10/26/2012 2:44 PM, Yoyo Zhou wrote:

I believe David Kaynor told the story that, since the baby Rose had grown
up and was no longer a baby, he revised the title of that dance to be more
accurate: the Young Adult Rose.

Yoyo Zhou
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[Callers] Reminder

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Just a reminder to be kind to our digest receiving friends. Please make 
sure the subject line is relevant to your post and trim away any 
non-relevant portions of the previous posts from the bottom of your message.


There's a lot of traffic this week, so it makes for very long digests.

Thanks!

Chris Weiler
your friendly neighborhood admin
Craftsbury, VT

Re: [Callers] Hull's Victory

[Chris Weiler (home)]

On 8/19/2012 10:27 PM, Chris Weiler (home) wrote:
This afternoon, I called Hull's Victory (for the first time) for the 
Challenging Contra Dance crowd in Montpelier VT. Crowfoot did a 
fantastic job playing the tune and even came up with a fantastic 
change tune (that escapes me for the moment - it was French Canadian!).



This is what Nicolas (of Crowfoot) said about the change tune:

The tune we paired with hull's victory is known as 'Set Americain', a 
Québecois reel in D. It's worth noting that some finessing is 
required to make the key change work.


At the time they were talking about the "finessing", they mentioned 
inserting a "big, fat C-chord". ;)


Chris Weiler
Craftsbury, VT

Re: [Callers] Hull's Victory

[Chris Weiler (home)]

On 8/9/2012 11:46 PM, David Millstone wrote:
Coming up in ten days is the 200th anniversary of Hull's Victory-- 
August 19, 1812. Callers who have a dance on that weekend might want 
to mark the occasion by calling the dance if it's appropriate for your 
crowd and if the musicians can play the name tune.


This afternoon, I called Hull's Victory (for the first time) for the 
Challenging Contra Dance crowd in Montpelier VT. Crowfoot did a 
fantastic job playing the tune and even came up with a fantastic change 
tune (that escapes me for the moment - it was French Canadian!).


Thanks for planting the idea to call the dance. The crowd really enjoyed it.

Chris Weiler
Craftsbury, VT

[Callers] New choreo list / traffic volume

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hello SW callers,

I finally caught up on my e-mail and have read the discussion about 
starting a new choreography list. My thought is that most if not all 
callers would want to be on both lists, so why not have them be the same 
list? My only answer that I could think of why not is if the callers 
list volume is getting too heavy for some people.


So I would like to know is if there are many people who would _not_ 
subscribe to a choreography list?


Also, what do you think of the traffic volume lately? If you think that 
the volume is too heavy lately, would you rather have it divided into 
two lists to increase the signal to noise ratio?


Thanks to everyone for your interest and participation, even if it's 
just lurking.


Chris Weiler
Your friendly neighborhood SharedWeight moderator.
Craftsbury, VT

[Callers] Family dances

[Chris Weiler (home)]

I'm calling my first family dance tonight and I haven't been able to coordinate 
with the band on music for specific dances. 

What are your favorite family dances that do not have a specific tune to go 
with them? I'll be looking through my books, but could use some suggestions. 

Thanks!

Chris

[Callers] Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend 2012

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

Hello everyone!

Once again, this weekend is the Ralph Page event at the University of 
New Hampshire in Durham, NH. Once again, many of us will be there. 
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this year, as I have for the 
past several years.


I sincerely hope that all of you that are attending will continue the 
SharedWeight lunches on Saturday and Sunday during the festival. Would 
someone like to step up and volunteer to push tables together for 
everyone? Maybe this year someone would like to coordinate a potluck?


I'll miss seeing everyone and all of the wonderful dancing and 
conversations that happen every year. Have a blast!


Thanks, everyone, for your participation on these lists in 2011. You 
make these lists the valuable resources that they are. Looking forward 
to an even better 2012!


Happy dancing!
Chris Weiler
Craftsbury, VT

[Callers] New dance?

[Chris Weiler (home)]

> 
> 
> 

> Hi All,
> 
> I was wondering if you could tell me if this is a new sequence or not. I'm 
> two states away from my cards and I don't know if this is too close to 
> Melanie Axel-Lute's Almost Never Too Late. 
> 
> LL
> Gent 's al R 1 1/2
> 
> P bal & sw
> 
> Down the hall, turn as a couple, come back, bend the line
> 
> R thru
> Ladies Chain
> 
> Let me know as soon as you can. 
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Chris
> 

[Callers] Happy Birthday!

[Chris Weiler (home)]

7 years ago, I sent out the first invitation e-mails asking people to 
join a new discussion group called SharedWeight. Since then, the site 
has become about much more than helping new callers. We've added lists 
dedicated to helping organizers and musicians. And yesterday we added 
the WebContent list that already has 40 members in the last 26 hours.


Seth and I are beyond pleased that so many of you have found the lists 
to be valuable resources and have built a supportive community dedicated 
to sharing information. Thank you all for your participation (even if 
it's just lurking!).


So, Happy Birthday to all of us! With many more to come.

Chris Weiler and Seth Seeger
SharedWeight admins

Re: [Callers] contra dance webmasters unite! (?)

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

OK, what do you guys want to call the list?

webdes...@sharedweight.net?

Something else?

Chris


On 9/15/2011 3:22 PM, Lisa Sieverts wrote:

I would definitely sign up.

Lisa Sieverts
webmaster
http://www.monadnockfolk.org


On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 1:44 PM, Andy Shorewrote:


I've been wondering if there would be enough interest (and traffic) to form
an email list for contra dance website webmasters and other content creators
(e.g., people posting videos to youtube) and people maintaining contra dance
related "pages" on Facebook to discuss some of the issues and ideas and
share links, etc.

I created the website http://southfloridacontradance.com/  and I'm always
looking for good videos to share (see the "Announcements" page) and links
about contra dancing (see the "What is Contra Dance?" and "Dance Links"
pages).  I also help maintain the "South Florida Contradance" page on
Facebook.


In particular, I think that finding, generating, and sharing fresh content
is the kind of thing that will keep our web sites looking current and
vibrant and will spark interest. I also think it's important to design for
both the current dancer (when and where is tonight's dance or next month's
festival?) and be informative and welcoming to the uninitiated.  Sharing
relevant, high quality links will also help make sure that search results
yield the best information about our beloved activity.

As for folks posting to YouTube... as a caller, I often want to know the
name and author of the dance being done!


Respond to this thread and if there's enough interest, perhaps we can
convince the kind folks who run SharedWeight.net to start a new mailing list
for this.

Let me know what you think!
/Andy Shore
http://andyshore.com/
http://facebook.com/AndyShore.Caller<<  like me on Facebook!


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Re: [Callers] searching archive?

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Right on the home page is a box on the left that will let you search the 
archives:


http://www.sharedweight.net/

Chris


On 7/16/2011 6:17 PM, Laur wrote:

Chris (everyone),


Am I correct in thinking there is not a way to search the archives? 


Laurie
Grand Rapids MI
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Re: [Callers] American Country Dances Online

[Chris Weiler (home)]

I'm wondering what people's feelings are about the author's permissions 
to publish their dances on the site. Does the permission transfer to the 
new site, or should the new owners re-confirm with the authors.


I'd be interested in listing my dances, since they're published online 
already. But I'd be interested in seeing what the new form the site 
takes first.


Chris Weiler
New Hampshire

On 6/28/2011 9:27 PM, Greg McKenzie wrote:

I really appreciate the effort to get this database back on line.  It is a
valuable resource and some continuation of it would be a great contribution
to the dance form.  I have accessed it within the last year and found it
useful.

Owen's interface on line used very little of FileMaker's UI capabilities.  I
doubt that you would lose much to move to another format.  On the other hand
FileMaker Pro makes it very easy to update and maintain the database from
anywhere.  It could be maintained by multiple people.  Once you move to a
more "standard" database format the maintenance and expansion of the
database would be less accessible to folks without such technical
skills,...like me.

I suspect FileMaker Pro 4 was used because it was the first version that
allowed the easy publishing of a database on the Web.  It is amazing how
quickly you can get a database on line with FileMaker Pro.  I once built an
entire bug-tracking system and published it on line in four days using
FileMaker Pro!

I look forward to seeing what develops.

- Greg McKenzie

***

On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 3:19 PM, Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing<
wins...@slac.stanford.edu>  wrote:


William wrote:



It looks like FileMaker4 dates from somewhere around 1997 to 1999.
(The current version is FileMaker 11.)  I can see that Russell would
have tired of supporting a database in an old software package on an
old machine.  It definitely seems like the right answer would be
migration to a standard database and scripting language, like MySQL
and PHP or Python.  Mind, the advantage of FileMaker seemed to be ease
of UI creation, and PHP would instead tie one into deep realms of
database access.


It seems like you'd be looking at a fairly standard CRUD with a single
record
per entry.   (I've had some dreams about an online dance presentation that
allows commentary, like the Talmud, so you have the source and then people
can
describe teaching tips, etc.  But that's really feature creep for what
you're
talking about.)  I don't think very deep realms of database access come
into
play - I don't think you necessarily even need a multi-table join.  You
could
pretty much find sample PHP code for CRUD and adapt it; it wouldn't be a
big
deal.


I'm due to find out more about the discussions at CDSS some time next
week.  Ideally, the ACDOL material could pour directly into a new
database, but setting one up would take some time.  Depending on what
I hear, perhaps it'd be possible and useful to get the ACDOL material
on-line in a read-only form in the mean time...  Hmmm...  Perhaps just
formatting it, and bagging the database functions could serve that
end.  With fewer than 300 entries, a page for each dance and an index
might even suffice.  That'd be a lot faster to set up than an entire
web-enabled database.

You could add some extra value if you had multiple index pages (which you
could generate automatically, I think, while extracting the individual
pages);
index by title, index by title within formation, index by title within
author,
index by title within difficulty level.

But this may be too much to do if the contents can just be poured into
whatever
CDSS is doing.  (And isn't CDSS doing some fabulous stuff on the web these
days!)  If you wanted to do something tomorrow, you could just extract to
Excel
(or, say, |-delimited ASCII) and let people import it and sort and search
to
their heart's content.

All since you asked for thoughts.

-- alan



===
  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

===

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Re: [Callers] Callers hi

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

Hello list members,

This e-mail appears to be a scam. I would not recommend clicking on the 
link. I've contacted the poster and placed their account under automatic 
moderation until I hear back from them that this issue is resolved.


Thank you for your patience and your participation.

Chris
SharedWeight moderator

On 5/31/2011 11:24 PM, surudd...@earthlink.net wrote:

Hello Callers I just wanted to share this opportunity with you, I've been 
making 200-300 dollars a day and I started only a week ago. Check out this news 
article and it will show you how to get started, it's definitely easy enough 
for you :)! http://news7cnbc.com
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[Callers] Fwd: Callers Insurance 2011-2012

[Chris Weiler]

 Original Message Hello callers!

CDSS Caller's Liability Insurance forms and fees for they year beginning May 1 
2011-2012 are now online at 
http://www.cdss.org/callers-liability-insurance.html.  Please, if you have 
events you need covered in the first three weeks of May, use the e-mail 
form/pay by credit card option.  Fees for basic insurance have not been 
increased this year, but there is now a $10 fee per additional insured.

Thanks,
Jeff Martell
Sales and Group Services Manager

Re: [Callers] List serve etiquette and calling skills

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

List moderator Chris here:

Bree has the right of it. If you look through the archives, you'll see 
that this is not the first time we've discussed this.


If you are on the digest or not, please edit the header and remove 
irrelevant messages as a kindness to the others on the list. If you are 
on the digest, it's also a kindness to yourself when you receive your 
next digest containing your message.


JoLaine: I'm going to publicly respond to your comments here because I 
think that there might be others here who have the same questions, but 
haven't expressed them. There is another group called 
"trad-dance-callers" which is on Yahoo groups. If you aren't part of 
that list, you should check it out and see if it is to your liking. When 
Seth and I started this list, we wanted to have a list that did not have 
advertising or a corporation collecting our information. All data for 
the list is stored on Seth's private server and we do not share that 
information with anyone. We sacrificed some functionality because of 
that, but are happy with the way things are. We decided to make the 
archives publicly available since we feel that the valuable information 
(the shared wisdom of our participants) not be confined to just the 
people who subscribe. When I view list posts, I do not see the header 
info when I view them in Thunderbird. I do see the footer info that the 
list server adds. Maybe Gmail doesn't filter them the same way or we all 
need to be a little better about editing our replies. We hope that 
everyone enjoys the list as it is and we do welcome your comments and 
feedback. Please feel free to make suggestions on how to improve our 
services.


One of the things that I have been considering for a while is building a 
resources page for the website. If you would like to see something like 
that happen, please send me your documents, websites, useful books 
(title and author) and other resources and I'll see what I can put 
together. If you're interested in helping to compile the information 
into a webpage, let me know, too. Feel free to include resources for 
callers, organizers and musicians.


Please send them directly to me at ch...@sharedweight.net. Use the 
subject line: "SharedWeight resources".


Thank you all for your participation. You are the ones who make this a 
wonderful forum that is welcoming, informative and interesting. We are 
so pleased with how this list has turned out.


Happy dancing and calling,

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


On 3/28/2011 1:49 PM, Bree Kalb wrote:

Applause for this topic and these suggestions. It seems to me that taking care 
and spending a few extra seconds when replying to messages requires some of the 
skills that make a good caller: consideration for your audience, attention to 
detail, careful and deliberate choices. By the same token, an occasional lapse 
is always forgiven graciously since we all make mistakes.

Bree Kalb

[Callers] Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend gatherings

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

Hello all,

Once again, it's time for the annual Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. 
Once again, everyone from the SharedWeight lists is invited to join us 
for lunch on Saturday and Sunday. We push a bunch of tables together and 
talk about whatever we want. Calling, communities, music. There are 
always people who bring food to share, so feel free to join the potluck.


The RPDL weekend is a special and unique weekend. There you can meet the 
key movers and shakers of the contra dance revival. Network with and 
learn from people who have made the dance community their passion for 
decades. Plus have a lot of fun with some really excellent dancers.


More info:
http://www.nhcountrydance.com/music/rpdlw.html

Chris Weiler
SharedWeight.net

Re: [Callers] please don't click on the link from Cathy Jones

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

 Yes, her account has probably been hijacked. I'm working on it.

Chris

On 9/7/2010 6:47 PM, Robert Golder wrote:

The sender's account has probably been hijacked.

On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:50 PM, Gary Arthur wrote:


Is this some kind of joke?
not funny.

On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 5:08 PM, cathy jones  wrote:


http://bit.ly/9pX12M




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Re: [Callers] Wireless mikes -- many soon illegal

[Chris Weiler (home)]

It's important to note that this is not every microphone, so it's 
important to check to see if yours is affected. My Shure PGX system 
operates in the 600-650 range, so will be fine, for example. There is 
usually a label on the product that indicates what frequencies it uses.


Chris

J L Korr wrote:

Hello friends,

I received the following message from a local sound tech, and found to my 
dismay that my wireless mike, and many others, become illegal in three weeks. I 
encourage anyone with a wireless mike who isn't familiar with this imminent 
policy to follow the links below. Meanwhile, a quick plea for advice: I have 
been very pleased with my Samson Airline system, recommended to me by users of 
this listserv, and would love to know what Samson Airline systems you all would 
recommend that don't operate in the 698-806 MHz band. Thanks --Jeremy, Southern 
CA
In January 2010, the FCC announced that the operation of wireless microphones in the 700 MHz band (698 – 806 MHz) will not be permitted after June 12, 2010. These frequencies have been reallocated for new wireless communication services (cell phones and public service). 
For more information: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/
 
To see if your wireless microphone operates on the 700 MHz band, go to; http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/manufacturers.html
Click on the name of the manufacturer and see if your model is listed. 
If it is listed, it is a 700 MHz wireless microphone and can not be used (sold or repaired) after June 12, 2010.

If you can find your manufacturer’s name and your equipment is not listed, then 
you may continue using your wireless microphone because it does not operate in 
the 700 MHz Band.
If your manufacturer is not listed, please contact the FCC for additional 
assistance.
 
Some of the 700 MHz equipment can be modified and there are trade-in rebates available. 
 		 	   		  
_

Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your 
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Re: [Callers] Walk-throughs

[Chris Weiler (home)]

There are two separate issues here. First, is the issue of calling a 
complex dance for the crowd that you may have incorrectly written down. 
In that case, after two walk thrus, if most or all of the floor is 
having problems, then bail and do something dead-easy. Don't beat a dead 
horse trying to figure it out and waste the dancers' time.


The other issue is calling a dance that is beyond some of your dancers. 
I subscribe to the theory that if I need more than one walk thru, then 
I'm calling a dance that is too difficult for the crowd. The main reason 
that I might run a second walk thru is if there is a clump of beginners 
and I need to get them progressed to new couples who can help them out. 
If you have a dance that requires the majority of people in the hall to 
think hard about the choreography, then they aren't going to have much 
attention to give to enjoying the music, helping the new people around 
them and enjoying their partners and neighbors. That doesn't mean that 
you don't challenge them at some point or call boring dances. The dances 
need to flow well and be interesting, but not require a lot of thought 
to dance. Most of the time, one walk thru should be enough.


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Luke Donev wrote:

I agree that there are often too many walk-throughs and too much "teaching"
by the caller.  At that point the most professional thing to do is to
apologize, choose a simple dance, and get people moving quickly to lively
music.



I'm not sure that after 2 walk-throughs the best bet is to switch
dances. Unless you've got something you want to run in that situation
without a walk-through, you're still not getting people dancing
immediately. If you're trying to run a very complex dance, maybe you
need to bail, but hopefully you're not doing that to newcomers to
begin with. If there's one trouble spot after 2 walk-throughs, and you
think the might be fine with other people, maybe just have everyone
take hands four, walk forward a couple, walk forward a couple, take
new hands four, and start the dance from there.

  

Re: [Callers] Recruiting new dancers

[Chris Weiler (home)]

As Dave's fellow board member at BIDA, I thought it would be good to 
note that this is a relatively new policy for us. After just three 
months, though, we have gone from 2-6 new people at the introductory 
workshop on average to 20 people at our April dance.


I think that people are more likely to return if they are recruited by 
friends than if they find the dance through random advertising. People 
come for the music and dance, but they stay in the community to be with 
their friends.


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

P.S. More info about BIDA: http://www.BIDAdance.org/


Dave Casserly wrote:


One thing that has worked for our dances is giving free admission to any
experienced dancer who brings a newcomer to the introductory lesson (and all
newcomers get in free at the intro lesson).  


-Dave

  

Re: [Callers] Digestion and threads and curiousity

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

OK, I'm going to step in here as list administrator and say that Chrissy 
has got the right idea. Please trim your posts to only include 
information that makes it clear what you're talking about. It's the 
polite and respectful path in my eyes.


This not a hard and fast rule or policy. Rather a suggestion that we 
develop a culture of communication that allows the greatest number of 
people to participate comfortably.


Thank you all for your contributions and participation in this community.

Chris Weiler



Chrissy Fowler wrote:

Hello all,


-snip-

Delete all past threads except those immediately relevant to your post. 

-or- 


Frame your response and its subject line such that it includes relevant context.

 

[Callers] [Fwd: Callers Insurance]

[Chris Weiler (home)]

If you don't have it, get it.

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

 Original Message 
Hello Callers,

So in late breaking news, CDSS now has callers insurance again!  it is a policy 
with Philadelphia, similar to what we had in past years.  There was a slight 
increase in price this year, it will be $55 per year The year for this policy 
begins on April1 this year, so there will be no lapse in coverage!

Information and applications can be found at 
http://www.cdss.org/caller-insurance.html

Thanks,
Jeff Martell

Re: [Callers] Du Quoin Races

[Chris Weiler (home)]

The mistake is the notation in the A2. After the pass through to a wave 
and the allemande, people have their partners in their right hand. It 
should read "women cross set to where neighbor is standing and men turn 
into their partner's place". Then the rest of it works.


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


John Tuck wrote:

I have been trying to work out how Orace Johnson's becket contra works.
I have the dance from the year 2000 syllabus of the New England Dance Legacy
Weekend, in other years also called the Ralph Page Legacy Weekend.

*Du Quoin Races *by Orace Johnson (1991)

As called by: Laura Johannes

Formation: Contra, Becket formation

Reels: *Gravel Walk/Molly Rankin's/Sarah's New Tune *(Sarah Hydorn)

A1- Balance ring, pass through to an ocean wave

And balance again, allemande right 3/4 to form long waves (men facing out,
women in)

A2- Balance, women cross set to where partner is standing as men turn into
the place of the

woman on their right. Form new long waves with the women facing out and the
men in.

Balance, “rotate” again (men walking across set, women looping around to the
right)

B1- Swing partner on the side (the same side you started on)

Circle left halfway, roll away with a half sashay to trade places with
neighbors (across set)

B2- Circle left halfway, roll away with a half sashay to trade places with
partners (along set)

Circle left halfway, and shift left along the set to face new neighbors

To “pass through to an ocean wave," begin to pass through across the set.
Ladies catch each other's left hand and

turn just 1/4 as the gents cross all the way, turn right, and take partners’
right hands to form wavy lines-of-4 across.**

I don't seem to get far as after A1 I have partners beside each other in the
long wavy lines. In A2 the ladies should cross to their partners place. I'm
sure David Smukler hasn't made a mistake in his record of the dance, but I
cant find my mistake. Can anyone help me?
John Tuck
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Re: [Callers] Digest mode

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hi Kim,

Good to hear from you. Looking forward to seeing you at the Down East 
festival.


If you want to change your options, go to this page:

http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/options/callers

enter your e-mail address and password and you can change your options, 
including changing the digest mode setting. It's the 2nd option in the 
grey area halfway down the page.


If you've forgotten your password, enter the e-mail address you 
subscribed with and click the password reminder button and a reminder 
e-mail will be sent to you.


enjoy!
Chris


kim roberts wrote:

Hi Chris,
I hope this email finds you well. I'm hoping to get in on the digest option
of the sharedweight list, rather than the full boat. What shall I do to make
that happen?

all best,

Kim Roberts

On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Chris Weiler (home) <
chris.wei...@weirdtable.org> wrote:

  

Just a quick reminder to all about how the digest mode works. Mailman will
collect the e-mails into a queue and then send the contents of that queue to
the digest subscribers under two conditions:

1. a day has gone by, or
2. 30kb of data has collected. (about 5-7 messages on average)

Sometimes, when traffic is heavy, there can be more than one digest e-mail
sent per day. This keeps the digest e-mails from getting too long and harder
to read. All the traffic on the list should be contained in your digest
e-mails, the first e-mail of the thread and the replies. Let Seth and I know
if you discover differently. An e-mail to callers-owner@sharedweight.netwill 
reach both of us.

On a side note, moderating this list is extremely easy for me. I do not
review messages before they are posted unless there is something unusual
about how it was sent (from a non-subscribed address, via BCC, etc.) and
most of those are from spam engines. The very few times that I had to ask
someone to change what or how they posted to the list, they have been
responsive and respectful for the most part. Thank you all for your
respectful discussion. You set the tone of this list and make it a great
resource.

Best regards,
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH




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[Callers] Digest mode

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Just a quick reminder to all about how the digest mode works. Mailman 
will collect the e-mails into a queue and then send the contents of that 
queue to the digest subscribers under two conditions:


1. a day has gone by, or
2. 30kb of data has collected. (about 5-7 messages on average)

Sometimes, when traffic is heavy, there can be more than one digest 
e-mail sent per day. This keeps the digest e-mails from getting too long 
and harder to read. All the traffic on the list should be contained in 
your digest e-mails, the first e-mail of the thread and the replies. Let 
Seth and I know if you discover differently. An e-mail to 
callers-ow...@sharedweight.net will reach both of us.


On a side note, moderating this list is extremely easy for me. I do not 
review messages before they are posted unless there is something unusual 
about how it was sent (from a non-subscribed address, via BCC, etc.) and 
most of those are from spam engines. The very few times that I had to 
ask someone to change what or how they posted to the list, they have 
been responsive and respectful for the most part. Thank you all for your 
respectful discussion. You set the tone of this list and make it a great 
resource.


Best regards,
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Re: [Callers] ? for chris or seth

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Tom,

I just checked and your account is set to digest mode. You will receive 
one message with all of the messages of the last 24 hours.


Are you saying that the original message is missing from the digest e-mail?

Thanks, Jeff.

Chris

Jeff Kaufman wrote:

Tom Hinds wrote:
  
When I recieve an e-mail from sharedweight, the question and the  
answers are in the same e-mail!!!  It must be that the others get to  
see the question and then answer it before I get to see the  
question.  Am I left out of the loop -like you're afraid that I'm  
always going to jump in with my 2 cents (maybe because I'm an  
experienced caller).





I think this is because your subscription to shared weight is
currently set to "digest mode".  This means you recieve at most one
message a day that contains all emails other people sent to the list
that day.  Many other people (like me) have their subscription set to
send them messages individually.  You can change this if you want, by
going to:

  http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/options/callers

and logging in (it will send you a password if you click "remind").
Then you scroll down to "Set Digest Mode" and set it to "Off".

Some people like digest mode because then they have less inbox
clutter; it's a preference thing.

Jeff
  



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Re: [Callers] ? for chris or seth

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hi Tom,

We have never filtered any e-mail for content that related to calling.  
We love squares and this forum applies to calling them as well. You  
are not being singled out for any different treatment.


We did get an e-mail from someone else that they were not getting all  
of the messages. Seth is the technical side of our parnership, so  
hopefully he can figure out what's going on. In the meantime, check  
your spam filters to see if any Sharedweight messages are getting  
caught there.


This is an equal opportunity forum. All opinions are welcome and  
encouraged as long as they are presented with respect and tact. No  
one's messages are reviewed before they are posted to the list. Please  
let us know if you have any technical problems.


Sorry that it appeared differently to you.

Chris



On Jan 30, 2010, at 12:46 PM, Tom Hinds  wrote:

Earlier (a year or two ago) I e-mailed sharedweight a question or  
comment about squares.  It never got sent around.
At the time, I figured someone was filtering the various e-mails and  
wanted to make sure the discussion was geared only towards contra.   
Fine.  Now I see that others can send questions etc. about squares.   
Am I being treated any differently than other people who are signed  
up for sharedweight?


When I recieve an e-mail from sharedweight, the question and the  
answers are in the same e-mail!!!  It must be that the others get to  
see the question and then answer it before I get to see the  
question.  Am I left out of the loop -like you're afraid that I'm  
always going to jump in with my 2 cents (maybe because I'm an  
experienced caller).


If this is the case, I just want you to know that I rarely want to  
respond to the questions and requests.  I also realize that it's  
very important for the new callers to voice their opinion and have a  
discussion.


Am I being treated differently from the others?

Tom




On Jan 20, 2010, at 12:00 PM, callers-requ...@sharedweight.net wrote:


Send Callers mailing list submissions to
   call...@sharedweight.net

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
   http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
   callers-requ...@sharedweight.net

You can reach the person managing the list at
   callers-ow...@sharedweight.net

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..."


Today's Topics:

  1. Re: squares for house parties of mostly contra dancers?
 (gtw...@worldpath.net)


--- 
---


Message: 1
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:05:26 -0500
From: 
To: call...@sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] squares for house parties of mostly contra
   dancers?
Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1


All this talk of Squares, and with Ralph Page weekend and all
reminded me that I found this on the web:
for all you Rabbit fans:
(we should always listen to the caller!)
the scene: 2 mountain gents trying to get the best of Bugs
of course Bugs turns the tables.

Bugs Bunnys Square

Promenade across the floor. Sashay right on out the door.
Out the door and into the glade and everybody promenade.
Step right up you're doing fine.
I'll pull your beard you'll pull mine.
Yank it again like you did before.
Break it up with a tug of war.
Now into the brook and fish for the trout.
Dive right in and splash about. Trout! Trout! Pretty little trout!
One more splash and come right out.
Shake like a hound-dog. Shake again.
Wallow around in the old pig pen.
Wallow some more. Y'all know how.
Roll around like an old fat sow.
Allemande left with your right hand.
Follow through with a great left band. (?)
Now lead your partner the dirty old thing.
Follow through with an elbow swing.
Grab a fence post. Hold it tight.
Womp your partner with all your might.
Hit him in the shin. Hit him in the head.
Hit him again. The critter ain't dead.
Womp him low and womp him high.
Stick your finger in his eye.
Pretty little ring. Pretty little sound. Bang your heads against the
ground.
Promenade all around the room. Promenade like a bride and groom.
Open up the door and step right in.
Close the door and into a spin. Whirl! Whirl! Twist and twirl!
Jump all around like a flying squirrel.
Now don't you fuss and don't you swear.
Just come right out and form a square.
Now right hand over and left hand under.
Both join hands and run like thunder.
Over the hill and over the dale.
Duck your head and lift your tail.
Don't you stray and don't you roam.
Turn to your partner. Promenade home.
Corn in the cornfield. Wheat in the sack. Turn to your partner.  
Promenade

back.
And now you're home. Bow to your partner.
Bow to the gent across the hall. And that is all!

On 1/19/2010, "Jeff Kaufman"  wrote:



We ended 

Re: [Callers] Music for contras

[Chris Weiler (home)]

I agree with the comments that people have been making. It's fun, I 
enjoy it in moderation. Too much becomes gimmicky and unwelcome. It must 
always be danceable or it's not fun. I know some of the groups that are 
working on a more rock and roll or techno feel and when they've asked 
for feedback, I've tried to steer them towards keeping it danceable and 
about the dancers, not them.


I experienced a techno-contra, Asheville style at the Youth Dance 
Weekend this last fall. I had fun. Sat down when I needed a rest and got 
up and danced when I didn't. There were difficult sections where 
phrasing was nonexistent and even the caller got lost. These dances are 
for experienced dancers. No one else could pull it off. That will make 
it very difficult in keeping them going for more than a few years. There 
needs to be a more traditional group where people can go and learn 
before they're ready for a techno contra. I also think that people will 
miss the back and forth between live musicians and the dancers. I'm not 
too worried that the current contra tradition will disappear. It will 
keep evolving, but it won't disappear.


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


Barbara Groh wrote:




#2 I wonder if we are looking at a seperation between
traditional and a new style of dancing, not unlike
what happened 40 years ago +/-
If there is  going to be (if it hasn't already begun)
a divergance in dance styles and preferances.


In our area (Asheville, NC) the twenty-somethings are contra dancing 
to techno music at private parties.  I hear the music is LOUD, and the 
dances are stream-of-consciousness marathons.  Not my cup of tea, but 
it's interesting how it's evolving with our young'uns.  (I don't think 
it will ever replace the more traditional style of contra dancing!)

~Barbara

[Callers] SharedWeight gathering at Ralph Page

[Chris Weiler (SW)]

Hello everyone,

Yes, we will have lunch gatherings both days at the Ralph Page Dance 
Legacy Weekend in the dinning hall in our usual spot. Chris will be 
there and is looking forward to seeing everyone!


For those of you who haven't been, RPDLW is a great place to go and 
connect with the history of traditional dance and the people who made it 
happen. There are always tons of callers, musicians and organizers there 
so it's a great place to network, too. At lunch on Saturday and Sunday, 
we push a bunch of tables together at the back of the dining area and 
geek out about this passion that we all share. If you want to bring 
something and share it around the table, there will be other people 
participating in the impromptu potluck as well.


SharedWeight is now 5 years old and it's great to see how far it's come 
and where it's going. This will be the fifth gathering at Ralph Page, 
too. That first year, we only had about 10 people around the table. Last 
year it seemed to be around 30 or 40. We started with only one list for 
callers, now we have three with lists for musicians and organizers as 
well. Thank you all for participating and making this forum a great 
place to share ideas, ask questions and help each other. Keep spreading 
the word!


Happy Dancing,

Chris Weiler and Seth Seeger

Re: [Callers] Trip to Lambertville - 2 Questions

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hi Rickey,

I agree with the others that the gents allemande to a wave. That's my 
experience of it, but it doesn't hurt to check Give and Take.


For the balances, I've always liked to balance to the right and 
backwards. That gives you the distance to set up the tension before the 
allemande left and lets you make eye contact with people. That said, you 
can suggest it, but that doesn't mean that many people will follow. It's 
always good for the caller to put style points out there, but not get 
too hung up on them being followed. Some people are ready to hear them, 
but some aren't.


Good luck!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Rickey wrote:

Hi,

I have two questions about Steve Zaikon-Anderson's "Trip to Lambertville".
(1) At the end of A1 the men are in a long wavy line and they balance.  It
seems that dancers are balancing right and then left most often.  Since the
next figure is Gents Allemande Left, balancing left then right instead would
seem better as this would make sharing weight on the gent's allemande more
satisfying.  (2) I have seen two versions of A2.  In one the gent's
allemande left to their neighbor for a balance and swing.  In the other
version the gents allemande left to a wavy line of 4 across the set, balance
in that wave and then swing their neighbor.  In Nelson, NH, where I dance a
lot this version (into the wave of 4) is how it is danced.  I am planning on
calling the dance at the Scout House in Concord MA soon and am wondering
which version is more common there.

Thanks for whatever help you can give,

Rickey Holt,

Fremont, NH.

 


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Re: [Callers] emerging artists

[Chris Weiler (home)]

I was feeling a little shy about sharing my dances, so I sent a private 
e-mail to Bronwyn. But so many people have replied, I'll share the link 
to my dance compositions, including a new one written just a few months ago:


http://chrisweiler.ws/dances.htm

Julie Vallimont inspired a couple of these dances, so I thought that 
Bronwyn could surprise her.


I think that this is a great idea. Thanks everyone for sharing!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


Bronwyn Woods wrote:

Hi all,
In January, the NYC contra is holding a dance themed around "emerging
artists".  I will be calling to Stunt Double (Laurie Tupper, Christopher
Jacoby, Dave Casserly, Julie Vallimont).  It should be a great dance.

Anyway, in keeping with the theme, I would like to call some dances by
"emerging" choreographers.  I'm currently looking for dances that fit this
loose description -  "emerging" can really be defined however you want.  So,
if you know of dances that you like that you think fit the bill, let me
know!  Also let me know if the dances have been called before or still need
to be given a trial run.

Thanks,
Bronwyn
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Re: [Callers] 40 bar dances....

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hi Bev,

You've got it right: 1 bar = 2 beats. It confuses me most of the time...

Chris

The Witful Turnip wrote:

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:46:50 -0400
From: "Chris Weiler (home)" <chris.wei...@weirdtable.org>
Subject: Re: [Callers] 40 bar dances

  

Found it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L0IFo7LVok



Thanks for posting this Chris. It is a great tune. But I clearly have some
bars to beat/count confusion going. I count this tune as follows:

A1: 8, 8
A2: 8, 8
B1: 8, 16
B2: 8, 16 


David Millstone made a comment  that the
Cherokee Shuffle tune in the B part is 10 bars long, not 12.  But if I count
it as..

A1: 8, 8
A2: 8, 8
B1: 8, 12
B2: 8, 12

How do I get to the 10 bars??? Is it 8 + 12 = 20 / 2 = 10 bars??  Is that
the conversion?? "30 year Jig" would be 8 + 16 = 24 / 2 = 12 bars  So,
are straight contra dance tunes 32 bar tunes ? (8 + 8 = 16 / 2 = 8 * 4 =
32). If my conversion theory is correct, that would make Cherokee Shuffle a
36 bar tune, and 30 Year Jig a 40 bar tune. Am I understanding this
correctly?

I'm so *not* a math or music theory head! But I suspect that bands would
prefer me to say I need an [N] bar tune rather than trying to describe what
I mean in beats/counts. And I really hadn't meant to start the beat vs.
count vs. bar discussion again. I just didn't get it the first time. 
Thanks,

Bev

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Re: [Callers] 40 bar dances

[Chris Weiler (home)]

From the band:

"It's called 30 year jig. Written by the band Väsen. Great tune!"

Chris

David Millstone wrote:

Hi Chris,

The dance that comes immediately to mind is David Kaynor's "Cherokee Shuffle,"
written to accompany that tune.You can find it here:

http://www.davidkaynor.com/Compositions.html

There's a video on YouTube of three very hot guitar flatpickers playing Cherokee
Shuffle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s8Mmc69CP8

You could try out the calls to that tune to see how the timing works for you.

Just out of curiosity, what's the tune that your band is eager to play?

David Millstone
Lebanon, NH
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[Callers] 40 bar dances

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hey,

A band I'm working with would like to play their favorite 40 bar jig 
(AA=8+8 plus BB=12+12) at a dance sometime. I was wondering if anyone 
had dances for this format and what their experience was calling them.


Thanks,
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Re: [Callers] B1 Petronellas: outcome?

[Chris Weiler (home)]

The 2nd to last dance in the first half was Bob Isaacs' dance The Judge. 
Eden laughed when I handed her the card and said "I guess you'd like us 
to play The Judge?" I said: "I would _love_ it if you played The Judge". 
They started off with The Judge (Larry on banjo) and later switched to 
Whiplash (off their latest CD). My hat is off to Bob, the dance is very 
well matched to the tune!


Thanks for all of the great suggestions!

The only other dance I called with Petronellas was The Missing Piece by 
Bronwyn Woods in the 2nd half. That dance has them in the B2.


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Lark-Aeryn Speyer wrote:

So, Chris, what did you choose?  I noticed lots of Petronellas last night,
but I don't specifically remember which one was in the B1.
Lark

  

[Callers] B1 Petronellas

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hey SW crew,

I'm playing a gig this weekend with Notorious and one of my favorite 
Larry tunes is "The Judge". I know that they like to save that tune for 
a dance with Petronella balance and spin to the right at the top of the B1.


I'm hoping that you will share with me your favorite dances that have 
Petronella moves in the B1.


Thanks!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Re: [Callers] contra chestnuts & Money Musk

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Daniel Friedman called it at the Scout House for two lines, including 
many young people and new dancers.


Chris

Delia Clark wrote:
I haven't seen it posted so just want to be sure that you know, for 
the tally, that Nils Fredland called Money Musk just after the break 
at the Greenfield dance Saturday night too, with Tidal Wave providing 
the music.  Not sure how many people, but there were 4 lines, for 
those of you who know the hall (most of you, I'm guessing).



On Mar 17, 2009, at 4:36 PM, David Millstone wrote:

Good luck, Bill! And there definitely is a market of folks interested 
in the
older dances. David Smukler and I each held a dance this past 
Saturday where the
program was advertised as all older dances. We each had a great 
turnout. At my
dance, we had everone from absolute first-timers, to many of the 
regular crowd,
to folks whom we haven't seen on a dance floor in ages. Some dancers 
drove two

hours to attend.

Here's the program I called in Norwich, Vermont:

Grand March
British Sorrow
Lamplighter's Hornpipe
Jamie Allen
Gay Gordon's
Portland Fancy
Morning Star
Devil's Dream

Money Musk
Rory O'More
Speed the Plough
Young Widow
Chorus Jig

There were plenty of other good possibilities. Didn't include 
Petronella or
Hull's Victory or Hull's Victory because we do 'em so often anyhow, 
mixed in
with more modern material. Of course, we do Chorus Jig often, too, 
but you can't

have a program of chestnuts and omit that one!

The program in Syracuse, with multiple callers, went as follows:

Lady Walpole's
Queen Victoria
British Sorrow
Chorus Jig
Petronella
Rory O'More

Money Musk
5th figure of the standard Lancers
Lamplighters' HP
Young Widow
Devil's Dream

One of the delights has been reading comments e-mailed after the 
dance from
folks who wished that there could be more such events. Here are some 
samples:


"I've been meaning to write to thank you for that fabulous dance this 
past
weekend in Norwich. It was well worth the trip from northern Vermont. 
On the way
back we were wondering if  this could become an annual event. I've 
pretty much
given up contra dancing in recent years (twirling, stomping, 
athleticism, etc)
but that night brought back everything I love about it. The calling, 
the music,
the dances, it was all sheer pleasure. So were the tidbits about the 
dances and
their history. You even persuaded people to behave in a civilized 
manner..."


"What wonderful dances !! Those chestnuts are such a treat to dance 
-- they're
full of that unending flowing feeling if you're active; and if you're 
inactive,
they're full of chances to admire the actives - the hall - and the 
caller and
band, to enjoy the other dancers in your set, and to support the 
actives in
making each round of the dance a perfectly timed 
smoothly-choreographed delight.
And Money Musk is one of my favorites, so it was wonderful to do that 
last night
-- I particularly like when the active person swoops (or backs) into 
his/her

spot in the lines of three -- or as an inactive, when to two of you are
receiving the "incoming" active with just the right timing. Plus 
while we were
dancing it in Norwich, it was wonderful to realize that this dance 
being done by
like-minded but unknown "friends" all around the globe, with great 
callers and

bands all urging on the dancers!"

"I saw so many familiar faces (usually I can't remember the names) 
and found
that many had  come because of the program. Us 'oldsters' don't get 
the chance

to do the old chestnuts often. Thank you!"

"Thank you for an absolutely wonderful dance last night.  The program 
and music

and calling were utter heaven..."

Are these dances for everyone? Probably not. (I was calling a week 
ago at a
large venue with many-- i.e., 50 or so-- new dancers on the floor. 
The first
dance of the evening had no partner swing, only neighbor swings, so 
that the
newbies could experience swings with many different people. One 
experienced
dancer approached me afterwards to point out that there had been no 
partner
swing. She mentioned that she had never done a dance before that 
evening that

didn't have a partner swing, didn't know that such items even existed.)

One of the things I noted in looking at the two hours of video 
footage we
gathered from the Norwich dance was seeing all those inactive couples 
having fun
while just standing still. Smiling at their partner, listening to the 
music,
occasionally sneaking in a swing with an inactive from the 
neighboring line--
okay, so they weren't always standing still-- and watching the active 
couples.
Boy, I sure remember picking up a lot of tricks from watching good 
dancers,
something that's much harder to do in the 
everyone-moving-all-the-time dances.
Don't get me wrong-- I love those, too, and call plenty of 'em, but 
variety is

good.

Where can you find directions for all those dances? Well, I'll put in 
a plug for
"Cracking Chestnuts," published by CDSS. You can also find many of 
them on the

syllabi 

Re: [Callers] Integrating Dancers, was "Spreading out the Inexperience"

[Chris Weiler (home)]

This is a big subject. There is a lot we can talk about and debate. It 
is indeed easier to call for an experienced crowd than it is for newer 
dancers and when you're working with a mixed crowd, it is easier when 
they truly mix instead of "clumping" beginners to beginners and 
experienced to experienced dancers.


I would challenge the thought that there is much that the caller can do 
besides gently encouraging the dancers to mix. In my mind, this is the 
responsibility of the organizers and the core group of regulars who come 
to the dance series. They do much more to decide how welcoming and 
successful they are in integrating newer dancers into the community. If 
they're not being aware and saying to their friend "Hey, that new couple 
is dancing with each other, let's see if we can break them up." Or 
"Sally, this is Bob. Bob, Sally is new tonight and needs a good dance 
partner and I thought of you, would you dance with her?" All callers can 
do is offer encouragement to do this sort of thing. The organizers and 
core group of experienced dancers can set the example for others to 
emulate. I disagree that if the dancers are failing to integrate the 
newer dancers that this is a failing of the caller.


In my experience, the dancers are attending the dance with a certain 
expectation of how the evening is going to be. They expect the caller to 
be competent, concise and encouraging. They have a certain amount of 
trust and patience that if the caller does something outside of their 
expectations or new it will be fun or they will learn something. The 
more the caller wastes their time with manipulation and over-teaching, 
the less patience they have with it. If you're not careful, you loose 
their trust completely and don't get asked to return. More than one or 
two walkthroughs, manipulating the sets by moving dancers around, 
reminders from the mic to dance with new people are fine if used 
sparingly. If used too much will become preachy and lecturing.


Some of the comments that I will use early in the evening, maybe one 
every other dance or one per dance if the dancers are not responding. I 
don't repeat them if I can help it:


"Find someone who was sitting out to dance with for this next dance"
"Find someone to dance with you've never danced with before"
"If you're new tonight, dance with experienced dancers, and you'll learn 
quickly"

"Thank your partner, thank the band and find someone new to dance with"

or if I'm really desperate:
"Who here has been dancing a while and is comfortable dancing with 
someone who is new to dancing? Keep your hands up. If you're new and 
want some help, go ask one of these people to dance."


I will use mixers in a dance because I feel that they have value in 
themselves. It allows the experienced dancers to come in contact with as 
many new people as possible. It's a great lesson for the new dancers in 
how different each person's dance style is and how to dance with them. 
It's also one of the best swing tutorials that I know for beginners who 
are only dancing with their friends who are also new. I also think that 
it's a great way of opening people's eyes to people they might not have 
chosen to dance with before. It's a great way to build community. If I 
am dancing and ask a beginner to dance and it turns out to be a mixer, 
then I will ask them to dance the next one. Then they get the experience 
of the mixer and still get the benefit of dancing with me.


My perspective is that the more the caller says from the microphone, 
beyond the minimum needed to lead the dancing, intrudes on the dancer's 
enjoyment of the music, the dance and their friend's company. The more 
time spent teaching or lecturing or manipulating is less time talking to 
friends and dancing to music. I have had people tell me that what they 
enjoy most in a caller is how invisible they can be. If all they notice 
is the fun of dancing and the great music, then the caller is doing 
their job right.


my 2 cents

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


Greg McKenzie wrote:


Integrating newcomers into the dance community is a core skill for 
contra dance callers.  It is a key metric I use to judge the skill of 
a caller because it is one of the most difficult tasks.


Personally, I love dancing with newcomers and put significant personal 
energy into partnering with them, particularly in the early part of 
the evening.  When addressing the issue of integration please consider 
how your tactics will affect dancers who take the initiative to 
integrate themselves.  Mixers, for example, will thwart my efforts 
because I will lose the newcomer I have put effort into partnering 
with.  Some of the more heavy-handed tactics mentioned here can have a 
similar effect.  They can also send the implicit message that the 
caller feels that some experienced dancers are behaving poorly by not 
mixing in with newcomers.


A bet

Re: [Callers] 4th Annual Ralph Page SharedWeight Lunch gatherings

[Chris Weiler (home)]

I forgot to mention that some people have been treating this lunch like 
a potluck in the past. So feel free to bring food to share and I'm sure 
that you'll find others passing food around.


Chris

Chris Weiler (home) wrote:
Once again, this year at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, we will 
be shoving a bunch of tables together and having a lunch gathering of 
people on the SharedWeight lists. A relaxed gathering of people who 
want to talk about calling, dance music or organizing a dance series. 
Always enjoyable, interesting and informative.


Hope to see you there! Look for tables pushed together at the back of 
the dining hall with a SharedWeight sign.


Happy dancing!
Chris Weiler


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[Callers] 4th Annual Ralph Page SharedWeight Lunch gatherings

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Once again, this year at the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, we will be 
shoving a bunch of tables together and having a lunch gathering of 
people on the SharedWeight lists. A relaxed gathering of people who want 
to talk about calling, dance music or organizing a dance series. Always 
enjoyable, interesting and informative.


Hope to see you there! Look for tables pushed together at the back of 
the dining hall with a SharedWeight sign.


Happy dancing!
Chris Weiler

Re: [Callers] Name / Author Search

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hey Jeff,

There seems to be something off about your notation. Doesn't a 
Petronella balance and spin take 8 beats? I think that the N4 Al. R goes 
across the phrase.


Also, the A2 should read:
(2) Neighbor #3 pull-by left
(12) Neighbor #2 swing

Bob is on this list and can confirm if it's his dance, too.

Chris

Jeffrey Petrovitch wrote:

Hey Everyone:

I recently discovered this dance via a youtube video and wondering if 
anyone knows the name and author of this dance.


Becket Formation

A1:
(4) Balance the ring
(2) Petronella twirl to the right
(2) Neighbor #1 pull-by left
(2) Neighbor #2 pull-by right
(2) Neighbor #3 pull-by left
(4) Neighbor #4 allemande right

A2
(2) Neighbor #4 pull-by right
(2) Neighbor #3 pull-by left
(8) Neighbor #2 swing

B1:
(8) Circle left 3/4
(8) Partner do-si-do

B2:
(16) Partner balance and swing

Thanks,

Jeff
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[Callers] [Fwd: RPDLW]

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hello everyone,

It's that time of year again: Time to sign up for the Ralph Page Dance 
Legacy Weekend! John McIntire kindly reminded me that preregistrations 
are due soon. If you haven't been before, it's a wonderful weekend with 
great workshops, opportunities to meet other callers and fabulous 
dancing! And don't forget our annual SharedWeight lunch gatherings! I've 
had some great discussions at that table with other callers.


Hope to see you all there!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


 Original Message 
Subject:RPDLW
List-Post: callers@lists.sharedweight.net
Date:   Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:18:58 -0400
From:   John C. McIntire <circlel...@uninets.net>
Reply-To:   circlel...@uninets.net
To: chris.wei...@weirdtable.org



Hi Chris,
  A warm, rainy (and muddy) day allows me to stay indoors, at home, and 
get something useful done. Like catch up on committee work!
   I have attached the flyer/registration sheet for the 2009 RPDLW. Would 
you please pass this along to the Shared Weight list? It is too late to apply 
for scholarships but work exchange is still available for those who find the 
program costs prohibitive. Also, you could remind folks that the food offered 
is an easy but expensive option. Bringing one's own is easy and there is a 
more than decent grocery nearby.

  Hope to see you at the weekend.
Cheers, John




2009_Registration Flyer.pdf
Description: Binary data

Re: [Callers] Admission?

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hi Chrissy,

I generally agree with the other posters that there is value that should 
be paid for. And as a former organizer, I know how frustrating it can be 
when the amount of money being taken in at a small dance doesn't 
adequately compensate the performers. It might be easier at a larger 
dance to allow people to sit and watch.


That all said, I can envision a scenario where someone talks to the 
caller beforehand about sitting, observing and learning. Then the caller 
can invite that person to be their guest at the dance and speak to the 
organizers. This also opens up the opportunity to have discussions later 
about specific events and decisions during the evening.


Chris


Chrissy Fowler wrote:

Hi all,

I have been wondering about something lately and wanted to know what others 
think, and what's usual and customary in your experience as callers learning 
from other callers.

Say, for example, that I want to learn from another caller and go to a dance 
specifically and particularly to observe what he/she does.  I am simply going 
to sit on the side of the hall and take it all in.  Do I have to pay admission 
for that dance since I am not dancing?  Why or why not?

Curiously yours,
Chrissy


  

[Callers] Happy Anniversary!!

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone!!

Today is the 4th anniversary of the first post to SharedWeight. Seth 
Seeger and I continue to be thrilled about how SharedWeight has grown 
and evolved. And it's all due to your thoughtfulness, willingness to 
help and energy. We now have around 200 members across 3 lists.


Thank you for your participation!! It's people like you that help keep 
American traditional dance going and will carry it into the future.


Happy Dancing!!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

[Callers] [Fwd: Meet veteran caller Rickey Holden Sept. 26-27]

[Chris Weiler (home)]

t...@hands4.com wrote:

Hello, calling friends...

This is an invitation to meet the legendary square dance
caller Rickey Holden, who is making one of his rare trips
to the States.

Rickey started square and contra dancing in Vermont in the
1930s. He attended Ralph Page's Boston dances while
studying (along with Ted Sannella) at Tufts University. He
became one of the first full-time callers in the nationwide
square dance boom, acting as a consultant for the San
Antonio, TX Recreation Department and eventually traveling
around the world teaching squares, contras, and
international folk dances.

Some of you may recognize Rickey's name from his books _The
Square Dance Caller_ and _The Contra Dance Book_. In the
1950s he edited _American Squares_, a national magazine; in
my opinion Rickey's tenure was the high point of _AS_'s
long history.

In 1967 Rickey moved to Brussels, Belgium and founded
Folkraft-Europe, which produces recordings and organizes
seminars on folk dancing. However, he still claims square
and contra dance as his first love, and this visit provides
a rare opportunity to meet and learn from him.

On Friday, September 26, Rickey will be my guest - and do
some calling - at the first of my Fourth Friday square
dances in Belmont, Mass. The dance runs from 8 to 11 p.m.
at Payson Park Church, 365 Belmont Street. Admission is $8
($5 for students under 21).

On Saturday morning, September 27, Rickey has agreed to
meet with local callers and "talk shop." The format is yet
to be determined. It could be (1) a potluck brunch, with
Rickey sharing his story followed by Q / bull session, or
(2) a workshop, with actual music and dancing, or (3) both.

Please let me know ASAP if you'd like to attend such a
gathering, as the number of "yes" replies will affect the
type of space I need to reserve. In addition to a
contribution of food (if we go through with the potluck
idea), I suggest $10 toward Rickey's travel expenses ($20
if we end up hiring a hall). Your comments and suggestions
are welcome and valued.

Feel free to pass this invitation along; I'm sure I've
missed a few people.

Tony Parkes

  

Re: [Callers] Trouble Getting Gigs (very long)

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hi Tina,

It's great to hear from you. It's been too long since we were at 
Pinewoods together.


As others have said: Wow! Great topic. In the past, I have attended 
workshops/discussions about "Getting to the Next Level". Lisa Greenleaf 
has run them before. It's a difficult question.


First, the commiseration. About a year and a half ago, I was in the 
position you are now. I was working the smaller dance venues and driving 
hours to get gigs. Getting good reviews wherever I called, but not 
breaking into the bigger venues. It's a tough place to be in. Feeling 
like you're good enough to get on that stage and try, but not sure how 
to get there.


What has happened since is a series of small but significant steps that 
have brought me closer to that goal. A fellow caller asked me to 
substitute for her at a gig in central Maine which was fairly large. 
They kept inviting me back. An organizer (and fellow newbie caller) 
heard me play one of the smaller venues and asked me to play for the 
larger one on a less popular evening. Occasionally I would get paired 
with "top tier" bands who would enjoy working with me and recommend me 
to organizers.


The major breakthrough for me was the Thursday night dance at the Scout 
House. I consider it my "home" dance and a lot of my friends dance 
there. The committee had a rule, however. One committee member has to 
have heard a caller call at least a half evening before they can be 
booked. Unfortunately, most of them did not attend the smaller venues I 
was calling regularly. It was turning out to be quite a barrier. 
Finally, I decided to send an e-mail to the committee members to invite 
them to my next local area gig. While they didn't come to that dance, 
one of the members came to another dance I called a couple of weeks 
later. That got me in the door and I was booked for the next quarter to 
call the dance. The evening went well (my butterflies went away about 
half way through the first dance) and the committee agreed that I was 
ready to be part of the rotation.


More recently, I discovered that I was not getting booked for the Monday 
night Yankee Ingenuity dance. The job booking callers had changed hands 
and the new person did not know me. So at one of the dances, during the 
break, I went up to him on stage (he's a musician) and asked him how I 
could get on the schedule. He stammered a bit and then (to my surprise 
and delight) the caller that evening and the two guest musicians all 
vouched for me. I was asked to call during the next round of bookings.


So, Tina, the biggest piece of advice that I can give is to have 
patience. It takes time to build a reputation with organizers, 
musicians, callers and most importantly the dancers. If you have fans on 
the floor, they will ask for you to be booked at their favorite venues. 
That can carry a lot of weight with an organizer, especially if it 
happens more than once.


One more thought I wanted to share: Calling for the larger venues with 
the more experienced dancers does require a different skill set than 
calling the community dances. The community dances are harder as Greg 
said, and require a different language and repertoire. As I call for the 
larger dances, I find that my repertoire isn't adequate. I'm learning 
harder dances that are more difficult to call. I'm collecting dances 
more often and combing through the dance exchanges from camps and 
festivals to expand my repertoire. You need to learn how to pare back 
the teaching language the right amount so that the beginners in the hall 
are being served without boring the experienced dancers. I'm still 
learning how to incorporate style tips into those evenings in a way that 
isn't preachy or intrusive to those who think they are beyond such 
information.


I don't know the answer to Greg's suggestions about getting the good 
callers to call to smaller venues and the beginners at the larger ones. 
But I do know that part of the reason has to do with the quality of the 
experience for the dancers. The larger venues got large by providing a 
fun experience with a great environment, great calling and great music. 
Having seen it here in the Boston area, a great series can be hurt when 
it gets a less than stellar reputation.


So hang in there! Patience and persistence are your greatest tools. Keep 
calling and improving. Keep in mind it's about the dancers. You have 
something special to share with them. With all of that and a little 
networking, that next level will find you!


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

P.S. When I was running my own dance series, I brought in some new 
callers for guest slots and bands that didn't have much experience. It 
has been such a pleasure to see a lot of them grow since then. Maybe we 
should start a discussion on the organizers list about the balance 
between nurturing new talent vs. the vision of the dance experience.


Tina Fields wrote:

Hi folks –

I seem to have hit an

Re: [Callers] More life lessons for this caller... (really long)

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Mycroft,

See replies in-line below:

Charles M. Hannum wrote:

Calling Chorus Jig would have made me glad to miss your session.  ;-)
  
I'm not sure if you're joking here or not. If you're serious, then that 
would have been your loss. I always feel a little sorry for the people 
who don't understand the joys of the traditional dances or other 
formations (like squares, triplets or triple minors). Thankfully, there 
are still quite a few people who do. And as a caller, my job is to both 
give people what they want, and show them things that they may not have 
experienced before. Including dances that link us to our past and new 
ones that are part of our future.

On a more serious note, don't take compliments from dancers as an
absolution for everything that goes wrong.
I don't. But since my tendency is to beat myself up for little mistakes 
and generally assume that the dancers are not enjoying themselves, I 
think that I can take 10-15 compliments to mean that I put together 
three sessions that didn't suck.


Seriously, sometimes I have to snap myself out of my thought train and 
look at the faces of the dancers. Generally, they're smiling. Having 
fun. It's an important reality check to keep myself from sweating the 
small stuff.


I do understand that some people are out of touch with what is generally 
going on. That's why I take both compliments and criticisms with a grain 
of salt and pay attention more if I hear the same thing from more than 
one person. I also listened to the callers and experienced dancers whose 
feedback I solicited after each session. They gave me thoughtful 
responses which helped inform my report.



On the other hand, I don't have any particular complaints about the
dances you called that I danced to, FWIW.  But I missed both your
first and last sessions.

  
Um, Thanks. I think. I'm going to assume this is a compliment and not 
"damning with faint praise".


It was good to see you and chat this weekend. I'll see you on the dance 
floor soon, I expect.


Chris

Re: [Callers] More life lessons for this caller... (really long)

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Just as a follow up note. I'm kicking myself now that I didn't call 
Chorus Jig on Sunday. The band would have enjoyed it, I know it cold and 
the dancers would have had a blast.


Chris

Chris Weiler wrote:

Hello everyone,

-snip-

My third session, on Sunday was the shortest. A blessing since I was 
running out of dances to call from my now limited repertoire. The band 
turned out to be incredible. A mix of musicians who have been playing 
for decades and young newcomers. Five fiddles, guitar, bass and piano. 
Hearing five fiddles belt out "Grumbling old man/Growling old woman" 
was an incredible experience.

-snip-


What else needs to be said?

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Re: [Callers] Thanks for a dance name, author and other data...

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hmmm... I thought she was, but I can't find her subscription.

Based from what I know of Donna (she's a great dancer and lots of fun) 
and what I see and hear in the video: she's reflecting what she hears in 
the music in her step. A little stutter step on the phrase, especially 
when the music is "telling" you to do it can be a lot of fun. It places 
a physical emphasis on the first beat of the phrase that reflects the 
musical emphasis. It's pretty much a style thing, rather than a 
technique is my guess.


It's really fun as a caller to watch how people dance differently based 
on the style of the music.


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


Adina Gordon wrote:

Hi Richie,

That's Donna Hunt.  Donna, are you on this list?

- Adina
-

Adina Gordon

828.230.9266

http://www.adinagordon.com/

--- On Wed, 7/30/08, callers-requ...@sharedweight.net 
<callers-requ...@sharedweight.net> wrote:
From: "Richie K." <mightylum...@juno.com>
Subject: [Callers] Thanks for a dance name, author and other data...
oh and one more question besides... :)

...

http://contrausa.com/user/fri2%20ron%20b4%20with%20quote.wmv
...starting just after the music gets fast, there is an inactive women coming
up the line with reddish hair and and a knee brace who does a sort of stutter
step before she does some of the moves... If anyone knows why she does so or
even who she is so I can ask her the advantage of that it would be most
appreciated  :)
best wishes ...
Richie Katz




  
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Re: [Callers] Announcing Dance Names (Was: "Lost in Interstellar Haze")

[Chris Weiler]

I must agree with Susan on announcing dance names. My own technique is 
to announce them after the walkthrough and before the music starts. 
"come back to place and we'll dance  by ". The beginners won't 
think that they're being left out because they all have been taught the 
dance, and in fact may be distracted by everyone starting to back up. 
The ones who are interested and have attention to spare will hear. This 
also lets the band know that we're ready for some music.


There are many ways for a caller to gain the attention of the dancers. 
Scarcity of speech is one of them, but tone of voice and force of 
personality do a lot more to making the evening fun. If just your tone 
and style of speech can convey "I'm having fun, please join me" and 
command attention and obedience as well, it really makes the evening fun 
for the dancers. It's not easy, especially for someone like me who tends 
to be shy, but it can be cultivated without sounding phony.


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

[Callers] Any Whipperstompers out there?

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hello everyone,

Anybody attend the Whipperstompers weekend a couple of weeks ago in 
South Carolina? I talked with Adina Gordon last night about it and she 
had some good things to say. Adina, that's your cue to let us know how 
it went and your impressions about what the organizers and attendees 
took away from it. ;)


Anyone else attend and want to share their experiences?

Adina and I found out that we're both planning on attending the Youth 
Dance Weekend in Vermont in September. Anyone else going to be there?


Happy Dancing,
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Re: [Callers] Style/safety/etiquette tips from the microphone

[Chris Weiler]

Thank you everyone for your contributions. I would like to compile more 
suggestions, however. I'll take a stab at remembering a few I've heard 
from the floor. (apologies to Lisa Greenleaf and other callers if I 
misremember some of them)


- The hall is crowded tonight, take care of each other
- Allemande: curl your fingers around the base of your partner's thumb 
and gently pull straight back; the wrist does not bend.
- During the swing, each person's back is vertical and is supporting 
their own weight. Ladies can help by putting their left hand behind the 
gent's shoulder to support themselves.

- Leading a twirl is a suggestion, not a command
- Talk to each other - let your partner know if what they're doing is 
uncomfortable or painful and what they can do to make dancing with them 
more pleasurable.
- Everyone has the right to say "no thank you" when asked to dance and 
then dance with someone else
- Ladies, if you are being held too close in the swing, put your palm 
against the front of his shoulder and push


Maybe some things that should be said from the microphone occasionally:
- If you're having an unpleasant dance experience with your partner, you 
can drop out at either the top or bottom of the set before the dance is over
- Feel free to talk to one of the organizers or the person minding the 
cash box if you have a problem with another dancer


I look forward to your feedback.

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Greg McKenzie wrote:


Thanks for the topic.

My contribution is one of my basic rules of contra dance calling:
Never suggest by word, deed, or implication, that anyone in the hall 
is either behaving poorly or is not up to the task of dancing well.


The significiant question is how the real "problem" is perceived and 
addressed.  It might require some forethought but following the above 
rule will save the caller much grief and will make their job much 
easier.  The caller has the most leverage at changing behavior by 
assuming that all dancers are invested in safety and goodwill, and 
that the dancers have the intelligence and capability to dance well.  
Any caller comments that can be perceived as a criticism of "some" 
dancers will cause a loss of confidence or hard feelings amongst many 
more dancers.  That will translate into loss of dancer confidence and 
less effective calling all around.


Any analysis that assumes "men behaving badly to poor style to dancers 
who are too rough." is likely to generate words that will be perceived 
by at least some dancers as a criticism.  A better approach might be 
to compliment the dancers on their conscientous application of good 
style and consideration in their dancing.


Another way of saying this is: Don't waste the dancers time by telling 
them what they should not do.  (This is true even when "humor" is 
used.)  Instead compliment them on their skill and then show them an 
"advanced" technique that emphasizes safety and consideration.


Another way of saying this: Always assume the best intentions and 
capabilities of all of the dancers.


Just a thought,

Greg McKenzie

***

At 08:25 PM 5/11/2008, you wrote:

Hello everyone,

We've been having a lively discussion in the Boston area about 
several topics ranging from men behaving badly to poor style to 
dancers who are too rough.


My question is, what tips or information do you like to give from the 
microphone to help people deal with these issues? How do you give 
them? It would help if you could share your wording because I'm sure 
that brevity and humor play a big part in how effective they are. Do 
you give demonstrations? Role play a situation on the floor?


My goal is to compile these into a list that we can reference, or 
that organizers can give to visiting callers to encourage the 
atmosphere they would like at their dances.


Thanks!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


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[Callers] Style/safety/etiquette tips from the microphone

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone,

We've been having a lively discussion in the Boston area about several 
topics ranging from men behaving badly to poor style to dancers who are 
too rough.


My question is, what tips or information do you like to give from the 
microphone to help people deal with these issues? How do you give them? 
It would help if you could share your wording because I'm sure that 
brevity and humor play a big part in how effective they are. Do you give 
demonstrations? Role play a situation on the floor?


My goal is to compile these into a list that we can reference, or that 
organizers can give to visiting callers to encourage the atmosphere they 
would like at their dances.


Thanks!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Re: [Callers] Dance Debrief - Pigs & Mud

[Chris Weiler]

Hi Jack,

Thanks for the e-mail! Its very nice to hear how someone else thinks 
through their evening plan.


I have the dance title as "Happy as a Cold Pig in Warm Mud". Here are my 
thoughts on teaching the transition.


Gents allemande left once and a half, partner allemande right once and 
three-quarters until the gents are facing in and the ladies are facing 
out. Turn away from your partner and introduce yourself to your shadow 
along the side of the set. [If this is the first time interacting with a 
shadow during the evening, explain that they will see this person at 
this time, every time through the dance.] With your shadow and the two 
people opposite you, turn a left hand star once around until you see 
your partner again. Swing your partner.


For newer people, the anchors are going to be their partner and their 
shadow. In that sense, I would say that it is important which way people 
go for the star. I understand your thoughts about the flexibility of the 
dance, but when you have more new people, they need the anchor points to 
give them something to walk towards, rather than an arbitrary direction 
in the hall.


If you're going to point out who is holding who's wrist, then the woman 
is holding her shadow's wrist and the gent is holding his neighbor's. I 
don't like to focus people's attention on that, however, because they 
tend to stop while they figure out the wrist grip instead of turning the 
star.


I would also say that this dance is a good place for the lesson "Better 
never than late". Remind them that if they're late for the star, just 
wait for their partner for the swing instead of trying to catch up.


Hope this helps!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH




Jack Mitchell wrote:

   Inpatient readers, please start here!!

   I ended the first half with Happy as a Warm Pig in Cold Mud.  I've been
   playing with how I want to teach this one, and I'm still not happy with
   what I've got, though Eileen gave me some good ideas for things to try
   next time (probably when I call at Glen Echo next week)

   So, the dance is:

   Happy as a Warm Pig in Cold Mud (or in the winter Happy as a Cold Pig
   in Warm Mud -- I'm actually not sure which is the original title)
   Mike Boershig   Improper
   A1N B
   A2Men Allemande L 1.5
   P Allemande R 1.5
   B1Leave your partner, Left Hand Star 1x (theoretically with
   neighbor, shadow and shadow's neighbor)
   Back to your partner, Swing
   B2Circle Left 3/4
   Balance the Ring
   California Twirl

   So, as you would guess, the B1 is the tricky bit.  One of the fun
   things about this dance is that it doesn't matter which way you go for
   the star -- it helps if you and your partner go in different
   directions, but even that doesn't really matter -- as long as you go
   somewhere, turn a star and then swing your partner.  Because of that,
   it's a very resilient dance.  That being said, what I discovered
   tonight was that it can still be confusing for folks even when it
   doesn't fall apart -- that's more or less what happened tonight.  The
   dance kept going, and I was able to stop calling, but new dancers ended
   up confused (and keeping calling didn't change much).  It was a matter
   of getting oriented in the first place.  We also had a lower proportion
   of experienced dancers to beginners than usual.

   What I did during the walk through was have them allemande R 1.5 with
   partner, and then get the men back to back in the center.  Reach out
   with your left hand and star left with your neighbor and the two people
   pointing back at you.  I also pointed out that in the dance it didn't
   matter how many times you allemande with your partner or which
   direction you went to form the star -- as long as you go and keep
   moving.  People still had a lot of trouble figuring out where to go
   once the dance got going, and in a lot of cases the new folks just got
   the "deer in the headlights" syndrome and stopped completely.

   A few options:

   1) Point out that (theoretically) you will have a shadow in your star
   -- if you're doing a wrist grip star, the gent's shadow will be the
   lady whose wrist he grabs to form the star.  Problem: If some folks go
   the other way, this could be more confusing.  Option: Just don't
   mention that you can go either way -- have it be allemande 1.5, star
   left with shadow, come back swing.

   2) Men back to back in the middle (after the allemande).  Look away
   from your hands 4 for someone of the same gender and form a hands
   across star.  Turn the star 1 time.  Swing your partner.  Problem:
   Again, could be confusing if someone ended up with he he he she stars
   or she she she he stars.
   3) Other ideas??

   How's the best way to point out the position without having to tie it
   either to a particular person or gender?  I suspect that wit

Re: [Callers] 2 questions

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hi Parker,

It looks like you've got it right. Here is how I break it out:

A1
Balance the wave R/L (4)
Allemande R half way and reform the wavy circle (4)
Balance the wave L/R (4)
Allemande L half way and reform the wavy circle (4)
A2
Balance the wave R/L (4)
Allemande R 1x (4 or 5)
Allemande L 1 1/2 times (7 or 8)
B1
Partners balance and swing (4+12)
B2
Promenade around the circle (14)
Partners drop R hands and reform the circle. Old partner is in left 
hand, new partner in right. (2)


Sorry, I don't know the dance name or author. I do remember dancing this 
a couple of times, though. It's nice that you swing the person you ask 
to dance before leaving them unlike so many other mixers.


I also haven't put together any medleys yet, so can't help you there. Do 
make sure that you think through the transition between the dances very 
carefully and the phrasing that you will use to teach the new dance. 
Make sure that all of your dances are dead simple!


Good Luck!
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

PARKER MANN wrote:

All-

Over the last few weeks I 've come across some questions related to calling and 
I though I'd combine a couple in one note rather than inflict two messages on 
everyone.  Comments on either or both are appreciated.

1. I have run into the following mixer dance and I'm not sure how best to call it.  I don't know the name and author or I'd ask him/her.  The problem is that no beat counts or A1-A2-B1-B2 divisions were given.  


The formation is a wavy circle with gents facing in, ladies facing out, 
partners by the right.  The moves are:

Balance the wave R/L
Allemande R half way and reform the wavy circle
Balance the wave L/R
Allemande L half way and reform the wavy circle
Balance the wave R/L
Allemande R 1x
Allemande L 1 1/2 times
Partners balance and swing
Promenade around the circle
Partners drop R hands and reform the circle.  Old partner is in left hand, new 
partner in right.

The problem is I can't make the timing look right.  The first five moves look 
to all be four beat moves, but then there are 12 beats left for the allemande R 
1x and allemande L 1 1/2.  If not, moves are falling across the phrase.

Has anyone tried this dance or know anything about it?  I'm thinking that drop the third balancing of the wave would work best, but that means a half allemande, full allemande, and 1 1/2 allemande consecutively.  


2. I'm at the point where I want to try calling a dance medley.  Any thoughts 
on good combinations to start with?  What coordination do you do with the band 
ahead of time?

Thanks.

-Parker
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[Callers] NEFFA!

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone!

I'm looking forward to another great NEFFA this weekend. I hope that I 
can see and chat with as many of you as possible while still getting 
some dancing in!


I've been going over the schedule looking for a good time for a 
SharedWeight gathering. I think that at 6:30 on Saturday would be a good 
time to meet in the cafeteria where the food vendors are. We can grab a 
couple of tables and sit together. I'm open to other times/places if 
someone has a better idea.


Safe travels!

Happy Dancing, Playing and Calling!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

Re: [Callers] Organizing Dance Cards

[Chris Weiler]

Dan,

You're right, the move is awkward for the men. If I were going to 
re-write the dance it might look something like this:


A1  Circle left 3/4, gents roll neighbor right
 1/2 hey (gents pass left)
A2  Neighbor bal. & swing
B1 Long lines
   Gents Al. Right 3/4, new gents Al. Left 3/4 (ladies take a step to 
the left)

B2 Partner Bal. & swing

I have danced other dances with the gent's using this progression, but 
can't think of them right now. Maybe someone else on this list has them 
in their collection and would like to share?


Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH




Dan Black wrote:

Gang,

By the way, Mary Kays Reel is a favorite and I enjoy changing roles in this 
dance ( the lady role rocks).  There seems to be an awkward sequence in the B1 
in the below referenced dance:
B1  Promenade (the dance originally called for a right and left through
here)
Gents allemande Right 3/4 to a fleeting long lineThe gents right hand may be 
behind the lady for the promenade then the gent has to reach out with his right 
hand for an allemande right without bopping his neighbor in the head or worse.

Do I have this right? While walking this in my living room it seems uncomfortable, has anyone dance this sequence to confirm this?  




- Original Message 
From: Jerome Grisanti <jerome.grisa...@gmail.com>
To: call...@sharedweight.net
Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2008 5:16:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Callers] Organizing Dance Cards

Susan Kevra's "The Country of Marriage" has that "Mary Cay's" move as well,
done by the men.

http://www.io.com/~entropy/contradance/sequences/the-country-of-marriage.html

Jerome







  

Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ 


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Re: [Callers] ricochet or push-back heys

[Chris Weiler]

Hi Jean,

Sorry to take so long to respond, but here's a dance that I wrote with 
Bob Isaacs. It was inspired by Dead Cat Bounce because I always wanted 
to catch my neighbor into a swing instead of circling left.


On the Rebound
Bob Isaacs and Chris Weiler (6/16/07)
becket

A1 Left diagonal ladies chain
Long Lines
A2 Circle Left 3/4 (with shadow across), pass thru
   Partner Al. R 1+1/2
B1 Gents pass left 1/2 hey, ladies ricochet
Neighbor swing
B2 Gents Al L 1+1/2
partner swing

Enjoy!
Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH


jean francis wrote:

I am looking for some dances with push-back or ricochet heys. I have only found 
one, by Adam Carlson: A1 N B+S; A2 Ricochet hey B1wave balance, partner swing 
B2 Circle 3/4 pass thru, new N DSD
   
  Heard of another called Tapsalterrie, but can't find. Also would appreciate instructions or web site for Levi Jackson Rose.
   
  Many Thanks!
   

   
-

Never miss a thing.   Make Yahoo your homepage.
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[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] [Fwd: [trad-dance-callers] Ralph Page Weekend photos]

[Chris Weiler]

 Original Message 

All,

I've posted photos from this past weekend's Ralph Page Legacy Dance
Weekend on my Flickr site. The link is at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougplummer/sets/72157603786306193/ 



Doug Plummer

Doug Plummer
Doug Plummer, Photographer
www.dougplummer.com
206-523-2525




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[Callers] Ralph Page Legacy Weekend

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hello everyone,

Once again, frigid New Hampshire was home to another warm and special 
Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. It was great to see people from all 
over the country who came to dance and learn. The SharedWeight lunch 
gatherings were a couple of the high points for me. We had fascinating 
discussions about style, teaching, stubborn minded dancers, stubborn 
minded callers, psychology, choreography and so much more.


Both Beth Parkes and Nils Freidland's caller's workshops made us think 
and philosophize this year. Beth's on what it means to be a 
"professional" caller. And Nil's on why we dance, why we call and what 
virtues we want and need to bring to the stage with us.


The retrospective video about Ralph Sweet by David Millstone was great! 
Fun and funny and informative, David again shows his talent for 
storytelling.


It would be great to hear from other people about their favorite parts. 
It was great to see everyone who came!


Happy Dancing!

Chris Weiler

[Callers] Fwd: discussion of "Big Easy" by Becky Hill

[Chris Weiler]

A little more than a week ago, Chrissy Fowler called at the Scout House 
on a Thursday night with some rocking musicians. I wrote her an e-mail 
saying that there was a dance that I liked, wanted to get, but had a 
minor change for it. This is the discussion that followed, forwarded 
with her permission. Edited for clarity. Becky Hill's dance is in the 
Rosen-Hill collection. Chrissy and I thought that it would be fun to get 
other people's perspective on the stuff we were talking about. -Chris



Chris:
I wanted to get a dance from you that you called on Thursday. It was the 
second dance of the evening. It had a couple of ring balances (without 
twirls) and I think the B1 had a long lines, ladies allemande left 
1+1/2. I thought that the allemande left was a little awkward, but I 
liked the rest of the dance. Thanks!!


Chrissy:
I'm interested to know that the ladies all. L felt awkward, even though 
the L hand is the near one to that other lady that one would allemande.  
(I'm guessing you danced it as a lady?)  Do you think All R would be 
better?  Other suggestions?  I admit that I haven't danced it.  The 
dance is one I have down as Becky Hill's "Big Easy", which I got from 
Diane Silver.  Had to laugh when you named it as having "a couple of 
ring balances" since when I reviewed what was left of my program in the 
aftermath of the dance full of on-the-fly switches in the plan, I 
realized that I ended up calling several dances with ring balances of 
some sort or another.  (holy repetition, batman!)


Chris:
Ladies allemande left from facing couples is a pet peeve of mine from 
the gent's perspective. When I'm dancing, I'm constantly giving cues and 
leads to my partner and neighbor, and even the neighbor gent, when 
necessary. Especially when they're new. From a long lines, ladies 
allemande left, it's almost impossible for the gent to lead it. If the 
ladies allemande right, then I can use her left hand to guide her out 
and across my body. Her right hand is free and she has the diagonal 
momentum to meet the other lady at the right angle. I can't speak to how 
it feels from the lady's perspective, but from mine ladies allemande 
left removes the feeling of connectedness from that part of the dance.


Since it doesn't matter which hand they use in the dance, I would call 
it with an allemande right. It works either way, so call it the way you 
like. 8^)


We all have those repetitive nights. I seem to have less of them, 
though, when I do my programming on the fly instead of having one worked 
out beforehand. I have notes on every programmed I've called, so I 
should analyze them someday and see just how repetitive I am.


Unfortunately, I had to leave at the half. But the first half of the 
evening was great. Your dances worked, even for the beginners, and 
nothing got in the way of enjoying the music. 8^)


Chrissy:
Great explanation.  I hadn't thought about it that way, but it makes a 
lot of sense.  And yes, I was thinking to myself "Well, if he has some 
compelling reason why the all L 1.5 isn't good, I'll just call it as all 
R!"  And I guess that's why the men's all L is so ubiquitous, because 
the woman can assist him to the center in that same way you explained.


Interesting that you say you have less repetition when you program on 
the fly.  For me it's the other way.  When I am programming as it comes, 
or seriously reworking (on the fly) a program that I'd done ahead of 
time, I tend not to notice those repetition points until it's too late.  
(or even after the fact.)  I'm glad the dances worked for the new 
folks.  Always such a balancing act, to work both sides of that VFW/TNDC 
crowd - the throngs of new/young folks and the core of jaded/bored 
dancers who want spicy choreography. 

Also glad to hear your impression that nothing got in the way of the 
music - phenomenal as it was.  Wowzer.  It's so great to work with such 
talent.  M.  I danced in Rehoboth the next night and had a blast, 
even doing the very simple dances required by the crowd.  Such 
life-affirming stuff we get to do!


Chris:
When I create a program in advance, I nitpick it to death and put a lot 
of effort into it. When I need to change something on the fly, I am 
reluctant to change more than one or two dances. That makes it more 
likely that the dance that I substitute will repeat something later in 
the program. When I program on the fly, I'm more free to change the 
dances later to match (and not repeat) the earlier ones.


To be honest, I haven't been doing my homework as a caller for a long 
time due to the rest of my life being pretty busy. I haven't been 
creating programs, so I've taught myself to program on the fly just by 
doing it. I do record all of my programs, so I should really go back and 
review to see how well I've been doing (or not!).


Chrissy:
Well, I don't do my homework every time either, especially if it's a 
dance where I can sort of get away with it.  But I always like to have 

Re: [Callers] Chuck the Budgie

[Chris Weiler]

Hi Jack,

I agree with Greg that you could just walk through the first couple of 
moves of the dance in order to let them know what the progression feels 
like. From a choreography standpoint, you could change the As and Bs to 
make it a becket dance. But if you look at Rick's website ( 
http://rickmohr.net/ChuckTheBudgie.html ), you'll see that he wrote the 
dance to go with the tune "Pat the Budgie". If you decide to pair them 
up, you should call the dance as written.


Chris


Jack Mitchell wrote:
Chuck the Budgie by Rick Mohr is a favorite dance of mine (thanks 
Rick!), and I've called it pretty frequently.  I've noticed that 
generally, if there's going to be a problem, it's in the transition 
back around to the beginning of the dance (Long Waves, New N 
Allemande R   A1 New Men Allemande L 1x -- no balance)  It feels 
different coming from the waves than it does starting from Improper position.


So, a while ago, someone suggested shifting the dance by 2 parts so 
that the A becomes the B and vice versa.  At the time, I didn't see 
the point, but after calling it on Saturday and having serious 
problems with that transition, I'm reconsidering.  Making this change 
would let one walk through cover that transition, rather that having 
to do a second for people to feel that transition.  Alternately, I 
could leave the dance as is, but start the walk through as if it was 
a Becket (beginning with long lines in B1 with with your partner on 
the side).  I'd be interested in any thoughts on either of these 
alternatives, or on folks who advocate leaving it as is.


Jack

Here's the dance:

Chuck the Budgie
Rick Mohr
Improper

A1  Men All L 1x
N Sw
A2  CL 3/4
P Sw
B1  LL F
Ladies All R 1 1/2
B2  Form Short Waves (Ladies in middle, LH to N)
Balance Waves
Allemande L 3/4 to long waves
Balance Waves
(New N) Allemande R 3/4
(A1 New Men in the middle Allemande L)


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[Callers] Annual Ralph Page Gathering

[Chris Weiler (home)]

Hello everyone,

Cynthia beat me to the punch. Yes, it's time for the Ralph Page Dance 
Legacy Weekend again. Yes, we shall have a SharedWeight gathering during 
lunch on Saturday in the dining area. For those who haven't been there 
before, we push a bunch of tables together for an informal gathering. I 
always look forward to seeing people from far away and meeting people 
new to the lists.


I try to be there early with a little printed SharedWeight sign on the 
table at the back of the dining hall. You'll recognize me on the dance 
floor sporting a tie-dye bandanna. Or you can look at the picture on my 
website: http://www.chrisweiler.ws/


Safe travels everyone!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

[Callers] when to abort a dance

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone,

Tonight I had a pretty bad gig (just a hint: don't schedule a dentist 
appointment for the afternoon before your gig). So tonight I made some 
choreographic goofs when choosing my dances. One dance I realized that 
it didn't flow as well as I would have hoped after the walkthrough. 
Should I have aborted and called something else? Tom Hinds has a line "I 
don't like that dance, let's do something else". However, he usually 
follows it by teaching the very same dance again. I stuck with it and 
just ran the dance a little shorter.


The same thing happened a little later when I called two dances in a row 
with the sequence: ladies chain, ladies "x" once around, partner swing. 
I realized it during the walk through, but went ahead and called it anyway.


What do you think? Abort or deal with it?

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH
http://www.chrisweiler.ws/

Re: [Callers] Petronella spins

[Chris Weiler]

Hi Jack,

I would hazzard a guess that Bob was trying to preserve the Gents 
Allemande Left - Swing transition at the end of A1. The lesser weevil, I 
think.


The A1 could have been: Neighbor Allemande Left 1 1/2, Gents pass right 
(or gypsy right 1 1/2). That would leave their right arm free for the 
swing. But then it would have a different feel and difficulty than the 
dance currently has.


Chris Weiler



Jack Mitchell wrote:

Bob (and group)--

Since I'm guessing that these are both your dances, I'll ask directly 
(though I'd be interested in thoughts even if they're not).  I danced 
Pearls of Wisdom a week or so ago, and every time I did that last 
Petronella, I wanted it to be into an allemande L rather than R.  To 
do the allemande R, I had to STOP and change directions.  Given your 
comment that Petronellas are best when they use the momentum to get 
into the next move, why have an allemande R rather than L coming out 
of a Petronella?


Jack Mitchell




At 12:09 AM 9/21/2007, you wrote:
  

  Pearls of Wisdom Improper, 12/7/02

  A1. Neighbor allemande R 1 1/2, gents allemande L 1 1/2

  A2. Partner balance, swing

  B1. Circle L 3/4, neighbor swing

  B2.  Balance, Petronella, balance, Petronella 1 1/2





  

  Petronellas
  are best when they are more than a positioning device, but use the
  momentum to flow into the next move.



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Re: [Callers] The balance thing.

[Chris Weiler]

Amy Cann wrote:

I'll be really interested in feedback from all four people who actually
read this whole thing.
  


For those of you who didn't read all the way 'til the end, you may want 
to reconsider.


Fantastic e-mail, Amy. It's always fun working with you as a musician 
and talking about calling, too.


Chris

Re: [Callers] New SharedWeight lists are ready!

[Chris Weiler]

I apologize here are the correct links:

http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/musicians
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers

Chris

Original message:

Hello everyone!!

I was amazed at the response I got. Thank you to everyone who forwarded
my message to people who might be interested. Some of those people
contacted me to express their interest in being a part of the discussion.

We have the new lists up and ready for people to join!! Here are the
links to join each list:

http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/admin/musicians
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/admin/organizers

We are in the process of updating the main website. I'll make an
announcement when it's ready.

A few people contacted me expressing their interest and presenting their
credentials to "qualify" to be on these lists. We don't block anyone
from joining. All we ask is that you have an interest in the topic. We
have several lurkers on the Callers list that have never called a dance.

I'm looking forward to the discussions!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH



Original Announcement:

I apologize if I sent this to anyone twice.

Some of you know about an e-mail list that Seth Seeger and I have been
running called Shared Weight. The list call...@sharedweight.net has been
running for 2 1/2 years now and we consider it to be a great success. It
was intended to be and has become a resource for people new to calling
for traditional dance to come and learn from experienced people. If you
are not familiar with the list, please check it out. The archives are
public, so you can read what the posts are like:

http://www.sharedweight.net/

I am considering starting two new lists on the website:
organiz...@sharedweight.net and musici...@sharedweight.net. It should be
obvious that these new lists would be targeted at organizers and
musicians for traditional dancing. We would hope to have a core group of
experienced people and also new people to share information about these
subjects. You have been included in this e-mail because you either
subscribe to the callers list, or are an organizer or musician that I
have an e-mail address for. Since I am a caller who is also an organizer
and is working on jumping into the 3rd category, I have an interest in
promoting the growth of all of these.

Please take some time and consider whether or not you would be
interested in joining either of these new lists. I welcome any comments
or questions as well. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who you
think might be interested. Thank you for your time.

Happy Dancing!!! (and calling, organizing and playing!!)

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

http://www.sharedweight.net/
http://www.chrisweiler.ws/

[Callers] New SharedWeight lists are ready!

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone!!

I was amazed at the response I got. Thank you to everyone who forwarded 
my message to people who might be interested. Some of those people 
contacted me to express their interest in being a part of the discussion.


We have the new lists up and ready for people to join!! Here are the 
links to join each list:


http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/admin/musicians
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/admin/organizers

We are in the process of updating the main website. I'll make an 
announcement when it's ready.


A few people contacted me expressing their interest and presenting their 
credentials to "qualify" to be on these lists. We don't block anyone 
from joining. All we ask is that you have an interest in the topic. We 
have several lurkers on the Callers list that have never called a dance.


I'm looking forward to the discussions!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH



Original Announcement:

I apologize if I sent this to anyone twice.

Some of you know about an e-mail list that Seth Seeger and I have been
running called Shared Weight. The list call...@sharedweight.net has been
running for 2 1/2 years now and we consider it to be a great success. It
was intended to be and has become a resource for people new to calling
for traditional dance to come and learn from experienced people. If you
are not familiar with the list, please check it out. The archives are
public, so you can read what the posts are like:

http://www.sharedweight.net/

I am considering starting two new lists on the website:
organiz...@sharedweight.net and musici...@sharedweight.net. It should be
obvious that these new lists would be targeted at organizers and
musicians for traditional dancing. We would hope to have a core group of
experienced people and also new people to share information about these
subjects. You have been included in this e-mail because you either
subscribe to the callers list, or are an organizer or musician that I
have an e-mail address for. Since I am a caller who is also an organizer
and is working on jumping into the 3rd category, I have an interest in
promoting the growth of all of these.

Please take some time and consider whether or not you would be
interested in joining either of these new lists. I welcome any comments
or questions as well. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who you
think might be interested. Thank you for your time.

Happy Dancing!!! (and calling, organizing and playing!!)

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

http://www.sharedweight.net/
http://www.chrisweiler.ws/

Re: [Callers] slow down...

[Chris Weiler]

That is what I ended up doing. As soon as one dance ended, I moved over 
to the fiddler, showed him the card, told him what I was thinking in 
order to give him the maximum amount of time to work on selecting tunes. 
Of course calling dances like Chorus Jig makes tune selection a little 
easier... 8^) In the end, I didn't keep the dancers waiting much after 
the walkthrough.


Chris

Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing wrote:
One thing you could try - which would work for some fiddlers and not 
at all for
others - is to, just as soon as the applause dies down for the last 
dance, hand
him the card you're going to call the next dance from. (Or, as someone 
else
suggested, start discussing the character of the tune you want.) Then 
the band
can work on tune choices even before you start teaching. 

[Callers] slow down...

[Chris Weiler]

Had an interesting gig this weekend (a good one, just interesting). 
Things were going along smoothly, I thought. The fiddler had made a 
comment earlier that I had a high ratio of playing time to down time, 
but I didn't think much of it. Before we started the 2nd to last dance 
of the first half, and I was waiting for the band to be ready to start 
the music, the fiddler snaps at me that I'm teaching too fast and it's 
much to stressful for choosing tunes! I looked him straight in the eye, 
apologized, and then promised to slow down. I spent the next bit of time 
trying to figure out how to slow down. Couldn't think of too many ways. 
I slowed my pace of teaching down. I made sure to take a minute and talk 
to the band before even requesting that people line up. I introduced the 
band before the next dance (although this probably didn't add any time 
for the fiddler to think about tune selection).


We made nice at the break and he explained that he was under stress in 
other areas of his life. I had done my homework (so I thought) and done 
my pre-dance interview - turns out with the wrong musician! The fiddler 
was the real leader and he had shown up at the last minute and was too 
busy setting up to talk.


Some other fun points: I announced in the 2nd half that we were going to 
dance Chorus Jig and the crowd ohhhed and ahhhed and scrambled to line 
up!! For the 2nd dance of the evening, we had about 15-20 kids show up. 
Some had danced before and they did fine! I had to adjust my language 
because I would call a ladies chain and a bunch of the dancers would go 
over and back. 8^)


All in all a fun dance! I'd love to hear your thoughts about slowing 
down the teaching for musicians who need more time for tune selection. 
Any techniques? Since I really try to match my dances to the level of 
the dancers, I rarely need a 2nd walkthrough. And since I time my 
teaching off of the dancer's speed of doing the moves (calling the next 
while they're finishing the previous move), not much time to add there.


Happy Dancing!

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH
www.chrisweiler.ws

[Callers] New SharedWeight lists

[Chris Weiler]

I apologize if I sent this to anyone twice.

Some of you know about an e-mail list that Seth Seeger and I have been 
running called Shared Weight. The list call...@sharedweight.net has been 
running for 2 1/2 years now and we consider it to be a great success. It 
was intended to be and has become a resource for people new to calling 
for traditional dance to come and learn from experienced people. If you 
are not familiar with the list, please check it out. The archives are 
public, so you can read what the posts are like:


http://www.sharedweight.net/

I am considering starting two new lists on the website: 
organiz...@sharedweight.net and musici...@sharedweight.net. It should be 
obvious that these new lists would be targeted at organizers and 
musicians for traditional dancing. We would hope to have a core group of 
experienced people and also new people to share information about these 
subjects. You have been included in this e-mail because you either 
subscribe to the callers list, or are an organizer or musician that I 
have an e-mail address for. Since I am a caller who is also an organizer 
and is working on jumping into the 3rd category, I have an interest in 
promoting the growth of all of these.


Please take some time and consider whether or not you would be 
interested in joining either of these new lists. I welcome any comments 
or questions as well. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who you 
think might be interested. Thank you for your time.


Happy Dancing!!! (and calling, organizing and playing!!)

Chris Weiler
Goffstown, NH

http://www.sharedweight.net/
http://www.chrisweiler.ws/

Re: [Callers] Got NEFFA?

[Chris Weiler]

Karen,

Great idea. It's great to put faces to names we see on the list. I've 
enjoyed the SW gatherings we've had at the Ralph Page weekend and at 
NEFFA last year.


Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Chris

Karen Fontana wrote:

Hi everyone,
   
  It's NEFFA time again, and last year we had three different "Shared Weight" informal gathering times... one was Friday evening up in the bleechers (split across the 1/2 hrs to be fair to the programs!), another was Saturday morning at 9 am (!) Bring your own Bagles and another in the cafeteria at 3 pm Saturday 
   
  I'll have to take a closer look at the Grid but just wanted to express interest in claiming a few times during the weekend when we can chat face to face, (aside from all the neighbor and partner swinging!).  Last year, my 3 pm Saturday suggestion conflicted with the Beattles sing along! -- sorry!
   
  I'll take another look at the schedule, but just wanted to get a message out before getting on a plane (in a few hours).  
   
  Hope to see many of you soon!


  Karen


  <>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>

   
  Karen Fontana 
www.karenscontracorner.com 
 650-691-9663
   
  <>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>





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Re: [Callers] Star Promenade

[Chris Weiler]

This is one that hasn't been sent to the list yet:

Marian's Delight
dup imp
Carol Kopp

A1: Neighbor balance and swing
A2: long lines, ladies do-si-do 1+1/2
B1: Partner gypsy and swing
B2: Gents allemande Left 1+1/2, neighbor star promenade, face next




Jeffrey Petrovitch wrote:

Hey Everyone!

Looking for some help...  Looking for interesting contra dances with a 
star promenades.?  Also wondering if anyone has the dance sequence 
"Through The Looking Glass" by Wendy Greenberg.


Thanks,

j_petro
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[Callers] attachment test

[Chris Weiler]

Just testing whether or not attachments go through. I looked through the 
settings and don't see anything that wouldn't let a .doc or .pdf through.


Chris

P.S. The attached form is one that I use for working out the prompts for 
a dance. One line (Moves) is for what the dancers are doing. The lines 
represent one word or syllable. The form seemed to get more elaborate as 
I tried to call higher piece count dances. First I write down what I 
think will work, then I pound a beat on the table and try to read what I 
wrote, out loud, in time with it.


call_timing_form_w-move_timing.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document

[Callers] Down East Country Dance Festival report

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since I've written one of these, and a lot has 
happened in my calling career since the last one. I had my debut at the 
Scout House in January, calling for the 2nd Saturday dance. I've called 
for the Monday night dance there as well. I've been booked to call 
another Monday night dance and this time the band is Notorious! The Mill 
City dance has been on hiatus for various reasons (hall unavailable, 
storms, festivals) and will return in May for our 1 year anniversary! 
Lots of wonderful opportunities.


But this report is about my session at the Down East Country Dance 
Festival a couple of weeks ago in Maine. If you haven't been, this is 
one of my favorite festivals. So many wonderful sessions, great people 
and a strong community. I call up there semi-regularly now and it's 
great each time to visit with my Maine friends.


My session was titled "Neighborly Contras". I had no idea what I was 
going to do with it when I applied, but worked it out over a few weeks 
after I found out that my application had been accepted. What I decided 
was that I was going to push the boundaries of modern urban contra 
dancing by breaking a few of the rules. For example, I planned on 
calling dances without partner swings, unequal movement (1s are more 
active than the 2s) and mixers. The last one turned out to be the most 
problematic. David Millstone sent me a contra mixer that I liked very 
much, but didn't quite meet the vision that I had for the session. In 
the end, I decided to write my own. The weekend before, I tried it out 
on some willing test subjects at a dance called by Lisa Sieverts and 
discovered that the gents progressed and the ladies stayed in the same 
spot each time through. After some re-work that week, I was ready for 
the session. The new dance is copied down below.


The session was at 11am on Saturday. I arrived a little after 10am, 
hoping to attend Chrissy Fowler's caller's workshop, but ran into the 
band in the hallway. I had worked with Calliope a couple of times before 
on visits to Maine, so it was nice to be familiar with them. They were 
putting together tune sets, so we were able to plan out the session, get 
the feel for each dance set and pick the tunes ahead of time. This made 
things very easy on stage. We started late, so to fit in 4 dances turned 
out to be very tight. Having the tunes picked let me focus on keeping 
the walkthroughs short and the dancers dancing.


To be fair to the dancers, I provided a disclaimer at the beginning of 
the session warning them that they wouldn't see their partners too much. 
I even jokingly mentioned that the waltz session was across the hall if 
they wanted to make goo-goo eyes at their partner. 8^)


Here are the dances that I called:

Essex Reel
duple improper
Tony Parkes

A1: neighbor do-si-do, neighbor swing
A2: 4 in line down the hall, turn as couples and come back
B1: Circle Left, Circle Right
B2: Right Hand Star, Left Hand Star

I had a choice between this dance and another with unequal choreography, 
but this one fit better with the session as a whole.


No use crying over...
becket mixer
Chris Weiler

A1: Partner balance and swing
A2: Circle Left 3/4, pass thru, neighbor #2 swing
B1: Long Lines (notice 3rd neighbor next to you)
   Neighbor #3 allemande left 1+1/2
B2: Ladies Chain
   Left hand star, turn away from your star and face your next partner

I had some great positive feedback from a few people after the session. 
People did want me to call it all the way through. One person pointed 
out to me that there are no anchors in this dance, no partner to turn 
to, no shadow, nothing consistent. Another person figured out that if 
you mess it up, you can grab just about anyone and start over. It taxed 
their brains a bit, but it was early in the festival and people were up 
for the challenge.


I had asked Calliope to play easy, happy reels for the first two dances 
to keep people's spirits up while doing unfamiliar choreography. 
Calliope loves to play jigs, so the next one they set to a nice bouncy 
set. I also took pity on the dancers and called some more conventional 
dances to finish the session.


Black Bird in the Night
duple improper, waves (neighbor right, ladies, left)
Don Flaherty

A1: balance wave, rory-o-more slide right
   balance wave, rory-o-more slide left
A2 neighbor balance and swing
B1: Ladies do-si-do 1+1/2
   partner swing
B2: long lines, circle left 3/4, pass thru to new waves

The last dance, I asked for driving reels and Calliope picked some great 
rip-roaring ones!


Sleepless at Pinewoods
duple improper
Bob Isaacs

A1: Neighbor #1, pull by right, #2 pull by left, #3 pull by right #4 
allemande left once

   #3 pull by right, #2 pull by left
A2: Neighbor #1 balance and swing
B1: Circle left 3/4, partner swing
B2: Ladies chain, left hand star

I had a lot of fun calling the session and working with Calliope. It 
felt great to have almost everything that I wa

[Callers] Contra mixers

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone,

I have a session at the Down East Festival later this month. The name of 
my session is "Neighborly Contras". I was wondering if anyone has mixers 
that are in contra formation that they could share. I think that a mixer 
would be a fun and unexpected.


I would also welcome any suggestions of dances that you think are 
particularly Neighborly! 8^)


Thanks!

Chris Weiler

Re: [Callers] Help! Need a caller at MIT 11/14

[Chris Weiler]

Hello everyone,

Jeff Petrovitch is going to call tomorrow night. Thanks for the offers!

Go dance and show your support!

Chris


Troll / Wright wrote:
Cortni, Chris, I thought I had rehearsal that night but not.  Do you want to 
share it, Cortni?  I bet we can do a good program together.  Nell
- Original Message - 
From: "Cortni Frecha" <cortni.fre...@gmail.com>

To: "Caller's discussion list" <call...@sharedweight.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 6:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Callers] Help! Need a caller at MIT 11/14


  

Hi Chris,

Any takers for this gig yet? I'm not sure Anne would want me to call a
whole evening.
But my curiosity is up.

-- Cortni

On 11/7/06, Chris Weiler <chris.wei...@weirdtable.org> wrote:


Hello everyone,

I was booked to call at MIT on Tuesday 11/14. Now I have to take a trip
for business and can't call that night. Is there someone in Eastern
Mass. that could take over for me?

Contact me directly and I'll forward your name to the organizer.

Thanks!!

Chris



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--
looks like a new address - and it is!
technical difficulties force me to it
but I'm not (quite) ready to kill my old one yet
you need not change your files-

Cortni Frecha
www.arrowmaker.org
stow, ma 01775-1156
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[Callers] Mill City Contra Dance is on!

[Chris Weiler]

As you probably heard, the Mill Yard was flooded earlier this week 
during the huge amount of rainfall we had. But the Mill-a-Round dance 
studio has been up and running since Tuesday, so we're having a dance 
tonight!


Beginner lesson at 7:30, dance at 8:00. $7 per person, under 12 free.

More information and directions: http://www.nhdances.org/millcity/

The Mill-a-Round is located in the Millyard in Manchester. It is in the 
Waumbec Mill, a renovated mill building with high ceilings, a wood floor 
and plenty of space. It is a wonderful hall to dance in. It is air 
conditioned in the summer time. Take a look at the link above for more 
information.


Hope to see many of you tonight!

Chris Weiler

http://www.chrisweiler.ws/
H:603-668-1086

P.S. I need one or two people to volunteer to take money at the gate 
during the first half. You will earn free admission to a future dance. 
If two people volunteer, they can take shifts and still do some dancing 
during the first half. Thanks!

Re: [Callers] Dance identification needed

[Chris Weiler]

This is one of the dances that Chrissy posted here and I forwarded to 
trad-dance-callers. Unfortunately, no one has responded from either 
group with an answer.


Chris

Karen Fontana wrote:


Hi Jeremy,
  
 I have the same dance written down with the same question!  I also looked through Gene Hubert's dances.  What she wrote on the card is "Woman (the symbol for woman, so could be Ladies... Sthing"  Gene Hubert
  
 I've copied Chrissy HI CHRISSY!  no more "lurking"... we need your input here!  
  
 I danced this one in the tent in the lower hall with the young-uns when she called this one.  It was rockin'!
  
 Looking forward to getting the name of the dance as well.  It's a great dance.
  
 Karen 


J L Korr  wrote:
 Hi all,

In her splendid NEFFA session, Chrissy Fowler called the following dance. 
She had it listed as probably by Gene Hubert, but with no name. I haven't 
been able to find it in my first look thru Gene's dances. Can anyone help me 
with the name and composer, so I can credit it properly when I call it this 
weekend?


[Insert name here]
duple improper

A1: Ring balance; women roll neigbor gent away with a half sashay
Ladies chain

A2: Women gypsy
Swing P

B1: Circle L x3/4
Ring balance, Petronella twirl

B2: Ring balance, Petronella twirl
Ring balance, California twirl

Thanks!
Jeremy Korr

 

Re: [Callers] Sat morn NEFFA mtg

[Chris Weiler]

Dan,

The local TV station says that the rain is likely going to hold off 
until that evening.


Think of it this way: You're going to be getting up to find breakfast 
anyways, just come and find it with us!


I think that a courtyard picnic brunch sounds great! Sounds like we have 
a few opportunities to get together, so show up to the ones you can make 
it to!


All the best,
Chris

Dan Black wrote:


Y'all,

Saturday at 9:00 am is asking alot, however, putting faces to names is very 
cool.  I'll make an
effort to be there but coherence may be beyond my abilities.  There is only a 
30% chance of rain

Saturday: A chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Partly cloudy, with a high 
near 57. Chance of
precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch 
possible. (source NOAA)


Pardon my weather geekness.


See ya in Natick
Dan Black


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[Callers] Cross-posting

[Chris Weiler]

   Hello Everyone,
   Recently, some people have been posting questions to both SharedWeight
   and to trad-dance-callers more frequently. I understand the desire to
   reach the most number of people and how easy it is to post to both
   lists. However, you may not realize that the majority of experienced
   callers on this list also belong to t-d-c. You also may not realize
   that there are people on t-d-c who are hitting "reply all" when
   responding to the messages and triggering moderator requests when
   their messages try to post to SharedWeight.
   Seth and I have discussed this a few times, and while we don't want to
   discourage discussion on this list, the topics and threads on t-d-c
   tend to drift towards discussions of minutia or historical events or
   cultural differences between dance styles. While these topics are
   interesting and valuable to experienced callers with broad
   experiences, we hope to keep discussion on this list directed towards
   topics of use to beginner or intermediate callers of contra and
   traditional squares. Our hope for this list is to be a different place
   for discussion instead of a subset or extension of the t-d-c list. We
   hope that the people in this group feel the same way.
   We will not bring this up again unless there are complaints by members
   of t= his list.
   Thank you for your attention,
   Chris Weiler and Seth Seeger
   http://www.sharedweight.net/
   

Re: [Callers] Less-used figures

[Chris Weiler]

Hi Cynthia!

It was great to see you at the festival and call with you and dance, too!

You're right, contra corners is not a figure that's often done at 
community dances and may even be done less in general. However, there 
was a significant group of beginners at the festival. People who hadn't 
danced before the day at the festival. My suspicion is that there was a 
group of them clustered in the far back - caller's right. They didn't 
have experienced people to lead them through it, so Linda called for a demo.


As for people not squatting, I remember that as a new/intermediate 
dancer, I didn't understand why people were squatting. I initially 
thought that they were tired and taking a break. So now I assume that 
they either don't understand why people do it, or that they are 
incapable. If I am with a new dancer and people are blocking their view 
of the demo, I might request that they move or sit so my partner can 
see. A personal request "so we can see" goes down a little better than a 
request "so people can see".


I think that this is another place where, we as callers need to model 
the good behavior from the floor as dancers.


Chris

Cynthia Phinney wrote:


Hello callers,
I am just back from a wonderful two days at the DownEast Country Dance
Festival in Maine.

There was something I noticed there that I thought was worthy of note on
this list.

I was sitting out watching Linda Leslie do a walk-through for a dance. The
dance had a contra-corners figure in it and the dancers got lost enough
trying to walk it through that Linda had six couples do a demo. It struck me
that fifteen years ago I don't think that would have had to be taught at an
event like the Festival, because it was a figure we used (and was taught to
us) so frequently in the regular Saturday night dances that the number of
people attending an event like the festival who didn't know it would be low.
It seemed to me to be a reflection of doing the older dances so much less
often than we used to. I remarked on this to the person I was sitting with,
but then realized that he is in his twenties and does not know the kinds of
dances that used to fill an evening of dancing around here back in the 70s
and 80s (when the majority of dances we used in an evening might well have
been older traditional dances and were as likely to be proper as improper).
His assumption is contra corners is a figure that always has to be taught no
matter who the crowd.

When relating this story to my partner, who was not at the festival, he
asked whether people sat down when Linda did the demo. Most of them did -
but there were a good number who did not. He recalled how it used to be that
when the caller asked for a demo, the whole rest of the hall automatically
squatted or sat so everyone could see. Very often now people remain standing
during demos (at least around here).

Just two interesting observations on the evolution of what we're doing and
how we do it.

I've made a note to teach the contra corners at my local dance sometime
soon. (other callers have used it there - but very infrequently).

Best to all of you,
-cynthia

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Re: [Callers] 10 things

[Chris Weiler]

Hi Tom,

I agree with all but two of these. Here's why I disagree:

2) Beginners have a delay in their reaction times to calls. They have to 
process the call, translate it to what they know before they can tell 
their bodies what to do. This is unlike an experienced dancer who has 
muscle memory tied directly to the ears (or something like that). 8^) 
When I have called to dances with a high percentage of beginners, the 
dances with 8 count swings, by the time the dancers get into swing 
position and start turning, they can't even get around once sometimes. 8 
count swings also indicate a higher piece count in the dance and make it 
more difficult. I have had better luck with 12 count swings when dealing 
with beginners.


8) I am convinced that (with rare exceptions) when you teach someone 
anything about the swing, they only can move up one notch along the 
learning curve. They can only keep one instruction in mind when they are 
practicing the swing. It took me a long time to learn how to buzz step 
well and to incorporate it in such a way that didn't cause discomfort 
for my partner. Since the swing is one of the first, hardest and most 
common moves that they learn, it needs to be easy and quick to learn. 
That's why I teach the walking swing. They have enough to learn about 
posture, frame and dealing with eye contact. Why burden them with extra 
information when they already know how to walk forward and it will work 
just as well? By all means, let them know that the buzz step exists and 
show them what it looks like. But also let them know that they don't 
have to do it for a swing to be fun. I can show someone how to do a 
walking swing in less than 30 seconds and have them dancing and their 
mind will be clear enough to learn the other calls that they are being 
taught. I have seen too many people befuddled by the buzz step and in a 
daze while the first dance is being taught.


Hmmm... I guess that number 8 touched a nerve... 8^)

Happy Dancing,

Chris

http://www.chrisweiler.ws/


Tom Hinds wrote:


It occurred to me that many of the behaviors  on this list are due to
insecurity (dancing with other beginners, waiting to be asked etc.)  That got
me to thinking about what callers can do to make sure the beginners have a
good experience.  So, I've come up with my own list for callers.  These items
may contain items that some may not agree with.  But this may generate some
good discussion.

10 things a caller can do to help  beginners have a good experience:

1)  Prepare a logical program that starts easy and builds.

2)  Like a professional dance teacher, warm up muscles slowly.  Use dances
with 8 count swings (max) early in the evening.  Keep the first couple of
dances shorter.  New and not so new dancers are entering the hall and you want
them up and dancing sooner rather than later,

3)  Be prepared well enough so that you don't have to use cards.  Watch the
dancers.  Watch the dancers.

4)  Encourage everyone to dance with everyone else.  When a dance ends,
suggest that those who just danced ask those sitting out for the next dance.

5)  Demonstrate what smooth dancing looks like (especially if many newbees are
skipping).

6)  Teach safe dancing - like proper allemandes.  If you see dancers dancing
out of control take measures to make sure that they don't hurt anyone.

7)  If you make a mistake, admit it.  Often if something doesn't work, the new
dancers think it's because of them.

8)  Teach the buzz step swing in the beginning workshop.  Teach it well.

9)  If a dance has a tricky move, show the dancers how to perform the move
with finesse.  If the dance has a challenge in the timing department,
communicate to the dancers how to be on time.

10)  If you call a challenging dance and the new dancers look a bit confused,
tell the crowd that that was a very difficult dance and that they handled it
very well (this one from Ted Sannella).  If the dance was so challenging that
sets broke down, tell the dancers that you picked a bad dance (in other words
it's you, not them).

Tom Hinds

 

Re: [Callers] Fwd: Ten Stupid Things Beginners Do to Mess Up Their Contradance Experience

[Chris Weiler]

10. book ahead excessively
11. criticize/express disapproval of people doing it "wrong" - even when 
the dancers are in control, on time, new to the dance etc.



Seth Tepfer wrote:

Well, I think it should be "Ten Stupid Things experienced dancers do to 
mess up their contradance." But interesting, nonetheless:


 


Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 00:04:34 -0500
From: "Darrell Webb" 
Subject: Ten Stupid Things Beginners Do to Mess Up Their Contradance
   Experience - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks

I just came across this and thought you might be interested. Hope things 
are going well for you.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ten_Stupid_Things_Beginners_Do_to_Mess_Up_Their_Contradance_Experience#Preface 

   




Let's see:

Don't dance with new dancers
twirl new dancers
hot dog
take more time for moves than allotted (swinging into next move)
dance wildly without concern for others
don't listen to the caller
dance only in the center line
disdain/badmouth/ignore local bands/callers
don't volunteer/help out the dance
10. ?


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Oxford College of Emory University - 770-784-8487 - la...@emory.edu

For fast and easy computer help, 
try...   http://help.emory.edu



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[Callers] [Fwd: Great Contra Dance Article]

[Chris Weiler]

Robert Jervis wrote:


Hi All -
 
 I just saw the March issue of /New Hampshire Magazine./  
www.NHMagazine.com 

The article will probably be on-line after March 1st.
 
John Walters did the interview for "Lure of the Dance" at Nelson last 
November.  It has some great pictures by Chris Becker.
 
There are links to all the NH dances too.
 
It would be great to get some reprints to hand out at the dances.
 
Bob

Re: [Callers] Callers workshop in June

[Chris Weiler]

   Wouldn't miss it!
   Chris

   -callers-boun...@sharedweight.net wro= te: -

 To: Shared Weight 
 From: Seth S= eeger 
 Sent by: callers-bounces@sharedweight.netDate: 02/22/2006 03:58PM
 Subject: Re: [Callers] Callers workshop in Ju= ne
 Me too!
 -Seth
 <= br>On Feb 22, 2006, at 3:53 PM, Lisa Sieverts wrote:
 > So who's g= oing from this group? I'll be there!
 >
 > Lisa Sieverts
 ><= br>> On Feb 22, 2006, at 3:50 PM, Seth Seeger wrote:
 >
 >>= Just to let you all know... there are still six spaces
 available for
 = t;> the Callers Workshop in June with Lisa Greenleaf and Brad
 Foster. = bsp;At
 >> this point, registrations will be accepted on a first co= me,
 first
 >> serve
 >> basis.  More info here:
 = t;>
 >>[1]http://www.= cdss.org/workshop.html
 >>
 >> -Seth
 >>
 >= ;>
 __ 5F __ 5F_
 >> Callers mailing list
 >> call...@sharedweight.net
 >= >[2]http:/= /www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
 _ __ 5F__= _
 Callers mailing list call...@sharedweight.net
 [3]http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers<= /a>

   
References

   1. 3D"http://www.cdss.org/workshop.html;
   2. 3D"http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers;
   3. 3D"http://www.sharedweight.net/mail