Re: [Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Andrea Nettleton]

I just finished calling at Gennetines, a huge international folk festival, 
largely attended by French folks, but with a strong group of folks from other 
places.  What worked the best was a hybrid.  Moves could be called their 
English name, but directions and hand choices needed to be in both or just in 
French.  I did a fair amount of calling bilingually.  You could also simply 
translate a lot of the calls.  Star would be estrella, for example.  I did use 
québécois terms for some things as many dancers had been exposed to that form.
Best luck!
Andrea

Sent from my iOnlypretendtomultitask

On Jul 21, 2013, at 7:24 PM, Mark Stowe  wrote:

> I am dating a Mexican anthropology professor that I met at a
> contradance at an Earth Skills festival in Gainesville FL and she is
> now a complete convert.  This past New Year's we got 20 of her family
> and friends contradancing.  They caught on quickly, really liked it
> and would like me to start a regular contradance in Xalapa=Jalapa
> where it actually has a better than average chance of working given
> the large arts/ music community, and the numerous international
> students and expats.
> 
> Given time constraints and going back and forth this is a long term
> project but two weeks from today before I go back to the US (and my
> contradance camp at Burning Man) I am supposed to put together a
> contradance for a large party.
> 
> Any leads to possibly existing materials/ written explanations or
> calls in Spanish would be appreciated.   And given my travels to other
> countries (especially French speaking) I wonder is there any
> non-English material and/or calls?  Thanks!
> ___
> Callers mailing list
> call...@sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

Re: [Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Greg McKenzie]

The answer is that it depends.

If you have even a small contingent of contradance regulars in the hall I
would say you are much better off calling, and teaching, in English only.
With 10% or even 5% of regulars in the hall you have people to model the
moves where the first-timers can pick it up much more quickly than using
verbal explanations in any language.  Remember that contras are a
traditional dance form and the dance is passed on from one generation of
dancers to another--(not from one teacher to the dancers).

I saw a caller who speaks Russian attempt to teach contras speaking Russian
in Saint Petersburg with a strong contingent of American contra dancers in
the hall.  It was almost comical.  The Americans stood there confused while
the Russians tried to show the Americans the moves that the caller was
describing in their own language.  Needless to say it didn't work.

If you have even a few contradancers in the hall you are better off
sticking to English.

- Greg McKenzie
West Coast, USA



On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 12:05 PM, Erik Hoffman  wrote:

> First:
>
> Even if the calls are in English, the teaching must be done in Spanish.
>  And, if you're doing one night stand dances, English in other countries
> doesn't work.  I've called simple dances in both France and Italy, after
> asking people how to say long lines forward & back, right hand turn, swing,
> etc.  Would not have worked to speak English, no way, no how...
>
> Now, if it were at a place where people came to learn the dance, take a
> few classes, become familiar with the names put on the figures, then
> saying, "This is an American dance, so let's learn the American words,"
> that works great.  Well, almost great.  I was calling a dance in Denmark,
> to an older crowd of practiced dancers (all young people speak English).
>  They had been dancing to their regular caller for years, knew all the
> moves.  So, when calling a square dance I was surprised when I called,
> "Allemande Left your corner, back to your own with a Right & Left Grand,"
> and they didn't have a clue.  After a struggle with trying to teach and
> wondering why they didn't know that move, I somehow said, "Grand Right &
> Left," and they immediately knew what to do.  They only knew one word order
> for the name of the figure...
>
> As far as word choices go, when I first started calling dances and playing
> fiddle, when teaching the dance I'd teach a do si do.  Then I'd say, "so
> the move you're going to do is a do si do, but it'll sound like this,
> 'oshiho'," "and balance & swing will sound like this, 'halnacenswin'."
>  Even with these garbled calls, dancers did fine.  So, when you have an
> audience that is there to learn dances -- came to learn -- teaching the
> English calls is fine.  But, again, if it's a group of people, who came to
> a gathering for a different reason, and you just are to call a few dances,
> you do need to know how to give descriptive calls in the local lingo.
>
> ~erik hoffman
> oakland, ca
>
>
>
> On 7/21/2013 10:54 AM, Aahz Maruch wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Jul 21, 2013, Mark Stowe wrote:
>>
>>> I am dating a Mexican anthropology professor that I met at a
>>> contradance at an Earth Skills festival in Gainesville FL and she is
>>> now a complete convert.  This past New Year's we got 20 of her family
>>> and friends contradancing.  They caught on quickly, really liked it
>>> and would like me to start a regular contradance in Xalapa=Jalapa
>>> where it actually has a better than average chance of working given
>>> the large arts/ music community, and the numerous international
>>> students and expats.
>>>
>> Congrats!
>>
>>  Any leads to possibly existing materials/ written explanations or
>>> calls in Spanish would be appreciated.   And given my travels to other
>>> countries (especially French speaking) I wonder is there any
>>> non-English material and/or calls?  Thanks!
>>>
>> No advice directly related, but the square dance community has decreed
>> that all calls are given in English (much the same way that pretty much
>> all programming languages have their keywords in English).  Kinda rude in
>> some ways, but it does mean that people can travel to other countries and
>> still square dance.
>>
>
> __**_
> Callers mailing list
> call...@sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/**mailman/listinfo/callers
>

Re: [Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Erik Hoffman]

First:

Even if the calls are in English, the teaching must be done in Spanish.  
And, if you're doing one night stand dances, English in other countries 
doesn't work.  I've called simple dances in both France and Italy, after 
asking people how to say long lines forward & back, right hand turn, 
swing, etc.  Would not have worked to speak English, no way, no how...


Now, if it were at a place where people came to learn the dance, take a 
few classes, become familiar with the names put on the figures, then 
saying, "This is an American dance, so let's learn the American words," 
that works great.  Well, almost great.  I was calling a dance in 
Denmark, to an older crowd of practiced dancers (all young people speak 
English).  They had been dancing to their regular caller for years, knew 
all the moves.  So, when calling a square dance I was surprised when I 
called, "Allemande Left your corner, back to your own with a Right & 
Left Grand," and they didn't have a clue.  After a struggle with trying 
to teach and wondering why they didn't know that move, I somehow said, 
"Grand Right & Left," and they immediately knew what to do.  They only 
knew one word order for the name of the figure...


As far as word choices go, when I first started calling dances and 
playing fiddle, when teaching the dance I'd teach a do si do.  Then I'd 
say, "so the move you're going to do is a do si do, but it'll sound like 
this, 'oshiho'," "and balance & swing will sound like this, 
'halnacenswin'."  Even with these garbled calls, dancers did fine.  So, 
when you have an audience that is there to learn dances -- came to learn 
-- teaching the English calls is fine.  But, again, if it's a group of 
people, who came to a gathering for a different reason, and you just are 
to call a few dances, you do need to know how to give descriptive calls 
in the local lingo.


~erik hoffman
oakland, ca


On 7/21/2013 10:54 AM, Aahz Maruch wrote:

On Sun, Jul 21, 2013, Mark Stowe wrote:

I am dating a Mexican anthropology professor that I met at a
contradance at an Earth Skills festival in Gainesville FL and she is
now a complete convert.  This past New Year's we got 20 of her family
and friends contradancing.  They caught on quickly, really liked it
and would like me to start a regular contradance in Xalapa=Jalapa
where it actually has a better than average chance of working given
the large arts/ music community, and the numerous international
students and expats.

Congrats!


Any leads to possibly existing materials/ written explanations or
calls in Spanish would be appreciated.   And given my travels to other
countries (especially French speaking) I wonder is there any
non-English material and/or calls?  Thanks!

No advice directly related, but the square dance community has decreed
that all calls are given in English (much the same way that pretty much
all programming languages have their keywords in English).  Kinda rude in
some ways, but it does mean that people can travel to other countries and
still square dance.

Re: [Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Michael Fuerst]

Kathy Anderson speaks Spanish and on dance trips to Costa Rica would teach and 
call in Spanish when needed
 
Michael Fuerst      802 N Broadway      Urbana IL 61801   217-239-5844
Links to photos of many of my drawings and paintings are at 
www.ArtComesFuerst.com

Re: [Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Mark Stowe]

> No advice directly related, but the square dance community has decreed
> that all calls are given in English (much the same way that pretty much
> all programming languages have their keywords in English).  Kinda rude in
> some ways, but it does mean that people can travel to other countries and
> still square dance.

An argument can be made that our calls are mostly a mishmash of words
from different languages that don't mean too much and just have to be
memorized.  What would be wonderful for non-English speaking
contradancers, would be something like the excellent wiki

http://ruedawiki.org/

that describes in English the moves and the pronunciation of the calls
for Rueda a kind of round dancing of Salsa with calls in English
Spanish and Spanglish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_Rueda.

Even though contradancing had a long history in the Caribbean, this book chapter

http://www.temple.edu/tempress/chapters_1800/1954_ch1.pdf

does not talk much about the names of the moves, but if I dug deeper
for more information about the largely forgotten contradanza I might
find something useful.

Re: [Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Richard Hart]

It's the same thing in the Czech Republic. The dances are called with the
same English calls that we use in the UIS. But most Czech dancers don't
speak any English, so walk-throughs need to be in Czech (which means a
translator for most American callers..).


On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 1:24 PM, Mark Stowe  wrote:

> I am dating a Mexican anthropology professor that I met at a
> contradance at an Earth Skills festival in Gainesville FL and she is
> now a complete convert.  This past New Year's we got 20 of her family
> and friends contradancing.  They caught on quickly, really liked it
> and would like me to start a regular contradance in Xalapa=Jalapa
> where it actually has a better than average chance of working given
> the large arts/ music community, and the numerous international
> students and expats.
>
> Given time constraints and going back and forth this is a long term
> project but two weeks from today before I go back to the US (and my
> contradance camp at Burning Man) I am supposed to put together a
> contradance for a large party.
>
> Any leads to possibly existing materials/ written explanations or
> calls in Spanish would be appreciated.   And given my travels to other
> countries (especially French speaking) I wonder is there any
> non-English material and/or calls?  Thanks!
> ___
> Callers mailing list
> call...@sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>

Re: [Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Linda Leslie]

Also, my congrats and wishes for a successful dance!

The dancers in Denmark also decided, a few decades ago, to call their  
contra/square dances with English terminology. The teaching is done in  
Danish, but the calls in English. And the explanation for this that I  
was given was so that dancers could dance anywhere in the world.  And  
it seems to have worked, since lots of Danes come to the U.S. to  
attend dance camps.
This also might avoid a part of the challenge of having non-Spanish,  
non-English speakers in the crowd.


Please keep us posted on how your dance progresses!
warmly, Linda

On Jul 21, 2013, at 1:54 PM, Aahz Maruch wrote:


On Sun, Jul 21, 2013, Mark Stowe wrote:


I am dating a Mexican anthropology professor that I met at a
contradance at an Earth Skills festival in Gainesville FL and she is
now a complete convert.  This past New Year's we got 20 of her family
and friends contradancing.  They caught on quickly, really liked it
and would like me to start a regular contradance in Xalapa=Jalapa
where it actually has a better than average chance of working given
the large arts/ music community, and the numerous international
students and expats.


Congrats!


Any leads to possibly existing materials/ written explanations or
calls in Spanish would be appreciated.   And given my travels to  
other

countries (especially French speaking) I wonder is there any
non-English material and/or calls?  Thanks!


No advice directly related, but the square dance community has decreed
that all calls are given in English (much the same way that pretty  
much
all programming languages have their keywords in English).  Kinda  
rude in
some ways, but it does mean that people can travel to other  
countries and

still square dance.
--
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6http://rule6.info/
 <*>   <*>   <*>
Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html
___
Callers mailing list
call...@sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

Re: [Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Aahz Maruch]

On Sun, Jul 21, 2013, Mark Stowe wrote:
>
> I am dating a Mexican anthropology professor that I met at a
> contradance at an Earth Skills festival in Gainesville FL and she is
> now a complete convert.  This past New Year's we got 20 of her family
> and friends contradancing.  They caught on quickly, really liked it
> and would like me to start a regular contradance in Xalapa=Jalapa
> where it actually has a better than average chance of working given
> the large arts/ music community, and the numerous international
> students and expats.

Congrats!

> Any leads to possibly existing materials/ written explanations or
> calls in Spanish would be appreciated.   And given my travels to other
> countries (especially French speaking) I wonder is there any
> non-English material and/or calls?  Thanks!

No advice directly related, but the square dance community has decreed
that all calls are given in English (much the same way that pretty much
all programming languages have their keywords in English).  Kinda rude in
some ways, but it does mean that people can travel to other countries and
still square dance.
-- 
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6http://rule6.info/
  <*>   <*>   <*>
Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html

[Callers] contradance materials and/or calls in Spanish or any non-English language

[Mark Stowe]

I am dating a Mexican anthropology professor that I met at a
contradance at an Earth Skills festival in Gainesville FL and she is
now a complete convert.  This past New Year's we got 20 of her family
and friends contradancing.  They caught on quickly, really liked it
and would like me to start a regular contradance in Xalapa=Jalapa
where it actually has a better than average chance of working given
the large arts/ music community, and the numerous international
students and expats.

Given time constraints and going back and forth this is a long term
project but two weeks from today before I go back to the US (and my
contradance camp at Burning Man) I am supposed to put together a
contradance for a large party.

Any leads to possibly existing materials/ written explanations or
calls in Spanish would be appreciated.   And given my travels to other
countries (especially French speaking) I wonder is there any
non-English material and/or calls?  Thanks!