Make sure a few have the plaid shirt!
All you male callers might not know how important he is to women dancers --
I've sent more than a few female newbies off to a dance I couldn't be
at, saying "look for the guy who looks like a retired teacher, in a
pink/salmon plaid shirt, he's a lovely
Look on Larry Unger's earlier albums, there's a bunch of good ones,
including a couple that go jig-to-reel.
Can't remember which albums right now, I had them converted onto a
cassette mix tape (!) for use in the older student activity room...
On 2/28/20, Rick Mohr via Contra Callers
wrote:
>
Clarifying: "as" in this case -- for me -- means "as you look at the
person you're about to cross", not just as the *shoulders* brush.
Still a little ahead, but not the full four beats a lot of moves get.
On 2/28/20, Amy Cann via Contra Callers
wrote:
> I agr
I agree with your assessment.
Sometimes calling is "prompting" -- saying what needs to happen next,
and saying it early enough to mentally "land" and turn into action.
Sometimes calling is repeating a real-time narration, a rhythmic
script for the dancer to memorize and then internally
Wonderful post, with one quibble: you left out the best sentence!
"The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”
;)
On 2/24/20, John Sweeney via Contra Callers
wrote:
> For those who have asked about the style of the early quadrilles, please
> see
>
Betting that Colin Hume has the definitive answer to this...
(There's some really cool old ones for square dancing, lemme see if I
can dig a few up)
On 2/9/20, Becky Liddle via Contra Callers
wrote:
> I doubt this exists, but thought I’d ask:
> I have seen on-line apps that demonstrate just one
If it's dancers, for 1920's I'd do 12th Street Rag.
Engaging and familiar novelty tune, fun "typical" moves that most can
pick up fairly quickly.
Actually easier than Salty Dog, which usually gets mentioned.
Dead-pan Youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQv38Lpj6V0
If it's
What do you think of as a quadrille, tune and/or dance?
I'm very curious to hear as many different answers as there are
ages/locations/opinions on here. :)
(Tell you why *after* we have a nice long thread. :)
Cheers,
Amy
___
Contra Callers mailing
Are you dead set on 4x4?
There's a good/superfun/easy 3x3 but I'll be darned if I can think of
it at the moment... I'll get back to you...
On 1/10/20, jmitchell.nc--- via Contra Callers
wrote:
> I'm a big fan of Rick Mohr's "Dance All Night". Its also good for teaching
> a grand R before doing
Have you tried the Scottish repertoire/resources?
On 1/3/20, John Sweeney via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Despite having an extensive collection of music I have
> nothing
> suitable for a 40 bar contra dance.
>
>
>
> Please can anyone recommend any good
I'm going to head off-list and talk to my friend Norb Spencer,
accordionist extraordinaire, major tune-hound, and player of all three
likely-to-be-not-32 genres (Oldtime, Fr.C, and Scottish). Watch this
space...
On 1/3/20, John Sweeney via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Hi Amy,
> You asked about
We should all just switch to ECD...
On 3/18/20, Martha Wild via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Amounts on the last spiral are approximate - until you face your new
> neighbor…..
>
> Martha
>
>> On Mar 18, 2020, at 11:40 AM, Erik Hoffman via Contra Callers
>> wrote:
>>
>> Make sure all are at least six
Bless you for doing this.
:)
On 5/7/20, Seth Seeger via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Hello Shared Weight community,
>
> I’m sorry for the short notice, but I need to move the mailing lists to a
> different host this evening. There will be some down time between now and
> 10pm EST. No messages will
I can tell you that the tourist-y Open Farm / Harvest Fest / Pumpkin
Days haybaler gigs are up and running in VT/NH.
On 10/15/21, Ridge Kennedy via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Bethlehem PA is starting in November.
>
> https://valleycontradance.org/
>
> On Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 11:51 AM Becky Liddle
How neat! I have a few early copies I picked up as spares at Ralph
Page weekend and they make for fascinating reading.
Also, I had to explain to a twenty-something the other day why they
were "purple", which was fun.
They totally didn't believe me about sniffing fresh mimeographs.
On 11/23/21,
It has been, building a chicken run with power tools, yay!
On 11/23/21, Lisa Sieverts via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Hey, Happy Birthday Amy Cann!
>
> Hope it’s a great day
>
> Lisa Sieverts
> 603-762-0235
> l...@lisasieverts.com
>
> On 23 Nov 2021, at 17:21, Amy Ca
On 12/6/21, Tony Parkes via Contra Callers
wrote:
> I actually accepted a gig at a “naturist” resort in New England.
>I had to come up with patter
Since mostly all humans are pretty asymmetrical, how 'bout:
"Promenade and don't be slow,
Right (x) high and left (x) low"
:)
I'd look at schottisches, especially trhe Scandi ones. A lot of them
start with some sort of
YUMP tiddy DUM, ti diddy diddy diddy dum
What's the rest of the dance like?
On 3/23/22, Linda S. Mrosko via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Can anyone think of a recorded danceable tune that would fit the
In my experience wedding dancers can learn four, maybe five dances.
You do one seriously easy circle mixer dance IMMEDIATELY after the
toasts while everyone is standing right there.
Then you do a flight of three dances that all use the same basic moves
but are in different configurations: one
Ragtime tunes actually often go *slower* than flat-out reels.
Their grove isn't a fast
deedlediddledeedlediddledeedlediddledeedlediddledeedlediddledeedlediddle
like note-y Irish, or
diggachukkadiggachukkadiggachukkadiggachukka
like hot southern.
They go more like:
DAda, da, d'da Da - UH!
>versionated
Oh, now THAT's a keeper!
***
I've been wondering during this whole thread if their version involves
punching the heck out of the hemiola in the B part?
(hemiola: Italian for "I'm going to mess with your head by moving the
emPHAsis to a new syLAHble")
People who aren't
Can I just say that I really enjoy the depth of the rabbit holes we're
willing to go down on here, and how much fun it is to take a dive
along with *other people* who don't think it's weird at all?
On 5/2/22, jim saxe via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Jeff,
>
> How would you describe the phrase
HOW HAVE I NOT KNOWN THIS DANCE BEFORE THIS MOMENT??
On 4/28/22, Ridge Kennedy via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Balance the Star qualifies as a chestnut and works well. The stars
> encourage a little hand jive action that is a lot of fun.
>
> Here's my go-to dance for raggy tune sets which stole a
> If they're a dance band (rather than a bunch of prima donnas)
-- Colin Hume
> Ay, there’s the rub!
-- Hamlet
>The origin of the term lies in the ancient game of bowls (which Americans may
>know as lawn bowling; nothing to do with tenpin). A rub is some fault in the
>surface of the green
You need an EarwormCancellationDevice (I forget how to say it in German).
It's a tune -- personal to you, everyone has their own -- that when
you sing or hum it will nudge the parasite out and take its place, and
then you can stop singing *it*. It's a two-step process.
The person who educated
Calling Andy Davis -- tell about the one on the covered bridge!
On 7/31/22, Luke Donforth via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Contras are starting back up, and I thought we might play a little game.
> I recently had the joy of calling my "most Vermont gig ever".
>
> I had to go down a
As someone who *ran* a card sorter for IBM as my summer job working
through college,
I'm simultaneously laughing and shuddering.
My cards are the standard white kind -
except for the ones I wrote or rejiggered, they're on cream colored stock
Beckets are blue paper and double-progressions are
We used to grapevine while circling in the Hudson Valley in the late
80's, but it was probably just us young'uns that thought we were extra
cool. :/
On 12/19/22, K P via Contra Callers
wrote:
> All this grapevine chitchat got me thinking: Krikey, this is one of those
> instances where you don't
One night in Nelson it was someone named - I think - Larry's birthday.
I was calling a generic dance with a generic "First gent + second lady
do something for 8 beats that makes them swap sides" moment.
(I don't remember what the exact original move was - maybe allemande R 1&1/2?)
but Larry
I'm in the midst of changing my email for the first time in twenty two years
(I've had invasive surgery that was more fun)
and could use a hand --
the various resources/archives/boxes/files we regularly link to on here --
any warnings on which ones I'll need to re-register/sign in/update?
I'm
I think I need either a martini or a cigarette after reading this.
Maybe both.
Well done, Jim!
On 2/25/23, jim saxe via Contra Callers
wrote:
> Colin Hume wrote, regarding the dance No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk, by
> Chris Weiler:
>
>> I called this last night, and one woman said she spent
edit: you know what? I'm probably conflating sharedweight with the
pourparler archives, that *are* linked to the listserve
emails...apologies.
On 2/25/23, Amy Cann wrote:
> I'm in the midst of changing my email for the first time in twenty two
> years
>
> (I've had invasive surgery that was
One end of this community is "fun things intoxicated wedding guests can do!"
The other end is "if we were all cryogenically frozen and trapped in a
space loop, what kind of four-dimensional-chess dances could we make
up in our heads to pass the time?"
It's part of what keeps me coming back. :)
And Black Joke -
the one in the community-level version that goes
8 measures plus Hey, Down, Diddledy Dum
8 measures plus Hey, Down, Diddledy Dum
4 claps, 4 claps
8 measures plus Hey, Down, Diddledy Dum
that can be a contra or a sicilian
and which can of course also be much more elegant or
Wait, what? Did I ask a question I don't remember asking?
Or are there more Amy's out there??
On 2/5/23, K P via Contra Callers wrote:
> Hey Amy,
>
> Barn Burners, eh?
>
> Tough question cuz, in my mind, barn burner is more than just the chosen
> dance; e.g. what tune is driving it. (Might be a
I LIKE THIS!
I hereby nominate "jets and rubies" as the likeliest contender, far
outshining my own personal fallback, suns-and-moons.
And btw, I'm absolutely seeing "jets" in my mind as black shiny beads,
not flying machines.
On 2/13/23, Michael Fuerst via Contra Callers
wrote:
> jets/rubies
Since no one else has mentioned this, I'll just say that my entire
personal difficulty with birds comes from fairy tales and ornithology.
When we say "robin" we are mostly thinking about that bird with the
"red breast", right? Not something kinda reddish-brownish? That's the
male. In my childhood
Here's how I learned:
"Everybody promenade the usual way, two-by-two around the room - now
stop where you are."
"Starting from this point right in front of me (gesture to where head
couple of center set usually stands for contras), you're going to
count off in pairs of couples and take hands
Glad you like it!
For what it's worth, at a ONS I often do a scatter mixer that's
basically half of "Haste to the Wedding" -
Circle L, circle R
Star R star L
everybody bow, promenade and find someone else
for a little, then turn the scatter promenade into the big ring and go
from there.
On
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