I realized that I have not set down any specific guidelines on what we expect from the Hatchling callers at regular Childgrove events (not at the Saturday Caller’s Choice dances). I don’t like a lot of rules – but this should allow the callers to know what is expected and provide some consistency:
Hatchling callers guest calling with one of our ‘regular’ callers:
Proposed dances must be presented to the scheduled caller in advance for their review, comments and approval.
Monthly dance where 2 or 3 Hatchlings are the scheduled callers:
Entire program must be submitted to one of the ‘regular’ callers (me, Ted or Deborah). for review, comments and approval. I have not talked to Ted or Deborah about this. You can ask them if you wish – but I will be available for all the events if you want me to do that.
Hatchling callers scheduled for a whole evening themselves:
Not required to have their programs reviewed, but it is not a bad idea. Ask any of the other callers or even other Hatchling callers - the more input the better. Callers are welcome to offer one or 2 dances to a guest caller – but are then responsible for reviewing the dances their guest will call.
Most of the Hatchlings have reached a level that they can call and teach effectively. As you know – programming is a whole different skill and it is good to learn from mistakes the rest of us have already made rather than repeat them.
Feel welcome to contact me if you have any questions.
Mac
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
What happens when you get too busy
You make no blog posts!
So much has been happening that it's been hard to find the time to keep our faithful readers up to speed...
We can work from the outside in:
1. The High Tea and Whiskey Dance Weekend
2. The new name for the Hatchling Dances
3. The 4th of July dance
4. Everything else - will have to wait
High Tea and Whiskey
Kay and Bob and Missy and John and I have wanted for some time to have a weekend with Joseph Pimentel calling, so we (with good support from Deb and Bea and Mark) got ambitious and decided to just go for it and just figure out how we could do it. We put together a business plan, we rented the hall, secured a band, and then went looking for some help. The Childgrove board again demonstrated its openness and willingness to support events which are well-thought-out and support its mission of promoting the folk arts (particularly community-style dancing) and agreed to provide full sponsorship. The Dance Discovery board and the leadership of the Webster Groves English Country Dancers were willing to provide a hefty financial cushion, should it be needed, and St Louis English Country Dancers agreed to help with advertising and promotion. Wow.
The weekend is partly contra, partly English, and we're at 72% capacity already — not that hard, since the hall won't hold more than about 60 people doing English. We'll open up another 30 places for folks who want to come to the Friday contra dance later. Here's the web site: High Tea and Whiskey.
The New Name
We've been a bit worried about the attendance at the Hatchling Dances, and, in Hatchling style, figured we had to learn what to do to make ourselves more attractive to dancers. I put out a quick survey and got back the message that we shouldn't change the format - the people who come really like the English/contra format and the music. Changing the day from Saturday to Friday turned out not to be an option, so what was left? A name change! The Hatchling name is adorable, as are our little winged egg-born creatures, but it seems to symbolize "caller practice sessions" rather than "callers who have practiced". So our dances are now First Saturday Callers' Choice Dances, or, as it's already gotten shortened to, Choice Dances.
Yeah, I know the real reason for the smaller attendance figures is that we're trying to get contra dancers to do a bit of English, and English dancers to do a bit of contra, and very few people like to do things outside their usual habits. The number of people who like to do both contra and English is smaller than either the number of contra dancers or the number of English dancers. But we persevere, and the number of "crossover" dancers is slowly but surely increasing.
The 4th of July dance
We were almost forced to cancel this one, but for reasons WAY too complicated to go into, we're not canceling, and we're glad of it. If just 16 people show up, we'll be fine, and we'll have moral boasting rights for months. So if you want to come to a small, just-us-chickens dance, come dance around our virtual kitchen this Saturday.
M
E
So much has been happening that it's been hard to find the time to keep our faithful readers up to speed...
We can work from the outside in:
1. The High Tea and Whiskey Dance Weekend
2. The new name for the Hatchling Dances
3. The 4th of July dance
4. Everything else - will have to wait
High Tea and Whiskey
Kay and Bob and Missy and John and I have wanted for some time to have a weekend with Joseph Pimentel calling, so we (with good support from Deb and Bea and Mark) got ambitious and decided to just go for it and just figure out how we could do it. We put together a business plan, we rented the hall, secured a band, and then went looking for some help. The Childgrove board again demonstrated its openness and willingness to support events which are well-thought-out and support its mission of promoting the folk arts (particularly community-style dancing) and agreed to provide full sponsorship. The Dance Discovery board and the leadership of the Webster Groves English Country Dancers were willing to provide a hefty financial cushion, should it be needed, and St Louis English Country Dancers agreed to help with advertising and promotion. Wow.
The weekend is partly contra, partly English, and we're at 72% capacity already — not that hard, since the hall won't hold more than about 60 people doing English. We'll open up another 30 places for folks who want to come to the Friday contra dance later. Here's the web site: High Tea and Whiskey.
The New Name
We've been a bit worried about the attendance at the Hatchling Dances, and, in Hatchling style, figured we had to learn what to do to make ourselves more attractive to dancers. I put out a quick survey and got back the message that we shouldn't change the format - the people who come really like the English/contra format and the music. Changing the day from Saturday to Friday turned out not to be an option, so what was left? A name change! The Hatchling name is adorable, as are our little winged egg-born creatures, but it seems to symbolize "caller practice sessions" rather than "callers who have practiced". So our dances are now First Saturday Callers' Choice Dances, or, as it's already gotten shortened to, Choice Dances.
Yeah, I know the real reason for the smaller attendance figures is that we're trying to get contra dancers to do a bit of English, and English dancers to do a bit of contra, and very few people like to do things outside their usual habits. The number of people who like to do both contra and English is smaller than either the number of contra dancers or the number of English dancers. But we persevere, and the number of "crossover" dancers is slowly but surely increasing.
The 4th of July dance
We were almost forced to cancel this one, but for reasons WAY too complicated to go into, we're not canceling, and we're glad of it. If just 16 people show up, we'll be fine, and we'll have moral boasting rights for months. So if you want to come to a small, just-us-chickens dance, come dance around our virtual kitchen this Saturday.
M
E
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Square dance move
So what's the real name of the square dance move Mac called last night? It sounded to me like "Dos Pasos" but I can't find a move of that name?
Mac was feeling very brave (foolish? confident?) with the dances he called when there were so many first-timers there.
Mac was feeling very brave (foolish? confident?) with the dances he called when there were so many first-timers there.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
More on the Double Grand Square
I have to admit, I was really thrilled when we walked through the double grand square yesterday. I was lucky, of course. There were exactly 16 people at the Calling Party. All but one of them knew already how to do a Grand Square. They even thought it would be fun. Everyone learns fast when they're having fun.
Here's a picture that kind of begins to explain - the red couples are the heads, the purple couples are the sides, the green couples are the centers, and the blue couples (yes!) are the corners. The heads and sides face up and down, the centers and corners face across the set. The call is "heads go forward, sides divide." The centers follow the call for the sides, and the corners follow the call for the heads. Click on the picture to see it animated.
This didn't happen all at once, of course. It started when I played music for John Ramsay's high school class doing (?) Easter Morn (?) in his living room for a video. It has a grand square with an extra couple. Hmm...I thought. When I got a chance to dance the dance a few months later, when I got to be the center couple, I inadvertently pissed off my partner by walking the opposite corner, just to see if it worked. Later, thinking about it, I realized you could do the dance with six couples, and started working out how it would be done. I noticed that only three of the four corners of the small squares were occupied at any one time, and my dear husband Bob said, "Well, the last two couples go in the corners." "But, but..." I sputtered, "they won't be standing next to each other!" "Good observation," he said.
I started showing anyone who would listen about the double grand square. Kimmswick was great - all those smart people with nothing much better to do, thought it was pretty cool. ("Nah nah" to all of you who just think I'm nuts.) I got a little better at explaining it each time, and then I got challenged to animate it. I fired up Flash and had a good time, pushing little dots around the screen. Then I added noses and (slightly) better colors on another night.
And then, yesterday, miraculously, sixteen people walked through it twice, almost flawlessly.
I am so psyched.
M
E
Martha's Double Grand Square
For those of you who missed the calling party last night -- it was a great one. In addition to celebrating Kay's birthday, there were 16 of us there so we had the honor of being Martha's live salt and pepper shakers as she tried out the Double Grand Square (or as I like to think of it Martha's Great Grandsquare) with live dancers.
It works.
It works.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Kimmswick 2009
Wasn't that just a barrel of fun?
Many contributors to this blog called dances at the Kimmswick Festival this weekend. Many fun dances. Lots of terrific bands to dance and call to. Dozens and dozens of good dancers to dance with. We even had a few Mother Nature difficulties to get through so we will always be able to pinpoint the occasion: "Remember the Kimmswick where we had a tornado watch, and a fabulous thunderstorm and it took out the electricity to the dance hall so we had to dance in the dining hall?" "Remember the Kimmswick where we all froze in our beds because the temperature dropped to about 40 degrees and all we brought was a sheet?"
One of the great things about this weekend, too, was the number and quality of under-30 (okay, under 35) people we had, dancing and playing music and calling. The future of our sport is assured. The Cosmic Otters, with Jonathan and Edward and Meg (with baby on board), and the New Mules (Genevieve Harrison, Smith Koester and Andy Gribble) were two of the highlights of the weekend. The geezer bands weren't too shabby, either.
I am happy to report that I took another step towards becoming a real caller this weekend. Not that I called all that much - we had many callers (yay!) to fit in, and I had music to play - but I collected a dance! I'm not sure I like this method of getting dances, since you kind of have to stop dancing while you go write down stuff - either the name of the dance or the directions. If I don't write down the name, I won't remember what to ask for. But I did learn something that should have been obvious, but wasn't to me. It's actually polite to ask for the dance - you're kind of voting for that dance, telling the caller that you liked it enough to want to call it yourself! (Okay, I hear you all saying "duh".) Perhaps I'll find an easier way to remember the dance or its name. Perhaps I'll find an antique Dance Card and copy it, and wear it dangling on my wrist with a small pencil attached, like the old days.
Bob had the job of scheduling the callers. He got expert advice from the previous holder of this post, Deborah Hyland, and did a creditable job - there were no fist fights among the callers, and we kept on dancing all weekend.
The English workshop went well, even though there were fewer people in the hall this year, about 35 (that's partly because there are always fewer people at our 2-day weekends than at our 3-day weekends). At about the midway point, I counted the number of St Louis people at five. Bob disputed this point, but I'm not sure he actually counted, and he may have included people from other dance groups that he knows so well that he thinks they must be homies. My old buddy Pam Carson Stoll played in the band with me, as did my old buddy Jill Allen, who has also recently started an English Country Dance in Lawrence. We were joined by Pam's husband Fred Stoll on mandolin and Jill's husband Greg Allen on fiddle and by Dale Wilson on bass. The music was lively and pretty, and people seemed to be having fun. The callers were Bob, Kay and Billy, and they did a fun set of dances.
M
E
Many contributors to this blog called dances at the Kimmswick Festival this weekend. Many fun dances. Lots of terrific bands to dance and call to. Dozens and dozens of good dancers to dance with. We even had a few Mother Nature difficulties to get through so we will always be able to pinpoint the occasion: "Remember the Kimmswick where we had a tornado watch, and a fabulous thunderstorm and it took out the electricity to the dance hall so we had to dance in the dining hall?" "Remember the Kimmswick where we all froze in our beds because the temperature dropped to about 40 degrees and all we brought was a sheet?"
One of the great things about this weekend, too, was the number and quality of under-30 (okay, under 35) people we had, dancing and playing music and calling. The future of our sport is assured. The Cosmic Otters, with Jonathan and Edward and Meg (with baby on board), and the New Mules (Genevieve Harrison, Smith Koester and Andy Gribble) were two of the highlights of the weekend. The geezer bands weren't too shabby, either.
I am happy to report that I took another step towards becoming a real caller this weekend. Not that I called all that much - we had many callers (yay!) to fit in, and I had music to play - but I collected a dance! I'm not sure I like this method of getting dances, since you kind of have to stop dancing while you go write down stuff - either the name of the dance or the directions. If I don't write down the name, I won't remember what to ask for. But I did learn something that should have been obvious, but wasn't to me. It's actually polite to ask for the dance - you're kind of voting for that dance, telling the caller that you liked it enough to want to call it yourself! (Okay, I hear you all saying "duh".) Perhaps I'll find an easier way to remember the dance or its name. Perhaps I'll find an antique Dance Card and copy it, and wear it dangling on my wrist with a small pencil attached, like the old days.
Bob had the job of scheduling the callers. He got expert advice from the previous holder of this post, Deborah Hyland, and did a creditable job - there were no fist fights among the callers, and we kept on dancing all weekend.
The English workshop went well, even though there were fewer people in the hall this year, about 35 (that's partly because there are always fewer people at our 2-day weekends than at our 3-day weekends). At about the midway point, I counted the number of St Louis people at five. Bob disputed this point, but I'm not sure he actually counted, and he may have included people from other dance groups that he knows so well that he thinks they must be homies. My old buddy Pam Carson Stoll played in the band with me, as did my old buddy Jill Allen, who has also recently started an English Country Dance in Lawrence. We were joined by Pam's husband Fred Stoll on mandolin and Jill's husband Greg Allen on fiddle and by Dale Wilson on bass. The music was lively and pretty, and people seemed to be having fun. The callers were Bob, Kay and Billy, and they did a fun set of dances.
M
E
One of the great callers
Greg Rohde posted a link on FaceBook the other day, highlighting a fantastic performance by the Great Bear Trio and caller Joseph Pimentel at Winter Warmup last December. I was disappointed that the video showed only the dancers and the musicians, but at least the calling was audible.
And masterful calling it was, too. Joseph Pimentel is certainly one of the best callers I've ever had the pleasure of dancing to. Listen to the audio on that video, and pay attention to how he calls. If I practiced for twenty years, I'd be lucky to have half that skill and talent.
Two things really stand out for me. First is the way he actually sings his calls, matching the tone and mood of the music perfectly, blending his performance with that of the musicians. Second, I love the way he uses things like "hold that ring" and "take a deep breath now" to keep the dancers right on time. Amazing.
Sure wish I had been at that dance! I did have the opportunity to dance to Joseph's calling, both contra and English, at Nashville's Playford Ball weekend in March. It was magic.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Raising that Bar!
A couple months ago I suggested the Hatchling callers challenge themselves to improve their weaknesses. A few have done that
Billy called a square (quite successfully)
David greatly increased his presence on stage
Martha called without a card
Karen called a dance without practicing at a party
I am sure there are others
I hope to see more of this type of improvement. Do not be satisfied calling the same old contra type dances you have been doing for almost 2 years now. You are all beyond the point that simply calling a larger quantity of dances can be considered real progress.
I discussed with the Childgrove board and a couple hatchling callers what criteria could be used to determine when a caller is ready for a full night.. I suggested that we should expect a caller to be able to call a square or two (not a NE square) before they get a full night to call. Everyone thought that was a bad idea – except those who have already called squares. They all thought it was a very important step and should be use as a criteria. That tells me you need to try this to realize how much it will improve your contra calling.
One ‘reason’ I have heard is that contras are easy to find – but squares are more difficult. I don’t buy that. Saturday night Deborah called 2 very nice squares. They were interesting and had a lot of activity – but were not hard to teach or call (especially if you were to practice both at a calling party). The breaks she called were also very nice – although, if you are afraid of learning an figure and a break – couldn’t any of you call ”Allemande Left – Grand Right & Left?
Both of her squares and one break (the Grand Sashay) could be called to the musical phrasing – for those of you who like to do that. Did any of you ask her for copies of those?
And for those who want a bigger challenge – for all dance types – rather than just focusing on calling to the music’s phrasing – how about adding the rhythm and even the melody. Patter calls on squares helps you do this – but you can throw in patter on contras too. It will feel stupid at first – but will quickly become natural and be part of your style.
As usual – I think any of the local callers will be happy to help you with any of these or other improvements you want to work on.
Mac
Billy called a square (quite successfully)
David greatly increased his presence on stage
Martha called without a card
Karen called a dance without practicing at a party
I am sure there are others
I hope to see more of this type of improvement. Do not be satisfied calling the same old contra type dances you have been doing for almost 2 years now. You are all beyond the point that simply calling a larger quantity of dances can be considered real progress.
I discussed with the Childgrove board and a couple hatchling callers what criteria could be used to determine when a caller is ready for a full night.. I suggested that we should expect a caller to be able to call a square or two (not a NE square) before they get a full night to call. Everyone thought that was a bad idea – except those who have already called squares. They all thought it was a very important step and should be use as a criteria. That tells me you need to try this to realize how much it will improve your contra calling.
One ‘reason’ I have heard is that contras are easy to find – but squares are more difficult. I don’t buy that. Saturday night Deborah called 2 very nice squares. They were interesting and had a lot of activity – but were not hard to teach or call (especially if you were to practice both at a calling party). The breaks she called were also very nice – although, if you are afraid of learning an figure and a break – couldn’t any of you call ”Allemande Left – Grand Right & Left?
Both of her squares and one break (the Grand Sashay) could be called to the musical phrasing – for those of you who like to do that. Did any of you ask her for copies of those?
And for those who want a bigger challenge – for all dance types – rather than just focusing on calling to the music’s phrasing – how about adding the rhythm and even the melody. Patter calls on squares helps you do this – but you can throw in patter on contras too. It will feel stupid at first – but will quickly become natural and be part of your style.
As usual – I think any of the local callers will be happy to help you with any of these or other improvements you want to work on.
Mac
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Calling Party April 29
Wonderful calling party last night! We've been really having good ones, lately. I wish I knew what magic it is that always brings the perfect number of people - somewhere between 12 and 16 folks - AND that it's almost always nearly perfectly gender-balanced. Since we're all pretty good at dancing both parts, the gender balance isn't really necessary, but what are the odds, with such a small, random-ish sample of people, that it would be so consistently close to half men and half women?
Still, what makes it good is the fact that the callers have been bringing interesting dances and calling them well, and that we have such a warm and friendly dance community!
Billy wasn't there in person, but his spirit was there - we put up the list of dances he had organized for Saturday, and called them in order. By limiting the dance time (if it works, it works!) for each dance, we got through all of them, plus a bonus dance from John Coffman. (John and Cathy drove all the way up from Cape Girardeau - we'll be trying to return the favor in June and July, and get some of the good experience calling there that they have offered us!)
This Saturday's dance should be a good one - interesting dances, all. Here's Billy's layout:
M
E
Still, what makes it good is the fact that the callers have been bringing interesting dances and calling them well, and that we have such a warm and friendly dance community!
Billy wasn't there in person, but his spirit was there - we put up the list of dances he had organized for Saturday, and called them in order. By limiting the dance time (if it works, it works!) for each dance, we got through all of them, plus a bonus dance from John Coffman. (John and Cathy drove all the way up from Cape Girardeau - we'll be trying to return the favor in June and July, and get some of the good experience calling there that they have offered us!)
This Saturday's dance should be a good one - interesting dances, all. Here's Billy's layout:
---Hatchling Dance: May 2nd, 2009 7:30-10:30pm---
The Baby Rose - David Kaynor (improper)..........Joe Felson
Frederick's Contra - Tom Hinds (improper)........David Keller
English Wings - Bob Green (proper)............Kay Tomlinson
Joyride - Erik Weberg (improper).......................Bob Green
Yellow Stockings (proper)......................Missy Reisenleiter
Dip n Dive - Tom Hinds (improper)..............Martha Edwards
---Waltz and Break---
Procter’s Reel – Joe Felson (improper).............Joe Felson
Levi Jackson Rag - Pat Shaw (5 couples).........Bob Green
The Tease - Tom Hinds (improper).................Dale Wilson
Virginia Reel unsimlified vers. (4-6 couples)........Billy Boyer
Summer of '84 var. - Gene Hubert (improper)....Martha Edwards
MN-NY Happy Returns - Carol Ormand (Beckett).....David Keller
The Baby Rose - David Kaynor (improper)..........Joe Felson
Frederick's Contra - Tom Hinds (improper)........David Keller
English Wings - Bob Green (proper)............Kay Tomlinson
Joyride - Erik Weberg (improper)....................
Yellow Stockings (proper)......................
Dip n Dive - Tom Hinds (improper)..............Martha Edwards
---Waltz and Break---
Procter’s Reel – Joe Felson (improper).............Joe Felson
Levi Jackson Rag - Pat Shaw (5 couples).........Bob Green
The Tease - Tom Hinds (improper).................
Virginia Reel unsimlified vers. (4-6 couples)........Billy Boyer
Summer of '84 var. - Gene Hubert (improper)....Martha Edwards
MN-NY Happy Returns - Carol Ormand (Beckett).....David Keller
M
E
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Comments on Sun Night - April 26, 2009
Congratulations to David, Karen and Billy for a very successful program. Things went pretty well and when they didn’t – you kept your head and recovered nicely.
A couple comments:
Billy – nice job on the square. You started by saying “the first move is..” and then caught yourself and realized you can make the first move anything you want – and then you did. You can have a lot of fun with squares when you take advantage of the freedom it allows.
If there was nay general constructive comment I could make is the teaching still needs improvement. Much of the teaching is still just reading the figures off the card. In the calling parties and at the Childgrove dances you can get away from this – but it makes you seem a bit removed from the dancers. One reason you can do this is that most of the dances are very well written with familiar moves. You need to challenge yourselves to teach in a more instructional and relaxed manner. Find a good dance or 2 that has some figures that need to be taught to even the best dancers. The Accordion that Billy called has a bit of that.
I am sure that you have heard callers make special note of who you should look for or where you should be. A dance early in the evening had a Calif twirl to a circle with new neighbors, but away from your partner. No mention was made that it was with a shadow. Work on being more conversational and friendly toward the dancers during the teaching.
I recommend you try to find calling opportunities with less experienced dancers. Another possibility is the call squares – they require more detailed teaching. I know you are getting tired of hearing that – but it is great experience.
And listen to other callers teach. We bring in some top callers here – they are fun to dance to – but listen to the little details that set them apart from the others.
Once again – nice job!
Mac
A couple comments:
Billy – nice job on the square. You started by saying “the first move is..” and then caught yourself and realized you can make the first move anything you want – and then you did. You can have a lot of fun with squares when you take advantage of the freedom it allows.
If there was nay general constructive comment I could make is the teaching still needs improvement. Much of the teaching is still just reading the figures off the card. In the calling parties and at the Childgrove dances you can get away from this – but it makes you seem a bit removed from the dancers. One reason you can do this is that most of the dances are very well written with familiar moves. You need to challenge yourselves to teach in a more instructional and relaxed manner. Find a good dance or 2 that has some figures that need to be taught to even the best dancers. The Accordion that Billy called has a bit of that.
I am sure that you have heard callers make special note of who you should look for or where you should be. A dance early in the evening had a Calif twirl to a circle with new neighbors, but away from your partner. No mention was made that it was with a shadow. Work on being more conversational and friendly toward the dancers during the teaching.
I recommend you try to find calling opportunities with less experienced dancers. Another possibility is the call squares – they require more detailed teaching. I know you are getting tired of hearing that – but it is great experience.
And listen to other callers teach. We bring in some top callers here – they are fun to dance to – but listen to the little details that set them apart from the others.
Once again – nice job!
Mac
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