I'm back from the Cumberland Dance Week, tired but happy. Fabulous musicians, wonderful dancers, and a great intergenerational community spirit make this a very special week. My buddy (and Eric's) Ben Schreiber absolutely outdid himself - Beau of the Ball, I'd say. Spectacular fiddling.
Eric and Bob and I all called dances at the Late Night After Dance, and I will say this: it sure is easy to call dances to really good dancers. I'm beginning to realize that the truly excellent callers are the ones who can call for beginners and children. With this crowd I had the feeling I could have simply read them the card and they could have done the dance. These friendly folks also helped remind me to tell them the basic things I would forget (hands four, ones cross over, things like that)... What a treat!
I called Kay's debut dance, Delphiniums and Daisies, and The Nice Combination, a Gene Hubert lovely. Very simple dances. I wrote out the calls on my specially prepared scratch paper and asked Eric and another experienced caller about a call I wasn't sure about. It ended up as "Face down the hall, go four in line," and the suggestions were "Four across, go down the hall," and "Walk down the hall in a line of four". All would have worked well, but I was worried about getting people going in the right direction after a Swing, so settled on "Face down...etc".
Bob invented a terrific new move for his dance "Gypsy Camp", called (gosh, can you imagine?), "the Flirt and Twirl". It's a gypsy contra-corners thing - not a beginner move, but the momentum is perfect, and it feels really good to do.
So. The time has come for us to find a time to get together. I can do any night but Sundays and Mondays, and I'm kind of thinking Saturdays might be good to aim for, or Sundays some time before the contra dance. What's good for you?
There's a Flash Dance at the Botanical Gardens on August 12. Maybe we could do a group calling thing or something.
M
E
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4 comments:
Good idea about getting together. I can do Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays most weeks, and Sundays before contra would be ideal.
Have to tell ya, though, the thought of calling another dance puts my stomach in a knot. You all will have to remind me a few times that I didn't actually die the first time I tried it, and the dancers did not stop dancing in the middle of things....
You didn't die, and the dancers kept dancing, and Bob kept saying to anyone who would listen that you're a natural.
Now that I'm a (cough) old hand, having called three (3) dances, I will say that the second was easier on the nerves and the third the easiest so far.
One disaster, though, and I'm reserving a room in my shell again.
What's your next dance?
M
E
Well. Next dance? Hmmm.... Let me look at that set of dances we printed off, and see what sounds good. Trouble is, I don't know many contras, having only been contra dancing since January, y'know. That's only seven (7) months.
Maybe we can talk about it on Sunday night. If I do call another one, Mac had better not make me the last caller of the night again or I'm gonna kill him.
Oh, hey--I just realized that the file with the contra dances was on the old computer's desktop and is now missing in action. Can you email it to me again, pretty please?
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