I, myself, practiced on the back patio, listening to music through ear buds so I wouldn't notice that the neighbors could probably hear me. I've done it a bit on my walks in the morning, too, but there I'm a little more afraid they'll call the men in the white coats to take me away.
I just read this, in the trad-dance-callers list (a Yahoo group Deborah told me about - highly recommend signing up.) "Jim" is a new caller, whose first dance was for beginners - talk about starting at the top!
I think it helped a lot that I started practicing in May in the truck on the way to and from work and was able to teach every dance and call the entire evening to my wife as we drove out to Massachusetts and back on vacation the week before the gig.
Jim
But seriously - where can we practice?
M
E
3 comments:
I almost always practice in my family room at first, actually dancing the parts as I call, for quite a while until it feels natural. Once I get it down pretty well, I move into the other room and just let the music play while I'm doing something else, like making dinner (usually). After a while I can call it while I'm chopping vegetables or whatever.
The other place I practice my calls, sadly, is when I'm supposed to be sleeping. I did have something really cool happen the other early morning, though: suddenly I was looking down on dancers as though from the ceiling (out-of-body experience, anyone?) and seeing them move through the dance. Now, that was weird, though useful. Haven't tried it since; it was a little spooky....
I just realized that the "where to practice" problem is only a problem for people whose houses have other people wandering around in them.
I don't know why it would be a problem for me to practice with Bob, my mother and our caretaker around, but somehow, I just feel funny saying "First man, second woman, cast around" out loud around them. Cast around for what?
Once I realized that I could shut out annoying worries about making a fool of myself calling out loud in public by wearing ear buds, I've been able to use my morning walk to practice. Since I like pretty fast music to walk to, I really have to know the calls cold (which I don't). And it's fairly amusing to imagine English Country Dance moves done to hot contra music...
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