More of my Random Thoughts--oh yeah on Calling!

The Queen's Jig (For Reference)
A1 1st corners side, set and turn single
A2 2nd corners repeat A1
B1 1st corners change places (1-2),2nd corners change places (3-4),Partners face, balance back and change places (5-8)
B2 Right hands-across (1-6),Turn single and face the next couple (7-8)
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So, I did call 2 dances at ECD on Friday's as alluded to in Martha's blog from last Tuesday. Slightly disastrous--I must say I did not feel overly confident of my abilities after the evening's event. First, I called the "Queens Jig" which I practiced and practiced on my own and of course practiced on everyone at the calling meeting. I actually think that one went ok in the fact that it didn't fall apart. I was concerned ahead of time about the fact that the instructions have 6 bars to turn the RH star(which usually only takes 4) before the the turn single. I was afraid that people would over rotate the star because of the extra time. So, I asked for advice from Peter. He told me that because of the balance and the loop into the star that it kind smooths things out. It didnt work out for me. Balance, loop--not having any of it! People ended that star in 4 bars and took the next 3ish to do the turn single and then just stared at the next couple until it was time to start again. Some people did use the extra time to make an extra swoopy turn single. Why waste good music?

NOW--"Chrystal Saylor" (It really needs a new name. It sounds pretentious when I teach a dance with my own name in it.) Here is where I had the new and wonderful sensation of feeling TRAPPED behind the mic. So many things--I dont know where to begin. First of all, why did I feel trapped. I watched people go careeening into each other(problem w/dance construction--original instructions--whew--not my rewrite) and I watched the dance fall apart in the middle. I was there behind the mic and could do nothing to fix it except keep calling thru the end and hope everything would right itself. We had a couple of new people who barely knew the top of the set from the bottom of the set. They had the unfortunate luck of #1-dancing together & #2 starting as inactives. When they got to the top of the set they couldnt remember what to do and as newbies they couldnt process the calls fast enough to get where they needed to be when they needed to be there. This dance has no recovery time. If you are in the wrong spot at the end of a figure. TOO BAD you're pretty much stuck. My best friend(who has only come to ECD maybe 2 other times before she moved to CA) is visiting from L.A. and she told me that when she and her partner(another newbie) got to the top they had no idea what was going on. I told told her--That's why I was up there calling...so you would know what to do. She just shrugged and said they never did figure it out. I could tell definitely tell when the more expierenced people were active--they made it look easy. Except for that last bit where people keep running into each other--must fix that.

The best thing of the evening though...I successfully paid attention to when to end the dance. I remembered NOT to leave the top couple stranded out. I felt we stopped in a good timely manner--not too short, not too long. Maybe--just maybe---I'm getting the hang of this calling thing.