Weekend in the Mini-Apple

Well, Mac was right. We really should get Susan Kevra down here to call.

I played with Stringdancer in St. Paul, MN, last weekend, with Susan calling. She called a contra on Friday, two English workshops and an English dance on Saturday and a mixed contra/English dance on Sunday.

Every dance had short, clear instructions, followed by a second walkthrough at tempo. She deedles, she sings, she chants, calling so rhythmically during that second walkthrough, that people got, not just the "with whom" and "where" but the "how" and the "how fast" in under five minutes every time.

Susan's contra calling is wonderful, but it was her English calling that really wowed me, now that I have suffered personally from its difficulties. She started each English dance by having the music played through, just once (it takes 30 seconds, on average). She knew exactly how each dance fit with the music, and would sort of sing the bits of the music in between the calls. The resulting precision in the dancing was particularly beautiful when seen from the extremely high stage in the hall...

Be still, my heart.

I did ask her just one pointer - about the cross hey in "Portland." She said the usual difficulty people have is in believing the mixed-gender arrangement and the fact that the hey is done on the side of the set. So I've been practicing (in my head) having the first couple cross down between the second and third couple and just stand between the two people on the other side, enjoying the attention of two members of the opposite sex, and orienting themselves up and down that line. Then they go back, and (still in my head), execute a perfect cross to a hey.