Kiran's Visit

Some of you probably know of Kiran Wagle, the io.com~entropy guy who put together the very first comprehensive contra dance site in about 1995. Even though he pretty much abandoned it years ago, it contains so much good information that contradance web sites all over the Internet still connect to it.

He's visiting, planning to go to "Body Worlds" this afternoon, and currently sleeping downstairs.

Kiran is a professional gadfly. He makes it his business to understand how contradance works, how calling works, and then lets you know if you managed to understand it, too. My kind of guy.

He used to critique callers, and they wouldn't listen because he wasn't a caller himself. So, naturally, to help him get his points across, he learned to call. Alas, I haven't actually danced to Kiran's calling, so I can't tell you if he follows his own advice, but let me tell you, the lad is a walking encyclopedia on the subject, relentlessly articulate, and probably right.

We talked until 2:30am last night, and I found a couple of notes from him in my email this morning. Here's one of the links he sent, which will give you a nice bit of fresh cold water for your face: First-time Caller Notes.

Kiran worked with Larry Jennings before Larry died, helping him put together the second "Zesty Contras" book, which is just chock-full of information on every aspect of contradancing. It's usually on my coffee table during the Calling Parties.

If I can convince him to stick around after he goes to "Body Worlds" this afternoon I'm going to do some serious cross-examination.