Two, TWO calling parties this week!

For your dancing and calling pleasure we are holding a special Calling Party on Tuesday this week as well as our regular Wednesday Calling Party. On Tuesday, we'll concentrate on English, and rumor has it that we are going to attempt John Tallis' Canon, in which second corners dance the exact same dance as first corners, but four counts later. I, for one, can hardly wait.

Wednesday, we'll move forward on deciding what we're going to do for the "Hatchling" dance on April 6. (Hatchlings - because we're an incubator for new callers.) We should also discuss a bit what we'd like to do for the beginner workshop beforehand as well. I've put together a document that summarizes some of the wisdom we gained from the Childgrove Discussions posting on Beginner workshops as well as some of the ideas from the books and web sites we read. Click here for the Beginner Workshops document. It's a Word doc.

Beginner's lesson

Thought I'd see if we could move this discussion to this forum. It seems more appropriate.

The suggested lesson dance:

A1 long lines forward & back (8)circle left (8)
A2 star left (8) star right (8)
B1 partner allemade right (8) neighbor allemande left (8)
B2 neighbor do si do (8)>Partner pass through up & down the set

might make some interesting discussion:

If this were a real dance - I can see several things that would keep me from calling it. Maybe the same criteria should apply to the lesson. Actually - if you are going to t teach a dance - I'd teach the forst one on the program.

Here are a couple things that stick out for me right away:
B1 - paartner allemand right across the set - this requires a lot of space - the same as trying to put the entire set in one long wavy line. It works in the Virginia reel - but the set usually have much more space than during a contra.
B1->B2 Allemand left to a do-si-do is awkward. Alle Right works much better - try it.
B2 - Do-Si-Do and pass thru - is really do-si-dp 1 1/2
B2->A1 The dance ends with you walking directly toward your new neighbor. This works well to go to a lot of figures - long lines is not one of them - I have never tried that - but it just sounds awkward.

Comments

Mac

Calling Party this Wednesday February 20

Martha's house.

7:00pm.

Bring a dance to call or your dancing feet.

Music is available, or bring your own. If you are calling an English Country Dance, let me know which one so I can locate the music before the Party.

We'll talk about who wants to call at Childgrove during March and April - and who wants to call what at our "Hatchling" Dance on April 6. There are also calling opportunities for folks who would like to learn to call for community and family-type dances (Elsah, Cape Girardeau, St Louis Youth Contra etc.).

Optionally, bring a snack or something to drink to share if you want to.

M
E

First stab at an evening's program

After many hours of work at indexing dance cards, I have finally attempted to create a list of dances that could be used as the program for an evening of contra dancing. The dances I've picked from came from many sources: I've transcribed all of the dances from the various syllabi on dance calling we've used (Mac's handout, Cary Ravitz, Seth Tepfer . . . were there others?), I got a bunch of dances from Ralph Page's "Northern Junket" zine, and I've cribbed some dances from Ted Steele's and Kathy Anderson's calling, too. And various other web sites (FYI Cary Ravitz's site has a great index of web links to the dances of other callers). In all, I have cards for over 60 dances that could potentially be used at a Childgrove dance (and probably 20 dances that maybe wouldn't go over so well). Yes, I have too much time on my hands, and I know that 60 dances is just the beginning of a collecting sickness that will likely plague me for years.

My goal with this program list was to make an evening of dances that was very accessible for the first half of the evening, with the second half being a bit more challenging, with energy building as the evening progresses. I've tried to blend in a variety of moves over the evening so that each dance is noticeably different . . . not so sure how well I accomplished that objective. In fact, I don't think that I have either a gypsy or a full hey in the entire program. I've deliberately avoided down the hall 4 in line because I don't think that move works too well at the Monday Club (its best used sparingly there, IMHO). Also, I've tried to include dances I've already called at real dances. I think this would be a fun evening of dances, but it ain't a flirty evening of dances, particularly. It might also be a tad too basic.

OK, here goes. Your comments, critiques, and feedback are welcomed, appreciated, and anticipated. 

 # Title Author Distinctive figure

1 Swing Fever Tony Parkes NghbSwng /GntsAlmdL/PrtSwng

2 Small Potatoes Jim Kitch LdsChn/DSD/PrtSwng

3 Duck Soup David Kirchner CrcR/ROMrBalances

4 Ben's Brilliance Tony Parkes NghbProm around Ring

5 Comfort Delux Rich Mohr CrcL switch to CrcR progression

6 Fractal Fling Cary Ravitz StarPromL /BtflyWhrl/ StarPromR

Break

7   Dancing With Amy Bill Olsen RghtDiag Ladies Chn / StarLeft

8  The Women's Wall Al Olsen Twist on contra corners 

. . . this is Face the Creek?

9  Don't Be Scared Bob Isaacs Balance Line, twirl to swing partner

    of Your Shadow

10 Swim,Dance Poop Robert Cromartie 

ShrtWvy Ln Bal pass thru return

11 Butter Gene Hubert Slide left, CrcL, Swng

12 Southern   Steve Zakon Nice series of allemandes

       Swing

Oppoturnity for New Callers at NEMOFOTMAD

I got in touch with Sarah McComber-House, who coordinates the contra dances for Northeast Missouri Friends Of Traditional Music and Dance. N.E.MO.F.O.T.M.A.D aka NEMOFOTMAD

She says that the group would be most happy to have new callers.

Just contact Sarah if you are interested.

Sarah McUmber-house
mcuhouse@rallstech.com
573-985-4141 (office phone with answering machine)

Here is the website - http://www.angelfire.com/mo/sassafrassgrove/BHP/NEMOFOTMADindex.html

SCHEDULE for SPRING 2008:
March 14th - caller: Eric Schreiber
April 11th - caller: Jim Thaxter - Jim has said that he is quite happy to help practice callers.
May 9th - caller: Deborah Hyland