Wade's Sugar Hill calling

I only called Saturday night at Sugar Hill. I could have signed up to call when I arrived Friday, but I was more concerned with setting up my tent and eating, and by the time that was done it was dance time and who knows where the sign-up sheet was anyway. 

While Martha's post mentioned that the other Hatchling callers had early calling times as a result of early lottery drawings, I think my draw was before Bob and Martha. I chose to call at 2:00 AM because I wanted the option of calling something uneven and the lines would be shorter then. As it turned out, another complication came from picking that slot: late night band change! It was actually around 2:30 AM by the time I got to call, and the band was changing, so my concern was that if it appeared to be taking too long to start the dance we'd start losing dancers. So I started yammering to the dancers to get a partner and line up well before the band was ready. I did that for a couple minutes, people lined up, and I started teaching. I called "Don't Be Scared of Your Shadow" and the un-named medley opener I stole from Kathy Anderson. The thought had flitted into my mind during the second dance that I could try changing the dance to the second part of Kathy's medley (which I've never done before), but I'd really let it run too long to try that. Both dances went very well, it seemed.

Despite the late hour, I did not call Roger Diggle's "Crazy Eights", which is proper and uneven (but highly cool). Two callers later Michael Fuerst got up to call and said "We haven't done a proper dance all weekend, so now we're going to do one!" Made me wish that I HAD called "Crazy Eights", but Michael's dances were fun too.

Wade

Calling Party tonight, Wednesday August 27

Much to do! Much to do!

This was another of those evenings with twenty people in attendance. Even though only about ten to twelve people can dance at a time in our family room, no one really seemed to mind sitting out, since there was a small feast in the kitchen and lots of conversation to be had.

We ran the dances a little short tonight so that we could fit in more callers (isn't this wonderful?). The evening was a nice mix of dances we've done before and new ones that needed some attention.

I should mention at some point something about the music at the Calling Parties. I've collected a bunch of stuff over the years, so there's always a bin or two of CDs to go through to pick something to play. But Wade often brings wonderful recordings of our local old-time groups, and Billy's been making special mixes just for the purpose, and other people occasionally bring things as well. If we know what band we're going to be calling to soon we try to have something from them, just to get acclimated to the sound.

M
E

Sugar Hill 2008

This was the best Sugar Hill since the old days. The music and the dancing was as hot as the traditionally hot August weather. There were so many good bands - and so many young people in so many good bands - that I became quite sure that the future of contradancing in the Midwest is finally safe.

Sugar Hill 2008 photo
by Dan Klarmann

There were about ten of the Hatchlings there, and four of us (Bob, Karen, Wade and I) called, collectively, 14 dances, of which exactly 14 were danced beautifully. We had gone in with the idea that we would kind of hang back and let the experienced callers have prime time, but it didn't completely work out that way. On Friday, we did call late, after 2:00am, but Saturday's calling is by lottery - and Karen was picked FIRST, Bob was picked about fourth, and I was about sixth. So what the heck. The band lottery is held before the caller lottery, so we were able to choose which bands we wanted to call to. Karen chose one of the coveted PigTown Alley spots (at midnight), Bob picked one of the U4 spots (at 10:00pm), and amazingly, the opening 8:00 spot was still open, so I picked that one. A respected authority had told me I should try to call first to give me a splash in the deep end, and Bob had wanted to call early, too, so we could pull out some of our easier dances.

My personal calling experience was mixed. The good news first - because I opened on Saturday night, I got to say "It's Saturday Night at Sugar Hill!" to a cheering happy crowd. And the band was the Corn Stalkers, Matt Turino and Ben Smith, the two amazing young fiddlers from Champaign-Urbana who played at Childgrove a couple of weeks ago. With Matt and Ben playing great dance music, I had the pleasure of calling, as a no-walkthrough dance, Gene Hubert's The Nice Combination, considered by some people to be the best easy dance ever written and Bob called Roll in the Hey, possibly the most popular easy(ish) dance ever written. The night was off to a great start.

(Hmmmm...Think I'll add the bad news in the comments. Maybe some of you won't read it.)

One of the things I learned for certain this weekend, is that callers are by and large invisible when they do an okay job. So I was really lucky to be first up and get to say "It's Saturday Night" and do a no-walkthrough dance, because people remembered me. Why did I need to be remembered? Because I did something so embarrassing on Friday night that I was sure my calling goose was cooked forever. (Cary Ravitz, whose dance I had muffed, kept reminding me the next day, while I was still suffering from the shame of it all, that "your first impression stays with people forever". Thanks a lot, Cary! )

So our eight o'clock dances went well. Our ten o'clock dances went well. (It was U4 playing, remember...) And though I'll leave their stories for them to tell, Karen's 12:00am dances went well, and Wade's 2:00am dances went well. The Hatchlings had a great Sugar Hill outing! Wahoo!

Oodles of kudos to you, Martha!

Thanks so much for your wonderful infusion of energy into our dance community, Martha! It is a deligthful joy to read your posts of every sort! It's great to have so many on board, eager to learn, share, expand they way they participate in the organization of the contra and English country dance groups.

I appreciate your invite to the blog and look forward to being a more active participant as time allows.

Eileen

Calling Party Wednesday August 20

Much to prepare for! There's a Flash Dance we've been asked to call for at the Pool Pavilion in Tower Grove Park on Saturday September 6 in ADDITION to the Hatchling Dance at the Monday Club that night! The Tower Grove Park dance is from 6-7pm and the Hatchling Dance is from 7:30-10:30pm. We'll need to plan carefully so people don't have to drive too fast from one to the other!

And, on Sat/Sun September 27 and 28, we have been asked to call at the Grand Center Opening and Park Palooza. To get the times and dates straight, I'm recommending the Flash Dance schedule page. Be sure to follow some of the links. There's some cool stuff going on those days!

Just so you know - there were at least 20 people at this Calling Party. Even though there's really only room for 10 to dance at a time, I think we had 12-14 dancing for a while, and it didn't really feel like anyone had to sit out who didn't want to. Maybe it was the lure of the peach cobbler.

M
E

English!

Bless Missy for giving us a chance to call some English Dances at a Dance Discovery rehearsal on Tuesday. I called Elverton Grove and Key to the Cellar, and Bob called Mage on a Cree. Missy called several dances (really well, too), let's see...Fenterlarick, and Fandango, and Lillibulero and another one or two) Mark, Missy's husband, called Winter Solstice, which contains a grand square done with an extra couple in the middle. The grand square is great fun, but the surprisingly lovely move is a series of curlicue promenades cascading around the set.

Goodness, I love dancing English, particularly when there's enough room. We had twelve people in a large church basement, so we could really walk way out to make those grand moves that so many English dances have.

Then last night, Wednesday, we were practicing at the Calling Party some of the dances we'll call at the Hatchling dance on September 6, and Bob tried out some of the "contrafied" versions of English dances. There were enough of us who have done the English versions now that we wanted to dance them, too. Bless me if these heavy-duty contradancers didn't decide they liked the English versions better. Forgive me if I smile...

M
E

Hatchlings in the Garden

Interesting calling experience yesterday.

Several of us called dances yesterday at the Flash Dance at the Missouri Botanical Garden under somewhat less than ideal circumstances - our sound systems were not really happy working under battery power, and we had many brand new dancers, not exactly the situation we had imagined. But the callers, notably Karen, David and Billy, did well, everything considered, and we eventually figured out a method that might work well in the future if we found ourselves in a similar situation - antiphonal calling, with one caller stationed in the middle of the line, one at the head, and one at the bottom. So long as we all knew, or had the cards for, the same dance, it would work fine!

Fabulous Music, Spectacular Calling

I don't usually report on our fine St. Louis callers, but last night, Deborah Hyland called one dance that will live in my memory as one of my very favorites. Fueled by the fabulous music making of Matt Turino and Ben Smith, who played an unexpectedly delicate, cool, smooth tune for the last dance of the evening, Deborah made her voice match that incredible music - seductive and liquid, softly crooning the calls, but when we needed it, quietly crisp and perfectly timed.

Now THAT's what I'm after - calling that matches the music and helps us do the same with our dancing. In case I hadn't mentioned it.

September Hatchling Dance - Early Planning Phase

Before I lose the piece of paper I wrote the names on, here is the list of people who would like to call at the Season Opening First Saturday Hatchling Dance:

Bill C
Bob G
Chrystal G
Dale W
David K
Joe F
Karen J
Kay T
Martha E

If there is anyone who wasn't at the Calling Party on Wednesday who would like to call, email me at meedwards@westendweb.com.

I seem to have collected a ton of easy dances, so I'd be happy to open and/or close the dance. I would also like to call an English dance, or a Sicilian Circle dance like Walpole Cottage. Oh, I forgot, I'll be playing, so I should just call one -- I'd rather do an English one.

Someone should think about going first and being the first welcomer and teacher-of-any-new-people. There is no workshop. Do we want to try the Each One Teach One method? That's where you (and perhaps a partner) walk up to a newcomer or two and ask if they'd like to be shown any of the moves. You walk through a circle, star, dosido (back to back), swing (two-hand first, then ballroom), set-and-turn-single (balance, balance, gypsy with yourself), pass through. Other people are doing the same thing with other newcomers. Or we could make the first (or second) dance a circle dance, and use it to teach newcomers on the spot without them knowing that's what we're doing.

Let me know what dance(s) you'd most like to call. If we all choose early enough, we can see what might be missing, or what might be too similar to other things, etc.

Actually, while we're at it, it's not too early to think of the whole season - between now and, let's say, January 3! That would be six dances. Even though there aren't enough spots for everyone to call two dances at each dance, if we all thought about what dances we might like to do if we called a whole evening, we could each prepare 12 dances, call between 6 and 12 of them over the course of the next six months, and have an entire evening ready if someone were to ask!

M
E

Calling Party on Wednesday August 6

Great party last night! Wow. We have three (3!) choreographers in our midst - two of them brought dances to try out, and one of them wrote a dance just sitting there while we snacked and dished.

Through the amazing process of Self Selection, we ended up with Nearly Perfect gender balance right from the start - not that it particularly matters, but it makes teaching a difficult dance easier when you have an obvious marker. On the other hand, when my partner and I waited out at the bottom wrong once, I simply swung the person who came at me, who happened also to be a lady, and my partner, for the first time that I can remember, without skipping a beat, simply swung the gentlemen who came at him! We continued in crossed-over genders for a while, then switched back smoothly during a swing. Even though that's the nicest thing to do in a situation like that, I've never before danced with a group of people who managed it. Most people act all worried and whiney until everyone rattles and bumps their way back into their properly appointed girl/boy places. Go Hatchlings!

To save time at Calling Parties, I like to try out several easy dances at once as no-walkthrough dances. The ones I picked worked great except for one where the "actives" swing in the middle at the end. At that point, everyone had been up and down the line enough to have become thoroughly unaware of whether they were ones or twos - a simple "the couple below swing in the middle" would have solved it, and that's what's on my card now.

Speaking of cards, did I tell you about my new toys? I switched from my book of 8.5x11 pages (folded) to the more traditional 4x6 cards, found a GREAT set of nesting clear plastic card holders and some cute little binders for cards at some OfficeMax/Depot/Staples place on the way to Cumberland, along with an adorable "mobile printer" that now sits on my desk an arm's length away so I don't have to walk ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ROOM (about 6 feet) to the big All-in-One printer over there. I've posted the templates I use for the cards (and the ones I used for the 8.5X11 sheets of paper). The page is linked from the right-hand column --> under Card and Dance Planning Templates.

Remember that there are multiple calling opportunities coming up: email Greg if you want to call at the Flash Dance this Sunday at the Garden, contact any of the Childgrove callers if you want to call a dance or two at a regular dance, and don't forget the First Saturday Hatchling Dance coming up in September. Already we have nine callers signed up for that one! We have a standing invitation to call at Cape Girardeau, and Larry Boyer often welcomes us to call at the Youth Contras too. And, as if that were not already riches enough (now how much would you pay?) there is another Flash Dance we can call at before the Hatchling Dance on September 6, and we have been asked to call at the Grand Center and Arch celebrations the weekend of September 27-28.

Any of us who are learning to call English too should contact Missy to call a dance at the Dance Discovery Open Calling night August 12. Even if you don't plan to call, I hope you'll let her know how much we appreciate the opportunity. If you're a member of Dance Discovery, and haven't been for a while, this would be a good one to attend! If you think you might enjoy dancing English-y dances as part of a performance dance troupe, talk to Kay or Chrystal or Missy about it - they can fill you in.

M
E

Cumberland Dance Week

What a Week!

I'm back from the Cumberland Dance Week, tired but happy. The week was just brimming with good folks, fine musicians, experienced dancers, and wonderful callers. On the calling staff we had Bill Litchman, Bob Dahlsemer, Chris Bischoff, Diane Silver, Susan Taylor, and Bob Tomlinson - and among the attendees were other good callers, Michael Barraclough, for example, and Kappy Laning, and our very own Eric Schreiber. Bob and I called three dances each during the late-night dances, and three of his and two of mine went quite well!

The big surprise was Bill Litchman. I don't believe he was really mentioned as a caller in the advance materials, or else I missed it. He was listed as a clarinet player. Now, I haven't always had great experiences with clarinets -- violin and clarinet is a tough combination, sonically, and I'd had a kind of bad experience with a clarinet-playing sourpuss when I was younger, so I was a little wary of Bill at first, but by the end of the week, he was one of my very favoritest people, uh-huh.

Bill has a dry, subtle wit, and he chuckles a lot and laughs easily, so he was an absolute dream as a band partner. When he said things, they were always so...wise and funny and smart. Little did I know in the beginning that he was in the callers' Pantheon, maybe even the Zeus of callers. So, while I had to miss the Callers' Workshop with the redoubtable Bob Dahlsemer, I was getting my very own tailor-made workshop with my stand partner, Zeus. ("Bill Litchman?" folks would tell me. Didn't you know? "He's the very best of the best.")

I gave him the short version of my adventures in English Country Dancing (we were playing the ECD class at the moment) about how frustrating it was to hear the calls only after the figure had already started, how it stopped my momentum and created a kind of chaos when other dancers were as clueless as I was as to what came next. "Oh, cadence calling," he said. "What?" I said. "Cadence calling. Like singing squares. You call the figure as it's being done. Of course, that only works when everyone already knows what to do, but sometimes, the calls are just part of the current action." At that moment, I felt two tectonic plates shift. A bit more description of the situation led him to agree that calling an English Dance to a group with some new people was not the time to be doing it, or else (get this) the dance was too difficult for the group. That is, if the dance were easy enough (very easy indeed, in my case) the dancers would remember the dance, so the calls being synchronous with the figures wouldn't cause a problem. See what I mean about the wisdom? I was going around "knowing" that Late Calls were simply Not Done, when, as so often happens, the truth is a lot more subtle than what I "know".

From Bill and from a delightful Englishman named Michael Barraclough, I enlarged my understanding of what the (British) English call ECD - it's a lot like the First Saturday Hatchling Dances we are planning! That is, there's really no special division of dances between "contra" and "English". It's all "Country Dancing". Circles, squares, longways, triplets - almost any patterned dance would be acceptable. American Contras are a special subset, as are Kentucky Running Sets (the ones brought back to England by Cecil Sharp). I forgot to ask about the vocabulary - whether or not everyone understands "Back to Back" to be the same as "Dosido"? Or "pull by right, pull by left" to be the same as "rights and lefts"? but my guess is that everyone is so bilingual in this regard that they wouldn't particularly notice, just as we might not notice if a caller called us "ladies" instead of "women" or vice versa.

The English apparently also have E-Ceilidhs, or, translated from Gaelic, "English Parties", which I understand to be filled with traditional English dances (including waltzes, schottisches and polkas) danced to somewhat traditional tunes, albeit with a Rock-and-Roll influence and played on modern electronic instruments, and "Barn Dances", which are like our wedding dances, or one-night-stand dances with easy dances for mostly non-dancers.

Alas, the one English dance I called at Cumberland, "Knives and Forks", did not go well. Nothing broke down, mind you, I just managed to suck the life out of the evening, even after my brilliantly stupid joke ("We would have had a Spoon, too, but the Dish ran away with the Spoon."). It was one of those dances in three, which for some strange reason I find difficult to call. I got just a tiny bit lost and wasn't sure I was in the right place, so my calls lacked a certain... confidence. Once again, I failed to prove that ECD is not slow and boring. Luckily, Susan Taylor is such a lively and non-boring English caller that she set the whole camp straight on THAT for an entire week, and my misadventure did not have any lasting effect.

The two contras I called, "Boomerang" and "Dancing Sailors" went very well, thank you very much, so the bruises to my personal reputation were pretty much healed by the end of the week, but I'm kind of determined to figure out a way to call "Knives and Forks" well.

M
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