Calling Party Wednesday October 1

Time marches on...October already!

Calling party, my house, 7:00pm. Directions here.

The First Saturday Hatchling Dance is this Saturday - we'll focus on the dances we're doing then. I'll print out all the dances you have told me you'd like to do, and we can organize them into a program.

M
E

Dancing down south

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to let you know when the Jovial Beggars were having their next dances.

October 25th, in Salem. Starting at 6:30, dance until 9:45. $1 per person. (if anyone would like to call a dance or two just let us know.)

November 22nd is a ball, starting at 6:30, and dance until who knows when. I'm not sure where yet, but probably Rolla. $5 per person.

If you are interested in either of these, please email for more information and directions. jovialbeggars@gmail.com

I hope to see some of you there.
~Kimberly

And now, congratulations to Billy!

Today it's Billy's turn in the limelight! It turns out that he called nearly all of the Youth Contra last Friday. That, and organizing and playing the music and writing dances and...and...everything, has earned him his megaphone and official graduation from fledgling to (trumpets, please!) CALLER !!

M
E

Congratulations to Kay!

"What does Kay have," you ask yourself, "that I don't have, other than good looks, loads of talent, and the love of all humankind?" Well, guess what, honeypies, she also has now earned her SECOND PhD, and HER WINGS!

Yessir, in just three days, Kay passed her defense AND called many many dances at the ECD dance on Monday night. Note gold wings and the Doctor Doctor on her new button. That little turtle is now a Certified Smart Little Fledgling. Won't his mommy be surprised!

M
E

The Youth Contra

Martha asked if we had any stories about the dance last Friday night. So I figured I'd write a bit.

I thought Billy did a great job running the dance. I was sorry he didn't dance more often. I know how it is to host dances, making sure everyone's happy, answering all questions, and being the main caller, but then to be playing the music, too? Wow. Also the dances he choreographed were great. Especially one, I forget the name, but I loved it.

I called two English dances. The Physical Snob and Take a Dance. They all really seemed to like Physical Snob, but then most people usually do. I thought they did quite well at both of them.

There was one thing about the youth dance that I noticed, and I've noticed this at my own dances in Salem. The young people come with friends, but then they kind-of stay in their circles of acquaintances, and don't branch out much. I'm not sure how really to fix it, except maybe telling people to ask someone they've never met before to dance, or do a mixer, and have them dance with the person they end up with. Any suggestions? I've seen this doesn't really happen in the older group.

Any way, I had a great time at the youth contra Friday, then again tonight at the contra dance. I hope to do it again.

Good Night everyone.
~Kimberly

Next Weekend September 27-28

Here are the times and places we have been asked to call this weekend, and the names of people who have indicated they would be there (if you told me you would be there and I forgot to put you here, let me know, and please come anyway!):

Saturday September 27, 10-11am at the Arch
Martha, Bob, Dale, Wade, David

Saturday September 27, 1-2pm at Grand Center
Karen, Bob, Dale, Wade, Martha, David

Sunday September 28, 1-2pm at the Arch
Karen, Bob, Dale, Wade, David


Please let me know if you can be there ready to help out!

M
E

Possible Calling Opportunity

I'M JUST PUTTING OUT FEELERS TO SEE IF THE HATCHLINGS ARE INTERESTED...

November 8th. 8-10pm

I was approached by a friend who wanted me to call a square dance for a whole group of beginners. LOL! (I cant call squares!) After telling her I didnt know how to call a square to save my life, she said they would be interested in doing any type of "Barn Dance" because she knew I called. I told her I didnt think I would be able to call an entire evening by myself--especially to beginners--and I dont have music. So she wondered if I knew anybody...I know a lot of somebody's and thus the opportunity has come up if we would like to call collectively.

This is a fun event that's done every fall for a bible study group I was a part of. So here's the plug...

Who? About 100 young adults. Ages 20-35ish
Where? Rockin' J Ranch Eureka, MO (IN THE BARN!)
When? Nov. 8th Calling between 8-10pm.
What? Various "Barn" Dances--SIMPLE STUFF(They only do this once a year)--squares, contras, circles, Virginia Reel.

What's the Kicker? They dont have a band or sound system. In the past they have danced to recorded music. I have a few connections for a sound system, but MUSIC? I dont know a band and I dont own any CD's that are dance-able. I dont even know how much a band costs to hire.

Give me some feedback. If it's a NO-GO they totally understand. They are currently requesting info from other callers in and around the STL area. They thought they would check with us as well.

Calling Party September 17, 2008

Good party! Lots of folks, and Billy brought a good new dance. Kay got us through Haymakers, and I did call Elizabeth (see below for pre-party thoughts). It went okay, though it pointed up how much more space we need to dance English. I won't remember everyone who called, so correct me if I leave you out, but here's at least part of the list: Karen, Bob, Wade, Billy, Kay, Martha, Chrystal...

Bob and Karen will be calling with Eric this Sunday. And we're getting ready for Dancing in the Streets at Grand Center and for Park Palooza at the Arch next weekend. Saturday 10:00 at the Arch, and 1:00 at Grand Center, and Sunday 1:00 at the Arch. See the Childgrove Flash Dance page for time and place.

Here were my pre-party thoughts:
"I'm so excited. After puzzling through Colin Hume's dance "Elizabeth" for a few weeks now, I got to dance it last Friday at ECD when Missy called it. Many lights went on, and I got to puzzling it out again. When I thought I had it, I sent it to several Hatchlings who I knew were interested in, either ECD or arcane minutiae (you know which you are). At the last moment, I included Colin on the distribution list, and, bless his English heart, he answered back and cleared it all up. It would have helped if I had had his directions to begin with, but never mind that...

Anyway, I've recorded a practice tape of the music, so we'll get to dance it tonight to the fifth iteration of my calling card. By George, I think it might just work!"

M
E

Calling after long hiatus

In an attempt to sign into my own blog, I stumbled across, and was surprised to see, that the Jovial Beggars have a blog already. Little did I guess that this was not the Jovial Beggars blog at all, but a much larger cooperative affair in which Kimberly had become involved.

Thanks to Martha’s kindness, I will go ahead and post what I was going to say last week about my recent calling experiences.

I spent much of the last three years in Virginia Beach. During that time, I engaged in almost no English Country Dancing and even less calling. In fact, I may not have called at all. Since returning home in May, I have had two calling experiences.

First, our friends in Bunker threw a small dance there, and I called Draper's Garden. The group was small, the music quiet. There was no need for a microphone. I had full freedom to walk up and down the line calling as I went. I got to re-taste the difficultness of calling, but this was an easy dance, and I think I did alright. At least, I was able to keep most everybody in time with the music, which is a rare thing it seems. I could not help commenting afterwards what a beautiful couples dance Draper's Garden is. So many dances have you dancing half of the dance with your corner. Those dances are great, but sometimes you want to actually be dancing with your partner. This one is such a dance, and it is slow and it is simple. So, if you have something to say while you dance, this dance is a great one during which to get it said.*

Second, I tried calling at a small private dance in the kitchen-dining room of my own home. We only had six couples. I called several dances in a row, dancing while calling. This definitely reaquainted me with the difficulties that can come with calling and dancing simultaneously. I made many many mistakes. But I had a great time nonetheless, and I hope everyone else enjoyed the experience of dancing in my house as well (the floor never caved in, so that's got to count for something...though I had my worries as the twelve of us did our 2 (or 3 or 4) two-hand turns during Yellow Stockings).

*It is possible it wasn’t Draper’s Garden at all and that I’m forgetting the name, and somebody might look up the steps to the dance and say, “What is this quack talking about?”

JBH

Introductory Workshop

I had an opportunity to lead the workshop for new dancers at Saturday's contra dance. Actually, as I walked in the door Mac said that he'd been trying to get in touch with me because I'd been bugging him (er...asking him politely) about leading a workshop. He thought this was a good opportunity.

I've been watching or participating in workshops for the last month or so and noticing how the other callers teach the moves. While I watched, I formed my own opinions about what went well, and what felt awkward. Of course I hadn't brought the notes I had taken or the simple dance I wanted to end with, but hey, a caller needs to be ready at any time, right? I took the plunge.

Overall I think the workshop was OK. There were a couple of things I had intended to cover that I forgot -- a star is the most important of them. And I couldn't come up with a simple dance on-the-fly to end the workshop so it sort of tailed-off rather than having a nice clean finish. [NOTE TO SELF: Always bring your calling notebook -- you never know.]

Some ideas I tried that did work are:

Have the dancers practice asking their partner if they want to dance. I remember the first couple of dances I came to I was very unsure about asking some of the really good dancers to dance, so I'm hoping this simple (almost silly) exercise will help ease that awkward moment.

Avoid over-explaining things. I have a urge to go into great detail -- probably because I'm used to programming computers. Dancers, though, even the beginners seem to be able to figure a lot of things out for themselves, so, for example, I didn't bother to tell the gents to let the ladies walk past them in a ladies' chain. Somehow they all figured it out.

Speaking of ladies chain, etc. The courtesy turn seems to be an awkward teaching moment in many workshops, so I stole an idea I saw a caller use a couple of months ago. I taught the courtesy turn first as a separate movement, then incorporated it into the ladies chain.

To teach a courtesy turn, start with a promenade around the set. Then just move the right hands from in front to behind to get the right position. The dancers already did a turn back into the set at the end of the promenade, so just reinforce that movement by having them courtesy turn all the way around. Once they get that part, explain that the courtesy turn is usually just part of a more elaborate move.

I used the Right & Left across as the first move that includes a courtesy turn. I like this because it starts with both members of the couple doing the same thing, and both of them in position for the courtesy turn without requiring the gent to turn around and anticipate where he needs to be.

After a R&L, the Ladies Chain seemed to happen pretty easily, and most of the gents I watched seemed to understand right away when I mentioned that a step to the right before the lady arrived made the move flow smoothly.

So, I don't get wings for this one, but I do think leading your first introductory workshop is one more step on the path to becoming a caller, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to try it.

Calling Party this Wednesday September 10

During this small (very small) lull in the calling action I had an opportunity to try something I'd been wanting to try. Two things, in fact. I know you're not supposed to choose dances by their names, but it's hard to resist calling one actually named for one of your children. And I couldn't pass up the chance to learn one with my other child's name, too. Luckily, they're both good dances, if a tad difficult.

The first was "Where's Alex?", written by Michael Furst at a Breaking Up Thanksgiving weekend when the eponymous lad was not yet even a teenager. I've danced it only twice - that night, and once in LA when Lisa Greenleaf called it. Otherwise, it's so fiendishly difficult to call that it's just Not Done. It's not really hard to dance, exactly, because it flows well. It's just hard to keep your bearings. There is a half hey which you do with current neighbors, then a half hey you do with your next neighbors, then a gypsy you do with a third neighbor, only to return to swing your second neighbor. If everyone knows which direction they're going, the moves are not all that difficult, but that is asking a lot, and the end effects are tough. I still don't have them figured out. I think you're supposed to stay where you are, but...Anyway, we did actually successfully dance it for a while last night - kudos to the dancers!

The other is Colin Hume's lovely dance "Elizabeth", done to the lovely tune by Colin Hume also called "Elizabeth". There, as in "Where's Alex?" the difficulties are all in the second half. In the second half, the ones cross and cast, then do a figure of eight ending up below the twos. The twos are supposed to do a figure of eight starting up, ending up below the ones, then walking up between them to progress. Think about it. If the ones have ended up below the twos, how do the twos do a figure of eight starting UP? I can't tell if they are supposed to do it with imaginary friends, or what. And another thing. I can't even tell from the instructions when the twos are supposed to begin. One version I have says the twos "meanwhile" drop back a little on a diagonal, then do the figure of eight. "Meanwhile" means "simultaneously with" but that is just about impossible in this case, as near as I can tell. Another version says the twos "wait" and then start the figure of eight. How long is "wait"? I can't find Colin's original instructions, or haven't so far, so I don't know what he thinks about it. He has a tantalizing page on his web site "Dance Technique: Phrasing and Timing" in which he lists 14 dances, including Elizabeth, discusses 13 of them, but leaves out one - you guessed it - Elizabeth. I ended up giving the ones 12 counts to do their thing and the twos the other 12 counts, but I'm not at all certain this is correct.

We also discussed all the calling opportunities coming up: Kay and Chrystal and Missy will be calling at STL ECD this Friday the 12th and Monday the 22nd (it would be great if we would go and support them!), and Billy has offered us the chance to call at the Youth Contra on Friday the 19th. We've been invited to call at Grand Center and at the Arch on Saturday and Sunday September 27 and 28. And the next Hatchling Dance is October 4. Whew!

Think about which of these events you'd like to call at, and let me know!

To our dancer friends: you are most welcome to come, including especially those of you who are new - it helps you get to know people, strengthens your dance skills, and gives us the opportunity to improve our teaching!

M
E

Fledgling!

Thanks to the generosity of Judy, who let me call part of her evening, I now have my fledgling wings! Even though it may seem pretty silly, I have to admit that I'm really proud of my little gold wings. I'm also thankful that the Calling Gods were kind to me and kept me from making any horrible mistakes - just little ones, which good-natured dancers were happy to ignore.

It was rather different to call five in a row instead of one at a time. There's a lot of time where you are just standing there watching for trouble, and it's easy to let your mind wander. Then, when trouble develops, it takes a moment to recover your bearings.

I realize now that I could have easily figured out where trouble was going to occur and be ready to start calling again before it started, instead of waiting until it had already occurred. There were a few dancers who, when any two were in the same group of four, generated enough confusuion for that group that the dance would break down, even when one of the other dancers in the set of four was an experienced dance fixer! I should have been keeping an eye on those folks, and if one was coming from one direction, and one from another, start calling again as they met up.

In spite of having learned at Sugar Hill not to change the dance I was going to call at the last minute, I learned on Sunday to change every dance I was going to call at the last minute. The first dance I planned to do had almost exactly the same moves as the dance Judy called as the first dance, so it had to go. After that, I just kind of went through the cards that I had pulled out to choose from and created a new order, on the fly, doing the hardest one third (of the four dances I thought I was going to call), leaving an easier one for last. Then Judy asked me to call one more. (Gulp!) No guts, no glory, I figured, so I pulled another slightly harder one, and it went just fine (thank you Lord!).

All in all, though, I would say that it was grand good fun to call almost half a dance. It really helps to have dancers and musicians as good as the ones at the dance on Sunday, of course.

M
E

Wow. Great dance, everyone!

Last nights dance sure was a success! Everyone's dance went well, we nearly broke even financially, and people were laughing and smiling all night. Contra people enjoyed the English Country Dancing, and ECD people enjoyed the contras. We're definitely on the right path.

Many kudos to all of you who did such a terrific job of preparing for the dance.

A curious sidelight: before the dance, I made a little schedule, giving about 12-13 minutes to each person, plus about a half hour for two waltzes and a break. Amazingly enough, we were right on schedule almost the entire night, maybe a minute or two off. I suppose I made lucky guesses, but all of us get credit for teaching efficiently and running all 12 dances about the right length of time!

M
E

English Dance Site

Oh my goodness...I just came across the funniest--but good--site! http://rivkinetic.org/flash/ecdflash.html

It's an animated(I think flash) perspective of some ECD moves.

There are 9 moves illustrated. The Hay for 4 leaves something to be desired but overall the presentation is short but neat.

BTW our calling calendar is starting to look like a bag of Skittles!

Hatchling Dance on Saturday September 6

Good practice tonight - there were a few rough spots, but on the whole, I think the Hatchling Dance on Saturday looks interesting and fun.

Here's the current lineup:
1. Bob - Jefferson and Liberty
2. Karen - Scout House Reel
3. Martha - Auretti's Dutch Skipper
4. Bill - Carey's Demo Dance
5. David - Beckett Reel
6. Kay - Yellow Stockings
Waltz
Break
1. Billy - Little Kate's Contra
2. Dale - Angular Motion
3. Bob - Mage on a Cree
4. Joe - Comfort Deluxe
5. Chrystal - Fenterlarick
6. Karen - Hey in a Barn
Waltz

Let me know if you think there should be any changes!

M
E

Calling Party on Wednesday September 3

Several events this weekend! We have the SWGNA Flash Dance at the Pool Pavilion in Tower Grove Park right before the First Saturday Hatchling Dance.

By the way, fellow Hatchling Lyndon Blaylock called a really wonderful Workshop at the Morris Ale in Colorado that Lyndon and Gitry and Charles and Rin and Bob and I went to over the weekend. Some of the dances at the Ale were definitely in unusual formations -- I think some (very carefully chosen) Morris Dances would be fun to do at a First Saturday Dance.

I also ran into former St. Louisan Barb Kirchner, who is now living in Boulder. One of the folks who's also a contra dancer in Colorado paid her what I consider to be the highest compliment of them all: "She's one of those people who can get lots of people doing the right thing with very few words." Congratulations, Barb!

M
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