Happy New Year and Thanks for 2008

Hard to believe, but we're calling our SECOND New Year's Eve tomorrow night. Amazing, but true. And what a year 2008 was!

Here are some of our accomplishments in 2008:
1. Four dance writers came out of the Hatchling group, and we were able to call an entire (wonderful) evening of recent dances. This I never expected, but it makes sense that if you unleash creativity, you unleash creativity!

2. We started a new Hatchling dance series with both contra and English dances, and garnered the support of the Childgrove Country Dancers (thank you thank you thank you!). This also, was hardly intended when we started out, but with so many of us discovering how fun it is to call, we needed to create more opportunities to ply our craft. To me, that translates into five more chances to dance in 2008, one in June, then September, October, November, and December. MORE DANCING! Always a good thing.

3. We were invited to be guest callers at 14 Childgrove dances, and called four entire Childgrove dances, two as Hatchlings, one as Chicklings (girl Hatchlings), and then the Karen and Wade night! Tomorrow adds the capstone to a fine calling year

4. Two Hatchlings called English dances at our local ECD group - and several Hatchlings became (new) regular dancers at English.

5. We called at dance weekends - almost two-thirds of the dances at Kimmswick, a whole bunch at Sugar Hill and the Cumberland Dance Week, and the after-party at the Lawrence, KS weekend. There may be others I don't know about!

6. We called at Flash Dances - seven public outings - Borders, Kirkwood Station, Forest Park, the Botanical Garden, Tower Grove Park, Park Palooza at the Arch, and Grand Center.

7. We called at Youth Contras, the Elsah dance, the Jovial Beggars dance in Rolla, at Dance Discovery open mic nights - are there others I've missed?

8. Heck, we even have our own blog!

9. Let's not forget the Calling Parties, about 36, by my count (including two at lovely Reida's house). There may be more. I would not like to venture to count the bottles of wine, the bowls of guacamole, the chips, the chocolate, the cookies, or the after-midnight jokes, but they were all yummy and funny.

10. I would like to add one more accomplishment - you all made our household a happy one - this in spite of all that was working to prevent this outcome! This year saw my father sink further into Alzheimer's and eventually die, my mother become progressively weaker with Parkinson's, and our dear friend Michael take one too many risks, but your generous, creative and loving spirits fill the house with laughter and friendship and dancing and conversation, and we end this year with strength and joy.

Thanks for the dance. Hugs all around.

M
E

English Country Dance calling opportunities in January

Missy has just announced that Dance Discovery, the English Country Dance demonstration troupe, will be holding two special dance evenings for fun and recruitment of new members in January. Here's what she said:

“'Open Mike' Nights in January 2009. Tuesday January 13 and Tuesday, January 27: We are taking a break, and dancing for fun! I am turning the calling over (OK, I do have a couple favs I would like to call) to those who would like to lead a dance or two. Old dances, new dances, easy dances, hard dances! But, please keep them in the genres of this group, i.e., English country, French country, etc. Please contact me with the dance(s) you wish to lead. I will put together a program, and send it out to the group as the requests come in."

So if you're interested in calling English country dances, or know of anyone who would like to learn this wonderful dance form, put these dates on your calendar. We can talk more about it at the calling party tonight. See you then!

--Kay

Calling Party Wednesday December 17

Yes!

Calling Party this Wednesday December 17, 2008.

My house, 7:00 pm. Directions here.

As usual, much to do! Since I do not anticipate having a Calling Party on Christmas Eve (though we could, come to think of it!), this is the last chance to practice before our next three (count them, 3!) calling opportunities, New Year's Eve, the January 2 Youth Contra and the January 3 First Saturday Hatchling Dance.

These, of course, are opportunities to dust off our favorite dances, our tried-and-true dances!

M
E

Calling Party this Wednesday December 10

Yes! There will be a Calling Party on Wednesday.

My house, 7:00pm, directions here.

And yes, we will drink a toast to the memory of my father, who died on Sunday. We're not particularly sad - we miss him, but then we've been missing him for several years as his Alzheimer's worsened. We're glad that he was spared the last stages of that awful disease, and glad that his death was swift. My brothers will be here on Wednesday, and my sister the following day. We plan to eat and drink and tell Dad stories. And laugh.

Your laughter and your dancing are also as welcome as your prayers for us, and we particularly thank you for those! A (gentle) hug for Mom, who graciously opens her house for us to have these parties, wouldn't be completely out of order, either.

We have many calling opportunities open - New Year's Eve, the Youth Contra, and the next First Saturday Hatchling Dance are all within four days at the end of this month!

The theme for the Hatchling Dance is "our favorite dances from 2008", so be thinking which one is yours!

M
E

Dances for December 6 Hatchling Dance

Lovely Calling Party last night. We were able to call most of the dances that we'll be doing on Saturday, and they went quite well. Now the only wild card is how well we can bring along any newcomers. The program is pretty ambitious in places, but we are brave.

Here's the lineup:

1. David — Easier Than Pie — BB


2. Karen — Got Nice Neighbors — BB


3. Dale — Mountain Ridge — BB


4. Kay — Chrystal Saylor — CGJ


5. Billy — Palindrome — BB


6. Bob — Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss — DW

Waltz
Break

1. Karen — Just Another Whim — CGJ


2. Kay — Castigate Your Neighbor - BG


3. Dale — XYZ — BG


4. Billy — Blue Persuasion — CGJ


5. Chrystal — Wednesday’s Whim — CGJ


6. Joe — Back on the Interstate — CGJ

Waltz

Key to the composers: BB is Billy Boyer, BG is Bob Green, CGJ is Chrystal Galacci Jones and DW is Dale Wilson. Congratulations go to all of them for adding interesting and fun dances to the repertoire!

M
E