Thursday, January 22, 2009

Dance Discovery's Inaugural Ball, 2009


We had a blast at the Inaugural Ball on Tuesday at the Monday Club. Ninety-plus people attended, many of whom had never danced before. Several of our own Hatchlings called--Bob, Missy, and Chrystal--and did a wonderful job teaching and prompting. A grand time was had by all.

Here are links to a video by Dan Klarmann and a review on the blog at the Riverfront Times. English and American Country dancing is up and coming here in St. Louis!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Calling Party Tonight Wednesday January 21

Help celebrate a successful Inaugural Ball last night!

Calling Party, my house, 7:00pm, directions here.

Kimberly and Company will be calling the English Dance in Salem, MO this Saturday January 24th. Bob and I are going. Anyone want to join us?

Anyone calling at STL ECD on Monday the 26th?

We're also getting ready for January 27, when there's open calling at Dance Discovery -- and you're all invited to dance.

You're also invited to call at the Youth Contra on January 30 - let Billy know if you want to call! And if you're up for a high-energy time, come and dance too.

Then there's the February 7 First Saturday Hatchling Dance - time to pick a dance to call at that one.

And the February 8 Big Hawaiian Shirt Contra Dance at Childgrove (because Don and Jeanne will be in the Caribbean and we're just NOT jealous, uh-uh...) called by the often-copied, never-successfully-imitated BillyBob and Dale team.

February 13 is the Second Friday ECD dance.

Ted Steele is calling the Feb 14 contra with the White Mules (formerly the Whistle Pigs). Ask him if you can call a dance or two.

February 20 is the Webster Groves English Country Dancers first dance - Bob and Kay and Kimberly will be calling, the Tu'Penny Uprights will be playing.

Mac McKeever is calling the February 22 dance with Ben Smith and Matt Turino. Ask him if you can call a dance or two.

February 23 is the Fourth Monday ECD dance.

And February 28 is the CHANCE DANCE all-afternoon and night dance at the Cape. Open calling (contact John and Kathy Coffman). Chicory is playing in the afternoon, and the Old Cornlickers are playing at night. Good weather or your money back...

M
E

Friday, January 9, 2009

Double Figure of 8

Well, I was indulging in my favorite vice, thinking too much, and decided to try to solidify some of my thinking about the double figure of 8. The goal is to find the quickest, most pleasant way to teach this beautiful and fun figure.

The top drawing here, is a drawing of a double figure of 8, as seen from inside my head. You can see why I think of this as a "train set you got for Christmas".

The second drawing is one that was sent to me later by Chrystal, of a double figure of 8, as seen from inside her head. Read the comments section for more about these pictures. Basically, I think Chrystal's wins, so the following comments will serve merely as a whimsical historical perspective on the issue, but which helped me understand a lot.

In my picture, you can see that no one walks around anyone because there is no one standing inside the loops. Instead, everyone walks the same track, starting from different points on the track. Counterintuitive though it is when you're standing on the floor getting ready to start the move, everyone walks around the track in the same direction.

Theoretically, you could have four little train engines, all chugging around the track, one after the other, cheerfully avoiding each other so long as they observe one simple rule: "ladies first".

It is easy to see how you teach where the train crossing is - first corners and second corners merely point at each other, arms extended, and it lays out exactly where the track crosses. Harder to see is the part of the track which curves outside the set. Would it make sense to lay down some sort of token (a shoe, perhaps? or a plate of cookies?) between man 1 and man 2, and between lady 1 and lady 2, for the dancers to walk around as the upper couple "casts" around the outer curve of the 8 to start?

I think what we need here is some sort of "X" prize for the person who comes up with the wording to teach a new set of dancers this move in under one minute. I did it once, but it was an unfair test - they were four of my colleague Ben's friends and probably had a collective IQ of 800. Oh, and they saw the drawing.

What I did, with much protest from my calling friends standing nearby, was to have the ones simply walk a figure of 8 on the floor without the twos. Then the twos without the ones. Then both together, invoking the ladies first rule. I'd like to try it with just the ladies, and then just the men. It might work better that way because you see immediately that you're leading and/or following someone, and you're going the same direction.

Oooooh...just thought of something. How about having first corners do it first? The guy walks the outside of the 8, the girl walks across the train crossing. You're doing (and showing) both parts of the move at the same time, but simplified, by having just two people moving. It's quite clear in this move that lady 2 follows her corner around the track. You could then have the second corners do it, and remark that here, gentleman 2 follows his corner around the track. When everyone does it, you can point out that the lady 1 and gent 1 follow their (same gender) neighbors around the track. Re-emphasize the ladies first rule, and it should work fabulously.

Oh, and how awful would it be to call it a "simultaneous figure of 8" instead of a "double figure of 8"? No one does two eights. Each person only does one. We call it double because two couples are doing the figure of eight. It would make more sense to call that a "quadruple figure of 8" because four people are doing it! But even better would be the term "simultaneous figure of 8," for both accuracy and simplicity. Is there some sort of ECD academy where such suggested changes can be submitted?

Or have I reinvented a wheel?

M
E

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Hello!
I was wondering does anyone have a copy of the Trip to Jubilee dance? I'm calling a dance in Jeff City in a couple weeks, and they were wanting to do it. :-\

Hope everyone is well! See you soon.
~Kimberly

Calling Party January 7, 2009

Nice calling party tonight. It was one of those nights when only the callers came, so we didn't get much "real-world" experience, but we had fun trying out some more complicated dances. Probably the highlight of the evening was figuring out the John Tallis canon. It's both easier and harder than you might imagine.

In a funny way, learning to call may make the Tallis canon easier - we're used to calling steps four counts before you do them, so it seems perfectly obvious if you're a second corner! (Maybe second corners always have an easier time of it.) We also found it easier to count just to four (instead of the usual eight) when we were trying to get it right, so that each half's moves made sense separately and together.

What was really really hard, however, was the progression. Since you dance with your corner, not your partner, you feel you ought to be progressing the same direction, but no! Also, there's a tricky bit where you have to chevron out and in, keeping from bumping into the person you're passing in order to progress. I'm still not clear about what to do there.

Kent called a nice smooth dance he wrote with gypsies and swings and circles and Mad Robins - there, the hard part was remembering where you are in the dance since many of the moves are repeated - but it was good fun and a great dance for our more flirtatious dancers. Not that many of us fall into that category. No sir. Uh-uh...

M
E

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

From Dance Discovery & Missy!

Happy New Year!

January is a “happening” month for Dance Discovery! Please read the information below, and come to one (or all) of our events!

1.) Dance Discovery is hosting an *Inaugural Ball*, some of you may have received an invitation and information on this event from“MoveOn”. The Ball will be held on *Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the Monday Club. * Dance Discovery will perform the Martha Quadrille (maybe other dances yet to be determined), so our folks will be in costume. The Tu’Penny Uprights will be with us! It is “open to the public”, so please come and let any other dancers know about this event. There is NO cost to attend, but we will ask for donations to help defray the costs. The public has been asked to wear fancy dress (as stated wonderfully by ECD, “your definition”).

2.) *Tuesday, January 27, will be an “Open Mike” night*, no band, dancin’ just for fun! If you wish to call a dance (Yes, Bob, I have you on my list), please let me know. Since there is no band, be sure your music for the dance you wish to call is on a CD. I will have my boombox there that evening.* /_ Let me know if you wish to call a dance on 1/27/09._/

Thank you,
Missy Reisenleiter
Dance Discovery

Friday, January 2, 2009

Nice Job, Everyone!

First off, congratulations to Dale, who did a superb job of herding everyone into an excellent program on New Year's Eve. And congratulations to all the callers, too. Walkthroughs were crisp, band communications were good, and it certainly looked from the stage as if everyone were having a great time!

Mac reported that a few dancers said that there were too many dances where you had to think too hard - understandable, when you've got twelve callers and each one wants to make his or her mark - but I checked with a few other dancers ("Did the dances seem a bit difficult or complicated to you?") and they seemed to think the dances were just fine. Still, it's something to remember for a future New Year's Eve party - no thinking!

I'm happy to report that our Avant Gardeners, George and Laura, were delighted with the event. They went to a fair amount of effort to get here but felt it was absolutely worth it. They really like our dance community - we're fun-loving and friendly people and know how to show our appreciation. Of course, so are they, so let me tell you, I was in music and dance heaven, watching all you new callers (and our wonderful regular callers, and our guests!) and jamming with my peeps.

On to the next - Youth Contra tonight, Hatchling Dance tomorrow night!

M
E