ThankyouThankyouThankyou

A big thanks goes out to everyone who helped make this night of the first Webster Groves English Country Dancers dance a big success:

• dancers - you came! I didn't know whether to expect you or not - but there you were, and dancing so well, too!
• callers - Bob and Kimberly and Kay were seriously on their game. There was wonderful contrast in the dances, too - some good fast romps and some gorgeous melting softer ones. And the evening started right on time, and finished, twelve dances later, with time left over for a nice waltz.
• Mac on sound - we gave him exactly zero minutes to do a sound check, but he nailed it. How'd he do that?
• band - my wonderful musician friends poured their hearts out. As much as I wanted to be out on the floor dancing, I can tell you I was having a great time on stage.
• Blackthorn Morris - no beginning venture should be without the blessing of a Morris team. I have noticed that the sudden appearance of men (and women) in bells with sticks always seems associated with success.
• Peggy and the women of the Monday Club - thanks for having such a lovely hall and thanks for sharing it with us!
• especial thanks to the folks who helped put up the little lights which gave the hall such a lovely glow, and the ones who brought tasty treats and put out the liquids for people to drink, and the ones who helped us clean up afterwards, and the ones who helped greet people at the door.

I don't think it would be possible to be much happier with the way things went tonight. Thank you all again for taking part in it!

M
E

Calling Party Tonight - New English Dance on Friday

Calling Party tonight! As usual, there is much to prepare for. The new dance series, the Webster Groves English Country Dancers, starts this Friday, and our very own Kay Tomlinson, Bob Green and Kimberly Hall will be calling this month (and next month, Missy Reisenleiter and Chrystal Gallacci - joined by Dr. John Ramsay).

On Saturday, February 21, Kimberly Hall will be calling an English dance in Rolla, MO, sponsored by the Jovial Beggars.

Next Tuesday, February 24, Dance Discovery has again invited callers to call and dancers to dance - that's at the Brentwood Congregational Church at 7:00pm. The dances will be the ones that the Tu'Penny Uprights are planning to record for a future dance CD. Come and help us determine the tempos - your chance to influence the dance experience of future generations of dancers!

And, in a week and a half, on March 1, the excellent Wade Pearson will be calling his first Whole Dance at the Childgrove Sunday night contra dance, thereby earning his Golden Megaphone. Wade appears to disdain these whimsical little tokens of our admiration, preferring to retain his air of sophisticated restraint, but we continue to hope he secretly savors our admiration.

If that's not enough activity for you, in a mere two and a half weeks, on March 7, we'll have another First Saturday Hatchling Dance. So, ladies and gentlement, start your engines, think of what dances you want to call, and prepare to call them!

M
E

What I learned at the workshop...

Last Wednesday Ted, Mac, and Judy shared some excellent tips for us hatchlings. I took some notes about what was discussed. The information was so helpful that I thought I'd post some of what I learned. Ted and Mac, I hope you don't mind; feel free to make any corrections/additions!

Planning the evening:

---Simple, familiar dances are often the best. The tried and true "Chestnuts" are your friends.

---A good program has variety. Consecutive dances should employ different moves or formations so that they don't feel the same.

---Picking a really fun dance just before the break can help encourage people to stay for the second half.

---Know your dances well. Ghost-walking can help make sure that you understand the dance and are prepared to teach it.

Teaching the dance:

---Your teaching should answer these key questions: 1) What do I do? 2) Who do I do it with? 3) How will I end up?

---Wait until all the dancers are in position before starting the walkthrough.

---To quiet a room, try talking softly. If you're ready to start the walkthrough, giving a preliminary instruction can help get people's attention (e.g. "face your neighbor")

---Use common words/phrases when teaching and calling. Listen to experienced callers' terminology.

Calling the dance:

---Relax and have fun!

---Watch the entire hall, especially the line to the caller's right, which often has the most beginners.

---If something goes wrong, don't blame the dancers. The dancers will love you for your mistakes, as long as you're good natured or humorous about it.

---Don't call more than you need to. As the dancers catch on, gradually reduce your calling to key words, like "chain" and "star". Obvious moves like swings are the first to omit. When you drop out altogether, keep watching the dancers.

---Don't call to long or too short. 8 minutes is a pretty good average, but the enthusiasm of the dancers (or lack thereof) can help you gauge when to stop.

---Get to know the band ahead of time and write down their names. When introducing each musician, use this formula: "and on the fiddle, Martha!"

---When giving a band the 1 or 2 more signal, make sure you know who to look to for acknowledgement.

Thanks to Ted and Mac (and Judy, too!)

Last night's workshop at the calling party was great. Ted presented a comprehensive overview of calling: the art of calling the dance itself, choosing dances, interacting with dancers, and working with the band. Ted, I hope you'll let us post your notes for the talk. Mac chimed in with lots of tips, and Judy offered her insights from a dancer's perspective. The rest of us got to ask questions and offer suggestions based on our own experience. So much valuable experience, shared so willingly!

And then we danced, of course, with greater or lesser success in the calling. I muffed mine, but the dancers mostly got it in spite of the tendrils growing out of my head, and Ted and others had valuable suggestions about how better to teach the figures.

This group is amazing. Thanks, all.

Kudos to BillyBob and Dale

And, to wrap up a great weekend for the Hatchlings, Billy, Bob and Dale called a wonderful contra dance last night!

Dale gave a very good workshop, Bob did a masterful job with the early dances, calling to Lots and Lots of New People in a very crowded hall, Billy wound up the crowd with interesting dances before and after the break (including a square!) , and Dale earned his wings (see picture) as he ended the evening on a high note, with three of his four dances having been written by Hatchlings.

The Night Crawlers (Ted Vasquez on fiddle, Kristin Graham on keyboard, Mike Brown on bass and Rich Hibbs on banjo) were wonderful to dance to, and call to, too. What nice folks! And what drive! It was great.

Hatchling Dance on February 7, 2009

I'm happy to report that the dance was terrific! The new dances were very well received, the calling was good, the band played its heart out, the sound was good (thanks, Wade!), and the dancers were skilled and happy. This had to be the best of our dances so far.

We even came one dollar closer to breaking even - just $11 down (last month it was $12). One count of the dancers at some point in the evening was 44 people.

Hardly anyone sat out the English dances, though there is much to do to bring some of our contra friends around. But we are patient, and know we have much to learn, but I believe the pleasures of English will eventually be revealed Even to Them. Even to my son Alex, who thinks I'm completely cracked.

Here was the lineup:

First Half
1. David - Dog Branch Reel by Bob Dalsemer
2. Karen - Salmonchanted Evening by Steven Zakon
3. Kimberly - Jacob Hall's Jig - 1695
4. Billy - Halloween Twist - by Melanie Axel-Lute
5. Missy - Corelli's Maggot by Cathy and John Millar
6. Bob - Ionia Breakout by Bob Green
Waltz - Ashokan Farewell ("Too slow!" they told me afterwards)

Break

Second Half
1. Karen - A and J's Reel by Ken Johnson
2. Dale - With Thanks to the Hatchlings by Dale Wilson
3. Kimberly - Easter Morn by Erna-Lynne Bogue
4. Joe - Replacement Reel by Joe Felsen
5. Robyn - Wasatch Wiggle by Eric Weberg
6. David - Garden State of Mind by Sue Rosen
Waltz - The Molly Andrew ("Beautiful!" they said. I say "Come back on February 20 and do the dance that was written for it!")

M
E

First Saturday Hatchling Dance This Week

Hatchling Dance this week!

So far, the folks who have raised their hands to call this Saturday are

1. Billy
2. Bob
3. Dale
4. David
5. Karen
6. Kay
7. Joe
8. Martha
9. Missy
10. Robyn

David has asked to call two dances, which seems fair, and Robyn is a guest, so I think we might give her two dances as well, and each of the rest of us call one. I can easily bow out, since I'll be behind a fiddle anyway, if someone else wants to call two. Missy and Kay and Bob will each call an English dance.

Looking forward, Billy, Bob and Dale are calling the Childgrove dance on Sunday Feb 8, several of us are calling at the Open Mic Night at Dance Discovery on Feb 10 (come dance!), and Bob, Kay and Kimberly are calling the Webster Groves ECD dance on Friday Feb 20. Wade has a whole evening at Childgrove on March 1 (go Wade!), and Chrystal and Missy will call the Webster Groves ECD dance on Friday, March 20.

We'll need to be very efficient this Wednesday so we can get all the practice in that we need for this weekend!

February, a New and Surprisingly Interesting Month

I think this has got to be the first time in my life that February (February!) has seemed interesting and exciting, because there is so much to look forward to!

There's a New English Dance in Town, the Webster Groves English Country Dancers.

We Hatchlings have been learning to call English dances along with our contra dances, and we've called a few of the easier ones at our First Saturday Hatchling Dances and the Youth Contra. The Dance Discovery group (bless their hearts) has made opportunities for us to call some of the more complex dances at open calling nights several times a year. But our local English dance already had a full roster of callers so we mostly got to call English in the living room. Not that it hasn't been a blast to call in the living room. But some of us are hungry for more, and the easiest course of action (incredibly) seemed to be to start a new dance. If there isn't enough pie to go around, make a bigger pie!

Here's the plan so far: we'll dance at the Monday Club on third Fridays, we'll invite different bands to play (as much as possible), and we'll have three callers at each dance. We'll post the dances we're going to do on our web site, and develop a core group of "repertoire" dances that most of the members of the community will be comfortable with (some easy ones, but some harder ones too).

The first three callers will be Bob and Kimberly and Kay. The first band will be the Tu'Penny Uprights (a band I'm in), which has been playing for Dance Discovery for about five years. We're working on some other interesting band options for future months.

M
E