It was a fun weekend for Hatchling callers and for young people in Missouri.
Hatchling Callers called the Youth Contra Dance on Friday night at Larry Boyer's invitation. Many thanks go to Larry for inviting us, and to the callers: Chrystal, Joe, Wade, David, Martha and Bob. Wade did a masterful job with the beginner class.
Bob and Kay and I drove down to Rolla on Saturday night to attend an English Country Dance run by a remarkable young woman, Kimberly Hall. We had arranged with her to let us call some dances. Kay called Knives and Forks, I called Hole in the Wall, and Bob called Jefferson and Liberty. It was amazing, to say the least, to see a hall filled with 60-70 young people, successfully dancing English Country Dances, many at a high level. The band was a family band, mostly - Dad Ed Galbraith plays guitar and his four kids and their friends played keyboard, recorder, fiddle and mandolin, and very well!
M
E
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Extra Calling Party Wednesday April 23
Good party last night!
There were at least 13 of us, maybe more if someone was lurking in the kitchen when I counted - ten dancing, one calling, and a couple of people on the couch.
We each called dances we think will be good for the Youth Contra on Friday, and, serendipitously, we were able to make up a good program just from the dances each person chose - circle mixer, easier dances building up to harder ones, then backing off. I'm expecting surprises - either the dances we chose will be a little harder to teach than we thought, or the kids will learn them so fast we should have chosen more challenging dances. They're all reasonably easy and fun dances so we should be able to stick to the program, but I'm braced for a "learning experience".
People often tease me and suggest I ought to learn to call while I play the violin, so what the heck, I'm going to try it. It worked kind of okay at the calling party last night, though each part (the playing and the calling) suffered a bit. I'll let you know how it turns out. No promises, though, especially since I have to get up at 4:30am on Friday for a Blackthorn Morris appearance on St. Louis Today.
M
E
There were at least 13 of us, maybe more if someone was lurking in the kitchen when I counted - ten dancing, one calling, and a couple of people on the couch.
We each called dances we think will be good for the Youth Contra on Friday, and, serendipitously, we were able to make up a good program just from the dances each person chose - circle mixer, easier dances building up to harder ones, then backing off. I'm expecting surprises - either the dances we chose will be a little harder to teach than we thought, or the kids will learn them so fast we should have chosen more challenging dances. They're all reasonably easy and fun dances so we should be able to stick to the program, but I'm braced for a "learning experience".
People often tease me and suggest I ought to learn to call while I play the violin, so what the heck, I'm going to try it. It worked kind of okay at the calling party last night, though each part (the playing and the calling) suffered a bit. I'll let you know how it turns out. No promises, though, especially since I have to get up at 4:30am on Friday for a Blackthorn Morris appearance on St. Louis Today.
M
E
Monday, April 7, 2008
Slow motion car crash
I finally brought myself to listen to my calling on the dance that fell apart, and it was very interesting. First time through, fine, second time through not bad, maybe a little shaky. Third time through, pretty wobbly in parts. Fourth time through I started right on time for A1, but blew it at the beginning of B2.
The trouble I had was that A2 is a short wavy line balance to a neighbor swing, and I think I was calling it "Balance the line and swing your neighbor" on the 1 2 3 4 counts of A2, as opposed to calling it on the 5 6 7 8 counts of A1b (which is where you would call it if it was just a neighbor balance and swing). As a result, there are only 8 counts where I remain silent, as opposed to 12 counts of silence during a balance and swing. When I finally screwed it up beyond recovery, it happened because I thought that I hadn't waited long enough for the swing to end, so I let the swing go for an extra 8? counts, putting me behind on the calling. In truth, I was skating on thin ice before that point, and had nearly messed up the call 2 or 3 times already. Perhaps those small errors started the confusion on the dance floor.
The tune, Shady Grove, has a peculiar structure that maybe threw me a little (I think Ellie said that it ends on a 5 chord and starts on a 5 chord, so there isn't a sense of resolution at the end of the tune), but it should have been danceable. To make matters worse, I'm familiar with the tune but I don't play it, and in my mind I consider the A part of the tune to be the B part. So when I made an attempt to jump in and wrest control of a very confused group of dancers, I started calling A1 of the dance at B1 of the tune, and almost no one was at that spot in the dance.
It reminds me of losing control of my car at high speed on the highway: you swerve a little bit and the end of your car slides out to the right, then back to the left, then further to the right, then further to the left, then suddenly you are going down the highway sideways at 55 mph! Or backwards even (I've had both happen). With the car, I was able to straighten it out and keep moving, but I'd been driving for 15 years before that ever happened to me. Maybe with a little more calling experience I'll be able to do a 360 degree spinout of a contra dance and regain control without stopping, but this time all I could do was hit the emergency brake, get back on the road, and put her back in gear. I think it worked.
Wade
Congratulations!
Congrats Hatchings! I think we did really well. Glitches are expected, our recoveries were right on. Let's do it again. (Do we have any dancer feed-back yet?)
Joe
Joe
Monday, March 31, 2008
"Challenge" calling?
Just returned from a square dance weekend—lots of fun, way too much food, not enough sleep… all the things we love about dance weekends.
There were two nationally known callers trading off hour-and-a-half time slots in two halls—Mainstream and Plus-level in the gym, Challenge and Advanced dancing in the cafeteria (cement floors all around; need I say more about that?).
One of the callers was great at calling the advanced dances—I watched some of that and it was obvious that those dancers were having a wonderful time. But when her turn came in the other hall, where I was dancing, she either couldn’t or wouldn’t “dumb it down” so that the rest of us could dance, even when the dances were supposed to be Mainstream!
The moves she called were “legal,” all right, but somehow she managed get us so far out of our accustomed positions that it reached the point where it was not fun but chaotic. I’m a fair-to-middling square dancer—been dancing, on and off, for nearly 30 years, including some of what we used to call all-position dancing—and even I nearly walked off the floor twice when she was on because I couldn’t do anything she was calling—NOTHING. I looked around, and seven of the eight squares on the floor had broken down—this happened repeatedly. It wasn’t just me who felt that way: Saturday night one entire square walked off the floor.
Now, when you’re a caller, don’t you try to call more or less at the level of the room? I kept thinking about Mac’s advice for us to have a simpler dance in our back pocket to pull out if the floor breaks down. As a dancer, I like a dance that’s just beyond my comfort zone as well as the next person. But if you as a caller challenge your dancers, shouldn’t it be a challenge, not an attempt to see how many of them you can break down?
Luckily, the second caller was fabulous and wonderful to dance to. Lots of dancing from unaccustomed positions in the square, which was fun; I learned a lot, that’s for sure.
There were two nationally known callers trading off hour-and-a-half time slots in two halls—Mainstream and Plus-level in the gym, Challenge and Advanced dancing in the cafeteria (cement floors all around; need I say more about that?).
One of the callers was great at calling the advanced dances—I watched some of that and it was obvious that those dancers were having a wonderful time. But when her turn came in the other hall, where I was dancing, she either couldn’t or wouldn’t “dumb it down” so that the rest of us could dance, even when the dances were supposed to be Mainstream!
The moves she called were “legal,” all right, but somehow she managed get us so far out of our accustomed positions that it reached the point where it was not fun but chaotic. I’m a fair-to-middling square dancer—been dancing, on and off, for nearly 30 years, including some of what we used to call all-position dancing—and even I nearly walked off the floor twice when she was on because I couldn’t do anything she was calling—NOTHING. I looked around, and seven of the eight squares on the floor had broken down—this happened repeatedly. It wasn’t just me who felt that way: Saturday night one entire square walked off the floor.
Now, when you’re a caller, don’t you try to call more or less at the level of the room? I kept thinking about Mac’s advice for us to have a simpler dance in our back pocket to pull out if the floor breaks down. As a dancer, I like a dance that’s just beyond my comfort zone as well as the next person. But if you as a caller challenge your dancers, shouldn’t it be a challenge, not an attempt to see how many of them you can break down?
Luckily, the second caller was fabulous and wonderful to dance to. Lots of dancing from unaccustomed positions in the square, which was fun; I learned a lot, that’s for sure.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
New Order of Dances for April 6
We had a wonderful Calling Party last night - lots of good folks were willing to help us get ready for the dance. I think we were about 15. I didn't do a count, but I seem to remember three foursomes dancing, one person calling and a couple of people sitting on the couch sipping wine, didn't we?
Anyway, the dances went mostly okay, though there were some scary spots. We have revised the list a bit - here's the new version:
1. Blackbird Pie by Joseph Pimentel - Martha
2. Reel Easy by Cary Ravitz - Joe
3. Al's Safeway Produce by Robert Cromartie - Chrystal
4. Rendezvous by Dan Pearl - Kay
5. Right Hand Lady - traditional Square - Wade
6. Al's HeyDay#2 by Al Olsen - Joe
Waltz
Break
7. Blue Persuasion by Chrystal Gallacci - Chrystal
8. You Can't Get There From Here by Carol Ormand - Wade
9. XYZ by Bob Green - Bob
10. Chain the Swain by Becky Hill - David
11. Delphiniums and Daisies by Tanya Rotenberg - Martha
Waltz
As I sit here, I'm wondering if we shouldn't make the first half shorter. We went through the easy dances pretty fast and yet people were ready for a break after the fifth dance. Maybe that's an omen. Also, we sometimes manage to get a clogging performance out of Leila and Ellie, which would take up some more of the time, so I'm wondering if we shouldn't put one of the dances in an optional spot in the second half.
M
E
Anyway, the dances went mostly okay, though there were some scary spots. We have revised the list a bit - here's the new version:
1. Blackbird Pie by Joseph Pimentel - Martha
2. Reel Easy by Cary Ravitz - Joe
3. Al's Safeway Produce by Robert Cromartie - Chrystal
4. Rendezvous by Dan Pearl - Kay
5. Right Hand Lady - traditional Square - Wade
6. Al's HeyDay#2 by Al Olsen - Joe
Waltz
Break
7. Blue Persuasion by Chrystal Gallacci - Chrystal
8. You Can't Get There From Here by Carol Ormand - Wade
9. XYZ by Bob Green - Bob
10. Chain the Swain by Becky Hill - David
11. Delphiniums and Daisies by Tanya Rotenberg - Martha
Waltz
As I sit here, I'm wondering if we shouldn't make the first half shorter. We went through the easy dances pretty fast and yet people were ready for a break after the fifth dance. Maybe that's an omen. Also, we sometimes manage to get a clogging performance out of Leila and Ellie, which would take up some more of the time, so I'm wondering if we shouldn't put one of the dances in an optional spot in the second half.
M
E
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Balance & Spring SLYC 2008 kickoff
Glad to hear ECD went well.
Don and Jeanne, Greg Rohde, David Keller, Genevieve Brown and Michael Cox came to our dance last night to seed the dance with some experience. And about 15 ladies and about 12 gents between 14 and 25 (years old). Eileen, David and I shared the calling.
Lots of good things happened last night. It was worth the pain. You know, the pain of seeing a dance not work well despite your best intentions because you overestimated their ability and your own (mine in one case) when a simple explanation and demo would have helped them so much. And I do feel the dancers pain when things don't go well. And my respect for people like Mac and Deborah grows. But still there is that nagging - gosh, I can do that. Just let me try it again! I'll do it right this time. Now I know.
For April 25th, maybe the hatchlings would like to repeat their April 6th program. You learn so much from calling live on-stage to real dancers which include beginners. The next time is so much better.
Larry
Don and Jeanne, Greg Rohde, David Keller, Genevieve Brown and Michael Cox came to our dance last night to seed the dance with some experience. And about 15 ladies and about 12 gents between 14 and 25 (years old). Eileen, David and I shared the calling.
Lots of good things happened last night. It was worth the pain. You know, the pain of seeing a dance not work well despite your best intentions because you overestimated their ability and your own (mine in one case) when a simple explanation and demo would have helped them so much. And I do feel the dancers pain when things don't go well. And my respect for people like Mac and Deborah grows. But still there is that nagging - gosh, I can do that. Just let me try it again! I'll do it right this time. Now I know.
For April 25th, maybe the hatchlings would like to repeat their April 6th program. You learn so much from calling live on-stage to real dancers which include beginners. The next time is so much better.
Larry
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Order of Dances for April 6
Here's the third or fourth iteration of the order of the dances Wade and I worked out. Your comments are welcome!
1. Dog Branch Reel by Bob Dalsemer - Martha
2. Reel Easy by Cary Ravitz - Joe
3. Al's Safeway Produce by Robert Cromartie - Chrystal
4. Dancing at the Rest Stop by Bill Olson - Kay
5. Right Hand Lady - traditional Square - Wade
6. Al's HeyDay#2 by Al Olsen - Joe
Waltz
Break
7. Blue Persuasion by Chrystal Gallacci - Chrystal
8. You Can't Get There From Here by Carol Ormand - Wade
9. XYZ by Bob Green - Bob
10. Thanks to the Gene by Tom Hinds - David
11. Delphiniums and Daisies by Tanya Rotenberg - Martha
Waltz
We'll have to be pretty efficient to get through six dances in the first half, but it seems pretty doable, I think.
Ideas? Thoughts?
M
E
1. Dog Branch Reel by Bob Dalsemer - Martha
2. Reel Easy by Cary Ravitz - Joe
3. Al's Safeway Produce by Robert Cromartie - Chrystal
4. Dancing at the Rest Stop by Bill Olson - Kay
5. Right Hand Lady - traditional Square - Wade
6. Al's HeyDay#2 by Al Olsen - Joe
Waltz
Break
7. Blue Persuasion by Chrystal Gallacci - Chrystal
8. You Can't Get There From Here by Carol Ormand - Wade
9. XYZ by Bob Green - Bob
10. Thanks to the Gene by Tom Hinds - David
11. Delphiniums and Daisies by Tanya Rotenberg - Martha
Waltz
We'll have to be pretty efficient to get through six dances in the first half, but it seems pretty doable, I think.
Ideas? Thoughts?
M
E
Friday, March 21, 2008
ECD on the 24th
I'm calling 2 dances at English on Monday the 24th. If I'm not mistaken it may be a mixed bag of callers. We would love to have all of you come and dance. Focal Point--7pm workshop with dancing from 7:30-9:30. Bring a snack to share if you feel so inclined.
Also, mark your calendars for May 3rd for the annual Playford Ball. It's always a good time! Details to come.
~chrystal
Also, mark your calendars for May 3rd for the annual Playford Ball. It's always a good time! Details to come.
~chrystal
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Extra Practice Wednesday March 26
We had a good practice last night, but a few things still need to be worked out, huh.
Here's the revised list:
Martha - Dog Branch Reel and Contra TBD - perhaps Delphiniums and Daisies
Chrystal - Al's Safeway Produce and Blue Persuasion
Joe - Al's Heyday and Reel Easy
Bob - XYZ or Roll in the Hey
Wade - Right Hand Lady Right Hand Round and Contra TBD
David - Thanks to the Gene or Frederick Contra
Kay - Dancing at the Rest Stop
That's eleven dances, possibly one too many. Not sure what to do about that. We may have to be very efficient.
We decided it would be a good idea to have an extra practice next week, so that we can call the whole program twice before April 6.
M
E
Here's the revised list:
Martha - Dog Branch Reel and Contra TBD - perhaps Delphiniums and Daisies
Chrystal - Al's Safeway Produce and Blue Persuasion
Joe - Al's Heyday and Reel Easy
Bob - XYZ or Roll in the Hey
Wade - Right Hand Lady Right Hand Round and Contra TBD
David - Thanks to the Gene or Frederick Contra
Kay - Dancing at the Rest Stop
That's eleven dances, possibly one too many. Not sure what to do about that. We may have to be very efficient.
We decided it would be a good idea to have an extra practice next week, so that we can call the whole program twice before April 6.
M
E
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