[Callers] Re: Asking For Website Help and Self-Promotion Question

> > And ... I dunno, for many of us, there's an unknown of "How much > self-promotion until you become pushy / obnoxious?" > I don't know how it works where you are, but for our dance weekend here in Knoxville, TN, we just went through a process of listing all the callers who met the criteria we

[Callers] Re: Starting to call squares at contra dances

Thanks for the kind words, Ridge. A minor correction: Ed Durlacher (who indeed influenced recreational square dancing to an astounding degree) died while I was still in grade school. It was his son Don, who inherited his Jones Beach summer series, that I danced to around 1970. I learned more

[Callers] Re: Starting to call squares at contra dances

I’m also planning to resume calling squares and am enjoying this useful thread. Have any of you called this dance recently posted on Sam Bartlett’s Facebook page? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVwhobTwRuo On Sat, Mar 18, 2023 at 12:21 PM Maia McCormick via Contra Callers <

[Callers] Re: Curious about a tune - what dance would go with it? - with longish pre-amble

Bob, thanks for posting that link. Yeah, I think I’ve heard that tune for contra. That tempo seems a bit slow for contra. It’s very much 8-count phrases and not so much internal punctuation. A long lines forward and back would be fighting the music - you want something there that’s kind of

[Callers] Re: Curious about a tune - what dance would go with it? - with longish pre-amble

Hi Kat, As someone not in the bands you were working with in this is a bit of speculative reply, but here's a try anyway. Thinking about how I'd feel as the band in the first situation, being asked to give previews of the tunes we intended to play after which the caller would tell us which tune

[Callers] Re: Curious about a tune - what dance would go with it? - with longish pre-amble

Hello to Halifax! Some thoughts inspired by this: I haven’t worked with bands that are heavily oriented toward Quebecquois music. I have, a few times, worked with bands that were largely or exclusively old-times or had no contra experienced and played for listening, with a mixture of

[Callers] Re: Dances Crafted for a Tune

Hi Folks, thanks for all the inputs! I'm compiling a list, including the results from the same query on the "Rising Callers of America"(!) Facebook group. Will circle back to post the list once done. -Don On Wed, Mar 8, 2023 at 11:01 PM Don Veino wrote: > I'm looking for recommendations for

[Callers] Re: Curious about a tune - what dance would go with it? - with longish pre-amble

This tune is fairly common around Boston. The B1 says down the hall to me. When all else fails, go with Linda Leslie : Autumn Leaves Becket-CW/Easy (10/21/2000Northampton, MA) A1 Long Lines forward and back

[Callers] Re: Curious about a tune - what dance would go with it? - with longish pre-amble

This tune? https://youtu.be/eVvYjXtutT0 Seems like it feels quite laid back, even if you're taking it quite quick. You'd probably want to use it as the first of a set of dances if you want to build (1 or 2 before the interval or end say). Maybe something with leading or promenading and maybe

[Callers] Re: Curious about a tune - what dance would go with it? - with longish pre-amble

When in doubt, let the band play the tunes they most want to play. This is especially true for a less experienced band. Because really, any dance works with any tune (assuming we’re not talking about some weird crooked dance or tune). Lisa Nelson, NH Lisa Sieverts 603-762-0235

[Callers] Curious about a tune - what dance would go with it? - with longish pre-amble

Hello from Halifax! I will preface this by saying that I consider myself a relatively "beginner" caller. I have been working on it for about 15 years now and I think I've become somewhat proficient at calling a very beginner-friendly sequence of dances at our monthly beginner-friendly dances

[Callers] Re: Starting to call squares at contra dances

Bill, I have been using singing squares at contra dances in southern New England for about 10 years. I must admit that many of these are the smaller dances in CT and on Cape Cod, but I have also done some at the Scout House. Generally, the singing squares are received well, especially on Cape

[Callers] Re: Starting to call squares at contra dances

Maia McCormick said: On Sat, Mar 18, 2023 at 12:21 PM Maia McCormick via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > After dancing to some of Lisa's Greenleaf's  squares at Beantown Stomp > last weekend, I'm feeling inspired to add some to my repertoire. (To be > clear, I'm

[Callers] Re: Starting to call squares at contra dances

Hard to know where to jump in here, but I am thrilled we are having this conversation. First of all, many years ago I always used to (incorrectly) quote Tony as having said "when in doubt, call Texas Star". I find that dance accessible for almost any experience level and it's pretty easy to

[Callers] Re: Starting to call squares at contra dances

A minor point, but one which seems to noticeably improve how contra dancers react to a square: After the room has achieved hands-four for the contra dance immediately before the square, but before the walk through for that dance I announce "The dance after this one will be a square." This does a