[Callers] Re: Cures for the Claps?

gt;John > > > > John Sweeney, Dancer, England > > > > *From:* Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers < > contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> > > A kind of "clapping" I like a lot on Rory O'Mores is when you balance > right and left, slide rig

[Callers] Re: Cures for the Claps?

A kind of "clapping" I like a lot on Rory O'Mores is when you balance right and left, slide right, and then on beats "7" and "8" you percussively (but without so much force that you hurt anyone!) connect hands in the new wave with first your left hand and then your right. And the left/right

[Callers] Re: Cures for the Claps?

As a musician I'm generally pretty positive on clapping, noisy balances, whoops, and other noises from the hall -- it communicates that the dancers are having fun and feeling the music! Jeff On Wed, May 22, 2024 at 2:35 PM Mac Mckeever via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

unities. A robin whose arm is longer than their >>>>> lark's arm can also reach over or around the shoulder in a ballroom hold >>>>> (robin's arm on top) to add support. Just don't push down on the >>>>> shoulder. >>>>> >>>&g

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

t;> calculated for a 300lb mass, but you shouldn't do that doubling. I'm >>> exerting enough force to provide your centripetal force and vice versa. >>> Those forces oppose one another, but they don't add up. That is a factor of >>> two error. >>> &g

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

about one foot radius and 45 rpm and read upthread > more. > > On Wed, Mar 27, 2024, 12:25 Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers < > contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > >> I was curious about John's "The shoulder-blade connection is purely to >> counteract

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

e's 1981 in Belmont MA, but it's an hour and I'm going to bed: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTVkWcehZo > > Jeff > > On Tue, Mar 26, 2024 at 4:33 PM Stein, Robert wrote: > >> The 1964 film with Dudley Kaufman calling also shows the same variety of >> swinging st

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

ging styles from ballroom to various barrel holds. > Bob > > > On Mar 26, 2024, at 16:13, Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers < > contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > > > Looking through old media to figure out what swing positions were common > sounds like

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

;>> >>>>> I like your point about the sort of code-switching that the asymmetry >>>>> of a ballroom hold provides to reinforce what role one is dancing. >>>>> >>>>> Joe, >>>>> >>>>> I don't understand what

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

Hi John, I think people may be using two different things by "support" here? Julian and I, along with a few others in this conversation, are using "support" to mean a horizontal force, providing a counterbalancing force to resist the centrifugal force that would otherwise send the two people off

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

"At the time, it almost never happened that the one in the lady's role actually swung like a lady. I'm not sure when that became the norm." When I started dancing both roles, around 2005, I remember initially doing it as you said, with gender-neutral swings with the gents I encountered. I

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

There may also have been issues > of alternating stepping forward and backward. > > -- Alan > > > From: Jeff Kaufman > Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2024 4:36 PM > To: Winston, Alan P. > Cc: Katherine Kitching; Jeff Kaufman via

[Callers] Re: Modified ballroom swing position: seeking more conversation and info

so that the pointy-end side is farther apart helps by increasing > clearance on the blunt-end side where the boob contact is happening because > it brings you closer to square-on, reducing the arm-boob a > ttack surface. > > -- Alan (hoping this doesn't completely come across as mansplaining) > > ___

[Callers] Re: "Assigning" roles in the beginners' lesson?

"I'm not sure where the notion of male/female couples being 'traditional' came from" I'm very much in favor of anyone being able to dance any role, have been separated from the person I asked to dance because there weren't "enough men to go around", dance both roles a similar amount, and think

[Callers] Re: preference for dancing with opposite gender?

"The whole point of moving away from Proper to First Couples Improper or Becket was that you then had people of the opposite gender on both sides of you in your minor set, so that all Neighbour and Partner interactions were with the opposite gender" That's one advantage for some people, but

[Callers] Re: Most-Easiest Duple Minors in existence

To confirm, is this the timing we're talking about? (8) Long lines forward and back (2) Walk forward (4) Balance (2) Pass through, turn single Jeff On Wed, Sep 27, 2023 at 9:45 AM Katherine Kitching via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > haha I was unsure it would

[Callers] Re: Dance Tempos

I've played in three different FL venues, and all were strongly air conditioned -- one was the coldest I've ever been while playing ;) Looking at trycontra , it looks to me like all seven active contra dances in FL are in air conditioned halls. On the other hand, in

[Callers] Re: Canadian border and U.S. callers

But don't make the mistake we did of trying to cross at a tiny border crossing. If you're going in commercially they're likely to send you (as they did us) to a larger crossing. (Back when you could do Burlington-Ottawa-Montreal in a weekend we were driving to Ottawa. Blindly following GPS

[Callers] Re: Dance Tempos

For me: 116-120: normal, hard to go wrong 110-122: usually fine, depending a bit on the dance and crowd 104-126: possible with the right dance and crowd, but on the edge of undanceable <104, >126: almost never a good idea Younger or more athletic crowds generally do better with another couple

[Callers] Re: New Terminology Question

I'll bite that bullet: callers generally shouldn't be calling a dolphin hey at a regular evening dance. Jeff On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 10:14 AM Dale Wilson via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > > On Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 3:11 AM Michael Fuerst via Contra Callers < >

[Callers] Re: New Terminology Question

Our community typically says "facing star": https://www.bidadance.org/caller-welcome On Wed, Sep 13, 2023, 9:58 PM Helle Hill via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > With all the changes to the "old" terminology, I am wondering what a > "Gypsy Star" is now called. > >

[Callers] Re: Ear protection that works for callers?

I've been happy with the Etymotic ER20: https://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-High-Fidelity-Earplugs-Standard/dp/B00G0PPTAK/ Jeff On Sun, Sep 10, 2023 at 3:32 PM Seth Seeger via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > I have been using these: > >

[Callers] Re: Dances with balancing waves forward and backward?

Not specific dances, but with waves you generally balance in the direction you're going to move and then the opposite direction. So any dance that has a balance followed by everyone walking forward should be a forward and back wave balance. Jeff On Thu, Jun 29, 2023, 10:37 PM Ric Goldman -

[Callers] Re: Another difficult tune

On tempo, I think you could play that Sat at the speed on the recording, but it's at the low end of danceable. If, with the tunes having so many notes, your band is actually playing more like 105 instead of 110, I could see it being hard to dance to? Jeff On Sat, May 13, 2023, 1:41 PM Ben Werner

[Callers] Putting a square in a contra medley

*"if we had more time we'd throw in a square"* The contra dance medley at NEFFA is normally six dances, each six times through (well, the last one is five or seven). I was thinking about what you'd need to do if you actually

[Callers] Re: Advanced dances gone awry

Hi Maia, On your (2), I know it sounds really unfriendly, but I would actually advocate kicking people out. With an advanced dance the publicity should be clear about what level of skill is expected, and if someone isn't able to do that the organizers should refund them and ask them to leave. For

[Callers] Re: Dances that go to swing dance tunes

Hi Laurie, Any chance you could share the tune or a recording? "Jazz" is a very wide genre, and giving advice for matching dances to jazz is sort of like giving advice to matching dances to "fiddle music". Jeff On Fri, Apr 14, 2023 at 1:58 PM Charles Abell via Contra Callers <

[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: Asking For Website Help and Self-Promotion Question

I think part of what makes this tricky is that while with the music organizers (and dancers) put a lot of value on upside (new, interesting, exciting, variety) with calling they mostly value avoiding downside (reliable, solid, good judgement, few mistakes, great recovery). So it looks to me like

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

On Thu, Mar 16, 2023 at 11:51 AM Julian Blechner via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > we don't have big dance weekends like pretty much everywhere else in the > country. > Beantown Stomp ? Jeff

[Callers] Re: Gentlespoons/Ladles (from Rompin' Stompin')

> >>> On Wed, Feb 8, 2023, 2:29 PM Tony Parkes via Contra Callers > >>> wrote: > >>>> > >>>> I believe it’s in Myrtle Wilhite’s Lullaby of the Swing and other > contra > >>>> dances, tunes, waltzes, and essays (Madison, WI, 1993). I

[Callers] Re: Gentlespoons/Ladles (from Rompin' Stompin')

Unfortunately Jets/Rubies sounds gendered to a lot of people: while "Jet" is a jemstone, it's also an engine, a plane, sports team, and a fictional gang, all more male-ish than female-ish. And "Ruby" is a commonish female name and gemstones are more associated with women than men. There's also a

[Callers] Re: [External] Re: Gentlespoons/Ladles (from Rompin' Stompin')

h your squares. Are these dances and their poetry part of our tradition, > or are they dinosaurs? Could they be called with a disclaimer? > > Jill Allen > Lawrence, KS > > > > On Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 8:17 AM Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers < > contracallers@lists.sh

[Callers] Re: Gentlespoons/Ladles (from Rompin' Stompin')

nosaurs? Could they be called with a disclaimer? > > Jill Allen > Lawrence, KS > > > > On Fri, Feb 10, 2023 at 8:17 AM Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers < > contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > >> I went looking for Myrtle Wilhite's "Lullaby of t

[Callers] Re: Gentlespoons/Ladles (from Rompin' Stompin')

I went looking for Myrtle Wilhite's "Lullaby of the swing: And other contra dances, tunes, waltzes, and essays" so I could read her "I am not a lady" essay, and found an archived Geocities page "last updated Mon Jul 14 1997 by William J.

[Callers] Re: Gentlespoons/Ladles (from Rompin' Stompin')

, but I do believe I remember a > time > >>> when at least some callers were making it explicitly clear that the > terms > >>> Gents and Ladies referred to roles, and anybody could dance either > role. > >>> > >>> Jacob > >>> > >>>

[Callers] Re: Gentlespoons/Ladles (from Rompin' Stompin')

Aside: does anyone have a copy of the "I am not a lady" essay? I'd be interested to read it. Jeff On Wed, Feb 8, 2023 at 9:54 AM Tony Parkes via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Joe Harrington wrote: > > > > *> *When I started dancing in the late 1980s… Callers

[Callers] Re: Gentlespoons/Ladles (from Rompin' Stompin')

"Callers were taking the revolutionary step of not calling "men" and "women" but rather using "ladies" and "gents", to signal that switching roles was ok" That sounds really surprising to me: * Ladies/Gents is much older than the 1980s. For example, here's Walter's site with recordings of Duke

[Callers] Re: ChatGBT

I played with it some as well, and tried to figure out how much it understood: https://www.jefftk.com/p/can-gpt-3-write-contra-dances When given an example contra dance it generated new ones with real terms, correctly divided it into A1/A2/B1/B2, and kept 16 beats to the section. But it didn't

[Callers] Re: mechanical sorting systems

This is more geeking than actually useful, but the hole-sorting system you're describing is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card You could buy spiral-bound index cards and remove the spiral: https://www.staples.com/oxford-spiral-index-cards-3-x-5-50-cards-white-40282/product_26031 This

[Callers] Re: How to have the beginners choose roles

"during the average contra evening, you will spend approximately 30 minutes swinging" Tangent: I thought "that can't be right" but a little playing with numbers and I think it is. My back of the envelope: guess ~12 dances, each ~17 times through, with ~20 beats of swinging per dance. That's 4k

[Callers] Re: Short contra lines

Like Chris, I'm also confused about how this helps with low dancer numbers. I also don't see how 4x4 or 3x3 help, since if you only have enough people for a single line those formations mean more people are out? Jeff On Tue, Oct 25, 2022, 7:01 AM Mary Collins via Contra Callers <

[Callers] Re: Alternative Name for Dixie Twirl

Does this figure actually need a name? It's rare enough that I would just describe what the dancers do, and prompt it with a shortened version of those words ("make an arch, come back up" or something) Jeff On Fri, Jul 8, 2022 at 9:35 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <

[Callers] Re: Need help fitting to a tune

r describes as > "measure number one." The time signature isn't shown, but from the beaming > of the notes, I'd infer that it's 4/4. In any case, each "measure" of music > in the tablature includes what contra dance writers and callers would > typically refer to

[Callers] Re: Need help fitting to a tune

any case, each "measure" of music in the > tablature includes what contra dance writers and callers would typically > refer to as "four beats" or "four counts" or "two measures" or "two bars" > of music. > > --Jim > > > On M

[Callers] Re: Need help fitting to a tune

Here's a common version of Beaumont Rag that's square and well phrased: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FTuWotf7TQ Jeff On Mon, May 2, 2022 at 1:09 AM Roger Diggle via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Beaumont Rag is a tune that is incredibly versionated.

[Callers] Re: Need help fitting to a tune

Hi Laurie, If your experience is that their Beaumont Rag set doesn't work for dancing, then you can let them know you don't want them to play it with you. Ideally in advance before your next gig with them so they can work up something else. On the other hand, this may be fixable. I've played

[Callers] Re: dances resuming

Thanks! I've added Huntsville to the list. On Thu, Nov 11, 2021 at 10:24 PM Jane Ewing via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > NACDS - North Alabama Country Dance Society in Huntsville, Al see > Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/5561454053 > > Starting with a

[Callers] Re: Does anybody know of active vaccinated-only, in-person contra dances?

I've updated https://trycontra.com with what I believe is a full list of dances that have resumed: https://trycontra.com/list It looks like there are about 26 now. Jeff On Fri, Nov 5, 2021 at 4:19 PM Jeff Kaufman wrote: > The first Massachusetts dance to be starting up in person indoors is

[Callers] Re: Does anybody know of active vaccinated-only, in-person contra dances?

ig factor in > reducing transmission, assuming people don't have slipping and loose masks > or bandanas. > > Ron Blechner > > > On Fri, Nov 5, 2021, 4:19 PM Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers < > contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > >> The first Massac

[Callers] Re: Does anybody know of active vaccinated-only, in-person contra dances?

The first Massachusetts dance to be starting up in person indoors is the Worcester dance: https://www.worcesterdance.org/. They list: "Documented proof of either full vaccination or a negative COVID test. The COVID test must be taken no more than three days prior to the dance. Photos of either

[Callers] Re: Browser app: ContraCalls.appspot.com

Hi Brian, I'm curious how well this works in practice; doesn't it need to be closely synced to the dance tempo to avoid the calls getting off the music? It looks like it defaults to 128bpm, which is a good bit higher than I'd expect at most dances. I wonder if 120bpm might be a better default

[Callers] Re: First composition! Has it been written?

FWIW it's a lot easier to pick and play music for a dance that is "repeated balances in the A, smooth in the B" than "repeated balances at the beginning of the A and end of the B". On Tue, Mar 3, 2020 at 1:12 PM Chet Gray via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > I

[Callers] Re: actual timing of calls for hey for four

I wrote more about my experience with dropping out: https://www.jefftk.com/p/lessons-from-dropping-out On Tue, Mar 3, 2020 at 9:13 AM Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers < contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > "We do do a lot of talking at our dances, with so many beginners

[Callers] Re: actual timing of calls for hey for four

eft > > Robins Loop Left Larks pass Right > > Robins pass Larks by Left Larks pass Robins by left > > Robins pass Right Larks Loop Left > > Robins pass Larks by Left Larks pass Robins by left > > Robins Loop Left

[Callers] Re: actual timing of calls for hey for four

I don't think there's anything special about they hey: always cue things so that they start on the beat after you finish speaking. You might find "ravens left" etc works better than "ravens pass left", being shorter. Otherwise it's hard to get all the words out. Jeff On Fri, Feb 28, 2020 at

[Callers] Re: Terms for modern electronic/beat-heavy music

I think a lot of these terms are used in a range of ways, and there isn't a short thing you can put on a flyer that will let people know what to expect. If you have many events people can learn what they're like: people who come to one of Lisa Greenleaf's Alternative Music Contras, Emily Rush's