Jack, Parker, and All;
Actually, Jack, you post wasn't too long, but full of excellent advice.
One additional comment; when switching dances, it helps to call a couple of
beats earlier than usual, on the 3's instead of the 5's. You can do this by
either starting sooner, or adding leading patter, such as "face across, and
circle to the L" instead of "circle to the L." Dancers will know a change is
happening, and may be apprehensive about the next call, so early calls will put
them more at ease. Raising your volume a bit or changing your tone of voice
also helps. After the first time through a new dance, you can return to normal
timing and voice.
For those contra callers thinking about calling squares, calling some medleys
is a good intermediate step. A three dance medley will require changing the
calls twice, whereas in a square at least some of the calls will change every
time through. As Jack mentioned, sometimes in a medley you have to think on
your feet, which is another skill needed in squares.
Bob
> Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:28:54 -0400> To: call...@sharedweight.net> From:
> jamit...@mindspring.com> Subject: Re: [Callers] 2 questions> > Ok. I'll jump
> in on the medley question.> > My guidelines for medleys are> > 0) Before
> anything else, are you comfortable calling all of the > dances you're going
> to use in the medley as no walk thrus? Have you > done so before? That might
> be a good place to start.> 1) Contrasting first moves -- this makes it easier
> to get folks > attention at the top of the dance -- if your first dance
> starts with > DoSiDo, then the second one could start with a Balance and
> Swing (or > allemande R, or something else)> 2) Make sure that all of the
> moves needed for the dance are known by > the dancers -- better still, make
> sure that you've actually used them > (and seen that they went with no
> trouble) yourself earlier in the > evening. I've had times that I've put a
> medley together, looked at > it and realized that the medley had a right and
> left thru, and that > I'd made it through the entire dance without using a
> R&L Thru -- I > quickly changed dances for the medley> 3) Make sure that the
> progressions work together. While it is > possible to do a medley where you
> go from becket to improper or vice > versa, I wouldn't recommend trying it
> until you're comfortable with > medleys. Make sure that folks don't have to
> use the same hand twice > in a row to make the progression (ie Right Hand
> Star to end one dance > and allemande R to start the next> 4) You may get the
> medley started and realize that 30 new dancers > just got off the bus and
> that if you change dances when planned the > whole thing is going to fall
> apart. If so, there's nothing wrong > with just deciding to keep the same
> dance for the rest of the > set. Let the band know, and then let it go. The
> dancers probably > won't even notice.> 5) You can also do a medley where the
> first dance is slightly more > complicated. Walk it through, dance, switch to
> another nice simple > dance, and then switch back to the first dance to
> finish.> > As far as the band goes> > 1) Give them a heads up that you want
> to do a medley.> 2) Let them know that you'll cue the changes from tune to
> tune -- > discuss how many time through for each tune -- you'll want an even
> > number for the first two dances, and an odd number for the last > one. That
> way everyone's in for each new dance, and then it ends > with everyone in. ie
> 4-4-5> 3) Don't do a medley as the last dance of the evening. Your band >
> will thank you. The last dance of the evening, they want to pull out > the
> stops and play some rip roaring tunes, and it's hard to do that > if the
> caller's calling the whole time. Better to do it earlier in > the evening --
> maybe first dance after the break or last before, > depending on the group.>
> > Example of a 2 dance medley I've used. The transition from > Delphiniums to
> Nice Combination isn't quite as good as I'd like, but > it works ok --
> allemande R into B&S works ok, but not as well as I'd > like. Anyone else
> have any other favorite medleys?> > Hey in the Barn> A1 N B&S> A2 L Chain>
> 1/2 Hey> B1 P B&S> L Chain> 1/2 Hey> > Delphiniums and Dasies> A1 N All L
> 1.5> L Chain> A2 Hey> B1 P B&S> B2 CL 3/4> N Allemande R 1.5> > Nice
> Combination> > A1 N B&S> A2 Down the Hall> Turn as a couple, come back> B1 CL
> 3/4> P Sw> B2 L Chain> LHS 1x> > > This has gotten longer than planned, but I
> hope it helps!> > Jack> > > > At 03:52 PM 4/30/2008, you wrote:> >2. I'm at
> the point where I want to try calling a dance medley. Any > >thoughts on good
> combinations to start with? What coordination do > >you do with the band
> ahead of time?> >> >Thanks.> >> >-Parker>
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