I'm sending along my modified guidelines for the New England Folk Festival medleys, which are comprised of 6 dances done 6 times through each (the last is done either 5 or 7). The 21 minute medley was originated at Neffa by caller Susan Elberger.
--Lisa Greenleaf Neffa Contra Medley reminders 1. You need to have 6 callers, one for each dance. We’ve found that it’s best to have 3 women and 3 men alternating, so that there is good vocal distinction between callers. The callers need to be competent in this format. In years past, some callers have frozen or have not worked out their word choices to fit the format. You can have only 3 or 4 callers if you space them in such a way that each dance is called by a 'distinctly difernt voice. 2. If you are choreographing as a group, remember to strive for flow from one dance to the next. It’s OK to give the last round of one of the dances a different ending so that it can go into the next dance (ie you can manipulate the last round so you can go from proper to improper or improper to Becket), but please do this gimmick only once in the medley. There are no walk throughs, so complex sequences are not appropriate. Just the fact that the medley is a half hour of non-stop dancing is a thrill for most folks, although they do enjoy mastering the transitions from one dance to the other. 3. Send a draft of the medley to your callers and any advisors. Once you receive approval on your sequences, send out the medley to your callers. Ask them which dances they would feel comfortable calling. 4. Assign dances to the callers. Remind callers of the no-walk thru format and advise them to writeout their cues ahead of time, paying attention to timing. The first time through the dance the calls must come extra early! 5. Consult with your band leader for tune selection. The band will play a total of 6 tunes, each 6 times through (the last dance is either 5 or 7 times). it can often be effective to mix jigs and reels, but this depends on the dances and on the band. In general, you do want to work towards a climax by the last dance. However, bands need to be aware that when they change tunes, the dancers really have to be able to hear the caller, so this is not the time for the horn or drum section (!) to play loudly. There may be time for a waltz, so make sure the band is ready for it; it will probably be very short. 6. Make sure your performers know where to meet you and at what time. Have extra copies of the medley available. 7. Talk with the sound man before you go on. It may be helpful to list the callers in order of appearance and make notes about soft voices. Our sound guys have done this before, so they're usually prepared, but it never hurts to check. 8. As the sets are forming, remind the dancers that the session is rated X for expereinced, the dances will not be taught and that they will keep the same partner for the next 23 minutes or so. Each dance will be called 6 times and the 6th time they will hear a new voice, which is the cue to pay attention as the next sequence will be a new dance. Encourage them to move down and get in the correct formation (hands 4, 1s crossed over, eg). Most dancers are familiar with the medley, so there is no need for lengthy explanations. It’s a nice idea to introduce the band and the callers, or you may do this afterward. 9. Designate a counter and band cuer to keep track of how many times through each dance (usually it’s the last caller who does this). A notebook with flip pages with numbers 1-6 is very helpful; put the 6th page and number on a different color as a visual cue for the band. Lisa
