Keith wrote: > Hi all-- I'm Keith Tuxhorn, and this is my first post to this list. I'm a > caller in Austin, TX, and have been calling for about 4 1/2 years now. In > addition to calling around TX, I've called around the Midwest and Northwest, > and just got back from a weekend in CO. I've also called ECD for a year and > a half. I've been on the list for only a couple week, and already have been > given much to think about.
Hi, Keith! > My first comment is more of a question. It seems Tina was asking for dances > that would suit 7-to-10-year-old girls and their fathers, who also probably > know nothing about this dance style. Plue they're going to be worrying about > doing it right, making sure their daughter has fun... I thought 7-10 years old was Brownies, and Tina said it was a Girl Scout event, so I was thinking 11 or 12 and up. (Based really only on my having been in Webelos at 11 and then having at 12 to decide whether to go on to Boy Scouts, so I could have been way off.) If that's right - 11-years-old and up, English-speaking, having a group signal that means "shut up and pay attention" - I'd expect this to be an easier crowd than some. I haven't in fact called a father-daughter Girl Scout dance. Alan, your suggestions > seem quite advanced for the target audience. I've only called a couple > ONS's, to college age and older, and observe they have the most success, and > the most fun, when they don't have to worry about position changes and > direction changes. The dances stay simple, but the dancers have loads of > fun, because they get it quickly. > A couple of moves you include, I wouldn't think about calling for college > beginners until I see they've mastered 4-5 simpler dances. For what Tina > wants, well, I'd be real hesitant... So, my question is, have you called > these dances for children, with inexperienced adults, and how successful > were they? I know kids can sometimes learn faster than adults, but am > wondering what ends up being too much...? Is anyone here learned in > behavioral/growth studies that might tell us what a kid can "spatially" do > at a certain age? I've never called to a crowd with this age/skill > concentration, so whatever enlightenment you can give. I've called these dances for teens, inexperienced (and sometimes drunken) adults, and randomly assorted people at weddings and other celebrations. And Soldier's Joy works very well at Fezziwig's dance party at Dickens Faire, with 100 patrons (some previously dancers, some not, lots of parent-with-child pairs). Here are the two significant problems I've had with these dances: - At the 200+ person barn dance at Pie Ranch, my mic gave out while I was teaching ladies chain. [I sweat a lot, and apparently I managed to sweat enouh to short something out in the battery pack/transmitter unit, so changing the batteries didn't do anything. Maybe I should start keeping that in a baggie.] The very mixed crowd (parents with children, groups of teens, parents by themselves, etc) who had done fine with Haste to the Wedding, Blobs, Spanish Waltz, Cumberland Square, Three Meet variations - never really quite got Ladies Chain over and back, and the dance was something of a mess, although people seemed to enjoy it pretty well. (Even if sets were all finishing at different times, the ones who finished earlier would wait and start the next round when people got to them.] This has worked for me when I've been audible. - Haste to the Wedding failed at a wedding dance at Ardenwood Historic Farm because (a) we were doing a Victorian dance because it was the bride's dream to do that and she was under the impression that the whole wedding party was behind it; they were just humoring her and didn't really want to dance, but the dance was going okay until (b) the bride's Victorian wedding dress, much heavier than she expected, actually stretched until it was too long and she tripped over it, after which she was sidelined and nobody had any more interest in dancing, including even uncalled waltzes. Other than that, great success records. -- Alan
