On Sep 4, 2012, at 8:45 AM, Maia McCormick wrote:
I'm curious how you all put together programs when calling for a
group of complete beginners.
and in Sep 4, 2012, at 9:19 AM, Janet Bertog suggested
I would start with a basic
dance that has at least a partner and neighbor swing in it. Getting
them
into the swing early and with different people is going to give them
more of
an opportunity to learn it and practice it and people like to swing,
so get
it in there early. From there I like to start my dances with
Dancing Spell
by Cary Ravitz because it has most of the basic moves in it.
For reference, here's the description of "Dancing Spell" from
Cary Ravitz's web site:
Dancing Spell Cary Ravitz 9-1998
Improper contra
Easy
A1 - Neighbors balance and swing (16).
A2 - Circle left (8).
- Hands across star left (8).
B1 - Men allemande left 1+1/2 (8).
- Partners swing (8).
B2 - Right and left through across (8).
- Ladies chain across (8).
When Maia says "a group of complete beginners," I assume she
means a group where almost nobody present has previous contra
dance experience.
Janet (or anyone else reading this), have you actually called
for such groups and been successful using a something like
"Dancing Spell" as the second dance? I can see it being
fine as the second dance at a regular contra series with 80%
to 90% experienced dancers and 10% to 20% absolute beginners,
but that's not what I'm asking about, and not what I thought
Maia was asking about.
--Jim
