by far, the best thing i ever learned to do was to engage the couple (or party
organizers, or somebody who is known to the crowd) in the programming. if the
bride gets up and says "let's dance!", people will.
if they want to do something else (and they might!), ask them to designate some
energetic types to help you round up people.
best accidental thing i ever did - an afternoon reception with food and drink
outside. when the bride was ready, some of the musicians (those with portable
instruments) walked through the crowd, playing. people followed them back into
the hall, just like the pied piper!
don't be afraid to make things up as you go - just stay calm and go ahead and
do your job :-) i know that a lot of stuff i call at family dances and
parties comes to me on the fly, and so i just do it.
and i don't think of these gigs as "dances" - so i don't feel constrained to do
"dances", per se. esp at family dances, i'm likely to ask the kids what they'd
like to do - it's okay with me if they just wanna gallop around in time to the
music for awhile.
good luck to you!
barb
> From: hwat...@uark.edu
> To: call...@sharedweight.net
> Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:33:03 +0000
> Subject: [Callers] Calling weddings and private parties
>
> Good morning everyone.
>
> I've been calling for 15 years and to this day, the hardest dances for me to
> call are private parties, like weddings. Usually, a "soon to be wed" couple
> comes to a regular dance for the first time, has a great time, and that's
> what they want at their wedding reception. What they fail to realize is the
> atmosphere of a wedding reception is completely different than a normal
> contra dance. The focus of attendees to a contra dance is the dance. The
> attendees of a wedding reception are there to socialize and usually drink.
>
> I learned through trial and mostly errors that actual contra dances are
> rarely a good idea at such an event. The stumbling block is the contra
> progression and has caused more private dances to crash and burn than I can
> count. You don't want to spend much time teaching as the dancers will lose
> interest very quickly. So, I keep a stash of very simple proper dances,
> circles, and squares which seems to work the best. The Virginia Reel is
> always a favorite because it can become totally messed up, will still be fun,
> and is easy to recover. Even little kids can join in.
>
> Would other callers share some of their experiences and solutions for these
> types of events? What dances have you found to be the most successful? I
> thought this might be relevant because if you call dances long enough, at
> some point you will be asked to do one of these.
>
> Harold
