On community dances: When ceilidh caller Hugh Ripon visited the Bay Area in the early 2000s, I learned (and he left me a copy of) his piece of paper with his entire repertoire on it. It was the names of about 50 dances, all of which he had completely memorized, but he had the piece of paper so when he was thinking of what would be good to do do next he wouldn't forget that he knew some of these dances.
When I, fairly rarely, call community dances there's never an advance program and I only call stuff I know cold - I often have to dance in, I can't be looking at pieces of paper, nobody cares if I called the same thing last week, the band doesn't need to learn a tune. Usually when I call English I've carefully organized a program with a pleasing progression of dances whose tunes will be in a nice variety of meters and keys and take advantage of what I know about the strengths of the particular band, and shared that with the band long in advance, who have sometimes organized their music in order by the program. There I really need a copy of my planned program to be sure I get the order right whether or not I have the figures memorized - I've got notes for around 1000 English dances and I probably only have 100+150 memorized and I can't even always remember the ones I wrote. For contra with regular contra dancers where I can have some idea of what the floor's going to be like and what the band is going to be like, I'll put together a program in advance because when I just go with a dance I remember that seems like it'll fit I end up using the same 20 dances all the time, and calling mostly locally there's perceived value in changing it up. I have fully typed out notes for each dance but I've also got a cryptic abbreviation that shows figures and where they show in phrases, compactly enough to fit on a single line, so the first page of the program has enough to work from unless there's something extra wacky about the dance. I strive to get my eyes away from the program as soon as ever I can. -- Alan ________________________________________ From: Patricia Campbell via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2021 4:27 PM To: Bill Olson Cc: contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net; Susan English Subject: [Callers] Re: Paperless Calling I started out calling contras but moved entirely into Community Dance (a little of everything) and a much heavier emphasis this past year in International Folk Dance. One of the best thing Beth Molaro ever told me to do when I was at a little music camp many years ago, and I was the only one in a dance session with her, was to “lose the cards.“ I practiced a simple dance over and over that afternoon till I had it down, and called it that evening without my card, and it was the most freeing experience I had had up to that point. Since then I do write cards, and I bring them with me (ones that I think I will draw from for my program), and I may refer to them during the walk-through, but rarely need to use them when I’m calling. (I end up laying them out and deciding on the spot which one feels like the right next one to do.) Meanwhile, I would love to know of a good, simple, easy-to-use program that works on Macs/Apple products. Patricia Patricia Campbell Newtown, CT Sent from my iPhone On Jul 28, 2021, at 1:46 PM, Bill Olson via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: Hi Susan, This addresses #2, a potential BACKUP PLAN..... and also "paperless calling" in general, though not in the way you were thinking... Maybe 25-30 (sheesh maybe more!) years ago I had been calling for several years and also played in a couple dance bands and also did sound at the North Whitefield, Maine 4th Friday dance (this was Ted Sannella's dance for many years). One time the caller didn't show up and I was asked if I could call the dance. I had no cards with me but said OK and had to do it from memory. I got through the dance (barely) without having to repeat any dances (hah hah) but found the experience very "freeing" not having to look down at a card. (yeah there were a few tense moments there).. Anyway since that time I resolved never to be tied down to paper (or recently to a computer or the internet) and have always called from memory. This makes it easier to interact with the band and more importantly to be aware of what is happening with the dancers out on the floor. Before each dance I make a plan (which is rarely fully adhered to) with dances and "spares".. I go through them in my head on the way to the dance.. There have been several times, though not that many, when I had a brain fart and couldn't remember the dance and had to bail but quickly called a no-brainer one walk-thru dance.. . Before the pandemic (i.e. not calling for a year and a half) I had about 100 dances in the memory bank. Of course to keep things fresh, I would call new ones which I would study for a while before the dance. Some times they got added to the 100 some times not.. OK I understand not everyone trusts their memory like this.. BUT it's not a bad idea to have an evening's program worth of dances that you can recall from memory (or even two or three) just in case you forget your cards at a dance where there is no internet access!!.. Rick Mohr used to have (maybe still does) a business card sized card in his wallet. He developed a shorthand for annotating a dance and claimed he had 100 dances on that card (the printing was very small!).. !! Larry Unger used to carry a set of dance cards in his guitar case.. He wasn't a caller but would give them to the caller in case "something happened", so the show would go on. I.e. it's probably good to have a set of "emergency" dance cards in your wallet or car glove compartment or heck on your smart phone. But I still like being to call from memory.. Good exercise for my brain I guess.. my $.02 worth.. bill olson in Maine ________________________________ From: Susan English via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2021 4:45 PM To: contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> Subject: [Callers] Paperless Calling As I begin to travel again, I want to leave my dance cards home and access all my material virtually. I have 2 questions: 1. Which virtual method (or app) do you prefer for accessing your dance instructions and notes? 2. What is your back-up plan at a dance if you can't get on the internet? Susan [��] [☺] 330-347-8155 woosterdance.com<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwoosterdance.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7Cafddc1f019eb48b082f808d951e72047%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637630875430358334%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=%2B4sdnIaWMAt35OU9coLXXG5Ezc8SZFZBU1wGVwJ8Fjw%3D&reserved=0> _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net
