Moondance (this coming weekend) was just cancelled. They posted the
message below on Facebook.
Please be patient for news. Even dancers who have power may not be able to
get internet nor to learn what's going on in the dance venues for some
time. Many have much bigger concerns than dancing righ
Orlando was unaffected. Both of Tampa's venues had their floors flooded.
They held a work party this weekend but I have not heard a report back
since then.
--jh--
On Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 3:44 PM Robert Matson via Contra Callers <
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Many people in our
Chorus Jig is both a dance and a tune written for that dance, but you can
dance it to any tune. Note that it's a proper dance, so you really need to
either have short lines or call it a long time to get everyone active. At
NEFFA they make short lines stacked end-to-end for a session of chestnuts,
Seems the edge of memory here so far is around 1990. Does anyone have
access to a photo or video archive from before, say at the CDSS?
—jh—
On Wed, Sep 11, 2024 at 7:25 PM Bob Hofkin via Contra Callers <
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> On 09/11/2024 15:11, Louise Siddons via Cont
I’ll interpret the question to extend to dresses. When I was first learning
in 1987-1995 I danced in Cambridge, MA. There was one guy who mostly danced
the left role but was flexible about it, and wore a gauzy white dress to
every dance. There were others but none as consistent. At festivals and
sp
Also, for the final move I wrote:
Promenade across the set, as a couple turn right, on to the next
It might otherwise be called like a courtesy turn, and they'd need to slide
past their current neighbors to (reverse) progress at all. Or, you could
call, Robins, courtesy turn your Larks, which sh
Some searching by moves in The Caller's Box turned up nothing like A Pillar
of Weathersfield except possibly some dances that don't allow viewing the
moves. I'm going with you wrote it until told otherwise. Is it Naomi
Morse? I want to attribute it properly in my notes.
--jh--
On Sun, Sep 8,
Lots of discussion here and in the prior thread on how long to run if you
have a lot of dancers. For those dealing with small numbers, say at the
end of a night. Calling 15 times through means the same people are dancing
the same dance with each other over and over. My rule of thumb for the max
a
Is Bob Isaacs in the house? He has a giant spreadsheet with every possible
move transition and a count of the number of times it occurs in a set of
dances that now numbers in the hundreds or maybe a lot more. It’s
interesting which unlikely combinations do occur and which rarely do. I
hope this
another figure with those variables that happens at a regular
> dance.
>
> Change the people involved in any swing unexpectedly, and you’re
> exponentially more likely to get an unexpected result.
>
> Neal Schlein
> Librarian, MSLIS
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 4:49 PM Joe
go analogy has any unintended bad
> consequences.
> - Joe, can you elaborate on "how to make a butterfly whirl... [not] a
> backward, stumbling mess"? I think that's something my dance community
> could work on as a whole :)
>
> Abbie
> she/her
> Tucson, AZ
>
Is it really any more disorienting to have a shadow change in a dance with
a shadow swing vs., say, an allemande or another move?
--jh--
On Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 6:08 PM Joseph Erhard-Hudson via Contra Callers <
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Re: partners swapping during shadow
How to offer, follow, or refuse an underarm twirl.
(Related) The medical reason (adhesive capsulitis) never to force someone's
elbow above their shoulder (nor, really, to force anything at all, but this
explanation has very high convincing power).
Never grab. Hand positions for allemandes, box/swa
Solid B. As a dancer I love them. They happen so rarely that they’re a
treat. Are there really all that many people I actively DON’T want a swing
with? No.
Sure, I enjoy swinging with some more than others. But, I probably do 50x
as many “service dances” (as in, no, I didn’t really want to dance w
Middle school is all about learning emotional management. Dancing is about
community and the joy of being and moving together. I’d prioritize the joy
over the movement and even the together.
Find out as much as you can in advance from parents, staff, or the kids
themselves. How able are they? Have
Interesting!
Sorry to nitpick, but how did the B2 go? It appears there are 12 counts in
the first half of B2 (allemande 1 1/2 = 12 counts). Are you encouraging
them just to cheat in the extra beats by doing the allemandes faster? Did
that create the scrambles?
--jh--
On Wed, May 22, 2024 at
Angela, this is brilliant!
--jh--
On Wed, May 15, 2024 at 2:26 PM Angela DeCarlis via Contra Callers <
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Love the title, Joseph!!! I wrote a dance in 2016 with similar celestial
> themes and figures for my friend and longtime contra, ECD, and waltz d
And, sorry, that should have been...
--jh--
Joe Harrington
Contra dance caller and DJ
Organizer, Orlando Contra Dance
orlandocontra.org
FB: Orlando Contra Dance Community
Ig: orlandocontradance
contradancer...@gmail.com
On Wed, May 8, 2024 at 7:06 PM Joe Harrington
wrote:
> I've given a lot of
I've given a lot of thought to obituary dances recently, as we've had so
many...Kim, Christine, now Tony...and, well, we're a graying community
(though Christine proved you don't have to be to leave this earth). Many
of us have danced a silent contra in memory at dance camps with a certain
caller.
each of which had force sensors in all 3
>>> axes (plus a rotational sensor) does anyone know how much such an apparatus
>>> would cost to build?
>>>
>>> Now that I think about 3 axis force sensors, i wonder if there's much
>>> lateral or verti
ould cost to build?
>
> Now that I think about 3 axis force sensors, i wonder if there's much
> lateral or vertical force in the connection point and whether I'd there is
> that feels bad in some natural way.
>
> On Sat, Mar 30, 2024, 13:37 Joe Harrington via Contra Calle
st end on whichever side my arm position tells me to 😅.
>>>>
>>>> I enjoy neutral swings, but if we're not planning on switching roles
>>>> without warning through an individual dance, I tend to stick with the
>>>> traditional ballroom figu
actually swung like a lady. I'm not sure when that became the norm."
>>>
>>> When I started dancing both roles, around 2005, I remember initially
>>> doing it as you said, with gender-neutral swings with the gents I
>>> encountered. I remember being surp
I love the barrel hold, but some of my partners have reacted in a way that
indicated it was too intimate for them. This is especially true if I have
to lean over to do it, as that puts my face pretty close to theirs (I'm
pretty tall). It's also difficult to do without frontal contact if one or
bo
My dance (Orlando) gets around 20-25 people, maybe 1/3 - 1/2 new each
week. Also, around 2/3 are women. So, it isn't possible for us to dance
without a bunch of role swapping. Even though I have them partner up in the
workshop using a scatter mixer, so there is plenty of same-gender
partnering ev
What’s the range you can access manually?
—jh—
On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 4:12 AM Robert Matson via Contra Callers <
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> The unit has a display which shows the frequencies being used by the
> microphones. The display shows that our mics are using:
> 517.6
I'm using a nice little wireless thing I bought for like $50. Sound quality
is great...except when it isn't. After working fine for a while, the sound
gets dirty and then has dropouts until you power-cycle the headset. It has
USB-charged batteries.
Does your unit have any trouble like that? How
My spouse is an ASL interpreter and long-time contra and swing dancer, so
what follows are my thoughts informed by her experience.
I'm less concerned about deafness than the mobility and coordination issues
we get all the time. Given that several deaf dancers have been on Dancing
with the Stars an
Thanks for this thread! My group is tired of me bailing out to a small
collection of trivial contras (Airpants, Midwest Folklore...).
How about the easiest dance *that experienced dancers don't mind dancing*?
I have always disliked the "full washing machine" of circle left, circle
right, star rig
Complexity Swing by Roni Wiener, anyone?
https://www.sundragonrising.com/contra.html#Complexity_Swing
--jh--
On Tue, Sep 26, 2023 at 3:51 PM Neal Schlein via Contra Callers <
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi Tony,
> I apologize for getting the attribution wrong – – I couldn’t
The Tempo Question...enough to start religious wars, so please let's tread
lightly in replies! There are regional/style, complexity, and agility
components. Dances in the northeastern US, simple dances called to
non-beginners, and dances with more agile dancers tend to go faster.
These are tendenc
gt; I would release any idea that wedding guests will have any interest in
> dancing beyond this event. Keep things VERY simple. You can do an hour with
> dances containing only allemandes, do-si-dos, circles and promenades. Maybe
> a modified swing/2-hand turn.
>
> On Mon, Jul
Any advice for calling weddings? I've been asked to call my first one and I
don't see a lot of wedding-specific advice online. What do you ask them in
advance, how do you approach it, what are good dances to call?
I'm assuming that a workshop is impractical, so it's barn dances and maybe
working u
Well, there's always this one...
https://contradb.com/dances/355
I know, someone is going to say they are sensitive about height. It's a
contra mixer nonetheless. When it stops mixing, it's over.
I actually start all my workshops with Accretion Reel (Chris Page), because
the "scatter and find
> (A search for the words, enclosed in quotes, revealed the source)
I'm sure anyone curious did the same. Was it really relevant or beneficial
to the discussion to name them publicly? I appreciate it when dances post
their internal documents so I can study them, as a new organizer of a new
dance
I was surprised to discover, like maybe two decades ago, that the caller
guidelines for a certain very well known dance requested: "A good amount of
neighbor interaction, especially early in the evening. The dancers prefer
no more than two dances without neighbor swings." Those words are still
the
In the original choreo, for symmetry and styling, I'm looking for something
other than just walking by your neighbor. You could:
chain with your neighbor to your partner - why not, you just did a
mixed-role CC!
allemande-right halfway, which is just a high-five or a high-hands chain,
but that se
Flurry, NEFFA, Falcon Ridge? Pinewoods weeks? Peterborough Snowball isn't
a weekend, but has as much dancing as one.
But, Julian is right that many dances in New England don't have their own
weekend. Many of the larger dances elsewhere have one or even more
weekend-long events a year, which dra
These days it's smart to have them sign a waiver (there are occasional
lawsuits; they're not well publicized). You can get what you need in a
waiver and it's common to do that (e.g., at conferences). My waiver is
very short and says three things in plain English (paraphrasing, as a
lawyer has not
I've been calling less than a year, so I'm still learning. One problem I
have is that, when looking at a written-out dance, I'm consistently
underestimating the difficulty for newbies. My group is about 50% newbies
every week, and it isn't large, usually about 20 dancers at peak. Last
week, I tho
Back to the terms, I wanted to relate an experiment I did with the terms,
because I found something different from what I was told I would find. I'm
not advocating a re-opening of the terms can of worms, but I think the
experiment sheds some light on why we think as we do about the terms, and
on h
Bob Isaacs calls a contra dance with a fun chase figure at the end of some
longer multisession gigs. The ones chase around the twos with the first
going around both twos and the second going around one, reversing the order
of the ones on the return leg of the chase. They do this twice in 16 beats
(
Newbie question: Why is it called a "Sicilian" circle?
While certain dances came from long ago with that label, wouldn't many/most
contras work, as long as the circle isn't too small and the 1s and 2s are
comparably active?
--jh--
On Sat, Feb 4, 2023 at 4:39 PM Amy Cann via Contra Callers <
con
, and it will gain their
>>> respect. Hollering will do the opposite.
>>>
>>> I think a demonstration of contra dance on campus might be helpful. Do
>>> it in a public area, invite other clubs/groups to come watch. You wouldn't
>>> need to do
sually something callers like to avoid.
> What about throwing in some circle mixers to learn terminology, only
> remove the progression and dance it as a keeper? Or throw in some whole-set
> dances like you get at community dances, which often don't progress the way
> contras do.
>
&
[I don't know why, but the top paragraph and a half of my message somehow
came through white on white in both my email readers, so I'm resending,]
We had an interesting and challenging situation come up at Contra Knights,
the UCF student contra club, last night. I’m interested in your thoughts
and
We had an interesting and challenging situation come up at Contra Knights,
the UCF student contra club, last night. I’m interested in your thoughts
and advice, in case it has come up before, which it must have. I’m going to
relate it as I perceived it, though someone more perceptive might have made
down the center four-in-line.
>>
>> The progression type is centered on the top edge.
>>
>> If I fan them correctly, I can check everything at once.
>>
>> Dances I do a lot are tattered.
>> Dances I do rarely are more pristine.
>>
>> "Roll In
The short version of this post is, how should I organize my dances? But,
I'm sure if I ask that, the thread will have 100 replies and lots of
confusion. My search of the list archives and web were surprisingly spotty
on this question, with lots of anecdotes and no summary or comparison. And
I'm
Is it a coincidence that the move to more swings and the disappearance of
contra corners happened simultaneously? Did we replace the energy of
corners with that of swings? While I find swinging more fun than corners
for a single instance, doing just one or the other isn't as good as doing
both in a
I do #3, in a roundabout way. They try both sides in two different
swing-teaching dances that Sara and I wrote together. Then, I tell them
they can pick either side and it might be good to do the first several
dances from the same side, but it's good to know both, in case the options
are to switc
As a new caller to a new college dance series, I'm particularly interested
in collecting a bunch of connected, simple dances that feature ONE advanced
move. We get lots of newbies every night, often 30% or more. The dancers
who come regularly are getting tired of simple dances. This would be a w
Short lines forward and back! :-)
—jh—
On Tue, Oct 18, 2022 at 9:02 AM Tony Parkes via Contra Callers <
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi, Seth and all… Two points:
>
>
>
> 1. I’m aware that a lot of folks use “long lines” as shorthand for “long
> lines forward and back.” It bug
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