Re: [Callers] Estimating space and couples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y00p61udc3U - 2 ghosts Really 2 ghosts and 1 cat! Bill
Re: [Callers] Estimating space and couples
I missed Alan's comments earlier and can't seem to find them now, so pardon any redundancy. We have had calling parties at our house every Wednesday for the last 3+years. The numbers run from 2 (only happened once) to the mid 20's (maybe once or twice a tear) with the usual numbers being 6 to 12. Our space is similar - usable space of 10X22 if we just turn the couches & 14X22 if we move them out of the room. I've included links to three videos - one with 4 dancers doing a dance using the "calling party progression" to recorded music, and one with 12 dancers to live music, and one with just 2 (I included this one so you could see the space with couches left in place). 12 is pretty much the max dancing at one time for contra and 10 for most English. Our "ideal" setup is 12 people - One to call, one to run sound, and 10 to dance (2 full sets of 4 plus a progression so you don't have 4 out at once). Live music is always fantastic if you can get it. Having Martha allows us to do things that would otherwise not be possible - like the video below where we are vetting a dance for Sharon McKinley that required music that was written specifically for the dance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN5wTd4qA-0 - Large calling party http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOw9juAXL5Q - "Calling party progression" (I am assuming similar to what Alan described, as we have shared ideas on this.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfzXAQPvPpk - proper dance with 4 people http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y00p61udc3U - 2 ghosts One other thing - we video these a lot and don't allow most of them to ever see the light of day! The purpose is objective feedback. This can be a fantastic tool for improving your calling. We call it "Joseph in a Box", named after Joseph Pimentel, and the outstanding workshops he and Bruce Hamilton do on how to give and receive useful feedback for calling. Good luck on your venture. On Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 8:06 PM, Leslie Gotfrit wrote: > I am a new caller trying to log calling hours by hosting kitchen contra > parties (with live music, beer and food). Could anyone tell me how many > linear feet I need per couple? My friends' home is about 24 feet on the > diagonal: how many couple in a longways can I (safely) accommodate? And > what's the minimum number of couples in a contra line so that is still fun? > Thanks for any advice. > ___ > Callers mailing list > call...@sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >
Re: [Callers] Estimating space and couples
In my experience hosting and attending kitchen dance parties, it's fine to invite more people than can dance at one time. Folks seem to be happy to rotate on and off the dance floor if they have food, drink and good company. They are also happy to dance smaller than usual. I'm intrigued by Alan's description of dancing a contra with 4 people, but 6 couples would be my minimum if you want good feedback on how the dance flows and feels to the dancers. I've never been to or hosted one that wasn't great, good fun. It's also very helpful to have something a bit more suitable than a kitchen chair to stand on while you call. Have a great time! Bree Kalb Carrboro, NC On 10/19/2012 6:06 PM, Leslie Gotfrit wrote: I am a new caller trying to log calling hours by hosting kitchen contra parties (with live music, beer and food). Could anyone tell me how many linear feet I need per couple? My friends' home is about 24 feet on the diagonal: how many couple in a longways can I (safely) accommodate? And what's the minimum number of couples in a contra line so that is still fun? Thanks for any advice.
Re: [Callers] Increase in Youth Attendance
Can someone point me to last week's spots? I'm having trouble finding anything recent. The included link, and listeners' letters a few days later, were from July 2010. David Millstone posted a note on it at the time and there was some follow-up. http://www.sharedweight.net/pipermail/callers/2010-July/002812.html David Harding On 10/20/2012 11:16 AM, bob...@aol.com wrote: Hi All, Just curious. We had a dozen local community college students come this past week... Has anyone seen an increase in Youth attendance at local dances since the NPR spots aired last week? Here's the link to one of them. The other was with Bob Boilen, a closet contra-ist http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128273050 bob...@aol.com
Re: [Callers] Increase in Youth Attendance
On 10/20/2012 11:16 AM, bob...@aol.com wrote: Has anyone seen an increase in Youth attendance at local dances since the NPR spots aired last week? Here's the link to one of them. The other was with Bob Boilen, a closet contra-ist We've had an increase in attendance by young dancers, college and high school students, in the past couple of years, but I haven't noticed anything due to the NPR spots. Perhaps they will still show up. Some of our recent influx of younger dancers is due to the fact that the kids of some of the dancers in our group are now reaching the age where they want to come dancing and they bring their friends. We had a period where members of the dance community didn't come as often because they were having kids, now those kids are older so the parents can come back again more regularly and the kids come as well. So it's a double bonus. Jonathan
Re: [Callers] Increase in Youth Attendance
Bobfab wrote: Just curious. We had a dozen local community college students come this > past week... > > Has anyone seen an increase in Youth attendance at local dances > since the NPR spots aired last week? > Here's the link to one of them. The other was with Bob Boilen, a closet > contra-ist > > http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128273050 > > Thank you for posting this. I had not heard the NPR segment. It is a good one. It is great to see a media piece about contra dance that gets it right. It's about the people, and the music. A caller is, however, necessary. We have a strong presence of university students and young people who frequent our dances. We have some of them on our Board of Directors. I have not seen any significant change in this mix over the summer. Thanks, Greg McKenzie
[Callers] Increase in Youth Attendance
Hi All, Just curious. We had a dozen local community college students come this past week... Has anyone seen an increase in Youth attendance at local dances since the NPR spots aired last week? Here's the link to one of them. The other was with Bob Boilen, a closet contra-ist http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128273050 bob...@aol.com
Re: [Callers] Estimating space and couples
On Oct 19, 2012, at 6:06 PM, Leslie Gotfrit wrote: I am a new caller trying to log calling hours by hosting kitchen contra parties (with live music, beer and food). Could anyone tell me how many linear feet I need per couple? Larry Jennings (_Give-and-Take_, section III-3, "Set Spacing") recommends three feet per couple (six feet per foursome) as a "just right" spacing, in which "sets are neither too crowded nor too stretched out." I agree. During crowded sessions at the Northwest Folklife Festival, I think I've counted as many as 19 foursomes in the 92' length of the floor, which would be an average spacing of 2'5" per couple. I've seen dancers in the bottom portion of the floor spaced even a little more tightly than that. The floor is made of 4'x8' panels with very conspicuous tape lines at the joints. I'm sure I've seen as many as 6 foursomes in a length of 28' (seven 4' panels widths), giving a spacing of 2'4" per couple. That's pretty darned crowded, though. If you're dancing in cramped quarters, you'll of course want to avoid dances that include "down the hall". You'll also discover which figures start to become uncomfortable as the couple spacing gets tighter. Dancers at the Northwest Folklife Festival commonly gravitate into the 8'-wide "lanes" defined by the tape joining the floor panels. This is a somewhat crowded, but workable spacing. I think a width of 10' per set is generally quite comfortable. It doesn't sound like the room you're talking about has room to have two sets and still provide space for the band or for anyone to sit, unless there's a big opening to an adjacent space that the dancing can't spread into. My friends' home is about 24 feet on the diagonal: how many couple in a longways can I (safely) accommodate? Unless the purpose is to avoid obstacles that are impossible or impractical to move (fireplace hearths, heavy furniture) I don't think you'll gain much, if anything, by running a set diagonally in a room of that size. A square room 17' on a side would be 24 feet (plus about one half inch) on the diagonal. Subtract 4' from each end of the diagonal in order to allow the set to be 8' wide and you're down to 16' in usable length (ok, perhaps a bit more, since a set might not need the full 8' width all the way to the end). And what's the minimum number of couples in a contra line so that is still fun? I have nothing to add to Alan Winston's response on this subject. --Jim
