Re: [Callers] Put Your Red Hand In

[Bree Kalb via Callers]

Brilliant idea; I plan to use it, too.

Bree Kalb
Carrboro. NC



> On Nov 6, 2017 7:19 PM, "Rich Sbardella via Callers" <
> callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> I had a Girl Scout Dance coming up Sunday and I was thinking how I would
>> get 150 six to nine year old girls to know which hand was right and which
>> hand is left.  On the way to my contra calling gig on Saturday, the thought
>> arose that right hand sounds very close to red hand.  On the way to the
>> Scout Dance, I stopped and purchased scissors and some red ribbon (the
>> store did not carry yarn) and asked that the leaders tie a red ribbon
>> bracelet around each scout as they entered the hall.  When I called dances
>> with arm turns I called, "Turn your partner with your red hand, change
>> hands, other way back."  It worked so well that I know I will do it again.
>>
>> I thought I would share this trick, and then ask if anyone has useful
>> methods when working with only children.  Please share some trade secrets.
>>
>> Rich Sbardella
>> Stafford, CT
>>
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Re: [Callers] Put Your Red Hand In

[Mary Collins via Callers]

I have my first public family dance Sundaystealing this idea

Thanks Rich

On Nov 6, 2017 7:19 PM, "Rich Sbardella via Callers" <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> I had a Girl Scout Dance coming up Sunday and I was thinking how I would
> get 150 six to nine year old girls to know which hand was right and which
> hand is left.  On the way to my contra calling gig on Saturday, the thought
> arose that right hand sounds very close to red hand.  On the way to the
> Scout Dance, I stopped and purchased scissors and some red ribbon (the
> store did not carry yarn) and asked that the leaders tie a red ribbon
> bracelet around each scout as they entered the hall.  When I called dances
> with arm turns I called, "Turn your partner with your red hand, change
> hands, other way back."  It worked so well that I know I will do it again.
>
> I thought I would share this trick, and then ask if anyone has useful
> methods when working with only children.  Please share some trade secrets.
>
> Rich Sbardella
> Stafford, CT
>
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Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?

[Erik Erhardt via Callers]

In my experience, on Beat 1 a dancer's weight is more likely to land on
their right foot.   This is why balancing left is inherently a challenge
when it flows from other moves.  So I also agree that Forward and Back is a
nice solution.

Erik Erhardt
(505)480-4462  StatAcumen.com/dance

On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 2:41 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> In my experience the momentum of an allemande right automatically takes
> one either to the right or forward. Same goes for an allemande left:
> momentum takes you to the left or forward. A balance left just doesn't flow
> after am AR, because if you have a good connection with your allemande
> you're already pulling to the left a bit. That leaves you nowhere to go,
> left-wise. SO! I agree with the multitudes here: make the balance F
>
> -Amy
>
> On Nov 8, 2017 11:07 AM, "Maia McCormick via Callers" <
> callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance
>> wave, allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as
>> "balance left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the
>> dancers defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff
>> was happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
>>
>> I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense
>> / flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In
>> your opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential
>> unidiomaticness?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Maia
>>
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Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?

[Amy Wimmer via Callers]

In my experience the momentum of an allemande right automatically takes one
either to the right or forward. Same goes for an allemande left: momentum
takes you to the left or forward. A balance left just doesn't flow after am
AR, because if you have a good connection with your allemande you're
already pulling to the left a bit. That leaves you nowhere to go,
left-wise. SO! I agree with the multitudes here: make the balance F

-Amy

On Nov 8, 2017 11:07 AM, "Maia McCormick via Callers" <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave,
> allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as
> "balance left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the
> dancers defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff
> was happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
>
> I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense /
> flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In
> your opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential
> unidiomaticness?
>
> Cheers,
> Maia
>
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Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?

[Charles via Callers]

Balancing F/B would be my approach in that scenario. Also a good opportunity to 
reinforce giving weight, since that particular movement done repetitively could 
irritate the shoulder joints if dancers are not keeping some tension in the 
arms.

From: Callers  on behalf of Mac 
Mckeever via Callers 
Sent: Wednesday, November 8, 2017 8:16 PM
To: callers@lists.sharedweight.net; Maia McCormick
Subject: Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?

sorry - I missed that you said the alle L followed the balance - in that case - 
I think the first bal should be left.  To bal R & then L and then turn by the 
left just sounds awkward.

Mac Mckeevr


On Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 2:09:46 PM CST, Mac Mckeever  
wrote:


It depends on what will happen after the balance

Can we see the rest of the dance?

Mac McKeever


On Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 1:07:46 PM CST, Maia McCormick via Callers 
 wrote:


Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave, 
allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as "balance 
left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the dancers 
defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff was 
happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.

I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense / 
flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In your 
opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential 
unidiomaticness?

Cheers,
Maia
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Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?

[Yoyo Zhou via Callers]

For flow, it depends what comes after the balance. If it's followed by an
allemande left, you'd be better balancing left. Allemande right: balance
right. Walk forward: balance forward and back. Box circulate: right and
back.

But getting dancers to balance left - except as the second half of a Rory
O'More-type figure - is hopeless, in my experience. It's my vote for
"hardest move in contra dancing".

So I'll say "balance forward and back" in such circumstances.

Yoyo Zhou

On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 11:07 AM, Maia McCormick via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave,
> allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as
> "balance left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the
> dancers defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff
> was happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
>
> I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense /
> flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In
> your opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential
> unidiomaticness?
>
> Cheers,
> Maia
>
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[Callers] Balancing left in a wave

[Andrea Nettleton via Callers]

Hi Maia,
A balance, ideally, is first toward, then away from, the dancer with whom one 
is about to interact, and even better if it is in, then against, the flow of 
movement.  Even better if the choreography does the work for you by flowing 
into the balance.  
In this particular dance, you have the best of all worlds, but I slightly 
disagree with your preference.  
The Allemande R has everyone flowing forward.  The flow of the Allemande L is 
also, fundamentally, forward.  In my opinion, a balance (gently) forward, and 
back, is ideal.  The choreography helps a little with a left first lean as you 
reach for the next person's L hand.  But in this case, I think the safe teach 
is for both balances to be forward and back.  Noting before you say F, that 
body flow is supported by that choice helps mark it in people's minds.  To 
further get people's minds away from the R balance, I'd not say R after the 
word balance at all, even if you decide to go for L instead of back..  You want 
them to only have in their heads words which reinforce the movement you want.  
Well worth the extra moment to emphasize the gathering of LEFT hands with the 
next, and letting the body flow of the forward movement of the first Allemande 
to go into the balance Fwd.  
if the following move had been, for example, a Rory o More, I would have 
completely agreed with the L balance, FWIW.  Body flow is partly there getting 
in, and the person you are interacting with and eventually moving past is on 
the L.  
Good question.
Best,
Andrea

Sent from my external brain
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Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?

[Mac Mckeever via Callers]

sorry - I missed that you said the alle L followed the balance - in that case - 
I think the first bal should be left.  To bal R & then L and then turn by the 
left just sounds awkward.
Mac Mckeevr
 

On Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 2:09:46 PM CST, Mac Mckeever 
 wrote:  
 
 It depends on what will happen after the balance
Can we see the rest of the dance?
Mac McKeever
 

On Wednesday, November 8, 2017, 1:07:46 PM CST, Maia McCormick via Callers 
 wrote:  
 
 Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave, 
allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as "balance 
left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the dancers 
defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff was 
happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense / 
flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In your 
opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential 
unidiomaticness?
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[Callers] Fwd: Balancing LEFT in a wave?

[Alan Winston via Callers]

Accidentally sent only to Maia.

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Winston, Alan P." 
> Date: November 8, 2017 at 11:30:06 AM PST
> To: Maia McCormick 
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?
> 
> I would say the potential unidiomaticness of the balance left is *very high*. 
>  In a regular Rory O’More kind of balance R, slide R, balance L, slide L, 
> I always see a quarter to an eighth of the dancers balance right first both 
> times.  (I can get it down a lot by pointing out that you always balance to 
> the same person first, but very rarely can get everybody.). 
> 
> So as you saw, if you try to overcome the “right first” balance you’re really 
> fighting the tide, and it’s going to be a lot of work.
> 
> In the particular case you describe I’d think you’d do a lot better (both for 
> flow of the dance and for getting the dancers to do what you tell them) to 
> strongly suggest they balance forward and back to set up the allemande rather 
> than L *or* R
> 
> That said, to answer what you specifically asked, I agree that L makes more 
> sense than R, but I don’t think it’s a *lot* more sense (that is, R isn’t 
> even close to fatal) , and it’s not the hill I’d choose to die on.
> 
> -- Alan 
> From: Callers  on behalf of Maia 
> McCormick via Callers 
> Sent: Wednesday, November 8, 2017 11:07:20 AM
> To: callers@lists.sharedweight.net
> Subject: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?
>  
> Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave, 
> allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as "balance 
> left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the dancers 
> defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff was 
> happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
> 
> I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense / 
> flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In your 
> opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential 
> unidiomaticness?
> 
> Cheers,
> Maia
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Re: [Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?

[Don Veino via Callers]

I've noticed that dancers' natural tendency is to balance towards the hand
that touches first in these situations, which is consistent with what you
report. Should the rest of the dance be truly worthwhile in fighting that
tendency, I would opt for doing a balance forward and back in this
situation. Otherwise spin the wheel of dance and pick one that matches
custom?

On Nov 8, 2017 2:07 PM, "Maia McCormick via Callers" <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave,
> allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as
> "balance left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the
> dancers defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff
> was happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
>
> I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense /
> flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In
> your opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential
> unidiomaticness?
>
> Cheers,
> Maia
>
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[Callers] Balancing LEFT in a wave?

[Maia McCormick via Callers]

Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave,
allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as
"balance left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the
dancers defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff
was happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.

I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense /
flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In
your opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential
unidiomaticness?

Cheers,
Maia
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Re: [Callers] Moving past self-flagellation

[Bree Kalb via Callers]

I don’t have any additional suggestions but want to thank Maia for the
original post and appreciate all the replies. I think many of us identify
and it reassures me that I’m not the only one who has had to figure out how
to forgive my errors. I’ve found it especially helpful to notice the
mistakes made by well respected callers and how un-flustered they seem to
be by them.

>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 6, 2017 at 11:10 AM, Maia McCormick via Callers <
> call...@listssharedweight.net > wrote:
>
>> So after a gig, I find myself haunted by one or two missteps from an
>> evening — the rolling start that was a little muddy, the thing I didn’t
>> teach clearly enough so the dancers never quite got it — even though the
>> dancers adjusted and all had a good time, and I still had the hall’s trust
>> and goodwill at the end of the evening.
>>
>> Is this a familiar experience for anyone? Assuming you’ve already learned
>> the lesson to be learned there, how do you move past it and stop
>> self-flagellating?Would love to hear some people’s thoughts!
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Maia
>>
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Re: [Callers] Moving past self-flagellation

[Mary Collins via Callers]

First LET me say thanks to all who posted in this thread. There are many
useful tips here, some new and different things to look at, digest and try,
some are repeats of advice received over the years and good reminders.

I believe it was Lisa G. (or maybe it was David K. or both) who said get a
trusted, strong dancer friend to talk about your evening. I find that
having that person as a travelling companion helps relax me prior to
calling as well as help in dissecting the evening after. This person does
this in a non judgemental way and is supportive and encouraging while
giving me a dancer's perspective.

Recently I had a dance near the end of the evening that did not work too
well and substituted a somewhat easier dance as the final dance of the
evening, that dance failed in places as well. Aaarrr...the
supportive comments of dancers, the band and the organizers certainly
helped this very non-perfect perfectionist to leave feeling better about
the end of a mostly wonderful evening. Getting home and finding an
invitation to rebook was also a great balm for my self-flagellation.

As an imperfect perfectionist, calling has helped me come to terms with
thatthat nothing is perfect, and it's ok to not be. Doing so with humor
and shouldering the blame is certainly the way to go. Of all the things
I've done (ask me for my whole resume) calling has been and continues to be
the most humbling, uplifting, challenging and rewarding endeavor yet.

Thank you all for your continued loving support.

Mary Collins


On Nov 7, 2017 10:28 AM, "Martha Wild via Callers" <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

And about switching to another dance when there is trouble with one:

Sometimes, this is necessary. Sometimes, you have misjudged the difficulty
level of the dance for the dancers, or the dance doesn’t work as written
down (oops). Hopefully you notice that before teaching or during, but
things happen.  However, one thing I have seen and felt as a dancer is that
if a dance just needs one more walkthrough to orient people in the move
that is messing them up, and then the dancers can do it (even if it starts
rocky), they are so happy at the end that they met the challenge and did
it. So if I feel that I can salvage the dance, I don’t toss it for an
easier one, because the reward for the dancers is high.

Martha

On Nov 6, 2017, at 9:27 AM, Rich Sbardella via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

I have learned that owning my mistakes publicly is an important part of
moving forward.  Sometimes I use humor to soften the blow.  Another very
important thing I have learned is to make the next dance a great dance.
Something fun, with guaranteed success.  Our mistakes bother us more that
they bother most dancers.

My belief is that we are hired to help the dancers have a good time.  One
or two little mistakes will not destroy our efforts, and even a major
mistake need not be taken out of the context of an overall successful
evening.  (BTW, these are truths that I am still learning)

Rich Sbardella
Stafford, CT


On Mon, Nov 6, 2017 at 11:10 AM, Maia McCormick via Callers <
call...@listssharedweight.net > wrote:

> So after a gig, I find myself haunted by one or two missteps from an
> evening — the rolling start that was a little muddy, the thing I didn’t
> teach clearly enough so the dancers never quite got it — even though the
> dancers adjusted and all had a good time, and I still had the hall’s trust
> and goodwill at the end of the evening.
>
> Is this a familiar experience for anyone? Assuming you’ve already learned
> the lesson to be learned there, how do you move past it and stop
> self-flagellating?Would love to hear some people’s thoughts!
>
> Cheers,
> Maia
>
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