Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Janet Bertog]

Cary Ravitz has his dances indexed (which is fortunate since he has a lot of
them) at http://www.ravitz.us/dance/#x.  I would look at the dances he lists
as easy, no walk through, and last dance of the evening as good starting
points.


-Original Message-
From: callers-boun...@sharedweight.net
[mailto:callers-boun...@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of tavi merrill
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 1:51 PM
To: call...@sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

Chris, indeed, panning for gold, trying not to get distracted by diamonds in
the rough...

In response to Greg/Yoyo/Kalia/Aahz comments on my choreography question,
Yoyo is right on with the understanding that down the hall (i was thinking
4-in-line) dances at a basic level are quite easy to find, and something
that i tend not to use more than twice in a night. Re: R through
transitions, i've tried substituting a California twirl, but find that in
crowds where heavy beginner numbers demand lower piece-count dances,
California twirls can be befuddling (particularly after the pass-through,
where experienced dancers may reflexively move to a CT or twirl, confusing
themselves and newbie partner/neighbors). A friend of mine said (i
paraphrase) "for a newbie, any kind of twirl early on can be like a
brain-wipe", and i tend to agree.

In the search for accessible dances, going dancing probably IS the best way
of finding appropriate material... it requires a little mental recalibration
for me to go from "whoa, that was a COOL dance" to, "What a nice thoroughly
user-friendly dance!"

I hope this thread has been useful to someone else out there... Thanks to
all for your repertoire suggestions!


Dance in good health,
tavi
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Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Kalia Kliban]

Helpful for me too.  Lots of good suggestions here.
Kalia

On 1/7/2013 11:06 AM, Delia Clark wrote:

Super helpful, tavi, thanks so much!!  This is exactly the kind of thing I'm 
always looking for for my regular dance, which is a community-based dance and 
doesn't tend to draw experienced dancers from farther away.


On Jan 7, 2013, at 1:50 PM, tavi merrill wrote:


I hope this thread has been useful to someone else out there... Thanks to
all for your repertoire suggestions!




<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>

Delia Clark
PO Box 45
Taftsville, VT 05073
802-457-2075
deliacla...@gmail.com




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Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Delia Clark]

Super helpful, tavi, thanks so much!!  This is exactly the kind of thing I'm 
always looking for for my regular dance, which is a community-based dance and 
doesn't tend to draw experienced dancers from farther away. 


On Jan 7, 2013, at 1:50 PM, tavi merrill wrote:

> I hope this thread has been useful to someone else out there... Thanks to
> all for your repertoire suggestions!
> 


<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>

Delia Clark
PO Box 45
Taftsville, VT 05073
802-457-2075
deliacla...@gmail.com

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[tavi merrill]

Chris, indeed, panning for gold, trying not to get distracted by diamonds
in the rough...

In response to Greg/Yoyo/Kalia/Aahz comments on my choreography question,
Yoyo is right on with the understanding that down the hall (i was thinking
4-in-line) dances at a basic level are quite easy to find, and something
that i tend not to use more than twice in a night. Re: R through
transitions, i've tried substituting a California twirl, but find that in
crowds where heavy beginner numbers demand lower piece-count dances,
California twirls can be befuddling (particularly after the pass-through,
where experienced dancers may reflexively move to a CT or twirl, confusing
themselves and newbie partner/neighbors). A friend of mine said (i
paraphrase) "for a newbie, any kind of twirl early on can be like a
brain-wipe", and i tend to agree.

In the search for accessible dances, going dancing probably IS the best way
of finding appropriate material... it requires a little mental
recalibration for me to go from "whoa, that was a COOL dance" to, "What a
nice thoroughly user-friendly dance!"

I hope this thread has been useful to someone else out there... Thanks to
all for your repertoire suggestions!


Dance in good health,
tavi

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Jeff Kaufman]

On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 2:15 AM, Kalia Kliban  wrote:
>
> Instead of a R through with courtesy turn, do a no-hands pass-through
> straight across and a California twirl into the circle.  It feels great.
>

Isn't that the normal way to do a right and left through?  ;)

Jeff

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[lynn ackerson]

My philosophy is that, as a caller, all I can do is explain how to make the 
transition smoother. If they choose not to do it, that's their right.

--- On Sun, 1/6/13, Aahz Maruch <a...@pobox.com> wrote:

> From: Aahz Maruch <a...@pobox.com>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Repertoire...
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <call...@sharedweight.net>
> Date: Sunday, January 6, 2013, 11:58 PM
> On Sun, Jan 06, 2013, Kalia Kliban
> wrote:
> > On 1/6/2013 3:00 PM, tavi merrill wrote:
> >>
> >>I'm wondering if anyone could point me towards
> dances that really hit a
> >>homer - things like: Jubilation (Gene Hubert),
> Thanks to the Gene (Tom
> >>HInds) Another Nice Combination (Tome Hinds), Star
> Struck (Nick Boulet),
> >>Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill), The Carousel (GH),
> The Baby Rose (David
> >>Kaynor), All You Can Eat (Ted Crane), 20 Below (Bill
> Olson)... dances that
> >>can be the bread and butter of a less advanced
> evening, or just a handy
> >>fall-back for more capable crowds. Dances without
> down-the-hall, and
> >>without awkward transitions (right through
> -> circle L?! agh!).
> > 
> > Without addressing your actual question, there's a fix
> for that oogy
> > transition that Lynn Ackerson showed me.  Lynn,
> you here?  Hi!
> > Instead of a R through with courtesy turn, do a
> no-hands
> > pass-through straight across and a California twirl
> into the circle.
> > It feels great.
> 
> ...except that people seem to have a lot of trouble actually
> DOING it
> because they are so used to doing a courtesy turn.  (I
> wrote a dance
> with pass thru, twirl, men allemande.  I've learned
> that I have to make
> people walk through that the pass thru/twirl three times and
> they still
> often don't do it properly.)
> -- 
> Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6     
>                
>   http://rule6.info/
>                
>       <*>       
>    <*>       
>    <*>
> Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html
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>

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Chris Page]

If you're looking in books or websites, it can feel like panning for gold.
A lot of effort, but sometimes you pick up gems others have missed. Or
maybe come across something you can polish up with just a little tweak.

Some books and sites are better than others. For instance, you'll have a
better hit ratio on Rick Mohr's website.


As for individual dances, here's a few I've run across.

Sticking with equal dances:

Al's Safeway Produce (Cromartie)
Ben's Spinoff #3 (Hubert)
Bicoastal Contra (Campbell)
Butter (Hubert)
Catch a Falling Star (Axel-Lute)
Centrifugal Hey (Hubert)
Cheat Lake Twirl (folk-processed version) (Shafran)
Cherokee Shuffle (Kaynor)
A Dance for Dan (Olson)
Delphiniums and Daisies (Rotenberg)
Easy Street (Isaacs)
Gypsy for Jessica (Lehmann)
Gypsy Madness (Isaacs)
Hang Time (Isaacs/AUman)
Hay in the Barn (Guthrie)
Heart of Glass (Ravitz)
Heartbeat Contra (Flaherty)
Hey Man (Balliet)
Hortensia's Cravat (Woods)
Joel's in the Kitchen (Rosen)
Judah Jig (Fenton)
Kitchen Stomp (Hill)
Less is More (Watson)
Little Girl With the Curl (Isaacs)
Mad Hey for Shadrack (Wild)
Mad, Mad World (Wild)
Mary Cay's Reel (Kaynor)
Mirror, Mirror (Kitch)
Momma Loo's Reel (Hubert)
Monday Night in Ballard (Richardson)
Moody Street (Rosen)
O'Brien's Star (Hill)
Passion Breakdown B (Ravitz)
Pedal Pushers (Dalsemer)
Pittsboro Pattycake (Hubert)
Roll in the Hey (Diggle)
Round the House (Isaacs)
Salmonella Evening (Zakon-Anderson/Cromartie)
Sarah's Journey (Hubert)
Second Time Around (Kitch)
Slice of Life (Isaacs)
Sneak Peek (Isaacs)
Square Affair (Hill)
Summer of '84 (Hubert/Schnur)
Synchronicity (Mohr)
To Turn a Phrase (Isaacs)
Turning Point (Hubert)
Treasure of Sierra Madre (Hutson)
Trip to IHOP (Claflin)
Trip to Lambertville (Zakon-Anderson)
United We Dance (Isaacs)
Walk the Walk (Isaacs)


-Chris Page
San Diego

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Aahz Maruch]

On Sun, Jan 06, 2013, Kalia Kliban wrote:
> On 1/6/2013 3:00 PM, tavi merrill wrote:
>>
>>I'm wondering if anyone could point me towards dances that really hit a
>>homer - things like: Jubilation (Gene Hubert), Thanks to the Gene (Tom
>>HInds) Another Nice Combination (Tome Hinds), Star Struck (Nick Boulet),
>>Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill), The Carousel (GH), The Baby Rose (David
>>Kaynor), All You Can Eat (Ted Crane), 20 Below (Bill Olson)... dances that
>>can be the bread and butter of a less advanced evening, or just a handy
>>fall-back for more capable crowds. Dances without down-the-hall, and
>>without awkward transitions (right through -> circle L?! agh!).
> 
> Without addressing your actual question, there's a fix for that oogy
> transition that Lynn Ackerson showed me.  Lynn, you here?  Hi!
> Instead of a R through with courtesy turn, do a no-hands
> pass-through straight across and a California twirl into the circle.
> It feels great.

...except that people seem to have a lot of trouble actually DOING it
because they are so used to doing a courtesy turn.  (I wrote a dance
with pass thru, twirl, men allemande.  I've learned that I have to make
people walk through that the pass thru/twirl three times and they still
often don't do it properly.)
-- 
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6http://rule6.info/
  <*>   <*>   <*>
Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Kalia Kliban]

On 1/6/2013 3:00 PM, tavi merrill wrote:

I'm wondering if anyone could point me towards dances that really hit a
homer - things like: Jubilation (Gene Hubert), Thanks to the Gene (Tom
HInds) Another Nice Combination (Tome Hinds), Star Struck (Nick Boulet),
Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill), The Carousel (GH), The Baby Rose (David
Kaynor), All You Can Eat (Ted Crane), 20 Below (Bill Olson)... dances that
can be the bread and butter of a less advanced evening, or just a handy
fall-back for more capable crowds. Dances without down-the-hall, and
without awkward transitions (right through -> circle L?! agh!).


Without addressing your actual question, there's a fix for that oogy 
transition that Lynn Ackerson showed me.  Lynn, you here?  Hi!  Instead 
of a R through with courtesy turn, do a no-hands pass-through straight 
across and a California twirl into the circle.  It feels great.


Kalia

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Yoyo Zhou]

On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 10:09 PM, Greg McKenzie  wrote:
> Can you define "down the hall" and explain why you see it as a problem?
>
> Do you mean "down the hall four in line", "Twos down the outside?"  Any
> "down the hall" figure at all?
>
> Just wondering.

 I can't speak for Tavi, but "It's easy to find simple dances with a
down-the-hall figure..." suggests that finding more dances that go
down the hall is not the pressing question, not that down the hall is
a problem per se.

 Down the hall in a line of 4 is by far the most common these days,
and it's distinctive enough that I'd be surprised to see it more than
twice in an evening. (Consider how often dancers automatically end a
swing facing across without the caller telling them to.) So one's
program needs to include a lot more dances that don't contain a
down-the-hall figure.

Yoyo Zhou

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Greg McKenzie]

Can you define "down the hall" and explain why you see it as a problem?

Do you mean "down the hall four in line", "Twos down the outside?"  Any
"down the hall" figure at all?

Just wondering.

- Greg McKenzie

**

On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 3:00 PM, tavi merrill
wrote:

> Hi "call"eagues,
>
> As a minor-league caller working towards a National-league position, i'm
> always on the search for new repertoire. Unfortunately, whenever i peruse
> collections - be they callers' websites or books like "Zesty Contras" - i'm
> easily distracted by bright, shiny choreography that fascinates my
> nerd-mind (Marshmallow Surprise! A Slice of Life! Possums in the House!),
> but often takes a rare crowd of dancers to appreciate. Even the favorite
> dances we tend to share with caller friends often veer toward the highly
> "interesting". It's easy to find simple dances with a down-the-hall figure,
> but i'm specifically looking for low to medium piece-count dances WITHOUT
> down the hall.
>
> I'm wondering if anyone could point me towards dances that really hit a
> homer - things like: Jubilation (Gene Hubert), Thanks to the Gene (Tom
> HInds) Another Nice Combination (Tome Hinds), Star Struck (Nick Boulet),
> Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill), The Carousel (GH), The Baby Rose (David
> Kaynor), All You Can Eat (Ted Crane), 20 Below (Bill Olson)... dances that
> can be the bread and butter of a less advanced evening, or just a handy
> fall-back for more capable crowds. Dances without down-the-hall, and
> without awkward transitions (right through -> circle L?! agh!).
>
> What are the best places to go looking for other bread-and-butter
> repertoire like those? Anybody have a favorite fall-back or
> last-of-the-night dance they'd like to share?
>
> I'm not only asking for myself, but for anyone out there who finds it very
> easy to collect 'advanced' level dances but harder to find accessible
> dances that are truly satisfying with good flow.
> ___
> Callers mailing list
> call...@sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Yoyo Zhou]

On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 3:00 PM, tavi merrill
 wrote:
> ...I'm specifically looking for low to medium piece-count dances WITHOUT
> down the hall.
>
> I'm wondering if anyone could point me towards dances that really hit a
> homer - things like: Jubilation (Gene Hubert), Thanks to the Gene (Tom
> HInds) Another Nice Combination (Tome Hinds), Star Struck (Nick Boulet),
> Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill), The Carousel (GH), The Baby Rose (David
> Kaynor), All You Can Eat (Ted Crane), 20 Below (Bill Olson)... dances that
> can be the bread and butter of a less advanced evening, or just a handy
> fall-back for more capable crowds. Dances without down-the-hall, and
> without awkward transitions (right through -> circle L?! agh!).

By the way, The Carousel is by Tom Hinds.

> What are the best places to go looking for other bread-and-butter
> repertoire like those? Anybody have a favorite fall-back or
> last-of-the-night dance they'd like to share?

As a new caller, I often think about this question of discovery. The
problem with collecting dances from published collections is that they
don't reflect the statistical reality of what dances actually get
called (which is a close enough approximation to what you're looking
for). Better, then, is to find sources that sample from a distribution
that's more similar to what dances actually get called. I like two
kinds of sources best: (1) going to contra dances, and (2) YouTube
videos (thanks to Chris Page for annotating many of them).

Incidentally, yesterday I prepared a lengthy list of relatively simple
dances (I wasn't sure how many I was going to need). These are the
ones without down the hall figures. In no particular order:

Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill)
The Second Time Around (Jim Kitch)
Easy Street (Bob Isaacs)
I Wish They All Could Be California Twirls (Jim Kitch)
Trip to Cleveland (Becky Hill)
Small Potatoes (Jim Kitch)
Hocus Pocus (Lisa Greenleaf)
Winter Storm (Linda Leslie)
Cranky Ingenuity (Bill Olson)
Judah Jig (Charlie Fenton)
A Last Hurrah (Erik Hoffman)
Summer of '94 (Mike Richardson / Lisa Greenleaf's variation)
Fairport Harbor (Paul Balliet)
You Can't Get There from Here (Carol Ormand)
Spring Fever (Tony Parkes)
Travels with Rick and Kim (Shari Miller-Johnson)
A Dance for Dan (Bill Olson)

More than one other caller, I think, has also chosen Tica Tica Timing
(Dean Snipes) as a last dance.

Hope this helps,
Yoyo Zhou

Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Joy Greenwolfe]

How about these?

A-1 Reel by Chris Weiler
Snake Oil Reel by Roger Diggle
Daffy's Becket by John Gallagher
Cows Are Watching by Bill Pope
The Casbah Queens by David McMullen
The Carousel by Tom Hinds
Al's Safeway Produce by Robert Cromartie
You Can't Get There From Here by Carol Ormand
Rolling and Tumbling by Cis Hinkle
Tica Tica Timing by Dean Snipes

They're fun for both beginners (with programming support) and more  
experienced dancers.  I see you already have 20 Below, Simplicity,  
etc.   Oops, and Carousel, too. :)


Have fun!

Joy Greenwolfe
Durham, NC



On Jan 6, 2013, at 6:00 PM, tavi merrill wrote:


Hi "call"eagues,

As a minor-league caller working towards a National-league position,  
i'm
always on the search for new repertoire. Unfortunately, whenever i  
peruse
collections - be they callers' websites or books like "Zesty  
Contras" - i'm

easily distracted by bright, shiny choreography that fascinates my
nerd-mind (Marshmallow Surprise! A Slice of Life! Possums in the  
House!),
but often takes a rare crowd of dancers to appreciate. Even the  
favorite
dances we tend to share with caller friends often veer toward the  
highly
"interesting". It's easy to find simple dances with a down-the-hall  
figure,
but i'm specifically looking for low to medium piece-count dances  
WITHOUT

down the hall.

I'm wondering if anyone could point me towards dances that really  
hit a

homer - things like: Jubilation (Gene Hubert), Thanks to the Gene (Tom
HInds) Another Nice Combination (Tome Hinds), Star Struck (Nick  
Boulet),

Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill), The Carousel (GH), The Baby Rose (David
Kaynor), All You Can Eat (Ted Crane), 20 Below (Bill Olson)...  
dances that
can be the bread and butter of a less advanced evening, or just a  
handy

fall-back for more capable crowds. Dances without down-the-hall, and
without awkward transitions (right through -> circle L?! agh!).

What are the best places to go looking for other bread-and-butter
repertoire like those? Anybody have a favorite fall-back or
last-of-the-night dance they'd like to share?

I'm not only asking for myself, but for anyone out there who finds  
it very

easy to collect 'advanced' level dances but harder to find accessible
dances that are truly satisfying with good flow.
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Re: [Callers] Repertoire...

[Bob Green]

Hi Tavi,

This is one of the places I  hope the Dance Video Archives (
http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/) would be helful. you can see the dances
in their "native" environment. also, a lot of the material in the MO Dances
collection will meet that criteria,,,one distinct move in and otherwise
basic dance.

bob luck on your search

Bob

On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 5:00 PM, tavi merrill
wrote:

> Hi "call"eagues,
>
> As a minor-league caller working towards a National-league position, i'm
> always on the search for new repertoire. Unfortunately, whenever i peruse
> collections - be they callers' websites or books like "Zesty Contras" - i'm
> easily distracted by bright, shiny choreography that fascinates my
> nerd-mind (Marshmallow Surprise! A Slice of Life! Possums in the House!),
> but often takes a rare crowd of dancers to appreciate. Even the favorite
> dances we tend to share with caller friends often veer toward the highly
> "interesting". It's easy to find simple dances with a down-the-hall figure,
> but i'm specifically looking for low to medium piece-count dances WITHOUT
> down the hall.
>
> I'm wondering if anyone could point me towards dances that really hit a
> homer - things like: Jubilation (Gene Hubert), Thanks to the Gene (Tom
> HInds) Another Nice Combination (Tome Hinds), Star Struck (Nick Boulet),
> Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill), The Carousel (GH), The Baby Rose (David
> Kaynor), All You Can Eat (Ted Crane), 20 Below (Bill Olson)... dances that
> can be the bread and butter of a less advanced evening, or just a handy
> fall-back for more capable crowds. Dances without down-the-hall, and
> without awkward transitions (right through -> circle L?! agh!).
>
> What are the best places to go looking for other bread-and-butter
> repertoire like those? Anybody have a favorite fall-back or
> last-of-the-night dance they'd like to share?
>
> I'm not only asking for myself, but for anyone out there who finds it very
> easy to collect 'advanced' level dances but harder to find accessible
> dances that are truly satisfying with good flow.
> ___
> Callers mailing list
> call...@sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>

[Callers] Repertoire...

[tavi merrill]

Hi "call"eagues,

As a minor-league caller working towards a National-league position, i'm
always on the search for new repertoire. Unfortunately, whenever i peruse
collections - be they callers' websites or books like "Zesty Contras" - i'm
easily distracted by bright, shiny choreography that fascinates my
nerd-mind (Marshmallow Surprise! A Slice of Life! Possums in the House!),
but often takes a rare crowd of dancers to appreciate. Even the favorite
dances we tend to share with caller friends often veer toward the highly
"interesting". It's easy to find simple dances with a down-the-hall figure,
but i'm specifically looking for low to medium piece-count dances WITHOUT
down the hall.

I'm wondering if anyone could point me towards dances that really hit a
homer - things like: Jubilation (Gene Hubert), Thanks to the Gene (Tom
HInds) Another Nice Combination (Tome Hinds), Star Struck (Nick Boulet),
Simplicity Swing (Becky Hill), The Carousel (GH), The Baby Rose (David
Kaynor), All You Can Eat (Ted Crane), 20 Below (Bill Olson)... dances that
can be the bread and butter of a less advanced evening, or just a handy
fall-back for more capable crowds. Dances without down-the-hall, and
without awkward transitions (right through -> circle L?! agh!).

What are the best places to go looking for other bread-and-butter
repertoire like those? Anybody have a favorite fall-back or
last-of-the-night dance they'd like to share?

I'm not only asking for myself, but for anyone out there who finds it very
easy to collect 'advanced' level dances but harder to find accessible
dances that are truly satisfying with good flow.