Methods of organizing dance cards
David Cottle
I'm reworking my entire dance card holder. I've tried organizing by
difficulty, name (useless), type of move, etc. I've tried putting little
tabs on ones that I want to try that night.
Any systems out there that really work well?
Jonathan Sivier
I suspect that everybody has a slightly different method and that what
works for one person won't be as good for someone else. Here is the
organizing method that I use, for what it's worth.
I have 2 boxes with various index card dividers in them. In each
category the dancers are sorted alphabetically. In the first box the
categories are:
Contra (Beginner)
Contra (Beginner-Intermediate)
Contra (Intermediate)
Contra (Intermediate-Advanced)
Contra (Advanced)
Squares - I don't yet have enough to break them down in to sub-categories.
Breaks
Mixers
Circles
Other - for dances that don't fit any of the other categories.
In the second box I have only 2 sections:
English Country Dances
Early American Dances
This seems to work well for me. For any given gig I usually only need
to take one box or the other (except for those times when I'm doing a
combined ECD/contra evening). Prior to a scheduled dance that I'm calling
I will prepare a program (realizing that I may have to make substitutions
at the dance depending on the crowd) and place the cards for the dances
I've chosen in a 4x6 ring-binder. That way if everything goes according
to plan I can just use the dances in the order they are in the binder, but
if I need to I can easily make a substitution from the box.
Jonathan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Jonathan Sivier |Q: How many angels can dance on the |
| j-si...@uiuc.edu | head of a pin? |
| Flight Simulation Lab |A: It depends on what dance you call. |
| Beckman Institute | |
| 405 N. Mathews | SWMDG - Single White Male |
| Urbana, IL 61801 | Dance Gypsy |
| Work: 217/244-1923 | |
| Home: 217/359-8225 | Have shoes, will dance. |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Home page URL: http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/j-sivier |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Smukler
I have been using a Palm Pilot. I found a generic database program for
it called HanDBase. I then saved my computer database file of dances in
a tab-separated-text form and could just download the whole thing into
the Palm. It took an evening of head-scratching to get it done (although
I already had my dances in a database format).
The nice thing about this system is that I can rapidly sort or search
for dances in many ways: format, difficulty level, dances with heys in
B2, author, or whatever.
I also have a "checkbox" field, so that as I go through when planning I
can check off dances I may wish to use, and then sort in such a way as
to keep them in a group.
I have a second computer file of dances I call non-square dances.
Ironically most are squares, but these are dances that don't fit neatly
into A-parts and B-parts. My notes for these are not in database format
(the fields in my database include A1, A2, etc.). They're just written
in a word processor. I dropped that file into the Palm also on its "memo
pad."
This works fine for me. I don't like to hold notes when I call, but I
like to look through them for planning and reminding before the dance
starts. The Palm takes much less space than a file card box, and holds a
lot more dances. Plus the cards never get scrambled.
If someone knows of a more sophisticated DB program for the Palm, I'd be
interested in learning about it. The old Apple Newton used to have a
great program called "Leverage," which did some nice things that I wish
I could do with HandDBase.
David Smukler
David Cottle
> I have been using a Palm Pilot. I found a generic database program for
I've thought about using a laptop or Palm, but it makes me nervous. Don't
get me wrong, I LIVE on my laptop, but I have hard copies of everything
important.
> The nice thing about this system is that I can rapidly sort or search
> for dances in many ways: format, difficulty level, dances with heys in
> B2, author, or whatever.
This has a lot of appeal. What I'm trying now is a sort of index card
sorting. I have locations on the side of the cards reserved for moves such
as a hey or diagonal move. I punch them out only half, so there is a half
circle indentation at e.g. the "hey" location. Then if I turn the cards on
their side, tap them at that location on a pencil, then all the "hey" cards
will fall down a little. I have no idea if it will work.
> This works fine for me. I don't like to hold notes when I call, but I
> like to look through them for planning and reminding before the dance
This is why I stick with cards. I often find myself in the middle of the
hall, and sometimes dancing while calling, so I want to be able to stick the
card in my shirt.
Jonathan Sivier
>This is why I stick with cards. I often find myself in the middle of the
>hall, and sometimes dancing while calling, so I want to be able to stick the
>card in my shirt.
This is also why I like cards. Be careful though. Last weekend I was
leading a dance at the Gypsy Moon Ball in Indianapolis and put the card in
my pocket. Not suprisingly I was sweating some and the ink on the card
smeared a bit. It's still legible, but it's not something I had considered.
David Kaynor
I tend to categorize dances in several ways, and some dances turn up in more
than one category.
One clump of dances presents choreographic elements like the right-and-left,
ladies' chain, and hay as whole figures rather than half figures. Another
clump of dances presents little or no "unattached motion" (to quote Dan
Pearl); people are always holding hands (or other body parts). Still
another clump has balances and forwards and backs, and still another has
down-the-hall figures (for one or both couples in the minor set).
Then there are categories like how many swings and by whom; Becket
configuration; "old chestnuts;" going out of the minor set; end effects;
having to know your right from your left. There are categories which seem
more or less appropriate to the apparent energy level on the dance floor,
the band's interests and strengths, etc.
I lump some dances together because they just plain seem "easy" or hard even
if one might expect them to be otherwise. Then there are the trusty old
standby dances like Galopede, Haste to the Wedding, and La Bastringue which
have stood me in good stead in an amazing range of circumstances for years.
In the early 1980s, I relied on a pretty full notebook with dances organized
thus. Unfortunately,I kept misplacing it and eventually lost it for good
around 15 years ago. I never found it and have had to call from memory ever
since. For some reason, I remember dances and tunes a lot easier than I
remember where I put things. At any rate, the result is that for better or
for worse, I do it by feel, trying to be responsive to what develops between
the band and the dancers, between the dancers themselves, and between
everyone and me. I generally have an overall programmatic journey fairly
well mapped out, but I've always been easily lured down side roads;
inevitably, there are unexpected detours, scenic overlooks, and the
occasional flat tire along the way.
As many people will attest, the approach is imperfect at best. But if you
keep losing your dance cards, what can you do?
David Kaynor
Phil Davidson
> This has a lot of appeal. What I'm trying now is a sort of index card
> sorting. I have locations on the side of the cards reserved for moves such
> as a hey or diagonal move. I punch them out only half, so there is a half
> circle indentation at e.g. the "hey" location. Then if I turn the cards on
> their side, tap them at that location on a pencil, then all the "hey" cards
> will fall down a little. I have no idea if it will work.
The Whole Earth Catalog (The Next WEC or perhaps The Essential WEC) used
to list a filing system product: index cards with prepunched holes, a
notcher, and a metal rod. You would notch cards belonging to (or not
belonging to) a specific category in a corresponding hole. To obtain
all the cards notched in a specific hole, you would stack the cards
together, push the rod through the specific hole, and shake the deck of
cards. Cards notched in that hole would fall out.
I browsed in the Next WEC and the Essential WEC, but couldn't find the
listing. I believe it's in the Next WEC, at least.
-- Phil Davidson New address Sept. 1999: Ph...@PhilDavidson.com
David Cottle
>> This has a lot of appeal. What I'm trying now is a sort of index card
[...]
>> will fall down a little. I have no idea if it will work.
>
> The Whole Earth Catalog (The Next WEC or perhaps The Essential WEC) used
[...]\
> together, push the rod through the specific hole, and shake the deck of
> cards. Cards notched in that hole would fall out.
This is where I got the idea. I'd seen something like this before. At first
I though I would notch spots where there _wasn't_ a hey, for example, but
that seemed excessively labor intensive. (The logic would be that the card
with the hey would not have a notch, then could be found like a tab, or by
using the pencil idea to push it up.) But then I figured it would be pretty
much the same to notch the hey card rather than all the others, then let it
fall rather than push the others up.
Has anyone tried anything like this?
David Cottle
> I tend to categorize dances in several ways, and some dances turn up in more
> than one category.
>
> One clump of dances presents choreographic elements like the right-and-left,
> ladies' chain, and hay as whole figures rather than half figures. Another
[...]
This is the sense I'm getting, that alphabetical is pretty much useless. I
wondered about difficulty, but I use colored cards for that (green for easy,
yellow for standard, orange for difficult, pink for challenging), so I still
can order them in some other method an still be able to identify difficulty
from color. The more I think about it I would like to order by type of move,
since I often think in the middle of the dance that the crowd is ready
for/might like to do e.g. a hey, and I want to look at all my "hey" cards.
KMsSavage
since I often think in the middle of the dance that the crowd is ready
for/might like to do e.g. a hey, and I want to look at all my "hey" cards.
All my "hey" cards have a lavender highlighter stripe over that figure.
Shall we get into photo albums for 4 x 6" index cards printed off your
computer (using a text file or database)?
--Karen M.
article link available
David Cottle
>> The more I think about it I would like to order by type of move,
>> since I often think in the middle of the dance that the crowd is ready
>< for/might like to do e.g. a hey, and I want to look at all my "hey" cards.
>
> All my "hey" cards have a lavender highlighter stripe over that figure.
> Shall we get into photo albums for 4 x 6" index cards printed off your
> computer (using a text file or database)?
I'm doing the data base now. It didn't take as long as I thought, and is a
great idea. I really don't think I'll use it that much at a dance, but what
the heck, maybe I will. The advantages being: They are all now in the
computer and will soon be backed up, I can reformat them to my heart's
content and print out new cards at a minimum of time and expense. I can
search and mark dances for a particular dance, and even print out my choices
for just that dance without fooling with my dance cards.
Actually, I could fit 16 dances on both sides of a single sheet of paper.
Maybe I should print out a page each time I do a dance, then have my cards
for on the spot inspiration.
But the DB is the way to go.
Bob Archer
Yes. My father played around with the idea a few years ago. I can't
remember quite what categories he used, but I could find out if anyone
is really interested. I don't remember it ever being really useful "in
the field". The edges of the cards tended to get very ragged, and the
notches would get caught against each other when the cards were being
put back into the pile. He played around with it for a while, but just
went back to using plain cards and relying on memory.
Of course this sorting would be easy to do with a computer, but I have
always been a little wary of introducing computers into something that,
for me, is very much a break from my work life.
Bob
arge...@bcpl.net
wrote:
Years ago before the advent of widespread computer use and the IBM
punched card (remember them?), there was a commercial sorting system
that used sturdy cards similar in size to the IBM cards. If I recall
the cards correctly, each had a row of small holes punched around its
entire periphery. One notched out holes corresponding to the presence
of a particular sorting characteristic.
To sort a deck of these cards, one inserted long rods through the
proper holes in one edge of the deck. The deck was then lifted by the
rods and shaken. Any cards which had the proper holes notched then
fell out of the deck.
I don't remember the name of the system, or who made them. I imagine
that they're now as rare as buggy whips or cactus phonograph needles.
Still, for anyone who might want to experiment, it would be a workable
system.
Alan
(To reply by email delete the "r" from my user name,
changing it to agedance)
Nancy Mamlin
"Jonathan Sivier " <j-si...@uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:Z1XL5.1034$6b7....@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu...
> David Cottle <li...@uiuc.edu> writes:
>
> >I'm reworking my entire dance card holder. I've tried organizing by
> >difficulty, name (useless), type of move, etc. I've tried putting little
> >tabs on ones that I want to try that night.
>
> >Any systems out there that really work well?
>
> I suspect that everybody has a slightly different method and that what
> works for one person won't be as good for someone else. Here is the
> organizing method that I use, for what it's worth.
>
> I have 2 boxes with various index card dividers in them. In each
> category the dancers are sorted alphabetically. In the first box the
> categories are:
My method is similar to Jonathon's. I know what the dividers mean to me, and
can pull what I need. I think (without having my box to look at) that I have
dividers for:
Choruses (break figures during squares)
Mixers
Visiting couple dances
4/6/8 dances (where you keep picking up another couple to do the figure)
Squares for one-night stands
Easy squares for contra dancers
Med. squares for contra dancers
Challenging squares
Western squares
Dances by Ron Buchanan (he gets his own category)
Actives Swing or No Swing (we're in the contra section now)
Swing P
Swing N&P
Heys
Becket
Dances by Steve Zakon
Dances by Gene Hubert
Modern/weird dances (contras)
Other (Sicilian circles, 4x4 contras, etc.)
Dances I haven't gotten to work
Programs (my record-- see below)
Like I said, I mostly know where to look to find things. Using a card/file
system, there's no way to have real discrete categories.
Prior to a dance, I pull the cards I want to program. I also write out a
program with the place, date, and band listed, as well as what dances I plan
to call in what order. I'll pull a few extra cards that I think may
substitute if the crowd surprises me in some way. If I return to the same
venue within 12 months or so, I can look at what I did last time and try not
to repeat any dances. Oh yes, I amend my program cards after each dance to
reflect what I *really* did. I store old programs (at this point, earlier
than 2000, in a separate box).
This is way more than you wanted to know, but I think it's an interesting
topic. I've thought of putting my dances on computer, but it just seems like
a heavy time investment to replace a system that has served me well for so
many years.
Nancy
David Smukler
I agree! I've used the database for years, and it has always done
everything I've needed and more regarding organizing dances. In fact, I
think the only thing in my life that is organized may well be the hard
drive....
I have also resisted using notes at dances for years. I find that
holding something in my hand that I may be tempted to look at interferes
in subtle ways with my ability to connect with the dancers and the band.
That is, there's enough to stay focused on already, and a card feels
like a distraction that takes my attention *away* from calling. I'm not
saying this to be snobbish, honestly. To me, it really felt like my
calling improved as soon as I got rid of the card.
Lately, however, I admit that I've returned to bringing my notes to the
gig (except when I'm too disorganized to find the Palm). I'll sometimes
look through them when I move away from the microphone.
Are there others out there who eschew the 3x5? (We heard from David
Kaynor.)
David Smukler
David Cottle
> My method is similar to Jonathon's. I know what the dividers mean to me, and
> can pull what I need. I think (without having my box to look at) that I have
> dividers for:
>
> Choruses (break figures during squares)
> Mixers
[...]
Too many categories for me. But it's clear that type of dance is more useful
than title.
> Like I said, I mostly know where to look to find things. Using a card/file
> system, there's no way to have real discrete categories.
The hole thing really worked. See other post.
> This is way more than you wanted to know, but I think it's an interesting
> topic. I've thought of putting my dances on computer, but it just seems like
> a heavy time investment to replace a system that has served me well for so
> many years.
I thought so too, but it only took about four hours and I can see a lot of
great advantages. If nothing else, a backup of my dances.
David Cottle
I've gotten everything in the data base and I'm really convinced this is the
way to go. For example, I printed out all my cards and decided to do them
slightly different and printed them all out again ($1 for new cards).
But here's the cool thing: I tried the holes in the sides and it works
great. You clamp a piece of wood on top and bottom of the edge to keep the
card stock from ripping and for a jig to know where to drill the holes. You
drill seven or so holes on each side. Each hole represents some method of
sorting, a hey for example. With all cards that have a hey you use a hole
punch to break the edge of that hole (create a half circle rather than a
hole). You insert a toothpick in the "hey" hole, lift and shake whole set
and the hey cards fall out.
I have no idea if it will actually be useful at a dance. I'll try it this
weekend.
I know I sound really anal about this, but I'm doing it precisely because my
cards have always been a mess and poorly organized. I'm always searching and
not able to find the things I want since I usually call dances based on the
moment and the crowd.
Bruce Hamilton
> I've gotten everything in the data base and I'm really convinced this is the
> way to go. For example, I printed out all my cards and decided to do them
> slightly different and printed them all out again ($1 for new cards).
Another advantage is that as you get older you can keep cranking up the
font size :-)
bruce_h...@agilent.com Tel: 650-485-2818 Fax: 650-485-8092
Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303
Jonathan Sivier
>I dont want to pick on the person who posted this but one comment stuck
>out that i see to often......
>>I have no idea if it will actually be useful at a dance. I'll try it this
>>weekend.
>I am finding more and more callers picking a dance on the fly.... Dont
>callers plan their dance ahead of time any more...... ??????
>I for one spend almost as many hours picking the dances i want to call and
>the right music as i do calling the dance. I always have filler dances a
>notch above and below the program i want to present just in case.
>Only a thought as to how we as dance leaders must be prepared if we want
>to give the best evening possable with the greatest variety to the people
>who support our dances.
I'm another caller who spends about the same amount of time preparing for
gig as I do calling it. I usually don't prepare alternate dances in advance.
The most common situation where you need them is when the bus load of new
dancers walk in at the break and you need to substitute some easier dances
than the ones you had prepared. These are ones I use often enough that I can
just do them without preparing in advance. However I like to work out a
program for an evening, perhaps with a theme of some kind, and then practice
those dances that are new or that I haven't called in a while.
Nancy Mamlin
"David Smukler" <dsmu...@dreamscape.com> wrote in message
news:3A01D7...@dreamscape.com...
> Are there others out there who eschew the 3x5? (We heard from David
> Kaynor.)
Yes, mine are 4X6, and as I age, I'm thinking of printing them on larger
cards. :)
Nancy
Nancy Mamlin
"don ward" <dw...@loop.com> wrote in message
news:dward-04110...@p00.hwts17.loop.net...
> I am finding more and more callers picking a dance on the fly.... Dont
> callers plan their dance ahead of time any more...... ??????
Since I teach people how to plan things (lessons) for a living, it would be
pretty hypocritical of me to call dances "on the fly".
On the other hand, with more experience, the more able you are to "wing it".
You have to have some plan in mind, but you might not have to write it down.
I know many experienced (school)teachers who do this, and a few dance
callers. But, you have to have the experience to build on.
In the last couple of years I've stopped writing out what I plan to do at
one-night stands, such as weddings or church socials. In fact, I left my
cards home accidentally for the last one I did a few weeks ago. Usually I at
least *bring* my cards.
For "dances for dancers", I always plan. I also always vary that plan once I
get there.
Nancy Mamlin
don ward
out that i see to often......
>I have no idea if it will actually be useful at a dance. I'll try it this
>weekend.
I am finding more and more callers picking a dance on the fly.... Dont
callers plan their dance ahead of time any more...... ??????
I for one spend almost as many hours picking the dances i want to call and
the right music as i do calling the dance. I always have filler dances a
notch above and below the program i want to present just in case.
Only a thought as to how we as dance leaders must be prepared if we want
to give the best evening possable with the greatest variety to the people
who support our dances.
Don Ward
Bob Archer
says...
I think this is being a bit harsh. At the first full evening dance I
ever called, I planned a full programme with music, with all of the
dances in the order I wanted to call them. I did the first dance, then
realised that another dance would be much better than the one I had
planned to do second. I spent the rest of the evening just picking the
dance that I thought would go well next, and it seemed to work.
Over the years I decided that the way that works best for me is to have
a pre prepared list of "dances I would like to do if the circumstances
are correct", but always be ready to adapt (taking into account that I
can't spend the evening springing tunes on the band that they haven't
had a chance to prepare for).
Maybe it's just the groups I was calling for, but I have never been able
to predict an audience well enough to be comfortable with sticking to a
pre-prepared programme. As an experiment once, I tried repeating the
programme I did at one dance at another, similar, dance club a couple of
weeks later (there was no overlap of dancers between the two). I hated
it. It just felt so wrong to me. I had made a decision that I wouldn't
stick to the programme if it was really unsuitable, but even given that
it was fairly suitable I really didn't like feeling tied to it.
I guess I'm at a sort of half way house. I'm not doing the whole evening
on the fly, and I always have a list to fall back on if inspiration
fails me, but I don't like being a slave to the programme. My technique
for planning is based on what has worked for me over the years - if
other callers find that a different technique works for them that's
great.
To go to the opposite extreme (and I'm not accusing Don of suggesting
that this is a good thing), I have seen callers stick to their prepared
programme regardless of the audience. If they've predicted the audience
correctly it works well. If they haven't, it doesn't.
Bob
Pete and Debbie LaBerge
I say, hey, if it works for you, go with it. I, for one, would like
to come in on the other end of the spectrum - largely, if not terminally
unprepared. My method of card organization is to cram them into a little
three-ring binder, where all the rings are long torn out, but a good
rubberband holds it all together. The very definition of 'dog-eared'.
From dance to dance, a sort of natural shuffling process takes place as
they get crammed back in the binder. On my way out the door, I may grab
6 or 8 promising cards and spend upwards of ten minutes perusing them.
They go into my pocket and ultimately attain a higher state of
dog-earedness. At the dance, I may pull some or all of them
out to take a little peek, so to speak. Mostly though, I rely on what's
rattlin' around in the noggin. That way, there's always the odd dance
that comes bubbling up to the surface. Tonight, I thought of the old
Back Door Key where the travelling couple alternately drop through the
back door couple, circle left, then pick up that couple and take em on
to the next where all four alternately drop through, etc. Years ago, my
daughter re-copied some of my cards because she felt they had attained
such a dilapidated state. Now, these have almost caught up with my
others, but have Beth's endearing and quite legible 8 yr. old's
penmanship. As a caller, you haven't been having a good enough time if
at least some of your cards don't have healthy beer or coffee stains on
them. Tonight, I tenderized them a bit by accidently kicking over a mug
of water on them. Re"card"less of my lack of proper card ordering,
they sure were whooping it up tonight. Ain't it fun when it works!
Pete LaBerge
Nancy Mamlin wrote:
>
> "don ward" <dw...@loop.com> wrote in message
> news:dward-04110...@p00.hwts17.loop.net...
>
> > I am finding more and more callers picking a dance on the fly.... Dont
> > callers plan their dance ahead of time any more...... ??????
>
vvel...@imap3.asu.edu
: Hi,
My 2 cents aren't that much about organizing cards, but about what and how much
use I make of my PC for my card-records.
I do not have much working experience with databases, although I always
thought I should. It's been my experience very often, that people will
make a piece of software which is very good at one thing (visual
display, for example) and mess up on the thing they don't consider
important (processing abilities, for example). That comes from
"ages" ago in computer time, but I got stuck there - coming from the
attitude, that too much time spent on the computer can easily turn
into a "plain wasted time". After all - how long will a database
made on a personal Apple computer be of use?! ;-)
Meanwhile I decided to work on simple data entry and visual organizing.
I've decided to develop a template file to satisfy my taste for how
much info I want and its mode of display before I invest too much time into
typing all the dances that I like and would like to organize.
I came up with something which fits on a 3x5 card, prints OK on my
laser printer. The text is structured into block-areas on the card
which allows me to locate with just a glance type, formation, difficulty-rank,
author, source, music type, etc.
When I start making a new file I just pull out a dance-card, which
I think has a similar structure (elements in the dance notation or
using the same teaching trick, for example) and replace only the
wording which differs, trying to stay within the same style format as
much as possible.
One thing I definitely like about working with a word-processor
created card is that I can use bold emphasis for the "keywords/key-calls"
of the dance to sort of blank out the rest of the (excessive) notation
that I have used exclusively for helping me with the walk through.
This allows me to write down a particular way of explaining/teaching
the transitions, but still be able to see only the elements alone when I need
to focus and figure out what is at the end of B1, for example.
Or another use - for having the short calls only in bold, embedded in
patter-like calls written in regular type.
For my level (beginner) all of this seems to work very well.
And having a readily accessible back-up is great. Just the other night
I realized, that I have danced all night with the card of one of my
favourite dances in the back pocket of my jeans... Good thing it didn't
get washed too - would have been very bad for the jeans! :-) I'm gonna
have to press the "print" button again on this one, I guess.
Greetings,
Vess
enjoying very much the opinions shared on this particular subject
Paul Kosowsky
> keep losing your dance cards, what can you do?
>
> David Kaynor
from memory at my hometown USA Israeli Dance session, with all the
problems that that leads to- like forgotten steps in the middle of
teaching, etc. But I doubt we'll ever write out cards, since it's not a
called dance, after all... It certainly develops your kinetic memory
though.
Maya
Paul Kosowsky
> I am finding more and more callers picking a dance on the fly.... Dont
> callers plan their dance ahead of time any more...... ??????
Hmm- I don't actually lead a session (my very good excuse: I am 16
years old), however the leader of my Israeli FOlk Dance session
frequently asks me to teach a dance, and only if I make a questioning
comment does he ask if I think it's too hard for the group (as it so
unfortunately often is.) When asked to teach- in advance, that is- I
try to pick somethign good ahead of time. However, due to teh extreme
changeability of our session, I rarely have that chance, and when I do,
I rarely get to teach what I had planned to do.
Maya
Peter
I'm in the UK and my dance repertoire comprises traditional English dances
and contemporary dances in traditional style, plus a few others - such as
Playford, Fallibroomes, Balkan, American Square, etc.
Basically, my storage of "cards" is a bulk store, and I never need to find
anything "quickly", so they are in two boxes ("dances I use" and "dances I
might use sometime") sorted by form (ie circle, square, set, longways).
I am surprised by the suggestions of "deciding what dances to do before you
go to a dance"? This may be ok for a club session (in which case I usually
take a bundle of cards for unusual dances", but at a "public dance" or
"private party" how do you know in advance what will be the standard of the
dancers or what type of dances they will like?
There is only realy one effective place to store your dances - in your head.
Nowadays I have significantly reduced the number of events at which I call
dances (I also play and sing) but when I was "very busy" a few years ago, I
had around 700 "active dances" and I would have been very disappointed if I
couldn't have called any of 500 of them at the drop of a hat. The other 200
would probably have needed a "refresher" as they would have come into the
category of "specialist" dances which were only used occasionally.
Perhaps this is one of the things which diferentiates between a "dance
caller" and someone who calls dances. To me, (visibly) using cards in a
dance is a total distraction for both the caller and the dancers. It's like
a singer having the words to a song on a piece of paper in front of him.
There is also that "magnetic" factor - once you start reading off the card
you can't put it down!
Strangely enough a similar discussion emerged during a local music session
only a couple of nights ago. Someone asked how I learned and remembered 700
dances. When I "introduce" a new dance, I do it generally where I know the
dancers, I say it's a "new" dance and use the card, or notes, if I feel I
need to. If it works, I go home, learn it, and call it a couple of times
(without prompts!) on "known territory". The trick then is to avoid calling
the same "comfortable" dances regularly, but keep using a different
selection every time you call. That is how to get people to "follow" you -
they know that the dances this week will be different to the ones they did
last week.
Having said all that, for the past 10 years or so I've been working very
regularly with a "Ceilidh band" and we put on a "dance-based show",
generally for the "non-dancing" public. Our maximum playing time was around
3 hours, but we reckoned that we had about 8 hours worth of rehearsed
material. However, I generally drew from only around 30 dances in the whole
of that 10 years - it was enough to provide the entertainment that
particular type of audience wanted, allowing us to concentrate on the music
and songs.
No doubt that will stimulate some responses - I look forward to the comments
of others.
Pete Chadbund
"David Cottle" <li...@uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:B624B537.721D%li...@uiuc.edu...
> Hi,
Nancy Martin
> David Cottle <li...@uiuc.edu> writes:
>
> >I'm reworking my entire dance card holder. I've tried organizing by
> >difficulty, name (useless), type of move, etc. I've tried putting little
> >tabs on ones that I want to try that night.
>
> >Any systems out there that really work well?
I just happened upon the ideal solution - for me. I forgot all my dance
cards on top of an old piano in a grange hall far away. I'm starting from
scratch! I wonder if I can pare the repertoire down small enough this time
to keep it all in my head? Maybe.
Bill Martin
jmtraining
professional enough for me. I now dtp every dance I do to an A4 sheet of
paper which I place on a music stand at the side of the stage. I can read it
from where I stand particularly if I use different colours.
It takes a fair bit of 'set up' work to get all those cards on to dtp but
once done it takes little maintenance.
I'm seriously thinking of using a laptop when I can afford one!
John Meechan
Nuneaton UK
Nancy Martin <mar...@teleport.com> wrote in message
news:17%06.9992$y91.8...@nntp2.onemain.com...