Rogue Bands and New Callers
ksel...@wesleyan.edu
most recent brush with contradance calling. (I am an amateur, have attended
4-5 calling workshops, called at no more than 6 dances. I practice hard before
a dance, aspiring to teach concisely and clearly, and believe I now manage most
of the calls or "queues" in the times and places I want them to be. I do not
aspire to a calling career, but want the skill squarely in my back-pocket for
those times when I have found it called for, but no official talent around.)
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I just called at two more contradances, one each in Hartford and New Haven,
Connecticut. I had a very good time doing so, got into the spirit of it, and
didn't mess up once. People afterward were very encouraging.
I also called a dance I wrote myself about 1 1/2 years ago, and have been
tinkering with ever since. I had wanted to write (one of those dreaded) circle
mixers for a while. But, unlike many of them which cater mostly to beginning
dancers -- with lots of "into the center-and-backs" and lots of "all circle
left .... now circle rights," I wanted to write one which strived toward some
of the following goals:
- Was challenging enough that experienced dancers would find it quite engaging
- Involved plenty of actual interaction with partner (swings, balances,
do-si-dos, allemandes) rather than mostly the aforementioned big circle to
left, or right, or forward-and-backs
- A right-and-left-grand style motion which got dancers around the whole circle
by at least 4 folks each time the dance went through
- Along those lines, involving one of those neat things they do up in Boston,
where you balance first before right-and-left-grand-ing around -- a very
satisfying way to launch, I find
- Was not so exotically choreographed that beginners could not do it easily
I wrote it. Practiced calling it. Discussed timing issues with experienced
callers. Finally, it came time to try it upon the unsuspecting populous in New
Haven. The walk-thru went well enough. But, when the dance started, after the
first time through, it started to bomb. Timing allemandes and circle grand
right-and-lefts are very tough because they are two contra figures with
*variable* but demanding timing, and are thus challenging to incorporate into a
dance. My dance had ample amounts of both of them.
I reconfigured a part of the dance on-the-fly while continuing calling it the
second time through, and it worked! It was a bit of a hair-raising experience,
but the dancers got through the dance nicely, and didn't seem to notice it's
initial lurch off toward the precipice over which contradances sometimes
topple. Not being an experienced caller, there was, I imagine, a good bit of
adrenalin in my system at that time, though. Quite a bit. But, I am now in
possession of much needed practical data on how to recompose the dance so that
the choreography in those two parts will work. The experience of reconfiguring
a new dance while simultaniously calling it in tight rhythm, though, is not an
endeavor I would ever want to wish upon anyone else.
Oddly enough, I had almost the same exact band for both nights I called. At
least, the core group consisted both times of [name-changed-to-protect-
the-guilty] of the big, white whiskers on mandolin and [same deal] on guitar.
For Saturday night in New Haven, there was also [same-deal-though-less-guilty].
They were in (I cannot think of a better way to describe it) a puck-ish mood --
as in Puck, from "A Mid-Summer Nights Dream" by Shakespeare. Usually, they are
in good enough spirits. But, the night I called, they were in a wierd mood,
and started playing everything a whole lot faster than it is usually done.
Dancers were sweating and exhausted (as I waited to call, people were coming in
to the kitchen, panting hard, with sweat-soaked shirts.) Different organizers
for that dance were making waving motions at the band, and occasionally
yelling, "Slow down!" To this, the band all smiled broadly, nodded their heads
up and down, and kept charging right along. The band seemed to find all this
ever-so amusing.
They also razzed callers:
Caller: And now, we'll start. The band will play xxxxx.
Band: Shall we start?
Caller: yes.
Band: Now?
Caller: Yes.
Band: Are you sure?
Caller: YES!!
Band: Here we go. Ready?
Caller: .
.
.
.
I found it rather amusing, personally. But, I'm not sure all the other callers
at this Come-All-Ye were similarly humored. The band really was in an
unusually rogue-ish mood. They even once started playing slower, then faster,
then slower. I found it amusing, too, though I imagine the dancers as a whole
might have been a bit confused. Still, the band seemed to think it was
hilarious. I sort of felt, as a new caller, as if I was being tested in a
special kind of way, remained patient, and even conducted them (with arms
akimbo) to slow them down a bit during one of their greater trangressions of
dance tempo. It even worked, much to my delight, though I think they probably
found it even more amusing and delightful than I did.
The [gentleman who shall remain nameless on mandolin] told a joke as we hung
around afterward that seemed to bare repeating, and so I include it here:
Q: What is the difference between a folk musician and a mutual fund?
A: One of them eventually matures and makes a lot of money.
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Ken Selling
Organization: Wesleyan University
Internet: ksel...@eagle.wesleyan.edu
BITNET: kselling%ea...@wesleyan.bitnet