I offer this material in the spirit of community. If you use it, please credit
me (or the relevant participants) when and where possible - and let me know!
This page brings together interviews, workshops, and other material in both transcript and video form.
Dancing the Whole Dance: Positional Calling for Contra
"I just started reading your booklet ... I appreciate your approach and voice. There is a
fairness, concern, thoughtfulness, and flexibility that puts me at ease, a good frame of mind for
learning something new!"
In 2022, I worked with CDSS to put all of my material on positional calling for contra dances into a book,
which is now available here.
All proceeds from sales support the outstanding work of the Country Dance and Song Society.
"Dancing the Whole Dance: Positional Calling for Contra" provides an in-depth look at how to be
successful calling contras positionally based on her years of success in a wide range of settings.
With thoughtful commentary on the how and why of positional calling, as well as detailed introductory
workshop and notes for specific dances, this booklet has everything you need to start learning positional calling for contra."
5 Benefits of Positional Calling (and one challenge)
Positional Calling I for English Country Dance (video)
This workshop was sponsored by the Friends of English Dance, formerly Friends of Cecil Sharp House.
Positional Calling I for Contra Dance (video)
This workshop was sponsored by the Friends of English Dance, formerly Friends of Cecil Sharp House.
Positional Calling II: Practice (ECD and contra)
This workshop was sponsored by the Friends of English Dance, formerly Friends of Cecil Sharp House.
These notes include input from two separate Zoom workshops (12/19/2020 and 1/16/2021) with a total of 30 attendees. I am grateful to everyone who
came for their enthusiasm and thoughtful participation. We are also grateful to the attendees who donated to our charities of choice: the Albert Kennedy Trust,
which supports LGBTQ+ youth at risk of homelessness, and The National Youth Folklore Troupe of England.
Throughout the notes, I use "I" and "my" when I'm reporting on my own beliefs and opinions; all other comments were made by participants in the workshops. Keep in mind that
participants had 15-20 minutes to devise these walkthroughs, and no time to practice them! What's more, we were all calling for ghosts rather than real people.
As a result, none of these walkthroughs are perfect, but they do offer a lot of extremely useful food for thought.
Would you rather participate in this workshop than read the notes? Ask me about organizing a workshop for your group.
Foreword
In this workshop, everyone has the opportunity to think through teaching a dance positionally (either contra or ECD) that has traditionally been taught using gendered terminology.
Brooke Friendly, who is a leader in the field of global terminology in English country dancing, calls this "translation," but I'm going to encourage you to think about
it as interpretation. I think of positional calling as not just changing the words we're using
(which isn't a great definition of translation in any case!), but as intentionally making decisions about how to convey choreography to dancers. This is part of a
bigger picture of decision-making during a dance; the musicians and dancers are also making decisions, and so the experience is collaborative.
As callers, we learn choreography in a variety of ways, from original sources to videos online, and then we interpret it as we offer it to
dancers. We don't get a choice about how dancers, in turn, interpret a dance. Although I don't believe we should erase or deny the gendered history of dance (although it's
often more complex than many people realize), over the past few years -- longer, in some
communities -- dancers have increasingly been rejecting gender as a contemporary interpretive lens. In other words, they are disregarding gender in their own choices
about roles, partners, and style. The result is that as callers we've lost a piece of information: we can no longer look out at the dance floor and
make assumptions about what is happening based on gender presentation. This fact was part of my motivation for turning to positional calling: if
that information isn't there, why use an interpretive system that depends on it? (Note that alternative role terms, like larks and robins, replicate
this failure: neither we nor the dancers can know by looking if a dancer is a lark or a robin, so it's a minimally useful tool -- especially when people are confused.)
When I'm teaching a new dance, I have a process: I dance it myself (that's usually how I collect dances), I watch videos to learn how
dancers interpret the dance, I listen to other callers, and then I workshop a walkthrough. Every time I get new input, it contributes to
my interpretation of the dance. As a caller, I want to convey three things to dancers about any individual dance: its pattern, elements
of style, and how to enjoy it. Underlying the individual dance choreography is the overarching structure I'm using to teach every
dance, and that also involves interpretation. How do we invite dancers to think about their relationship to the other dancers?
If we start with an example, The Hop Ground, we can see what I mean. At the beginning of The Hop Ground, dancers need to know
who and where the corners are. Here's how one might hear that taught using gendered terms: (Participants stood up as though they were going to dance, in order to follow along.)
"First corners -- that's first gent and second lady -- and second corners -- that's first lady and second gent." But in order to be able to say
that, you need to have identified the ones and twos, the gents and the ladies. In an evening program you might already have taught those things, but
it's still a lot of information that dancers -- particularly inexperienced ones -- need to process in order to understand who is being described.
That processing is made even more challenging when dancers are not standing up in gendered lines -- again, their interpretation affects ours.
It's also a description that speaks to individual dancers rather than the group, which discourages dancers from thinking about the dance in terms of
pattern -- and makes it harder to remember. (Brooke has noted in the past that the phrase "global terminology" derives in part from the goal of speaking to as many
dancers as possible with each call, rather than speaking to individuals.)
If we were to teach the same concept positionally, we might say instead:
"Face your partner across the set, and take inside hands with your neighbor. Now use that same hand to take hands with the dancer diagonally
across from you. Is it your right hand? You're first corners, on the first diagonal. Left hand? You're second corners, on the second diagonal."
One strength of this description is that no matter where the dancer is in their hands-four, in this dance or a future one, they can use the
same logic to determine which corner they are. Another strength is that because we're speaking to all the dancers, we encourage them to understand
themselves in relation to one another, and the choreography as a geometric pattern -- which helps them remember.
And because we're talking about both English and contra in this workshop, I also want to point out that we already teach corners positionally in
contra dancing. For example, when teaching contra corners, one of the most common techniques is to say, "Use both hands to point to your partner,
across from you. Separate your hands so that you're pointing to the person on either side of your partner. Your right hand is pointing to your
first corner (wave to your first corner); your left hand is pointing to your second corner (wave to your second corner)." Both contra and English
use a lot of positional logic; any time you say, "with your neighbor..." or "on the side," for example, you're using positional logic rather
than gendered logic. It's not new, we're just expanding it.
Not a Figment of Your Imagination (contra): directions and video
We split into small groups, so that 2-4 people were discussing each dance. I asked each group to devise two walkthroughs of the gendered parts of each dance (as noted
above, elements of most dances are already taught and called positionally, so we didn't spend time reinventing the wheel). We then reconvened and taught each other each walkthrough,
working together to improve them.
Why two walkthroughs for each dance? Because there's no one right answer when it comes to positional calling. Dancers, like all humans, have a
variety of learning styles, so as a caller, it's really useful to be able to explain something two -- or even three -- ways. Along the same lines, these notes
don't conclude with a script for each dance: I invite you to consider each walkthrough offered, and the points of discussion they raised, and make
your own decisions about what will work for the group for whom you're calling.
I gave some advice and instructions to the workshop participants ahead of time:
The key to positional calling is thinking about the dance as a whole pattern, rather than trying to replace individual figures or phrases.
Look for symmetry -- particularly in English dances, symmetry is your friend.
Look for momentum and flow: useful in both ECD and contra, but particularly in the latter.
Be aware that any new language will generate resistance: how much can you work with vocabulary that dancers already know?
Use all your skills: demonstrations; awareness of transitions, momentum, and flow; programming (you can spread out your teaching over several dances); and concision.
Assume a mix of experienced and inexperienced dancers who have lined up arbitrarily; assume also that this dance is happening in the second half of an evening, so dancers
know who partners/corners/neighbors are, how to line up improper, how each figure works, etc. (This was a concession to our time constraints; it's
useful to think about all of these elements of teaching from a positional perspective as well!)
The Homecoming:
Points from the small group discussion:
A demo would be useful, but it is important to have words to accompany the demo.
Corners versus diagonals: how do you decide? Are they positions or people?
Does it matter that the dance is improper? How do we address this as callers?
Walkthroughs and feedback:
This walkthrough was offered in the hope of feedback, as the group wasn't satisfied with it: "Top left diagonal, followed by partner,
cast down and begin to cross the set below second couple. Just listen: dance up to each other's original places, the leader dancing outside the set,
and follower dancing inside. Now go: dance up to each other's places, leader dancing up the outside and follower dancing up the inside."
It took some people a while to figure out who was starting the dance. How could that description be clarified?
The group considered labeling the sides of the room ("clock side" and "window side"), but weren't sure that counted as positional calling.
In my opinion, if it's a useful tool, use it -- would it be useful here?
It might have been useful to tell everyone that they are dancing clockwise? With that information, the question of who casts and who
follows is answered.
This is a figure that is familiar in square dancing; could one borrow those calls? "Gent 'round two and the lady cut through" could become,
"Leader 'round two and partner cut through."
Mentioning that it's a chase figure might be useful.
What if we think about the whole A pattern? There are two chases, led by the second corners.
Some discussion ensued about corners versus diagonals. This isn't well codified, so callers have to be clear about what they mean.
Would it be useful to say that the ones are leading the figure, before you launch into who, specifically, is leading? This question
also points toward the value of recognizing the whole pattern of the dance.
What about B2? This wasn't covered in the group's walkthrough, but after you do the two-hand turn, how do you describe where people end?
In a gendered call, one might say, for example, "the lady is on the left.""
David Smukler offered the description, "You're with the wrong person, facing the wrong way, on the wrong side" -- and several people noted
that everyone elds progressed. Experienced dancers would doubtless enjoy the humor of the former (as we did in the workshop!), and the latter is
very clear. I might say "the ones are now below" rather than referring to progressed place.
One could also say that it's a 3/4 two-hand turn, which will help some people.
In the A2, ending up in the right place in the line of four might also be challenging. How might a caller explain it?
If you've established who the leaders are in the chase, then you can say they're in the middle of the line.
It might even be useful to point out that this is where they'll end at the very beginning of the walkthrough: "Second corners will lead a chase,
at the end of which you'll be in a line of four with them in the middle."
This walkthrough was prefaced by the observation that The Homecoming is improper, but that this caller felt that was irrelevant, and her
inclination would be not to mention it. "Dancers, I have an ID to relay to you, but you'll only need it briefly. Face your partner, and think
about which shoulder is closest to the head of the set. If it's the right shoulder, you're in the right file, and if it's your left shoulder,
you're in the left file. The dance begins with the ones chasing each other, and it's the right file person who is the leader. Right file person,
cast down. Leader, dance straight across the set below the twos, and up behind one person to the top. Follower, follow the leader across the set,
loop around one person to the top part of the set, and that's your chase. Twos, you're going to do a chase, but your chase has an extra piece of
excitement to it. You're going to end in a line of four, so twos, take a look at the ones above you. Left file person, you're going to end up
between the ones. Right file person, you're going to end up on the far end of that line. So: left file person, cast up, go all the way around the
ones, cross to the other side, loop around one person -- all the way around -- to end up between the ones. Follower, go across the set, loop all
the way around one person, and end on the far end of your line of four."
It was very helpful to know ahead of time that the twos are aiming for a line of four; it would also be useful to know which way the line
of four is facing: up or down.
Likewise, one might note that both leaders end up in the middle (as noted above).
"The Homecoming begins with a chase figure, first for the ones and then for the twos. Ones: at the end of the chase you'll be in each other's
place. Second top corner cast down, followed by their partner. They continue all the way around the twos, ending in their partner's place, while
the follower dances across the set around one person and cuts through, ending in their partner's place. Now it's a chase for the twos: the
bottom second corner will lead the chase and they will be ending between the ones in a line facing up, while their partner will end at the left
end of the line of four. Bottom second corner, cast up, all the way around the ones and into the middle of a line of four while their partner
follows across the set, up and around, cutting through to get to the end of a line of four."
This caller felt that it would be helpful to be able to identify who you're dancing around. It's hard to keep track of corners because
everyone's been moving around.
This walkthrough does a great job of describing the whole pattern before anyone starts moving.
Some people found the "Second top corner" concept challenging; consider simply saying at the beginning of the walkthrough that the second
corners will be the ones who cast each time. Then when people are moving, you can simply say "Ones, cast and chase." It may also help to observe
that the chases are all clockwise.
It was helpful to think about the fact that I was going to end on the right- or left-hand side of my corner in the line.
We've spent a lot of time on this first part of the dance, but the two-hand turn later on is also worth discussing: "You're in a line of four
next to your corner, and you dance up and down the set, and you end facing your corner. You dance half a hey, and meet your neighbor on the other
side of the set. Two-hand turn your neighbor until you're in progressed place, facing out. Lead out and back in. Second corners cross; first corners
cross."
It's technically first corners on the second diagonal who cross first; how do you make that clear? You might say, "on the second diagonal,
change; first diagonal, change."
Zag It Back:
Points from the small group discussion:
Can one use ECD-style corners in contra calling? This is a difference between the US and the UK/Canada; in the former, it's likely to go badly.
Describing people in terms of their relation to their partner versus in terms of free hands: "If you're on your partner's right" vs "if your right hand is free." Which is
easier to understand?
Walkthroughs and feedback:
This walkthrough was offered with the caveat that it uses the concept of corners, which may be confusing for contra dancers: "This dance is
in Becket formation: you're holding hands with your partner on the side of the set. Look on your left diagonal; slice toward the left
and fall straight back so you're facing a new couple, and in that new couple [having already taught the concept of first and second corners], second corners
allemande right once and a half to your neighbor: balance and swing."
Is the concept of corners valuable? What if it was introduced in a program that included contra corners?
I think it's unlikely that contra dancers will embrace corners anytime soon.
The conversation about whether or not to use corners at a contra dance was interesting; it seems evident that there's a lot of resistance
and that callers should think carefully about whether or not it's worth pursuing. How often will corners be the most effective/useful way to teach
a dance? The second walkthrough this group came up with avoided corners:
In this walkthrough, we assume (according to the rules of the workshop) that dancers know how to do each individual figure. "The dance is
Becket. You're standing next to your partner; the person on the left is the left-side person, the person on the right is
the right-side person. You'll be a left-side and a right-side person throughout this dance. Long lines, slice to the left and fall
back in place. The right-side person allemande right, go once and a half. Neighbor balance and swing." The rest of the dance is straightforward.
A brief conversation about teaching the slice reminded us that context matters: what can you be confident the dancers know, and what
will you have to teach?
A participant asked, can we find words that are like "corners," rather than saying "right-side person" and "left-side person" -- which feels
like translating? You know, all of us will say "oh, right-hand person, we know what that means." If we really want to move to a more
geometric idea, then corners would be something we should maybe encourage contra dancers to start learning. On the other hand, right now it would
confuse a lot of people -- perhaps especially in a Becket dance.
My solution for this is to use the "stay connected" theme that I highlight in my beginner lesson/walkthroughs. In the slice, you're only
connected to your partner, so I say, after the slice, "two of you have a right hand free: allemande right once and a half." It's more concise,
it avoids identifying individuals/roles in favor of inviting them to consider the whole hands-four, and within a couple of times through
the dance you can simply say "allemande right" and they'll know who should move. The call would start as "Slice left; two with a right hand,
allemande right -- go once and a half and neighbor swing," and then become "Slice left; two allemande right. Neighbor, balance and swing." If one were teaching style, this would also be an opportune
moment to point out that the connection allows their partner to give them some connection, bouncing them into that allemande.
The question was raised, what if this was long lines instead of a slice, so no one had a right hand free? In that case, I might use
"right-hand person," but I would first look back to the previous figure: before they take hands in long lines, do they have their right hand
free? If so, I'd say: "two of you have a right hand free: in a moment, you'll allemande, but first, long lines go forward and back., Now, two:
in the middle, allemande right."
It is helpful to be aware of redundancy: "left-side person" is descriptive, rather than jargon, so is it necessary to say "the person on
the left is the left-side person"? Note that in some cases repetition is actually useful -- while experienced dancers want concise walk-throughs,
new dancers are often grateful if the caller repeats information, because they're trying to process a lot.
"This is a Becket dance; you're on the same side as your partner. With your partner, slice left to a new neighbor and then fall back.
Keeping hands with your partner, whoever has a right hand free, give it to the person across the set who also should be sticking out a right hand.
Allemande right once and a half, to your neighbor; balance and swing. Hands four, circle left three places. With this neighbor, zig left,
zag right... etc."
The only adaptation was "person wit a right hand free" -- simple.
This walkthrough was rejected by the group, but presented according to the workshop rules as their second idea: "With your partner, slice
on the left diagonal; fall back. Now if you're standing on your partner's right, allemande right once and a half."s
It was felt that the wording/thought process involved in sorting out if you are on your partner's right was cumbersome.
Jack's Maggot:
Points from the small group discussion:
Context matters: at a ball, a demonstration would be inappropriate for a dance this basic.
Brian Stanton noted that he teaches this dance with the heys on the diagonal -- in small spaces,
this gives dancers room actually to dance the figure. In contrast, the American callers in the group call the heys along the sides.
This is a dance that rewards thinking about the whole pattern, as we think about how to teach positionally. What happens if you try to describe the opening of the
dance positionally, without thinking about the whole A-part pattern? Sam Rotenberg offered this parodic walkthrough: "The top first corner crosses the set,
passing right shoulders with their corner, initiating a hey for three on the right file, dancing back to place at the end of the phrase." Accurate, yes,
but it violates every principle of minimalist calling!
Walkthroughs and feedback:
"First couple, face down on the right diagonal: those three people are going to do a hey. First corners pass right to start the hey. Finish
the hey with everyone at home; now the first couple faces on the left diagonal, and those three people will hey; second corners pass left shoulder
to start the hey, and end with everybody home."
And a second option, with the heys on the diagonals rather than on each side of the set: "Top first corner starts a hey by passing bottom first
corner right shoulder, and the top first corner's partner crosses over, and the hey is on the first diagonal line. Everyone finished back in
home place." And then obviously the second half is similar wording.
Doing the second walkthrough, it became clear that the first walkthrough wasn't explicit about the heys being along the side of the set.
Does it matter where the hey happens? What do the sources say? How "authentic" do we want to be about our interpretations?
For me, personally, the priority would be that all the dancers do it the same way, which would motivate me to find clear language.
It's easy to tell the first corners how to enter the hey, but it's harder to tell that third person how and when to enter the hey.
"The first half of Jack's Maggot is a hey for three on one side of the set and then the other; the first couple is in both these heys. First
corners start by passing right shoulders to enter the hey; at the end of the phrase, everyone is home. The second hey starts with second corners
passing left shoulders, and ends with everyone home." And the rest of the dance is straightforward.
Often when we teach this, we'd need to give a little more information about the hey: teaching it, basically. For the purposes of this workshop,
we assumed that the dancers knew how to do a hey for three.
A demo would be helpful here; how do we know when a demo or other teaching is needed?
Not a Figment of Your Imagination:
Point from the small group discussion:
How does one teach a courtesy turn positionally when it isn't associated with a chain? We can come up with ways, but we can also use this dance to think
about programming: one could intentionally put this dance after a dance or two that have had chains, so that you can use dancers' knowledge/muscle memory
of the rotational direction, person on the right moving forward, etc.
Walkthroughs and feedback:
"This dance is in Becket formation; you're on the side with your partner and your neighbor is across from you. Note which side is your home side;
that will be important throughout this dance. With your partner in courtesy turn position [which has been taught earlier in the evening], it's
a promenade across. This is the progression, so you 're going to promenade across passing left shoulders with that neighbor on the diagonal. You're
now opposite from where home is. Everybody, it's a left-hand hands-across star until you are on the side with your neighbor. One of you is on your
home side: if you are that person, turn back, and with your neighbor right-shoulder 'round into a swing. End that swing facing across and stay
connected with that neighbor. Two of you are about to do a thing; the other two will get a chance later. Right now, if you have a left hand free,
allemande left once and a half to find your partner: swing. Face across; right and left through. The other two, allemande right, once around and
back to your partner. Connect with your partner in courtesy turn position; do a courtesy turn and you're ready to begin the dance again."
The goal of this walkthrough was to use the idea of home to help orient people.
People generally found this walkthrough very clear.
There were a lot of words in the teaching; how does that translate into calling? With a thorough walkthrough, your calls can be correspondingly
minimal -- although one has to be prepared to support the dancers if/when they need you.
How useful is the concept of a "home side" if one is role switching within the dance? In a Becket dance like this one, if you and your partner
switch it doesn't change your home side, and if you're doing chaos switching (with other couples), you're all either ones or twos, so the same is
true. In my opinion, dancers who engage in extrachoreographical play are to some extent responsible for themselves! Positional calling can, moreover,
be helpful in chaos because regardless of your role, you can respond to calls that highlight momentum, free hands, etc.
David observed that the right-hand allemande into a courtesy turn is analogous to a chain, except instead of pulling by, the people in the
middle go all the way around, which could be a helpful teaching point.
Some alternative for the walkthrough (but not a complete walkthrough in itself): in B2, there's momentum for the two people going into the
right-hand allemande, so one could use that flow. In B1, the person who turned back in the star is the person who allemandes left. After the right
and left through, you're on your home side (and you stay there).
One of the challenges of positional calling is that dances that you used to think of as easy can be surprisingly tricky the first time you call
them positionally. The opposite can also be true! But we need to be comfortable reevaluating our comfort level with individual dances.
This group offered one basic walkthrough, and then some alternatives: "This is in Becket formation, so you're on the same side of the set as
your partner, facing across. Note the couple that's across and one
couple to the left -- your left diagonal. That's the spot you're going to end up in, in just a moment; those people are also your future neighbors.
It starts in promenade position with your partner, promenade across and then loop around left into that spot that I just told you to make a mental
note of. Then we're going to do a left hands-across star three places. Now you're on the side of the set with your neighbor and the next thing is
going to be a meltdown swing with that neighbor. If your back is to your neighbor, turn over your right shoulder to face your neighbor, and then
go into that meltdown and swing. End the swing facing across, connected to your neighbor. If you've got your left hand free, reach out to the other
person who's reaching out their left hand: allemande left once and a half until you're on the side with your partner. Swing your partner. End that
swing facing across; do a right and left through. Now if you have your right side free, do a right-hand allemande once around, and courtesy turn
with your partner, staying in that promenade position to start the dance again."
And here's the alternative: "You're with your partner in courtesy turn position, looking on your left diagonal, where you'll see your future
neighbors. Promenade across, looping wide to meet that other couple. Star left three places until you're on the side with your neighbor. If your
neighbor is behind you, you're on your home side. Turn over your right shoulder and meltdown swing -- end facing across; you're looking at your
partner. The people with a left hand free -- the ones who rolled back -- allemande left once and a half. Partner swing on the side. End facing
across; right and left through. Two of you are moving forward: use that momentum to allemande right once around; courtesy turn your partner
and stay in that position to start the dance again."
Using their momentum to guide dancers into the allemande right is extremely useful, because in traditional courtesy turn position they don't
have any hands free!
It was really helpful to foreshadow the meltdown swing so that dancers who needed to roll back over their right shoulder didn't turn left to face in.
One skill that's useful to develop as a positional caller is training dancers to do what you say -- and only what you say. So with the
left-hand star, for example, you might say "star left three places, and PAUSE" so that the dancers don't move in any direction until you've told them
where they're going.
Queer-Friendly Folk Dance Spaces: Nine Tips
On June 5, 2021, I was honored to be a part of the first (we think!) ever UK-based queer folk festival,
QOFF, conceived of by Lisa Heywood and organized/staffed
by a host of brilliant people. Lisa asked me to give a talk about creating queer-friendly folk dance spaces.
Here are my notes from that talk!
How can dancers, callers, and organizers make folk dancing a queer-friendly space? Here are some strategies for
welcoming and retaining queer dancers -- and creating dance programs that foster a queer-friendly atmosphere. It's not hard!
1. Hire queer talent
This is part of a larger project of diversifying your talent generally. People appreciate seeing aspects of
themselves reflected on stage, but they also understand that if the people on stage are diverse in many ways
(age, ethnicity/race, gender, nationality) then it's likely a community that's open to diversity generally. We don't
need to take a "one of everything, or don't bother" approach to our hiring to convey diversity as a positive value at our dances.
2. Never make assumptions
This was important enough to the QOFF organizers that it was included in our safety policy, and it's a
fantastic guideline for everyone. Whether you're a caller, organizer, or dancer, please avoid making assumptions
about who is dancing with whom, what role they would prefer, their pronouns, etc. This also applies to imaginary people: are
all your figure descriptions cisgendered? Have you considered using "they/them" pronouns for single dancers?
3. Safety and consent policies
Have them, and be public about them. That means not just posting them on your website or having a print-out on
the front table, but also mentioning them in announcements and reinforcing the values espoused in them during the dance.
As a caller, you can work safety tips and consent reminders into your general patter; as a dancer, you can proactively
solicit consent and initiate conversations about your safety with partners.
4. Model dancing with diverse partners
Again, this is not just about gender. Callers can encourage dancers to change partners throughout the event, and organizers
can articulate that practice as a norm in their advertising and promotion materials.
Framing dances as community activities encourages people to get to know each other and thus to feel responsible to one
another, which makes the dance a safer space. Callers are often perceived as leaders even when they're "off-duty," so our
behavior can make a difference.
5. Call gender-free
Regardless of what we call it -- gender-free, gender-neutral, alternative role terms -- calling without reference to gender
is the easiest way to avoid heteronormativity at a dance. There are lots of choices about how to call gender-free, from larks
and robins to positional calling. I like the latter because it also offers the potential to disrupt the binary that has come
to dominate folk dance (see my next point). But also, gender-free calling is in some sense more historically accurate: Think
about how many ceilidh dances don't need roles: is this an accident? In many small communities, everyone dances with everyone,
and always has done. The dances have welcome built into them by design, and we can and should honor that.
6. Introduce non-binary choreography
Non-binary choreography can be really simple: in a circle dance where roughly half the group goes into the middle first
and the others second, for example, consider using other ways of identifying each half: "everyone wearing blue, into the
middle,"" "everyone else, into the middle," etc. It doesn't matter -- and can even be part of the fun -- if it doesn't work out
to be perfect halves.
Consider replacing asymmetrical swings with symmetrical holds: ceili swings or basket swings, for example, when ending
position doesn't matter. And in situations where dancers expect more complex choreography, consider 3-facing-3 dances or
other formations that don't rely on binary pairs. If you're a choreographer, write non-binary dances!
7. Know your history (at least a little!)
Specifically, know some of the history of non-binary dancing and same-gender partnering, whether that's women dancing
together in Regency England (due, historians have hypothesized, to the shortage of men during wartime; see also this
excellent post by Susan de Guardiola), cowboys dancing
squares together in the American West, or the evolution of single- and multi-gender Morris sides on both sides of the Atlantic.
Daisy Black made an excellent comment to this point in the chat: "We know that the Inns of Court were one of the big
customers (and inspirers) of Playford's dance printed editions, and those were communities of male students learning to
practice law. There are dance tunes and names riffing on Grays Inn and Lincoln's Inn. Although Playford uses gendered terms
in his dance instructions, in the Inns they were danced with men in all positions. So even in 1651 people were ignoring the
'printed' dance terms and dancing with whoever was there."
8. Use announcements and patter effectively
Announcements and caller patter can introduce and reinforce community norms ranging from choices of partners
("ask someone new to dance") to the presence of stewards, etc., who can be approached with questions or concerns. At the
risk of repeating what I said earlier, consider your standard teaching/description phrases: are they gendered? Do they
imply romantic intent between partners? How might you replace them with words or phrases that don't have the same effect?
Remember that dancers who have romantic intent can sort that out for themselves: no one has ever flirted just because a
caller reminded them to, and no one has ever forgotten to flirt because the caller didn't mention it. What the caller can do
is share the value of consent through the mic: both overtly ("some people like to make eye contact during this figure, but
it's entirely optional"), and by (lack of) implication.
9. Queer-friendly is people-friendly
A welcoming dance is, by definition, welcoming to all. Talk to a diverse range of dancers in your community -- and if
you know dancers who have left the dance, ask them why -- and then build on what you learn from them. Don't let yourselves be
bullied: be confident that if your policy of being welcoming and safe makes someone uncomfortable and they can't
explain why without being sexist/racist/homophobic, or using spurious logic, that's on them, not you or your dancers.
At the end of the talk, I turned it over to the group for their thoughts about how spaces have been welcoming.
We talked a bit about intersectionality: how does being a queer-friendly space intersect with being a safe space for disabled
people, for example? We also talked about badges/pins and t-shirts that say things like "ouch!" (for placement at an injury),
"I dance both roles," "Dance roles are a social construct," and "Dance with whoever comes atcha!" as tools for non-verbal communication.
Caller Websites -- with guest Colin Hume
Why do callers build websites?
In this online workshop with UK-based caller Colin Hume, we take a deep dive into the development of his website -- which
leads us to a variety of other topics. Many of you know Colin thanks to his website
(and if not, check out this ten-minute tour), as well as his dances, compositions,
and calling.
What content do caller websites include, and why? What's the balance between website content and that published in other
forms —- books, CDs, etc.? How has the internet changed social folk dancing?
After the workshop, Graham Foster began compiling a reference list of caller websites. Follow the link to find out how you can add yours to the list.
Watch the video of the complete workshop:
Several products, sites, and other resources were mentioned by Colin and others during the workshop. Thanks to everyone for your input!
See also Tempo Slowmo (for phones) and Anytune, for adjusting recorded music speed.
Zoom Calling -- with guest Cathy Campbell
Watch the video of our workshop on Zoom calling with Cathy Campbell
We discuss Zoom dance organizing and calling set-up, attendance (and the pros and cons of Zoom as a community dance tool), adapting dances for solo and couple dancers, and more.
Several resources were mentioned in the chat, including:
Bernie Culkin and Louise Siddons on starting new groups, with host Colin Hume
Watch the video of our webinar, and then enjoy the follow-up conversation below, where we answered some of the questions we didn't get to in person.
This workshop was sponsored by the Friends of English Dance, formerly Friends of Cecil Sharp House.
Q&A
I've had great success at ceilidhs but I can't get them to continue. Except one where I started a new club after the second one I had done in the same area. Is this the only way?
Louise: We did find that having a few special events helped us drum up interest in a regular series. We also started the weekly workshop because we had been told that the only reliable way to grow a group was to hold events more frequently; it didn't grow our group, but it did strengthen the commitment of the existing core of dancers.
Where did you find your new members, and how did you persuade them to stay?
Bernie: our new members (dancers who hadn't danced before) came because they saw either a Facebook post, an article we had written in the local newspaper, or a flyer in the local library/shop. How did we persuade them to stay – I'm not sure. There must be something that we do that they like. See answers about how we manage complete beginners and how we define success.
Louise: we're on hiatus because of the pandemic, so we've not done anything this academic year (which for us began two weeks ago), but generally we advertise heavily among students at the beginning of the year, and do demonstrations, and we partner with other student clubs (like the History Club) to do special events. It's much harder for us to recruit new dancers in the community – we're a small town, and although we've been very child-friendly in terms of the dancing at our monthly dances, our timing isn't so – we used to dance from 8-11pm.
How do you prevent the same folks from joining the new clubs and remaking the same group?
Louise: This is an excellent question, particularly if the goal is to raise the standard of dancing (however you define that). Having a clear set of objectives can keep a club on a new track. We had to set some clear standards in our club around gendered behavior, for example: we explicitly asked experienced dancers not to introduce their assumptions about gender at our dances, and we made it clear that if they weren't comfortable with people dancing any role, they were in the wrong place. We didn't kick anyone out, and I can't think of anyone who chose to leave; people who prefer a particular role learned how to express that preference in a gender-free way.
Bernie: I don't think you can prevent the same folks from joining new clubs, nor would we want to. What we do want is that everyone adopts our club's aims and norms.
So what does it mean to be welcoming? Can you be specific?
Louise: For us, welcoming means making sure people are being asked to dance; being careful, as a caller, to teach any new concepts as they come up; having "afters" at a local pub-type restaurant to which everyone is invited, so that we can get to know each other; having a clear code of conduct; name tags for every dancer. When I'm the caller, I introduce myself to people as they come in, especially if they look new (at home I know; further afield, I just say "hi, I'm the caller. I'm from Oklahoma; is this your home dance?" or similar). As Bernie says, these are all obvious but they are still rarely done regularly at many clubs.
Bernie: Reflecting on this after the webinar, I think it is clear that there is nothing groundbreaking about how we make someone feel welcome. However, do clubs do all the things they could to be welcoming? I think the caller has a huge part to play in making new people feel welcome as they are the person leading the evening. Things that we make a consistent effort to do are:
Making sure someone greets a new person when they arrive and explains how things work.
We explain how the first evening is free as they try us out to see if we are a good fit for them.
Find out about their dance experience.
Make sure that someone will ask them to do the first dance.
During the first dance, introduce them to the group.
Explain the group will help them during the dance so look out for hand signals pointing them in the right direction, or a nod of the head (also serves as a reminder to the rest of the group that there is no pulling or pushing).
Make sure they are not sitting out (unless they want to).
Talk to them during the tea break.
At the end, thank them for coming and talk about how they felt about the evening.
When you set up a new group, was there an older group already in existence, and is there a rivalry?
Bernie: Yes, there was an established group already in existence. I hope there isn't a rivalry as that club is very different to ours in the types of dances that are done.
If the club services only the needs of those people that formed the group, then they can't be sustainable and I would argue they aren't trying to be. Is this the norm of groups you attend?
Louise: Our group has changed its priorities as its population changed. I think that's natural in a university environment; change is the norm, in a sense. The university group has been more sensitive to (inter)national conversations about changes (the rise of codes of conduct; gender-free calling, etc.) than our statewide organization, and I think that part of that is my own willingness to go along with the students' preferences, as their primary caller. The same goes for our repertoire: we went from doing exclusively what in the US is known as "modern urban contra" to a format that looks a lot more like a lot of UK clubs: contra, English, squares, Irish sets, round dances (waltz, polka).
Bernie: The question suggests that we aren't adaptable. We set up with an aim of teaching dancers to dance with emphasis on technique and quality but our first year was spent working out how to do this so that those who were not part of the original 10 members bought into that aim too. In the first year, there were some evenings where I got it wrong and over-taught so it felt like the dancers were at school. Those were not fun evenings. It is the role of the caller/committee to be reflective about the evening and listen to the comments on the dance floor and adapt. It is all about the people coming in the door and paying their money. How do we meet their expectations and needs without sacrificing our core values?
We are talking among the converted. Perhaps we should think about how to bring in "strangers."
Louise: I thought this might come up in our conversation, but it didn't. I think this question is spot-on, and I was once lucky enough to run a "youth" (under 40) workshop at Pinewoods English Week on this topic. We came to some interesting conclusions, but what stood out to me was that although people came for the music and the dancing, what they stayed for were the meta-experiences: the social scene, the learning, the intergenerational community, etc. The obvious next step is to translate that into an advertising campaign—but it's not obvious what such a campaign would look like.
Bernie: I agree with Louise that an advertising campaign would be a good idea. We need to move away from the traditional A5 flyer printed at home that just has club details on it. A campaign that focuses on the experience of dancing would be my preference.
Are groups popular because they focus on participation and activity, and not on quality and teaching?
Bernie: Your question suggests that groups cannot have both. Why not? At some point, there has to be some teaching. When someone turns up for the first time never having never done this activity before, how do they learn how to do it? When someone explains how to do something is this not teaching?
Louise: I wonder how many of us ask our dancers why they keep coming? That question was built into our group at the beginning because we were inventing it, and our extremely democratic system of running it kept that spirit alive, but I don't think I've ever asked the other groups for whom I call regularly why they come. It's an excellent point.
In the new group how do you manage complete beginners?
Louise: We take things at beginner speed, and we cultivate an atmosphere where experienced dancers ask beginners to dance, so that they learn more quickly. Personally, I think the gender-free environment helps with this because it just looks like a pile of people dancing together. Similarly, we have a strong culture of asking someone new to dance each time, which can be quite different in the UK. When I started social folk dancing, the norm was no more than two dances with a specific person in an evening, and I still largely hold to that unless I have no choice. As someone who turned up to her first contra dance alone, I found it surprisingly comfortable that I had no idea some people there were married to one another until months later! Generally, I think that a dance community that walks the talk of "anyone can ask anyone to dance" is going to be successful at both attracting and incorporating beginners.
Bernie: When I have new dancers arrive, I do change my program but I have a set of dances that I can just pick up and know will work for new dancers. These dances don't have figures like circular heys or ½ figures 8. I think having success early on in the evening is crucial. Our dance angels and I are very proactive during the evening so we give lots of reassurance to new dancers, I, as the caller, make sure I demonstrate/teach new figures and then everyone will do the figure. This stops everyone staring at/interfering with the new person trying to get a new figure right. If required, we might all do it twice so that the new person can practice again. I point out to new dancers to look out for hand signals from other dancers who will point them in the right direction. This also serves as a reminder to existing dancers that there is no pushing/pulling. I have a wireless headset so I can also be on the dance floor to point new dancers in the right direction.
How large are the two clubs? Are they growing?
Bernie: We started with 10 dancers in 2017 and by February of this year we had 26 dancers.
Louise: Ours peaked at about 75 at the monthly dances, in ~2016. When I left for a year in 2017-18, attendance went down sharply and the last few dances were canceled; since then, we'd only had about 20, at best, at monthly dances before the pandemic. Both the students in charge and I learned a lot from that – perhaps we could team up with Colin to teach workshops on how to destroy clubs! (I'm joking, of course – but the lessons I learned could, and I hope will, inform what we do differently after the pandemic.)
Aren't most 'new' people just those who dance at other nearby clubs?
Louise: We don't have any nearby clubs, so the people new to our dance are truly new to the form.
Bernie: Initially, our "new" people were established dancers but we are now seeing "new" dancers who have not danced before.
Colin said something along the lines of "people go to a dance and see a lot of older people plodding along in some complicated figure." Would having regular "beginner" dances help with that at all?
Louise: I wonder if this is the role that some people imagine(d) ceilidh dances would serve? As far as we're concerned, all our monthly dances are beginner dances. I think a community needs that sort of event, absolutely. If all we have are advanced/experienced dances, where do people get the experience to qualify?
Does anyone have proof that social media brings in new dancers? I'm always hearing that it's folks who bring friends that are the ones that try and stay.
Participant: A good website helps, which is updated and maintained. Perhaps you need to get other members to do the tweets, etc.
Bernie: Agreed that a website is useful. I have had some dancers attend because they saw something that we posted on Facebook. However, I think just putting a post on your Facebook page is not going to work. From the social media training I have done, you have to actively use social media, e.g. posting on other Facebook pages/groups, commenting on other posts, liking and sharing relevant material. It is something I'm still working on.
Louise: We survey our dancers across the state, and several have found us through Facebook. We had just launched an Instagram for the student club when the pandemic shut us down – so I don't know if it would have helped, but the students were optimistic. My experience in other non-profit contexts is that if you're going to do social media seriously, you need someone who is engaging several times a week – if not several times a day.
What have you done to encourage new people to take on leadership roles?
Louise: We have a mentoring program for musicians and callers, which ranges in formality but is designed to offer an extra degree of support to those who have expressed an interest in/commitment to dance in some form. We also make regular use of volunteers, and if we notice someone volunteers consistently, we reach out to them about taking on a bigger leadership role. Among the students, there's an added incentive to take on leadership roles because they get recognized for leadership on campus, and it's a resume-building activity.
How do you build community without enthusiastic & regular dancers? This is surely a development of dance clubs. We advertised on the neighbourhood network but only 6 months before Covid19.
Louise: I don't think clubs survive without that enthusiastic core of regular dancers.
Bernie: Agreed.
What does the panel think of asking EFDSS or other agent to get a celebrity invited to a dance for national publicity? I understand the young princesses last century made square dancing and Scottish fashionable.
Louise: I think that the world has changed since the Victorian era in terms of the scope and diversity of people's entertainment options, as well as the increased fracturing of the public sphere, thanks in part to the internet. My celebrities aren't your celebrities anymore! And dancing isn't an expected accomplishment of every educated person. I'm skeptical that a one-off celebrity appearance would make much of a difference. Rhiannon Giddens came to one of our Oklahoma City dances, and although it set our hearts aflutter, it didn't bring in any new dancers. Maybe we should have tipped off the paparazzi, though!
Bernie: Celebrity endorsements on social media seem to be popular. I read today that the UK Government paid for celebrity influencers to promote test and trace. Could the same be used to raise awareness of English Social Dance? I think we should be open to all possibilities.
It seems like people stay within the dance hobby if they can develop their skills, learn harder dances, and follow their passions. How do you keep your experienced dancers engaged while still keeping the community accessible to newcomers?
Louise: People love to learn, and I agree that a major challenge for the caller at a series open to all is conveying to each dancer what they can learn from the experience. I remember learning how to help other dancers; now, when I'm at a dance full of beginners as a dancer, one of my primary pleasures is dancing with a nervous new dancer and practicing my partnering skills. Even the most simple choreography can be danced better – particularly in English. But as Bernie mentioned, there's also room for "thinky" dances; new dancers often welcome the opportunity for a break, and there is value to showing those new dancers what they might aspire to.
Bernie: When I include a "thinking" dance I encourage all dancers to participate in it, with the exception of a dancer who has just turned up for the first time and this is their first experience of dancing (see my earlier comment about success). I feel quite uncomfortable with the underlying message that says we are better than you; sit and watch how we dance a difficult dance. There is a great sense of achievement from ALL when everyone has worked through a difficult dance and succeeded. To see what I mean, please see one of our videos on YouTube where we danced Gingerbread as our "thinking" dance. The group in the video contains dancers with different levels of experience. The best part of the video for me, is the sense of joy at the end as everyone has successfully completed the dance. Working together is what a dance community is about for me.
There used to be more overlap and cross-pollination between Contra, Square, ECD, SCD, etc. communities than now. How do we counteract the tendency of people to only gravitate to their most favorite style of Country Dance?
Louise: This is one area where I've heard young dancers express a prejudice against older dancers. I called the English track at YDW (Youth Dance Weekend) a few years ago, and several of the dancers came up to me and said that they'd never enjoyed English before – or had never even bothered to try it, because they'd absorbed the prejudice (which I've also heard from older dancers!) that English is what you do when you get too old for contra. To be honest, I don't know where that cross-pollination went: when I started dancing in 2008, contra dances regularly included squares, circles, and even triplets – but now those same series ban everything except longways duple minor contras (with, maybe, a four-facing-four). Although it was inspired by an Asheville transplant, our local group has been all new dancers for years, and so they only know what I teach them, or what they learn from each other – and I don't label dances "English" or "contra" before I teach them, I just say the title/date/choreographer. And yet they still develop favorites!
Seems like starting a new group maybe easier than trying to reform a long time group? Changing bad habits, getting volunteers, etc.
Bernie: It depends how willing the group are to change. Can they really look at their club with fresh eyes and reflect on what they can do to attract new dancers?
In the US, the CDSS provides a list of online dances. Are there other websites with online dances in UK and other countries? This would help us connect dancers and callers for mutual benefit.
Bernie: I know that AreYouDancing now accepts listings for online events.
I would be interested to hear what Bernie and Louise would define as success.
Louise: I define success as people having fun, and the group growing or sustaining itself (I think we've all seen the dangers of infinite growth mindsets, but I do think a healthy community replenishes itself as people move on or away). Note that, as I said above, I think that part of the definition of "fun" is learning.
Bernie: Agreed. I would also add that for my group, success is also are we improving. I make an effort to point out how well the group are dancing. If an individual is doing well, I make sure that I go and tell them. There are occasions when the group have asked if I can take a video so that they can "see" what a successful dance looks like. Example – "Chocolate is the Answer ". This was the "thinking" dance for the evening and this was the result.
Both of these sets have new dancers (dancers that had not danced before) that had recently joined us. Both of these videos are a definition of success for my group. Breaking even is another measure of success for us.
How did the new community like to gather and how often? Were in person gatherings part of building the group?
Louise: Both our groups started as in-person dances, so I'm going to read this question as about gathering outside of dance times – if only to say, we were at our healthiest when we had after-parties for the dances and when we had organizing meetings that felt like social events. It helps, in other words, if the organizers enjoy each other's company.
Bernie: As a dance group, we don't meet or have gatherings out of dance times. However, I know of groups of dancers, who only met at our dance group who do meet socially on occasion as their friendships have grown through dancing together.
Are any of you doing any Virtual English Country Dance Groups? If so, when do you hold them?
Bernie: Kindred Spirits FDC continues in a virtual format on 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at 7.30pm. Email me at info@kindredspiritsFDC.co.uk for more information.
Louise: We have dances bimonthly that are a mixture of English and contra, sponsored by the statewide traditional dance organization, Scissortail. We list them on the CDSS online events page and on our website, scissortail.org.
Thanks to the Friends of English Dance, formerly Friends of Cecil Sharp House, for organizing this webinar. See their full schedule of online events on their website.
Workshop 5: Working with Musicians -- with guests Chip Prince and Jacob Chen
How do callers work with musicians successfully?
This workshop was held on June 27, 2020, for the Scissortail Traditional Dance Society (Oklahoma). Before the workshop began, I sent Jacob and Chip a list of questions that we might ask:
Musicians have a lot of flexibility with contra tunes, but ECD pairs tunes with dances — do you have favorite tunes in each genre, and why? From your perspective, what makes a set list more fun/more enjoyable to play?
How do you communicate with the caller when you're playing, and what signals do you want to get from them during a dance?
How do you communicate with the caller before, after, and in between dances? (Are these things different for ECD and contra?)
What makes working with a caller fun?
What are the five most useful adjectives you can hear from a caller who is describing a dance? If relevant/possible, can you demonstrate what effect those adjectives have on your playing? Is this different for English and contra?
Both of you have performance experience; what's different about playing for dances? What's rewarding about it?
But, predictably, the conversation took its own path!
Louise: I invited Chip to join us because in addition to being brilliant, he also recently described himself as still feeling new to playing for dances — and I thought, that's exactly the right person to have a conversation with emerging and experienced callers — because he might still remember what surprised him at the beginning. Jacob is also relatively new to playing for dances, and he's had to learn our quirks as callers — and doubtless has some insights about them! So I'd love to start with a question to both of them: what do you wish you'd known about working with callers when you started playing for dances, and what do you still wish more callers told you/did for you (without you having to ask)?
Jacob: I didn't really interact with callers much at the beginning, because I was so focused on what I was doing — am I keeping a steady beat? — and all these things in my own musician world, and so it was the six-month mark when I started interacting with the callers, asking them for things and asking them to ask me for things. I think the thing that really helps, first and foremost, is being a dancer, because for both English and contra you know how some figures go and what the overall energy or mood of the dance is. Specifically starting out, dancing was a very large help.
Chip: I was really glad that I danced before I played, and one thing — and this gets down to a basic that not many people think about — is just the range of metronome markings between which steps can happen. You know, you get as low as 80, and it's just, ugh, you're going to fall over, because you can't keep your balance. And you get up as high as 130 and oh my gosh, I can't go that fast. Musicians who don't play for dances don't necessarily know this. Not only does tempo need to stay regular, there's a sensible place for it to be. And then learning, within that range, which dances need to be a little slower, either because of the figures or the style, or because the music requires it. These are things that having danced, I know — and even as a dancer, I was beginning to form opinions about, "oh gosh, I wish I could hear the beat better," or "I'm having trouble doing this dance as fast as they're playing it" — that sort of thing.
Louise: Like you said, too slow is also hard to dance to. In the moment, often the way I communicate tempo is to dance and then tap it out — but even then, there's a range you can do inside that suggestion. It can be fun for dancers when musicians change the tempo as the dance progresses. How do you, as musicians, think about that? Do you go in to a dance with a plan about tempo change?
Chip: I want to ask Jacob this, actually: you play piano, and do you play dances alone? Do you have one or two other musicians with you?
Jacob: I usually have two or three other musicians, although I have done solo gigs.
Chip: And that's hard, right? Because you have to cover the melody the whole time, so there's less you can do to improvise around it. I mean, that's part of the equation, is the other musicians. What are they capable of? What prejudices do they have in terms of tempo and style, etc.? One of the reasons I describe myself as a relative beginner is because even though time has passed and its been almost twenty years now, I still feel like the new kid on the block in New York, because there are people who have been doing this since the '70s and '80s, and those are my mentors. And then there are people who have grown up, like Naomi Morse, who grew up in a dancing musician family, and she knows all of the tunes, and she has opinions about them. And she doesn't push them, but I want to hear what she says and know what she feels. And so as expert as some people might say they think I am — yeah, I have opinions about things I know about, but there's so much more that I don't know, and I want to be able to learn from the Naomis, and the Jacqueline Schwabs, and the Karen Axelrods — the superstars. Kate Barnes, you know, all of that.
Louise: While you were talking about the opinions musicians have, I was thinking about communication between musicians and callers. And when I'm working with a band for the first time, the first question I ask is, "who do I talk to, and what do you want to hear from me?" And so I wonder, inside the band, how do you decide who is in charge? Especially in situations where individual musicians are hired, like Pinewoods, rather than complete bands, is this something that you negotiate ahead of time? Or does it rotate? And then how does the caller fit into that?
Jacob: Well, at Pinewoods the musicians are the cream of the crop — they know what they're doing and they're very good at working it out organically. In my own band, I'm the head; we rehearse and I'm in charge of slowing down and speeding up on purpose, for example. In Panda Stomp, it's defaulted to me taking over everything and we're all okay with that; in Merry Mayhem, we're all kind of — I don't think any of us are really the leader, although if it's anyone, it's Shanda. But even with that, it's open, we just feel the vibe and so it's a little harder to say. We're all kind of in charge.
Chip: You could argue that because the piano is the biggest instrument, and makes the most sound, then if muscling the tempo one way or the other has to happen, then it's the piano that can do that. Having said that, I find that I'll defer, within reason, to other musicians, tempo-wise. Obviously it depends a lot on how strong a musical personality they have and how experienced they are — with some newer musicians, I need to guide them, and then I hope I know what I'm doing. If it's a brand new tune that I've never played before, then oh boy, I'm going to need that information from the caller. They'll tell me if it's smooth, bouncy, sprightly — you asked for adjectives, and those are some of the adjectives I like. "Sprightly" describes any number of eighteenth-century jig tunes. But then, you'll look at the dots — the music — and something looks like it's going to be a sprightly tune, and the caller will ask you to play eight bars, and they'll come up to me and say quietly, "it's actually smoother than that." And it's okay, because everybody forgives everybody, you know — we're all learning. But the dots tell you so little. You've got this lead sheet, and you have to read between the lines. And/or listen to a recording, something like that.
I've found in the last year or so, as I'd get scheduled for dances, and a couple of days before I'd get the program, I'd look it over and say, "I know that, I know that, I know that… oh, I don't know that, what's that? Oh that's going to be a ball dance, so I want to know what that is." And I'd go to YouTube, and maybe I'd find Bare Necessities playing it, or Karen Axelrod with somebody, or a video from Gainesville, Florida — and I would say, "okay, that's an interesting dance, it has that, and this style would help that move…" and I'd listen to the musicians and I'd say oh, they're playing that really well, or (and again, I'm opinionated) I'd say, "I think that's too fast for the dancers," or whatever.
Louise: Occasionally, I think, this is a dance we haven't done before, and now I'm asking Jacob to do it for our Zoom dances, and each of the four members of Merry Mayhem has to record a track without even hearing the others. And I think, I could send an MP3, but I don't want to imply that I want Merry Mayhem to replicate Bare Necessities — but on the other hand, it gives information about tempo and style. Is that helpful, or is that overbearing?
Chip: I think it's helpful.
Jacob: I think it's especially helpful in English, because the tunes are tied with the dances, so in that scenario it's more appropriate. And for me, as Chip said, if I don't know English tunes or dances I'll look on YouTube to see how other people play it, how it fits with the choreography. Contra is quite different. In terms of English, I think it's appropriate to provide clues about what might be helpful, but still leaving it open for creativity's sake.
Chip: I think at one point in time we might have seen that as cheating — but there's no such thing as cheating; we all learn from each other all the time. And going to good sources — we don't have to copy them exactly, but getting an idea of the style or the gestalt of a tune, and then hopefully having the flexibility and the creativity to build on that is fun.
Noel: I usually try to coordinate with the band ahead of time, and give them the program and some ideas — smooth, bouncy, flowing, zesty (for the dance right before the break, where I want to energize people — Julia Delaney, Cold Frosty Morning, Dancing Bear, Tam Lin, I have a whole list of tunes that are great dances to end on. But I also try to give an idea of where the balance and swing is, or down the center, where you want something jaunty. Jacob likes to know all the figures, so I give him everything. But what helps you pick out a tune?
Jacob: When I'm picking a tune, I need to see the whole dance — I feel really strongly about this — because I need to know where tension and release points are. That's how I organize my tunes; my tune document has "build up to the As," or "bouncy Bs," etc., so for me everything is so much about tension and release. Let's take something like, the top of the A has a balance and the B has a full hey: that tells me that I need a tune that I can use lots of tension at the top of the A and then release in the B and everyone's happy and crying and world peace, etc. [laughter] So for me, I have to look at the entire dance so that I know where those points are. And, for example, with Petronellas, there's a difference between bouncy tunes where the beginning of the A has a nice bouncy part, compared to a Petronella where you typically have more than one in a row, so you need the bounce not only in the first part of the A but also where the second Petronella would be. And in most cases, it's the same—the same phrasing. And things with allemandes, or butterfly whirls—I've found as a dancer you need to take time with the butterfly whirls, or with heys — as a dancer you have a tendency to rush, so looking at the entire dance a musician can identify the important things, the places to play around, the tension and release moments.
Chip: When I play contra, I'm never the leader, so this isn't stuff that I do. I don't think most band leaders are as scientific as you are, Jacob! But I do find that as the pianist, if the tune is almost there for the needs of the particular dance but not quite, that I can make up that difference in how I play it. It may not be obvious in the tune that there's a balance in the dance, but I can put it there — and that's fun; I enjoy doing that. And then we'll do that trick with Petronellas where we drop out to make room for the claps — those are things that bands can rehearse, although we tend not to rehearse that much.
Jacob: Going off what you said, Chip, more recently I've found that you can force a style on a tune, and it's great — it's what I love about it. Some tunes might lean toward smooth or bouncy, but you can force things and I would say that in terms of callers recommending tunes, I would be cautious in the way you might do that. Because you can play the same tune smoothly or with bounce; if you know the musicians and their style, that's one thing, but it's good to know that every band might have their own mood for any given tune.
Chip: This brings up something that applies to English a lot. English is so interesting because the dances are tied to particular tunes, so it falls to the musicians to play the same tune over 11 or 13 times a) without getting bored and b) without being boring, and c) (and maybe this should have been (a)) keeping the tempo consistent — or ramping it up, if the caller says "this is going to be hard the first time through, but as they get used to it we can bring the tempo up to where it really should be." So it's about the musical form: theme and variations, like in the symphony and things like that. I think about English as "theme and variations." And I've seen other musicians do this and I think it's amazing, and sometimes I do it a little bit: we'll start in a certain style, and then we'll start to get a little bit adventurous while still, of course, making sure that the beat is apparent for dancers so they don't get lost. Maybe we'll leave the melody behind for a little bit, but we come back to it, because we want them to know the form — we want them to know where they are. But then maybe it's a staid, Baroque tune, or something like that, and we do something naughty, like we throw in a jazz chord or a jazz rhythm. And I remember thinking when I first did that, "ooh, is this okay? Am I going to get in trouble?" English dancers are comparatively fussy — it's not a bad thing, but we know dance leaders will give you the side eye. Dancers, on the other hand, some will say "That was totally inappropriate!" Or others will say "oh my gosh that was so fun, I've never done that dance that way before!" And I like having the flexibility to do that, if I'm inspired. Sometimes a tune is hard to get into, and it's about remembering that it's in service of the dancers — what do they need?
Rebekah: Do you ever have callers ask you what tunes you like, or want to play?
Jacob: contras, or English?
Louise: In English, my impression is that it's conventional to give the band a veto. They get the set list a week or two ahead of time, and although I've never had a band do that, I have heard musicians complain about tunes they dislike. [laughter] And sometimes it's a tune that dancers love. Do you have hard "no"s?
Jacob: for English, I play the tune the caller needs. For contra, I haven't been playing long enough to have tunes I'm tired of — unless I've over-practiced or really struggled with something, but then that's on me.
Rebekah: We have that as callers, too!
Noel: Sometimes I think about phrasing — box circulates, or Rory O'Mores, which have four-count phrases. How does one ask for a tune with that quality?
Jacob: More specifically than "good phrasing" would be "short phrases in the A" — or even, "look at the phrasing here" if you're talking to dancers who like to read the card.
Rebekah: Are there certain tunes you like to pair together? And how is that accomplished?
Jacob: There are so many things! It's about similar phrasing; I'll pair tunes that have the same tension and release moments. From a musical standpoint, it's like, how does one flow into the other? Is it a major second away, a fourth away, a fifth away? In terms of key, is it major or minor? Is it meter, going from a jig to a reel?
Chip: Yup, yup, yup.
Jacob: And it's also about mood — what the caller is striving toward. Noel mentioned earlier that she likes the last dance of the first half of the set to be zesty, so I'll go toward something more minor, or modal tunes — and if it's a smoother thing, I'll have one tune start pretty generically smooth and then make it go even more smooth. It's almost like a story. Sandy does this for the overall evening: what kind of story are you telling? And I do it for tune sets.
Chip: I've gotten a lot of ideas for tune pairings by listening to albums that bands have put out. Of course, they're never dance length, but they might have three tunes, and they'll go from major to minor, or parallel minor — from A major to A minor, and you get ideas of what kinds of things work. And you learn tunes that way. There's any number of Québecois tunes that I'd never have learned if it hadn't been on someone's album — and I think, oh, I need that in my repertoire, so I find it in the Portland Collection or I transcribe it, if that's the only way to get it. And so I have a marching medley, my smooth jig one (Maison de Glace going into Indian Point), but they're all ideas I get from somebody else.
Sandy: And like you said, there's no cheating: you learn by watching others. I learn from watching callers at dance weekends, and I always hope that I'll be calling a dance within a couple of weeks myself so I can test things out. Bach was told to copy; it's how we learn and how we get energy.
Chip: And this is why we love a concentrated weekend of multiple dances, or a weeklong camp, because these things build on each other, and we have the opportunity to use new ideas right away.
Chip: Here's something related to your question about communication between musicians and callers. The physical set-up of the band makes a huge difference — and that includes the sound set-up. At CDNY, it's almost always the case that on English nights when the band faces the hall, the piano is on the right — and on contra nights, it's on the left. And the caller is always on the opposite side of where the piano is, because it makes sense for them to be away from where the sound is loudest. And I know a lot of pianists like to be facing away from the rest of the band — because they don't want the piano to bleed into the other musicians' mics, perhaps. But I hate that! I don't like not being able to see my bandmates without having to turn. I'm not as young as I used to be! I want to face award them a little bit — which means I'm also facing the caller, and will see any signals they make. And here's another interesting thing: bands set up monitors, and depending on the system they might have one, or multiple. When I play English, I may or may not need the other musicians, but I always ask to have the caller. And I'm the only pianist who ever asks for this, but I want the caller, because it helps me be able to doodle, to know where we are, and to know when to go — when it's time to play. THat's when I'm the leader — I'm in charge of making sure we're ready when we need to be.
Louise: Usually it's "get that caller out of my monitor"!
Chip: Once we get going, I tend to tune the caller out, unless I lose track of where we are. But during the teach, I want to be listening. Now, for contra, it's a different thing: we sometimes spend the whole time of the teach figuring out our set. And sometimes we haven't figured it out fast enough, and the caller has to tell a joke, or stall.
Jacob: For English, we're all acoustic — and that's nice. But sometimes in contra it's hard to corral the band — we're all young!
Chip: At contra, there's something about body language that tells you when they're through — and you aren't doodling during the teach.
Louise: What makes working with a caller fun? Good tunes, good energy in the hall make a gig fun; but what can a caller do to enhance the fun for the band?
Jacob: My initial gut reaction is thinking back to Flamingo Fling, and playing with Sarah Van Norstrand calling. She knew what she wanted and it was fantastic — she'd give us some adjectives or descriptors, and during the dance she would sometimes groove along, or very subtly say, like, "give me a little bit more" — it felt like she was part of the band even though she wasn't playing an instrument. With Sandy and I, we've done a few dances where we sat together and talked about the overall feeling of the evening, from pairing tunes to the bigger picture.
Sandy: It's really cool when we do that, because we do it up to a week before the dance, and then it has time to percolate — and we make changes, but we have a chance to dialogue, brainstorm, etc. It's fun because I'm trying to learn about the tunes myself, so it gives us a chance to experiment, but by the time we get to the evening we can enjoy being present in the moment, which is the biggest gift of all. If Jacob already knows what set he's playing, he can watch the walkthrough, and if I know what's coming, I look forward to it and enjoy the anticipation.
Chip: What makes the difference between a fun caller and one who is less so? It has to be obvious that they love the dance and the dancing. Competence makes a big difference! I don't mind if a caller doesn't know a dance by heart — it reminds us all that they're human, not gods, even if they have to possess certain god-like qualities to hold everything together. I like it when they find a way to maintain discipline that doesn't make them seem nasty. I like it if when they use musical terms, they either actually know what they mean, or they say, "am I using the right word if I say this?" They may not be musicians themselves, and so if they consult us about our expertise that's nice. I'm not used to having input into programs; I'm used to being told what it's going to be. Sometimes they'll ask if I'm tired of something — Levi Jackson, to pick a random example — and once in a while, there will be an alternate tune (Leather Lake House, for example), and callers will specify if they want you to come back to the first tune or not. Queen of Sheba — there's Handel's Queen of Sheba from Solomon; in New York they decided that they really liked doing the dance one time through with the original tune and then switching to the Handel tune, which isn't phrased at all, so you'd better know the dance, count the beats, and go — and that's a chance for the fiddles to show off, so you need good fiddles, but it's fun. It's also fun when the callers consult with us and give us a chance to show off.
Louise: How often have you been surprised by a request from a caller? Especially in English?
Chip: You mean ahead of time, or in the moment?
Louise: For example, people have started medleying English, which would still surprise me.
Chip: Oh, that's something I've never seen! That's cool! It's a performance thing.
Louise: I'd love to do it, but it requires a lot of collaboration with a musician for someone like me, who doesn't know much about how to pair tunes.
Chip: We sometimes allow an elitism to enter our mindset, and I'm learning a lot about how to loosen up. Alex Deis-Lauby is a caller who went through the CDNY Apprenticeship Program, whatever that means, and then she decided she wanted to start her own English series. She found a space in Brooklyn, and it never became a regular thing, but she called it "Floating Austen," and the band was the Austen Floaters, and they were all relatively new players, so they had to rehearse. Thanks to CDSS, Alex hired me to be a coach and anchor for this band, and her whole approach to English is "let's have fun" — let's learn the steps and try to do it right, but she wasn't picky about straight lines, covering, etc. It attracted rank beginners, and they did have fun. Fun is key to attracting younger dancers.
Louise: In Oklahoma, we're constantly inventing the rules as we go along; we have a lot of freedom in that regard. Like these caller workshops: there's no certificate at the end, but we can prioritize fun and experiment, if we want. We have room for innovation — which isn't necessarily a word that excites English dancers.
Chip: But it does exist — even if people avoid the word.
Louise: Exactly.
Chip: I remember the first time I encountered a Pat Shaw dance that had swinging in it at an English dance — gasp! It reminds us that there's some fluidity — in both directions (think of Ted Sannella's triplets — a set dance at contra?).
Louise: Now I'm thinking about Tom Kruskal's, as the famous example of a contra tune that got taken up by English choreographers. Are there broader examples of influence — is that even a realistic thing to think about? — between English and contra music? Stylistically, or otherwise? I'm thinking of that trance-y quality in contra, which Merry Mayhem has been bringing to our recent English dances, for example.
Jacob: I think because I started playing for both contra and English at the same time, my style overlaps. Initially I did have preconceptions about the separation between the two, and I listened so intently to Karen Axelrod and her stately playing, and thought I should be that way. But we're here to have fun, and I wonder if things that I do here would be welcome in other communities, especially in English.
Sandy: We didn't start English dancing until there was live music; it makes a big difference.
Chip: I forget that not everyone has live music — not every community is lucky enough to have musicians with the flexibility to play for dancing.
Louise: Do you have any suggestions for how to recruit musicians?
Jacob: I can talk about my experience: for me, it was almost fate that I had to be a contra musician. My college elementary music professor was teaching us how to teach elementary school dances, and he suggested we go to "the adult version"—a contra dance. I was instantly hooked, so if I had a recommendation it would be to target elementary music education majors, specifically.
Sandy: Miranda (who ran that dance, and its band) also mentored the musicians significantly. Mentoring is key to keeping new musicians engaged and motivated.
Chip: CDNY has a musician apprenticeship run by Cynthia Shaw and Dominique Gagné — they have the Contrapolitans and the Anglopolitans, who play once or twice a year. They sometimes do attract early music folks — a viola da gamba is really cool, but really hard to mic! But in New York, people come out of nowhere, it's just how the city is. When I first started dancing there, there were a very limited number of contra callers, but then over time there started to be more beginners, and all of a sudden there were more local callers.
Noel: I was actually in the band for our first few dances — I played flute, and I decided I might be better suited as a caller than as a musician. But anyway, the reason why we have our dances on second and fourth Saturdays is because the first Saturday of the month was when the Friends of Folk Music had a session, and we didn't want to conflict with their meeting because they were our first musicians. I don't know if other towns have a folk music jam — I work in Sulphur, and they have a jam at the local Mexican restaurant that's all kinds of music, but different communities might have local musicians who like to jam, and would be interested in playing for dances.
Chip: Jamming musicians are a great resource — they're going to be your best resource. And then music education people, like Jacob said.
Chip: I want to thank you for recruiting me to do this! I was pretty nervous, and this was very cool. You had a wonderful list of questions that made me start thinking, and I feel like I've met all of you before.
Louise: It's been great to have you; thank you both for joining us.
