Essays

Square Dance Calling

2011, a response to a caller

> I haven’t even ventured into squares because I don’t know how to call them and don’t know where to learn.

For starters, Tony Parkes includes a helpful discussion of squares in his Contra Dance Calling text book.

Calling so-called “New England squares” is much the same as calling for a contra dance; figures fit the phrasing of a typical AABB tune. Ted Sannella’s two collections (Balance and Swing, Swing the Next) contain many examples of these style of dances, and the syllabi of the annual Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, available online, are a valuable resource for more such dances.

Beginners’ workshops

adapted from several
posts over the years about how to bring newcomers into the dancing

Many dance communities
include a session beforehand explicitly aimed at newcomers. During this time
(half an hour or more in some locations), the usual pattern is to lead folks
through a series of figures to prepare them for the dances to come.

The argument is that
newbies need to know this information, and that a beginners session is the best
way for them to learn it. My own experience learning contras came in an era
when there were no beginners’ sessions, so that’s certainly influenced my
approach. I think the best way is for the caller to plan a program carefully,
introducing basic figures at the start of the evening and teaching more
complicated movements, such as a hey for four, when the beginners can be
assisted by more experienced dancers on the floor.

Formations

Adapted from
a post in which someone argued that a dance series should stick to contra
dances and not bother with other formations.

> The
concern here is to attract and retain beginner dancers.

We’re in
agreement on this. Well [I equivocate], maybe not total. My concern is to make
the dance one where beginners will have a great time, and where the regular
mixed-ability dancers and the hard-core hot-shot dancers and the elegant
excellent dancers all have fun as well. If the beginners and the other dancers
have a great time and don’t come back, I still feel I’ve done my job. (If they
don’t have fun, then I share a large part of the blame.)

Hot Dances

Adapted from a letter (1999) to a dance
organizer in another community; his organizing committee was hotly debating
what sort of dance should be encouraged

What is the vision of the series?

Let me add right away that this isn’t
just my question—it’s the one that was put forward by Larry Jennings over
several decades. (In fact, I think that pushing this question was one of
Larry’s most important contributions to the dance world; he obviously made it
part of my consciousness.

Some of the answers to the vision thing may come
as you and your committee discuss whether your aim is to build a community
dance or a so-called dance community.

For Love or Money

Adapted from several posts and letters to caller friends
over the years

Bill Martin wrote:

> If a dance looks
like it will be a real party –
> “great music and huge crowds of enthusiastic
dancers” – I would pay to play!

Other musicians and callers have touched in recent postings
on their reasons for playing or calling. Some in the dance community are trying
to earn a livelihood from their work; for most of us, it is something we do on
the side.

Demonstrations
vs. Words

Adapted
from a rec-folk-dancing post (1998) in response to a dancer who said that
callers should stay at the microphone rather than coming onto the floor to
demonstrate figures.

> The only figure that must be demonstrated is the courtesy turn.
That’s also the figure that’s hardest for new dancers to learn.

Hmm…  it IS one of the figures
I demonstrate most often, partly to show an alternative to the twirls and
partly to demonstrate how folks can connect via eye contact to turn what might
otherwise seem a boring filler for the men into a fun figure for all.

The most common reason I jump down from the stage to demonstrate a
figure (which I do far more often than asking dancers on the floor to demo
something) is to make a point about styling.

Creating a Vision

adapted from an e-mail (2003) to an organizer dealing
with strident demands by a few dancers for more challenging dances

What you’re going through isn’t unique to your series. It’s
happened at most contra dance series with which I’m familiar, and for that
matter, a similar thing happened in the modern western square dance movement,
both in the early 1960s and again more recently. There seems to be a tendency
for a small group of active dancers—what Ralph Sweet once labeled the "overactive
10%"—to try to make things fit their own view of how dancing should be,
which leads to the gradual—or not-so-gradual—exclusion of just plain folks who
like to dance but perhaps not as often as the others.

The Virtues of Inactivity

adapted from a post to rec.folk.dancing, 2003

A caller wrote, discussing dancing a few decades back: "The
actives often got to swing when the inactives didn’t; they went down the hall
and back while the inactives waited, that sort of thing."

That single word "waiting" doesn’t do justice to the many
possibilities open to the inactives in these older dances:

• They get to talk to each other, and not just those interrupted
conversations that we have with a partner in the more modern dances, where you
get a few beats of conversation before you’re off somewhere else again.

Caller Leadership

adapted from a 2011 post and an exchange with a caller friend

On one of the caller listservs to which I belong came this comment: “I would be interesting to hear how other callers incorporate other formations in their programs and how they and the dancer feel about it…”

Most of the responses, mine included, spoke to what we as callers do in our programs and why. Embedded in our answers is the reality of being hired professionals at the mercy of the dance organizers and subject to local customs. For example, one caller wrote: “My region is not very square-friendly, at least not at a contra dance. … So given the local atmosphere, I stick to mostly improper and Becket contra dances.”

The Big Question hidden behind all of our responses so far is, “To what extent should callers select a program based on the wishes of the dancers?” Granted, unless one meets those expectations at least in part, one will have a hard time getting hired again. I’m well aware of that reality.

Hot Modern Moves

Written in 2003, but still
applicable, alas, to today’s dance scene…

I was calling recently in a large
city for an evening of contra dancing and a guy comes up to me afterwards with
nice comments about the evening. We get to talking and he mentions in passing
that I’m quite a “traditional caller.”

“Thanks,” I say, and upon reflection,
I consider that perhaps this wasn’t meant as a compliment. I ask him, “But what
do you mean by ‘traditional?’ ”

He explains that there’s a
genuineness in my calling and that I seem to respect the dances a lot. I’m
happy to hear this, and I explain to him that I live New Hampshire, where
there’s a long tradition of contra dancing, and I do try to respect that
tradition.