Change of Direction
Jul. 7th, 2016 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bjarvisI'm home from the annual IAGSDC convention in Toronto, and while I didn't dance much --perhaps three tips-- I spent a lot of time studying the staff callers.
In prior caller schools and in articles I've written for The Call Sheet, I've frequently said that it is OK for callers to specialize: we don't have to be all things to all people at all times. There typically are more than enough callers around to permit everyone a niche where they find maximum joy. I've walked that walk: I don't do square dance parties as I find them painful & frustrating, despite them being the most lucrative calling gig.
Of late, I've decided to pare down some of my other calling responsibilities.
I don't especially like teaching newbie dancers. I can do it --and do it well-- but it's draining to the point of physical debilitation. The last few times, I had to sit in the car in the parking lot after the gig to collect myself together sufficiently that I could drive home safely. Even when I succeed, there's the constant worry that in a moment of weakness, I might telegraph something less than joy from the stage: the mic & location amplifies everything and a newbie dancer who has less than an ideal experience their first time out may be lost to square dancing forever. For a shrinking recreational activity, the stakes and pressure to perform are high. Teaching absolute beginners is not my Happy Place.
I've also written a few times about the Dark Side of Square Dance Calling. Once you call for a club, you're forever on the hook as the expert in all things, whether you know anything or not. During the GCA grad dance in Toronto, a few people saw me on stage adjusting the volume settings and holding a microphone: for the rest of that weekend, I was suddenly their go-to guy for issues of audio in all halls, air conditioning levels, banquet table layouts, lost & found, and fun badge tours --of which I knew nothing, nor had any responsibilities. But despite my insistence that I couldn't help them and directed them to the registration table of volunteers, they kept coming back to me 'cuz they saw me with a microphone on a stage once.
As a club caller, I'm wheeled out to consult on audio issues for every festival, weekend dances, and misc events between them all. And revising & rewriting festival schedules through multiple drafts. And consulting on & contacting potential future festival staff callers. And MC-ing various events. And coordinating other resources. Yup, I spend two hours on stage for a club night, but there's so many more backstage which no one ever sees (or at least, won't notice if I've done everything correctly). It doesn't sound too bad, but multiply this by several clubs and it adds up.
All of this was unknown to me when I started calling.
The one thing I did know in advance was a minor thing back then, but has become a more onerous problem in 12+ years I've been calling: your schedule is not your own anymore.
I have so many Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays booked over this past year for various club nights. Feeling tired? Too bad: you must go. Weather sucks so bad no one in their right mind would venture out? Too bad: there hasn't been a formal cancellation so you must go. Had a spectacularly bad day with your spouse or at the office? Too bad: you must go --and fake joy about it until the gig is complete. Need to work late? Too bad: you have to do your gig, then go back to the office even later to mop up. Taking a gig is a promise and you are honour-bound to fulfill it, no matter how painful.
Over the past number of years, I've missed many professional training opportunities, business trips, professional meet-ups, business dinners and such, not to mention had to perform several all-nighters at the data center because I was booked for a dance gig. Most of my gigs are planned months in advance, but ironically, most of my best business obligations & opportunities are short notice. Being a caller has limited my professional scheduling agility. And while this isn't a huge surprise and not a catastrophic problem, the effect has been that I'm slipping professionally in my industry knowledge. It's just a little each year, but after a decade, it adds up: I need to correct this quickly before I become professionally obsolete.
So all of this is a large justification for my next steps:
1. I've formally resigned as club caller for Chesapeake Squares in Baltimore to free up my Tuesday evenings;
2. I've formally resigned as club caller for DC Lambda Squares in DC to free up my Thursday evenings.
I'm going to keep calling, primarily our Wednesday C2 group, Zig Zaggers (Advanced) and other subs as they come up. I want to do more guest spots at other festivals; I've been ignoring those for the past 2-3 years because I'm typically too exhausted from being a de facto festival organizer because of me being a club caller.
3. Mainstream and Plus are not my Happy Place. I can call them and do it well, but I like challenging take-no-prisoners, hot hash & DBD, while the market wants easy, breezy, wind-in-your-face dancing with no conscious thought required. Yup, I can do that but it's not my forte so I'll refer queries to my list of great local callers.
4. No more open houses, first-nighters and square dance parties. Yup, there's good money there, and yes, these are the things we need to make our activity grow, but I'm not the guy to run those. Again, I'll refer these to someone who does them better and actually enjoys them.
5. I do good extemporaneous calling and sight resolution. I use that exclusively at Mainstream and Plus, 50/50 at Advanced, and sparingly at Challenge-1 and Challenge-2. I want to correct that: in the next couple of years, I want to be as fluent in the A/C programs as I am in MS/Plus. This is what I was studying at the Toronto convention, and that's where I want to be.
6. To fulfill (5), I need to memorize many more get-outs, and become more confident in spotting & using great get-outs when they appear during extemporaneous calling. Every now and again, I've called something like "follow your neighbour" and while the dancers were still moving, I saw what I was 90% sure was the place to call a "right-and-left grand": I need to believe in my gut a bit more, and take a few more measured risks.
7. My music collection needs a refresh. I've been relying on the old standards too long and it's getting stale. I've bought seven new pieces this past weekend and am about to go review the CALLERLAB convention recordings of the panels discussing music to see what else I can pick up. Huge amounts of music produced annually sucks, but there are still some gems to be found if one looks hard enough.
I do understand that the changes in my path may mean I'll never stand on a stage again, as most gigs go to those who can and do offer everything. I'm fine with that: the important thing is that the best person for the role is hired so if I don't meet the requirements, I shouldn't be on any mic.
And I'm looking forward to catching up with my professional career, attending conventions, meet-ups, presentations, and such once again. I retire in 4,011 days... I can slow down then.
In prior caller schools and in articles I've written for The Call Sheet, I've frequently said that it is OK for callers to specialize: we don't have to be all things to all people at all times. There typically are more than enough callers around to permit everyone a niche where they find maximum joy. I've walked that walk: I don't do square dance parties as I find them painful & frustrating, despite them being the most lucrative calling gig.
Of late, I've decided to pare down some of my other calling responsibilities.
I don't especially like teaching newbie dancers. I can do it --and do it well-- but it's draining to the point of physical debilitation. The last few times, I had to sit in the car in the parking lot after the gig to collect myself together sufficiently that I could drive home safely. Even when I succeed, there's the constant worry that in a moment of weakness, I might telegraph something less than joy from the stage: the mic & location amplifies everything and a newbie dancer who has less than an ideal experience their first time out may be lost to square dancing forever. For a shrinking recreational activity, the stakes and pressure to perform are high. Teaching absolute beginners is not my Happy Place.
I've also written a few times about the Dark Side of Square Dance Calling. Once you call for a club, you're forever on the hook as the expert in all things, whether you know anything or not. During the GCA grad dance in Toronto, a few people saw me on stage adjusting the volume settings and holding a microphone: for the rest of that weekend, I was suddenly their go-to guy for issues of audio in all halls, air conditioning levels, banquet table layouts, lost & found, and fun badge tours --of which I knew nothing, nor had any responsibilities. But despite my insistence that I couldn't help them and directed them to the registration table of volunteers, they kept coming back to me 'cuz they saw me with a microphone on a stage once.
As a club caller, I'm wheeled out to consult on audio issues for every festival, weekend dances, and misc events between them all. And revising & rewriting festival schedules through multiple drafts. And consulting on & contacting potential future festival staff callers. And MC-ing various events. And coordinating other resources. Yup, I spend two hours on stage for a club night, but there's so many more backstage which no one ever sees (or at least, won't notice if I've done everything correctly). It doesn't sound too bad, but multiply this by several clubs and it adds up.
All of this was unknown to me when I started calling.
The one thing I did know in advance was a minor thing back then, but has become a more onerous problem in 12+ years I've been calling: your schedule is not your own anymore.
I have so many Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays booked over this past year for various club nights. Feeling tired? Too bad: you must go. Weather sucks so bad no one in their right mind would venture out? Too bad: there hasn't been a formal cancellation so you must go. Had a spectacularly bad day with your spouse or at the office? Too bad: you must go --and fake joy about it until the gig is complete. Need to work late? Too bad: you have to do your gig, then go back to the office even later to mop up. Taking a gig is a promise and you are honour-bound to fulfill it, no matter how painful.
Over the past number of years, I've missed many professional training opportunities, business trips, professional meet-ups, business dinners and such, not to mention had to perform several all-nighters at the data center because I was booked for a dance gig. Most of my gigs are planned months in advance, but ironically, most of my best business obligations & opportunities are short notice. Being a caller has limited my professional scheduling agility. And while this isn't a huge surprise and not a catastrophic problem, the effect has been that I'm slipping professionally in my industry knowledge. It's just a little each year, but after a decade, it adds up: I need to correct this quickly before I become professionally obsolete.
So all of this is a large justification for my next steps:
1. I've formally resigned as club caller for Chesapeake Squares in Baltimore to free up my Tuesday evenings;
2. I've formally resigned as club caller for DC Lambda Squares in DC to free up my Thursday evenings.
I'm going to keep calling, primarily our Wednesday C2 group, Zig Zaggers (Advanced) and other subs as they come up. I want to do more guest spots at other festivals; I've been ignoring those for the past 2-3 years because I'm typically too exhausted from being a de facto festival organizer because of me being a club caller.
3. Mainstream and Plus are not my Happy Place. I can call them and do it well, but I like challenging take-no-prisoners, hot hash & DBD, while the market wants easy, breezy, wind-in-your-face dancing with no conscious thought required. Yup, I can do that but it's not my forte so I'll refer queries to my list of great local callers.
4. No more open houses, first-nighters and square dance parties. Yup, there's good money there, and yes, these are the things we need to make our activity grow, but I'm not the guy to run those. Again, I'll refer these to someone who does them better and actually enjoys them.
5. I do good extemporaneous calling and sight resolution. I use that exclusively at Mainstream and Plus, 50/50 at Advanced, and sparingly at Challenge-1 and Challenge-2. I want to correct that: in the next couple of years, I want to be as fluent in the A/C programs as I am in MS/Plus. This is what I was studying at the Toronto convention, and that's where I want to be.
6. To fulfill (5), I need to memorize many more get-outs, and become more confident in spotting & using great get-outs when they appear during extemporaneous calling. Every now and again, I've called something like "follow your neighbour" and while the dancers were still moving, I saw what I was 90% sure was the place to call a "right-and-left grand": I need to believe in my gut a bit more, and take a few more measured risks.
7. My music collection needs a refresh. I've been relying on the old standards too long and it's getting stale. I've bought seven new pieces this past weekend and am about to go review the CALLERLAB convention recordings of the panels discussing music to see what else I can pick up. Huge amounts of music produced annually sucks, but there are still some gems to be found if one looks hard enough.
I do understand that the changes in my path may mean I'll never stand on a stage again, as most gigs go to those who can and do offer everything. I'm fine with that: the important thing is that the best person for the role is hired so if I don't meet the requirements, I shouldn't be on any mic.
And I'm looking forward to catching up with my professional career, attending conventions, meet-ups, presentations, and such once again. I retire in 4,011 days... I can slow down then.
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Date: 2016-07-08 03:06 pm (UTC)Wednesday, I went to Cliff Simpson's (the Boots in Squares club caller) Plus and Advanced class. I don't think this is an official BiS night, but Cliff's own thing outside of the club. Don't know the politics of the club enough yet. The skill level of the dancers was dire. I was surprised to see one dancer at the Advanced session from 8:30 to 10pm that was foundering (but not the worst) at the Plus session from 7pm to 8:30pm.
Cliff is going to be out of town all of July and August starting this Saturday. I was tapped to call the Monday club dance; Phil Farmer is subbing on Wednesdays.
I was chatting with Cliff Wednesday about getting into the scene in Southern California. I'm possibly going to rethink what my involvement might be outside of the Palm Springs area--nearly every dance is outside of PS. A long ways. On the freeways. So driving to a dance may be three hours each way. Not something I would be keen on doing. Cliff tells me there are NO clubs in the Coachella Valley other than Boots in Squares and the tiny Windmill Twirlers led by Terri Sherrer--and both ostensibly gay clubs.
Oh, my.
Good luck with this reinvention of yourself, or at least your schedule. Commitment is hard in the long run. I called for 32 years for the Wilde Bunch, with various shifts of nights based on needs: first on Sunday afternoons, then Wednesday, then Monday/Wednesday, and finally Mondays (me) and Tuesdays (Kris). I had conflicts with choral singing caused by those groups changing rehearsal nights to ones I was calling on.
We'll see what the future brings--I'm theoretically retired now, but I was thinking of doing other things than just calling squares.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-10 02:43 pm (UTC)