I survived ACDC!

ACDC has been a great success, I think. Overall, I think we had about 125 participants and, to my knowledge, all of them are still breathing. The biggest complaint I heard was from one chap who claimed that the C1 hall was too warm, but I also noted he was wearing a t-shirt, a flannel shirt and a heavy leather vest. When I suggested he might be more comfortable removing at least one layer, he reacted as though I had just shot his mother.

My duties in assisting the running of the fly-in have been relatively light. The largest portion of my work was in preparation for the event rather than at the event itself. During the fly-in, we've been locking up the equipment in the dance halls rather than in our room. The staffing of tables, assisting with raffles, etc., has been very easy. Best of all, we've had plenty of time for lunch & dinner with out-of-town friends (Brian & Mark, Rick, otterpop58, apparentparadox & Mark, etc.).

I can't say I've danced a great deal, but I had all the floor time I wanted. Since I'm only good to A2, my options are fairly limited at this particular fly-in anyway. I get to dance with Betsy Gotta regularly at various regional fly-ins so I didn't make a special effort to attend her tips. Likewise, I find John Sybalsky's choreo to be unnecessarily obtuse, or at least harder than I want to face at 9 AM after a late night. Heresy alert: I'm just not a fan of Ett's particular A2 style either... she seems much more interested in building choreo based on what Callerlab has left out of the definitions rather than working within them (or even a reasonable extension of them).

Dancing with Ben Rubright was an utter delight. While he does include a few figures which occasionally throw me for a loop, he doesn't stack them up side-by-side as John or Ett has. There's enough success within a figure or tip to be keep me going rather than discourage me from dancing. I've made recorded several of his sessions to transcribe & study in detail later.

I survived ACDC!

ACDC has been a great success, I think. Overall, I think we had about 125 participants and, to my knowledge, all of them are still breathing. The biggest complaint I heard was from one chap who claimed that the C1 hall was too warm, but I also noted he was wearing a t-shirt, a flannel shirt and a heavy leather vest. When I suggested he might be more comfortable removing at least one layer, he reacted as though I had just shot his mother.

My duties in assisting the running of the fly-in have been relatively light. The largest portion of my work was in preparation for the event rather than at the event itself. During the fly-in, we've been locking up the equipment in the dance halls rather than in our room. The staffing of tables, assisting with raffles, etc., has been very easy. Best of all, we've had plenty of time for lunch & dinner with out-of-town friends (Brian & Mark, Rick, otterpop58, apparentparadox & Mark, etc.).

I can't say I've danced a great deal, but I had all the floor time I wanted. Since I'm only good to A2, my options are fairly limited at this particular fly-in anyway. I get to dance with Betsy Gotta regularly at various regional fly-ins so I didn't make a special effort to attend her tips. Likewise, I find John Sybalsky's choreo to be unnecessarily obtuse, or at least harder than I want to face at 9 AM after a late night. Heresy alert: I'm just not a fan of Ett's particular A2 style either... she seems much more interested in building choreo based on what Callerlab has left out of the definitions rather than working within them (or even a reasonable extension of them).

Dancing with Ben Rubright was an utter delight. While he does include a few figures which occasionally throw me for a loop, he doesn't stack them up side-by-side as John or Ett has. There's enough success within a figure or tip to be keep me going rather than discourage me from dancing. I've made recorded several of his sessions to transcribe & study in detail later.

Waaaaaay too perky

Does Rachael Ray do a few lines of coke before going on "30-Minute Meals"? No one could be that perky & hyper naturally. Someone please medicate the woman. Thank you.

Waaaaaay too perky

Does Rachael Ray do a few lines of coke before going on "30-Minute Meals"? No one could be that perky & hyper naturally. Someone please medicate the woman. Thank you.

ACDC Photos!

Photos of this year's ACDC square dance fly-in are here. Enjoy!

ACDC Photos!

Photos of this year's ACDC square dance fly-in are here. Enjoy!

Baltimore Club Night

Tonight was the first of two first-nighter events.

For folks who aren't yet members of the cult square dance community, these are open house nights where potential recruits are invited to meet & greet, have some refreshments and perhaps learn a few simple square dance calls, all without commitment or obligation.

We had three newbies, one of which had been at a prior open house but was unable to join because of academic commitments. He's now available and eager to sign up. The other two seemed enthusiastic, so I hope we'll see all of them again next week, perhaps with a few others.

I handled all of the calling at last week's club night so I was content to let Kent take the lead on this evening's fun. I do academic style very well, but the format of the open house employs Kent's folksy style better than mine. I was on stage with him the whole time, helped demonstrate some posture and hand do's & don'ts and added my own take on some items from time to time, but it was largely Kent's show.

My particular point of pride this evening though was the demo patter. I had planned to call a simple Mainstream level patter to show some of the styling and figures (as well as keeping the angels somewhat entertained) but I was going to keep it very simple so as to not scare off our potential recruits. The square that formed, however, insisted on a Plus tip. I argued against but they were adamant so I caved in agreed to their request. And it was perfect. I sight-called the patter with not a single pause in flow, error in handedness, accidental calling of an impossible call from a given position and resolved the every time on both short & long figures while ensuring it looked & felt fun --'cause it was-- yet not too scary.

This isn't a big deal for the more experienced callers who may be reading this, but being able to finally award myself a grade of 'A+' is personal milestone. Now I just have to repeat this again next week to prove to myself it wasn't a fluke. Yay me! :-)

Baltimore Club Night

Tonight was the first of two first-nighter events.

For folks who aren't yet members of the cult square dance community, these are open house nights where potential recruits are invited to meet & greet, have some refreshments and perhaps learn a few simple square dance calls, all without commitment or obligation.

We had three newbies, one of which had been at a prior open house but was unable to join because of academic commitments. He's now available and eager to sign up. The other two seemed enthusiastic, so I hope we'll see all of them again next week, perhaps with a few others.

I handled all of the calling at last week's club night so I was content to let Kent take the lead on this evening's fun. I do academic style very well, but the format of the open house employs Kent's folksy style better than mine. I was on stage with him the whole time, helped demonstrate some posture and hand do's & don'ts and added my own take on some items from time to time, but it was largely Kent's show.

My particular point of pride this evening though was the demo patter. I had planned to call a simple Mainstream level patter to show some of the styling and figures (as well as keeping the angels somewhat entertained) but I was going to keep it very simple so as to not scare off our potential recruits. The square that formed, however, insisted on a Plus tip. I argued against but they were adamant so I caved in agreed to their request. And it was perfect. I sight-called the patter with not a single pause in flow, error in handedness, accidental calling of an impossible call from a given position and resolved the every time on both short & long figures while ensuring it looked & felt fun --'cause it was-- yet not too scary.

This isn't a big deal for the more experienced callers who may be reading this, but being able to finally award myself a grade of 'A+' is personal milestone. Now I just have to repeat this again next week to prove to myself it wasn't a fluke. Yay me! :-)