Tonight's A2 Dance

I was calling for the Zig Zaggers tonight, a northern Virginia A2 square dance club. I've had prior gigs with them both as a dancer and as a caller; they'd best be described as light A2 rather than the more cerebral A2 of, say, the Phantom 8s, a neighbouring club.

Typically, we have a square of dancers with a few spares. Tonight, we had two full squares with a few extra dancers, a record turn-out for my gigs with them. (At the risk of being tacky, I would mention that since the caller is paid by the door proceeds, a higher turn-out translates into a larger calling fee. No one will ever get rich as a square dance caller but the extra bonus once in a while is a nice pat on the back.)

The first two tips weren't the greatest. The dancers clearly needed some warm-up time and it didn't help that I was using written material and therefore had to split my attention between the floor and my notes. Not good for any of us. From the third tip onwards, however, I switched to exclusively sight-calling & resolving, putting away my prepared material.

And it worked. In fact, it worked really well: never having to take my eyes off the floor meant I could spot problems instantly. Not being tied to written material meant I could instantly adjust the pace & difficulty of the sequence. I do this for Mainstream and Plus but I've always been hesitant to attempt exclusively sight-calling an Advanced floor, largely because I have so few opportunities to practice.

I did have a couple of crutches, admittedly. I kept a list of the A1 and A2 calls on my table so if I felt I was being too repetitious, I would randomly drop my finger on the list to select a feature call or two for the next figure. I also had a prepared sheet of clever get-outs if I could see a zero box or a zero line coming up with a call or two so I could offer a periodic "ah ha!" moment to the dancers.

In all, I had a good time and I think the dancers did too.

And cuyahogarvr and kent4str brought a cake for a small birthday celebration in my honour. I have no idea where in the car it was hidden or how they snuck it past me, but there it was, bless 'em both.

Tomorrow is the Mike Jacobs memorial service, dance and dinner. It will be an all-day affair for us as we're bringing sound equipment, will be helping with set-up and are assisting the DC Lambda Squares with refreshments. More news later.

Tonight's A2 Dance

I was calling for the Zig Zaggers tonight, a northern Virginia A2 square dance club. I've had prior gigs with them both as a dancer and as a caller; they'd best be described as light A2 rather than the more cerebral A2 of, say, the Phantom 8s, a neighbouring club.

Typically, we have a square of dancers with a few spares. Tonight, we had two full squares with a few extra dancers, a record turn-out for my gigs with them. (At the risk of being tacky, I would mention that since the caller is paid by the door proceeds, a higher turn-out translates into a larger calling fee. No one will ever get rich as a square dance caller but the extra bonus once in a while is a nice pat on the back.)

The first two tips weren't the greatest. The dancers clearly needed some warm-up time and it didn't help that I was using written material and therefore had to split my attention between the floor and my notes. Not good for any of us. From the third tip onwards, however, I switched to exclusively sight-calling & resolving, putting away my prepared material.

And it worked. In fact, it worked really well: never having to take my eyes off the floor meant I could spot problems instantly. Not being tied to written material meant I could instantly adjust the pace & difficulty of the sequence. I do this for Mainstream and Plus but I've always been hesitant to attempt exclusively sight-calling an Advanced floor, largely because I have so few opportunities to practice.

I did have a couple of crutches, admittedly. I kept a list of the A1 and A2 calls on my table so if I felt I was being too repetitious, I would randomly drop my finger on the list to select a feature call or two for the next figure. I also had a prepared sheet of clever get-outs if I could see a zero box or a zero line coming up with a call or two so I could offer a periodic "ah ha!" moment to the dancers.

In all, I had a good time and I think the dancers did too.

And cuyahogarvr and kent4str brought a cake for a small birthday celebration in my honour. I have no idea where in the car it was hidden or how they snuck it past me, but there it was, bless 'em both.

Tomorrow is the Mike Jacobs memorial service, dance and dinner. It will be an all-day affair for us as we're bringing sound equipment, will be helping with set-up and are assisting the DC Lambda Squares with refreshments. More news later.