Calling for Ettseteras

[bjarvis]

Last night, I called a C1 square dance for the Ettseteras, justetthon's square dance group in College Park, MD, and I think it all went pretty well! We had two squares of dancers with a few extras, less than in prior dances but a fun crowd nonetheless.

This was a series of firsts for me:
- my first time calling more than a single tip of C1;
- my first time using a couples rotation to cycle dancers through squares;
- my first time calling a dance outside of our home clubs DC Lambda Squares and Chesapeake Squares.

As an additional treat, sfbearhoney is in town on work-related travel and we were delighted to have him join us for the evening.

I learned plenty at this dance...

• Yup, left-handed calls (even Plus and Advanced ones) still need to be used judiciously or at least carefully cued: a left-hand chain reaction didn't have the success I had hoped for, although we managed through.
  
• 'In your blocks: chase right' looks good on paper but folks can lose their orientation quickly; one person losing it is recoverable but two or more makes the square go boom.
  
• My stack of hard cards are harder than I suspected, although not by much. I need to build up my stack of medium-level cards so I can flip back to them effortlessly if the hard ones are a bit too challenging for a given floor.
  
• My stack of easy cards were well-liked. The cheer from the floor on the first 'right & left grand' of a tip is a good thing at any dance level.
  
• I still have a stack of cards which are yet to be road-tested. I wrote far more than I actually needed for this dance --over-preparation is always good.
  
• Most importantly, square dance figures work well if the caller actually reads his cards fully & correctly... thank god I was able to sight-resolve my way out of one snag!

Alas, I won't be back to dance with the Ettseteras for a while as we're commited to DC Lambda Squares' open house and Plus class for every Monday through to Labour Day in September.

Comments

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Yay you! And, hard or not, I bet you were easier on them than Ett is. Just sayin'.

Personally, I LIKE "In your blocks: Chase Right" because to be successful it requires each person to think ahead and visualize his/her goal spot. That sort of thing is good training. :-)

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I have superb luck with blocks and "Chase Right" *IF* I remember to pause and cue it something like:

"In your blocks - that's a hint, check who else is in your block NOW, please - [pause] - Chase Right."

Technically, yeah, I shouldn't HAVE to do that, but I'd rather cue it and have the dancers be successful than trust to blind luck and unknown skill.