LA, Day #4

[bjarvis]

cuyahogarvr got up as soon as the alarm clock sounded at 7:30 AM in search of coffee. kent4str headed to the shower & was dressed shortly thereafter so he could go get the breakfast included in our convention package. I slept as long as I could.

I went to the 9 AM session of the Choreo Applications Committee. There were three issues to discuss: an upcoming motion at the general meeting Wednesday morning, putting certain documents onto the web for distribution and updates to a sight resolution document.

The upcoming motion is to assign the documents and pictograms for dance formations and arrangements to the definitions committee. The applications committee thinks the formations should be long to the definitions committee but the arrangements should go to the choreo applications committee. There may be a motion to amend the prior motion to split them... we'll see.

My 10:30 AM session was on teaching methods with Vernon Jones and Norm Wilcox. The title was a little misleading: it was more about the pros & cons of the traditional 30+ week Mainstream class vs. fast-track/blast/blitz/accelerated class of four consecutive Saturdays, 9 AM-3 PM. I'm happy to report that DC Lambda Squares has largely been implementing the recommendations of Vernon and others.

Following lunch, I went to the 1 PM "Advanced Choreography" with Ed Foote and billeyler. There was lots of good stuff here, including tips on sussing out a floor (attention allanh!) and some philosophical thoughts about the difference between Mainstream/Plus and Advanced. There were also some interesting get-outs offered, some examples of bad choreography and a number of great ideas for possible tip themes.

Next up was a "Wind in Your Face" dance advisory session at 2:30 PM with Mike Seastrom & Wade Driver. They offered some thoughts on what works for easy flowing choreography --follow the bodies, call early, cue dancers in advance for what's coming if it's at all interesting, etc.. There were also a few good lines, such as Wade's thoughts on keeping dancers on the floor to the end of the night: "Your dance has to be better than a piece of pie and a cup of coffee."

My last session was "Singing Calls - Changing Figures" at 3:40 PM with Tim Marriner and Betsy Gotta. While there are figures included on the call sheets with each purchased square dance recording, some are broken, some have bad timing, some don't flow and it's very likely that the caller might wish to use that same music for different levels of dancing; there are a number of reasons why one might wish to replace the given figure. Betsy & Tim also had great ideas for modifying the timing of figures to accommodate slower or faster dancers.

All of the panels, open committee meetings and sessions are done. Outside of dinner and dancing tonight, there's just the business meeting Wednesday morning... stay tuned for drama.

Dinner itself was very nice --kent4str was actually able to eat it. The awards and volunteer recognition were all very well handled and we wrapped up at 9 PM sharp. Outgoing chair Tim Marriner gave a very good speech emphasizing firmly & repeatedly the need to update our product, our look and our methods but in a gentle way I'm sure was designed to not upset the dinosaurs in our industry too much.

cuyahogarvr was back from his day of touring the city so we opted to cocoon in our room rather than join the Callerlab crew for dancing. Socializing is very draining so I'm happy for the rest right now.