Plodding Along

[bjarvis]

I finished recording four more A1 practice tips to send to the Seattle hubbies last night.

Two were regular dancing, the other two focused specifically on one call each, drilling it from the standard position and then from variations. For example, I ran chain reaction a few times from the standard quarter tag position (normal couples, RH ocean wave with boys on the ends in the center), then tried it with girls on the ends of the waves & outside couples half-sashayed, a left-handed wave in the center, etc..

I threw in lots of cuing --perhaps too much. It's hard to say how much is appropriate in a recording when one has never danced the level with the group in question. If I were running a workshop with them in person, it would be much easier to test their ability and see if I was pushing too hard.

I love using Audacity to record the figures. At least twice I screwed up the cuing seven minutes into a ten minute tip. Thanks to Audacity's editing ability, I was able to trash the flawed portion and re-record the figure; the MP3 export function merged the tracks into a single output. If one listens carefully, there's a slight burp in the music but no more so than a trivial loop stutter.

Comments

[apparentparadox]

Pesonally, I'd rather have less cuing, especially on a recording. If you're worried about it, give them a little more time, but more chatter can just be annoying. I also think that it's a crutch if dancers are listening for the cuing all the time.

I'm assuming that they do have some higher-level dancers who will be there & can interpret if necessary. If not, then you could send along some notes on the funny stuff.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Usually, I cue the first two times through and then bite my tongue for the rest (unless I do something completely different later in the tip). Too much chatter is distracting.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't know the boys were looking for teaching material!

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I think they're good on teaching material... it's supplemental class-level drill & practise they need with some extra cuing until they get fully up to speed.

Wish I could be there to help them along in person but the bank is insistent about us paying off this mortgage thing. Damn banks.