Atlanta Convention, Day 5

[bjarvis]

Monday started slow --and it was just as well, since I was running on only a few hours of sleep.

Brunch was a buffet: the customary scrambled eggs, bacon & hash browns. Any day is a good day that starts with bacon. Lots of bacon.

Beyond all of that, I didn't dance a great deal Monday. Kent called a C1 tip at noon while I called an Advanced tip at 1pm and C1 at 5pm.

In both of my tips, some dancers were having a hell of a time with the simplest calls. Under no circumstances should "spin the top" crash an Advanced square; likewise, "cross chain & roll" shouldn't break down a C1 square. In each situation, I could see several dancers trying to execute the call and attempting to direct the slower dancers, but the newbies --I presume they were all new graduates-- were sometimes spinning in the spot because they couldn't decide where to go and weren't listening for my clear directions ("You have lines facing in. No, really, you have lines facing in. In, not out. You: U turn back. No, not you... *you*.") Later in the day, I had other dancers who were in successful squares thanking me for the calling and reaffirming that it wasn't the calls, it was indeed the newer dancers. Next year, I'm sure these folks will be fine --and we'll have a new crop of new graduates. I was one of those dancers at least once per call list so I can hardly complain.

I had hoped to get to billeyler's hexagon set but didn't get there in time. *sigh* caller_dayle's take-no-prisoners Advanced hour was a blast, especially again since we stacked the square with known strong dancers.

The closing dance and ceremonies were once again mercifully light. Endings are always a little sad but it's been a good weekend and I'm ready to head for home Tuesday.

Comments

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

The hex session was a big success. We had at least 7 sets squeezed into that mainstream hall.

Sadly, I was underwhelmed with Dayle's presentation of the bi-gons after sitting there for 38 minutes. It verged on the excruciating. I left and danced a lovely C2 tip. There were of course people in the Bi-gon session that had no business being there, which didn't help.

My overview (through C2) was that the C1 hall was the weakest of the entire convention. I was doing a lot of that "you have lines facing in. No, really, you have lines facing in. In, not out. You: U turn back. No, not you... *you*" stuff, which I HATE to do. I resorted to calling people by name, which I also try never to do. I know the other callers at C1 were wiped out by it. I danced several C1 tips in my off-times, and was experience that thing where I make flubs myself because I was concentrating on trying to get the other dancers to go to the right places through Vulcan mind-meld.

The two A2 sessions I had went pretty well, much better than the C1. Plus was particularly festive.

Danny barely danced at all, since his sciatica kicked in last Thursday night. He's not in good shape right now, unfortunately, which is not how a massage therapist needs to be.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

I should have given the caveat that all my C1 tips didn't go like that, but I was cueing much more and doing stop-and-go calling more than I like. I got compliments from several people on my calling at C1.