bjarvis | Response to a question...

I had originally thought about it and rejected it... I didn't have the required mental gymnastics, the patience or the ego to pull it off.

In 2004, Pete Diven was the club caller for Baltimore: he announced his retirement after calling for them for approx. 17 years. Dayle Hodge was approached by the club but he agreed to take over only on the condition that he was given an apprentice who would study under his tutelage and eventually take up 50% of the calling duties within 18-24 months. Somehow, the names of Kent and me came up: we're not sure how or why. In any case, the idea was proposed to us by Chesapeake Squares' secretary Dave Roberts.

At this point, we knew most of the Chesapeake Squares folks casually from various fly-ins but we'd never been to any of their club nights. Kent had toyed with the idea of calling as a way of staying involved with dancing; his knees have never been good and wear & tear is gradually reducing his potential floor time so being on the other side of the mic seemed an appropriate alternative. He's been singing with the Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington since dinosaurs roamed the earth, has theatrical training from Towson University and is used to the spotlight. He is also pretty good at seeing figures as they morph on the dance floor.

Kent was interested and while I had previously rejected the idea, Dave was persistent and persuaded me to work with Dayle as well, sort of a two-for-one deal for both Dayle and CS. We've always admired Dayle's work and having an in-house mentor of his calibre was too good to pass up. And if I decided I really couldn't do this, it was after all primarily Kent's project...

It took a while to get my head around what works & why, as well as what doesn't work & why. There was the usual growth pains of all of the items to internalize before one can even think about holding a mic: flow, handedness, validity of calls, selection of music, how to use the turntable/amp, how to hold a mic, types of mics, presentation, dress, ethics, etc.. It was overwhelming for the first several attempts. It didn't help my fragile ego that Dayle liked to drop us off in the deep end of the pool, the theory being we'd learn faster in an total immersion program.

From past experience learning French in such a program, I can safely say that total immersion usually means spending at least half of your time underwater, and the rest gasping for air when you reach the surface. Not pleasant, but it does work well if time is a constraint.

And eventually, I found I could do it. It's taken a lot more study than I had ever dreamed: if I knew it would take so much thinking, hours of time, thousands of dollars in equipment, training & supplies and such, I doubt I would have even started the attempt. I kept at it largely because (a) I said I would, (b) because so much had been invested in me thus far by the club, Dayle & myself, and (c) as a joint activity with Kent.

So far, I can keep a floor moving with a good pace & flow at MS & Plus levels and sight-resolve on demand, no notes or cards. I still use notes for A2 but hope to be able to call at least a competent A2 tip without notes by summer. Holding a mic no longer fills me with fear. I still don't love the spotlight per se --my ego may be the size of Manitoba but I'm happier working backstage than in front. I do want to know that the dancers had a good time and consider me competent. I doubt I have the innate talent required to be a great caller, but I think I have the capacity to be at least a good one.

Goals & aspirations... hard to say. It is my intent to continue calling with the Chesapeake Squares for a few years. Not only is it fun to work with them, I also consider it to be a responsibility & duty for the investment made in me by the club. If someone better comes along, I'm prepared to let go and pass along the opportunity.

I'm measuring success through the dancers. I will have arrived as a caller when I get a calling gig at an event sponsored by neither CS or DC Lambda Squares, esp. if asked back again at some point. My home clubs are extremely forgiving and are careful not to give offense out of graciousness and because they know they're stuck with us as members & dancers even when we're not active callers: an outside gig would provide exernal validation. I don't see much further expansion of calling opportunities in this area however until I can call C1 and since I can't even dance that level yet, my range has somewhat plateaued. The ultimate long term goal would be good enough to be considered for staff caller at a fly-in.

In the interim, my goals are as follows:
(a) improve at MS & Plus calling, esp. more creative choreography & get-outs;
(b) my singing calls are adequate but uninspired... the figures are fine but I need to spend more timing becoming accustomed to the transition between calling & singing lyrics for an optimal performance;
(c) learn to dance C1 as soon as possible;
(d) continue calling with CS and possibly DCLS as opportunities arise for at least two more years;
(e) take advantage of guest caller slots as are convenient & available;
(f) spend more time networking with other established callers, absorbing random tidbits of wisdom & experience which is frequently overlooked in classes & schools;
(g) continue recording & transcribing calling of people I consider to be high-calibre callers, study it fully and attempt to emulate the better aspects;
(h) be at least considered if not hired as caller (even part-time) at a fly-in by 2009.

There are items I'm not sure about yet...

(a) Having watched Jim Wass do a superb first-nighter last Saturday, I'm struck by how lame I am. Is it my inexperience, or is it that I'm just not that outgoing? Don't know yet: more research is required.

(b) Teaching square dancing is a different talent than calling square dancing, esp. at Mainstream. Do I have the talent for that? Possibly, but I need a lot of refinement, and it may well be that the most efficient way of teaching is simply to make a space available for a better instructor than me. My ego isn't engaged on this kind of problem, and I'm happy to make the space available for a better person.

(c) Dealing with straight clubs. As a gay club, DCLS hasn't had the greatest experiences dealing with some of the straight ones in our local association. While the association leadership has always seemed keen to engage us, many of the straight dancers have made no bones about their open disgust with our very existence. I haven't spent any significant time mulling over precisely how I'm going to deal with any incidence which might arise. It doesn't help that as a foreign national, I carry around a constant nagging fear/baggage of how easy it is for someone with a grudge to shred my otherwise stable life: perhaps this fear isn't a rational one, but I have much at risk for what might be only a marginal gain.

(d) Further caller schools. Most of the flyers I've seen so far seem to target newbie callers and emphasize the large amount of mic time available. I don't want more mic time: I want more theory, more analysis, more thinking & imagery, more psychology, more history. For me, the best part of the 2004 GCA caller school was the joint panel discussion and subsequent Q&A; in 2005, it was the joint panel on music selection, esp. when Mike & Bronc discussed old-time music, the early days of recording studios and the history of the activity. When I took piano lessons as a kid, the emphasis was on playing, with no music theory; the sad result was that I could play others' compositions but not create my own. The comparison isn't precise, but I'm recognizing the same empty space in my experience. By accident, I learned "walk & dodge" came into being the same year I did: 1967. These are items which I value for a complete knowledge but they're hard to come by. I'm sure there's an appropriate program for me somewhere... I just have to find it!

(e) the GCA. I'm not sure how the GCA fits into my future... I've had fun being a board member the past two years and would consider doing more. I'm a competent organizer & administrator but I'm no visionary so I wouldn't be effective at pointing the way to the glorious world of tomorrow. Still, I might be good at running the caller school, being a liaison to other groups, etc.. But I'm a member of the DC Diamond Circulate corporation now, helping to run the 2009 IAGSDC convention. This may be seen as a conflict of interest and since my primary responsibility has to be to DCDC, it may be an impediment to being more active with the GCA until 2010. I need to consult with others yet to determine if (i) I really do want to do more with the GCA, (ii) if I can juggle the dual roles, and (iii) if there is any outside objection to having a finger in each pie. If I don't stay on the GCA board, I could always make myself useful returning to the board of the DC Lambda Squares, although that may be a conflict of interest for calling gigs with DCLS.

That's all I can think of at the moment... I may be back with more later. :-)