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Sashay Thru The Woods, Day 2
Saturday started sluggishly. I hate mornings. There were, however, workshops I wished to attend and sad tradition has it that workshops are scheduled for mornings. Yay team.
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billeyler's A2 workshop went rather well, I thought. The biggest problem was executing "square chain thru" from positions other than a squared set, which confirmed --in my twisted mind, at least-- something I always suspected about our little "square chain thru" chant: it emphasizes the wrong thing.
The "square chain thru" usually has some dancers mumbling to themselves to pass thru, left swing thru... and then the entire hall erupts into "...AND DON'T FORGET THE TURN THRU!" Yet the number of times I've seen someone forget the turn thru (myself included) with or without the chant can be counted on one hand. In almost every instance where the call has crashed my square it was because the dancers were in such a hurry to remember their turn thru that they fumble the essential formation of the wave in the early part of the call.
This is what was happening during the workshop, to poor Bill's frustration: several dancers weren't waiting to look for the wave forming, esp. on when doing the left handed version of "square chain thru." Bill eventually slowed them down by recasting the call to start with "square thru" and freezing the dancers with handholds in place, forcing them to recognized the waves created before letting them proceed. Go Bill!
We had a similar issue with Bill's workshop on "motivate," working from non-wave formations. Again, the dancers (in my square, at least) were rushing ahead instead of taking the critical step of recognizing the formation of the star in the middle of the set.
In general, it's very difficult to get dancers to stop in their tracks for a beat or two, even when the call specifies to do so (eg. the ends of a tidal wave doing "triple trade"). And our dance culture/atmosphere at the intro levels of MS & Plus does generally encourage people to wander rather than freeze in their tracks if they become lost, with the hope that they will be cued by the other seven dancers, see something to clue them in, or simply find an empty spot in the set where they should be.
I didn't dance a great deal. Iam old enough have enough fly-in experience to pace myself, not feel obligated to dance to every tip available and generally enjoy myself with a mix of activities on & off the dance floor. I had as much floor time as I wanted and generally danced some of the most comfortable A2 sets thus far. Through most of 2004/5, I considered myself an adequate A2 dancer: I could get through a tip without crashing although I had to perform some mental gymnastics to remember the proper sequences & flow for a handful of calls. In 2006 --and particularly this weekend-- every call felt like an old friend: recognizable, comfortable, familiar, safe.
Something I noted from the schedule: this was the first fly-in I've attended where A1 was given such a level of prominence. Typically, most fly-ins would simply have A2 with a token A1 tip here & this time we had were blocks dedicated to A1 and others split evenly between A1 & A2. I'm guessing that some club --probably our host club, the Independence Squares-- has an A1/A2 course in progress and aren't finished the A2 list yet, but I neglected to ask at the time.
This lead to a personal realization: if I had to call A1, I'd be in big trouble. The A1 & A2 lists are so mixed in my head that I'd have to work very hard to come up with something on the fly that is purely A1-kosher. It doesn't help that I can't see any particular pattern or logic which places a call in one list or the other. OK, I see that the grand and triple calls (grand swing thru, triple scoot, etc.) are in the A1 list while the all eight, all four couples and hourglass calls are in the A2 list, but what logic puts square chain thru in A1 while remake is in A2? Anyone have an idea on this?
Kentshowed off the new minivan drove a bunch of us to a sports bar/pub called Shenanigans on Lake Harmony for dinner. Sean is a strict vegetarian, Mark was giving up meat & dairy for lent and Kent is gluten-intolerant. Memo to self: survey dietary requirements & check menus before selecting the restaurant next year. Mercifully, Chris, billeyler and I can eat, oh, just about anything so it wasn't a total loss.
All callers were on stage for the Saturday evening dance, alternating dance levels. Guest callers also had a shot at the microphone with the staff callers as their backup singers/chorus line.kent4str had a MS tip which he executed very well... he received many compliments from the dancers that evening and the following day. We humourously called it his "pity tip" since his Friday night MS set didn't have enough dancers for a square until the block was 2/3 over.
After 10 PM, we headed to the pool for-- square dancing! Zip and Chris called while we splashed in the pool. I was exhausted after the first two tips so I was content to bob around in the water and take some photos from the sidelines while the rest danced for another hour. This was probably the heaviest physical workout I've had in a while and the time flew past.
billeyler's A2 workshop went rather well, I thought. The biggest problem was executing "square chain thru" from positions other than a squared set, which confirmed --in my twisted mind, at least-- something I always suspected about our little "square chain thru" chant: it emphasizes the wrong thing.The "square chain thru" usually has some dancers mumbling to themselves to pass thru, left swing thru... and then the entire hall erupts into "...AND DON'T FORGET THE TURN THRU!" Yet the number of times I've seen someone forget the turn thru (myself included) with or without the chant can be counted on one hand. In almost every instance where the call has crashed my square it was because the dancers were in such a hurry to remember their turn thru that they fumble the essential formation of the wave in the early part of the call.
This is what was happening during the workshop, to poor Bill's frustration: several dancers weren't waiting to look for the wave forming, esp. on when doing the left handed version of "square chain thru." Bill eventually slowed them down by recasting the call to start with "square thru" and freezing the dancers with handholds in place, forcing them to recognized the waves created before letting them proceed. Go Bill!
We had a similar issue with Bill's workshop on "motivate," working from non-wave formations. Again, the dancers (in my square, at least) were rushing ahead instead of taking the critical step of recognizing the formation of the star in the middle of the set.
In general, it's very difficult to get dancers to stop in their tracks for a beat or two, even when the call specifies to do so (eg. the ends of a tidal wave doing "triple trade"). And our dance culture/atmosphere at the intro levels of MS & Plus does generally encourage people to wander rather than freeze in their tracks if they become lost, with the hope that they will be cued by the other seven dancers, see something to clue them in, or simply find an empty spot in the set where they should be.
I didn't dance a great deal. I
Something I noted from the schedule: this was the first fly-in I've attended where A1 was given such a level of prominence. Typically, most fly-ins would simply have A2 with a token A1 tip here & this time we had were blocks dedicated to A1 and others split evenly between A1 & A2. I'm guessing that some club --probably our host club, the Independence Squares-- has an A1/A2 course in progress and aren't finished the A2 list yet, but I neglected to ask at the time.
This lead to a personal realization: if I had to call A1, I'd be in big trouble. The A1 & A2 lists are so mixed in my head that I'd have to work very hard to come up with something on the fly that is purely A1-kosher. It doesn't help that I can't see any particular pattern or logic which places a call in one list or the other. OK, I see that the grand and triple calls (grand swing thru, triple scoot, etc.) are in the A1 list while the all eight, all four couples and hourglass calls are in the A2 list, but what logic puts square chain thru in A1 while remake is in A2? Anyone have an idea on this?
Kent
billeyler and I can eat, oh, just about anything so it wasn't a total loss.All callers were on stage for the Saturday evening dance, alternating dance levels. Guest callers also had a shot at the microphone with the staff callers as their backup singers/chorus line.
kent4str had a MS tip which he executed very well... he received many compliments from the dancers that evening and the following day. We humourously called it his "pity tip" since his Friday night MS set didn't have enough dancers for a square until the block was 2/3 over.After 10 PM, we headed to the pool for-- square dancing! Zip and Chris called while we splashed in the pool. I was exhausted after the first two tips so I was content to bob around in the water and take some photos from the sidelines while the rest danced for another hour. This was probably the heaviest physical workout I've had in a while and the time flew past.