Are We Having Fun Yet?

I was late getting out of bed Friday morning: I slept very poorly so I was in no hurry to pull myself together to face the day. Despite my sluggishness, we collectively packed our bags and sound systems into the minivan and were on the road to Rehoboth Beach, DE, by noon, right on schedule.

Traffic was relatively light, all things considered. The weather was warm and clear so a lot of people went to the beach this weekend but we were in front of that particular human wave. We arrived by 3:30pm, dropped our bags in our room at The Breakers Hotel and installed the audio equipment in two of the three dance halls.

kent4str and I were scheduled to host the open house in one of the smaller dance halls 7-8pm Friday night. We were at our post but not a single dancer showed up. We weren't surprised in the slightest: at 7pm on a Friday night, most normal people are still commuting from work or having dinner. Only the die-hard square dancers were in any of the dance halls: by definition, those not yet initiated into the wonders of square dancing aren't typically among that die-hard crowd. We were confident there would be vastly more at the Saturday evening open house.

kent4str, cuyahogarvr and I danced a number of tips, shifting between the A2, C1 and C2 spaces easily as the schedule (and desperate calls of "we need one more dancer to fill a square!") dictated. We didn't stay up too late: as soon as the raffle drawings were done, we returned to our room to get some rest.

Saturday morning's fun began with a C2 workshop where we worked on the disconnected and once-removed concepts. Good stuff! kent4str hosted the Mainstream GCA guest caller hour while I hosted the Plus GCA guest caller hour in the early afternoon. We had a full roster of callers (Zip Warmerdam, Dan Faust, Abe Feldman, Alan Hirsch, Kent and myself) and at least one square dancing each hour.

We had a nice dinner at Los Locos across the street from the convention center. kent4str ordered a marguerita:

Twenty-eight ounces of booze! Oy!

kent4str and I flogged 50/50 tickets through the evening at the IAGSDC banner dance. In all, I think there was about $650 raised in total; Dave from Times Squares won half as the jackpot.

Sunday began even earlier than Saturday: 9am. I danced some C2 early on, then took a break to pack our stuff in our hotel room before hosting the second GCA guest caller Mainstream hall. I didn't call any during this block as we had a full slate but I added myself to the caller list for kent4str's GCA A2 hour after lunch.

My Advanced set was very successful, I think, with two personal firsts: this was my first time on the big stage at the convention hall. I've called in lots of little rooms but the atmosphere is very different in the main hall: one is elevated enough to see all of the squares instead of just the one or two immediately in front. The sense of acoustics is far different too. My other personal victory was that I sight-called nearly my entire set smoothly and a good variety of calls and formations; by plan, I read scripted figures for only my intro and my closer. I've been working on that a great deal lately, trying to sight-resolve my Advanced sets as comfortably as I do my Mainstream and Plus. Yay!

Checking out was a smooth process. We have reservations already for next year's fly-in weekend. The drive home was uneventful although I still have some unpacking to do.

Our next major square dance event: the IAGSDC convention in Chicago!

I called the regular club night for the Chesapeake Squares tonight: two Mainstream tips, a handful of Plus tips and a single Advanced tip. It was... interesting.

caller_dayle was on hand to give me an evaluation and offer some suggestions for things I should change or work on for future.

I thought the first tip went fairly well but he pointed out that I was unconsciously adding some unnecessary verbal commentary & feedback on mic during the tip. It was mostly harmless --one square was having difficulty so I would try to occasionally add a comment that their rebuilt formation was indeed correct or at least consistent with the other square, etc.. Dayle pointed out that while it wasn't harmful per se, it could be distracting for some dancers who are already burning up their synapses just trying to remember the actual call definitions. For the rest of the evening, I was to refrain from any speech on mic except for the calls themselves or cues if absolutely required. If I could turn this off & on as needed and was more self-aware of it, it would then become a useful tool in future rather than a habit or reflex.

Sticking to that plan was much harder than it sounds. Dead air just didn't sound right. Dayle did point out that silence is itself a tool when used judiciously. In any case, yes, turning a reflex into a managed tool would definitely be a Good Thing.

The other major item I must work on is smoothing out vocal delivery. When I started calling, I was hesitant and shy on mic: the calls were delivered feebly, without conviction and utterly without energy. It seems I've swing a little too far in the opposite direction so I now need to ratchet back the assertiveness & staccato delivery for something smoother and more consistent in intonation. Going comparatively deadpan for the balance of tonight sounded just as uncomfortable to me as the aforementioned dead air, but the point is to break my default inclination so that I can bring it under control and use the full range of expression at will as a tool in future.

My next calling gig is with the DC Lambda Squares on Thursday. It will be a challenge, but anything worth doing usually is.

It was a pretty good club night although it didn't start in a promising fashion: I couldn't get any music out of my laptop for the opening tip!

After some quick checks, I quickly transferred the cable to my Crackberry so I could use its MP3 player for the patter but even that was balking. WTF?!

During the break, I did some further testing and found I had a bad cable connecting the audio-out port to the music-in port of the amp. It has faithfully worked for years but its time has apparently come. Fortunately, we carry a spare.

With the failed cable swapped out, all went well for the rest of the evening. We had a larger percentage than usual of A2 dancers so I spent more time calling in that program than the others. I definitely have some additional ideas for the A2 workshop series kent4str and I are hosting Wednesdays beginning tomorrow. :-)

I haven't written anything for a few days. While the self-imposed pressure to write has manifested itself, I simply haven't had much to say and other more pressing issues were consuming my spare time. Here's a quick attempt to compose a few lines, just to reassure the planet that I haven't died.

We had a delightfully restful time at the trailer this past weekend. I do have photos to post but that will have to wait a while.

Monday evening was our regular C2 class. As with last week, the floor was in good form for the evening. We use a number system to mix couples into three squares; cuyahogarvr and I seemed to always land in the fun giggling square, something I appreciated a great deal. For workshop material, we revisited the "staggered" concept, something we haven't done much with in the past couple months, then learned the call "truck." Good times.

My day today was entirely consumed by preparing two servers to go into production for work. Both are Solaris 10 machines which needed a tonne o' operating system patches, Veritas upgrades and clustering configuration. All was completed by the time I headed to Baltimore to call a club night dance for the Chesapeake Squares.

Tonight's club night went very well. Not coincidentally, a couple of our weaker dancers were absent while a couple of strong dancers were up from DC for the event. I was able to call significantly harder Plus and Advanced material than I normally have been able. Sure, some figures broke down but in all but two cases, I was able to sight-resolve them home. As well, I was able to focus more on my own personal improvement projects; this week, it was on controlling the dance floor energy level.

When our evening began, it felt rather lackadaisical and listless. I intentionally started with a comparatively slow patter and singing call, just to get folks warmed up. I intentionally selected music with a faster beat for the remainder of the evening; while I test-drove a new singing call I've been working on during the middle, I made sure my closer was a peppy piece I knew intimately so I could belt it out without difficulty. Finally, I worked on emphasizing an upbeat vocal delivery with fast but smooth timing.

The final result? This was some of the best Plus and Advanced stuff I've done with the club for a while. The final Plus tip was a roaring success: folks were packing up for the evening with laughter & giggles and a number of people had very complementary things to say. Victory is ours!

Now to sleep and savour the success. :-)

I haven't written a great deal lately, largely because my life although busy is largely routine at the moment.

We didn't have a C2 square dance class yesterday (Monday): caller John Marshall is out of town most of this week. Instead, many of us from the C2 class made a surprise appearance at justetthon's C1 dance. We were just one person shy of a third square so justetthon called while dancing. It has been a long time since I've just danced without calling or pushing my way through a workshop or class... it's a fun reminder of why I do this stuff in the first place.

Tonight, kent4str and I called an open house for the Chesapeake Squares while cuyahogarvr went to Billy Harrison's Galaxy Stars C1 club night. Our performance for CS went pretty well, although we were a little disappointed we only had two newbies, one of which was just visiting from California. After all the work the club has put into our public appearances this past weekend, I think everyone was hoping for at least four newbies. *sigh*

Still, we had fun. We had three intro-to-dancing tips, two Plus tips and an A2 tip for the regulars. I sight-called the A2 tip, working on building up my skills & confidence and am quite pleased with the results.

The Chesapeake Squares also bought kent4str and me a gift Visa card in gratitude for our hours of work this past weekend. Whee! It also conveniently makes up for me forgetting to prepare an invoice for the June club nights we called... Doh!

Wednesday night, a group of us C2 students will be getting together to practice. Thursday, kent4str and I are calling an open house for the DC Lambda Squares. Friday, we crash.

Today, we were in downtown Baltimore for the bulk of the afternoon and evening. We first met with the rest of the Chesapeake Squares to set up the sound system on the pickup truck, then noodled our way to our station in Baltimore's pride parade.

Thanks to the presence of multiple umbrellas, there was no rain. It was, however, very hot and muggy. Our staging area was in full sunlight but I hid in the shade across the street. Yup, I'm a wuss.

We were in the first group of the parade, positioned 4th or 5th from the front. While this sounds prestigious, it isn't a big a deal as it sounds: the parade itself doesn't have that many groups marching (perhaps 30) and doesn't go that far, only a half-mile or so at most. In fact, once we started walking, it was all over in a little more than a half-hour.



Following the parade and dismantling our sound system, kent4str, cuyahogarvr and I met up with Mike V. to head out for dinner down in the inner harbour area. Dinner was excellent although I overdid it on the potato skins appetizer and the free pretzels & mustard... yum! Ah well... the rest of my dinner is in the fridge currently.

After dropping Mike V. off at his apartment, we stopped by the park area where we will be calling square dance demo tips tomorrow afternoon for the ongoing pride festival. My dear employer needs me to push some code updates into our non-production systems tomorrow morning but it's scheduled against the time when we're supposed to be setting up at the park! A quick test with the wireless broadband modem at the park pavillion however confirmed that I can do my office stuff from there easily. Yay for technology!

Now to rest up and hopefully get some sleep!

I slept in a little later than I planned but we were still awake and early enough to participate in kris_jensen's C1 workshop at 10 AM. We worked through variations on "tally ho," some drills on "linear action" and "percolate" as well as some concentric stuff towards the end. It was a little easier than I had anticipated but probably because I was in a very solid square; the other two squares seemed to have more difficulty. In all, it was an hour well spent and I'm content with the results.

My right knee is much better than it was only a week ago but I'm doing my best to limit the amount of stress placed on it this weekend. Accordingly, I didn't dance through the rest of the afternoon although we did take a leisurely stroll down the main street of Rehoboth Beach, DE, for lunch.

I hosted the GCA caller Plus hour in the afternoon; kent4str hosted the Mainstream hour following. Both hours went well, I think.

Towards 5 PM, we rounded up billeyler, abqdan, caller_dayle to join cuyahogarvr, kent4str and myself for dinner at Sea Side Thai. Good food and enjoyable company!


After a quick rest and change of clothes, we were down at the dance hall again for 7:45 PM where kent4str and I directed the grand march procession that opened the evening's events. Once that was done, I was largely off-duty although I did join into one Advanced tip just 'cause I couldn't stop myself. :-)

And speaking of things which should never be allowed to happen in public, I offer you the following shot of caller_dayle... :-)


At 10 PM, I called it a night. My knee is twinging a little, not badly but enough to tell me that it's gone as far as I should push tonight. All will be well again in the morning.

Don't miss our annual flyin at Rehoboth Beach the first weekend of May.

The early bird rate of $70.00 expires on Friday, January 16 for Pass the Ocean, Hon sponsored by Chesapeake Squares in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, May 1-3, 2009. Featured callers are Bill Eyler, Todd Fellegy, Dayle Hodge, and Kris Jensen. The on-site registration cost will be $95.00. For more information, click here.

Registations postmarked no later than Friday, January 16 receive the discounted rate.

See you on the dance floor!

Chesapeake Squares, Inc. is Baltimore's Gay and Lesbian Square Dance Club.
Square dancers meet Tuesday nights, 8 - 10pm.
Country and Line Dancers meet on Thursday nights, 7:30 - 9:30pm.

All events are held at the Waxter Center in Baltimore, at Cathedral and Eager Streets across from the City Cafe.

I'm procrastinating at the moment. The only thing I have left on my to-do list for today is my portion of my annual performance evaluation in which I write my what-I-did-this-year report. It's relatively easy since I keep extensive work logs, but it's still a pain. Talking about square dancing is more fun.

kent4str was calling for the DC Lambda Squares last night so cuyahogarvr and I were on our own. C2 last night was much smoother than the prior week: both cuyahogarvr and I were sharper, the floor generally seemed more relaxed (although we were scrounging for a last dancer or two to complete a third square) and even John Marshall seemed to be better rested and clearer of mind.

Review of prior calls took a little longer than usual, but now that we're somewhere above 20 calls, that's not unexpected. A couple of people were having difficulty with swap the wave --it doesn't flow as elegantly as most other calls-- and grand chain eight. I suspect in the latter case, some folks just aren't seeing/waiting for the formation; as well, stepping to a lefty formation by default runs against pre-C2 well-rehearsed habits of taking right hands. In any case, more floor time and practice will iron out the rough spots.

We had three new calls -- perk up, with the flow and alter & circulate-- all of which were absorbed relatively well.

Tonight, I'm heading to Baltimore to call for the Chesapeake Squares, our last calling commitment until mid-December.

Tonight's club night with the Chesapeake Squares went well. We started the evening with a Mainstream tip but once we did a survey and found there weren't any Mainstream dancers, we stepped up the program to alternate Plus and Advanced.

Plus had some problems but mostly the folks just needed a little extra cuing to push them through the calls. (Seriously though, it would help immensely if one or two of the weaker dancers would shut up so they could hear the calls. Lord knows how many calls were missed because they were busy talking about something else.) We did a quick 10 minute review of 'relay the deucey' during the break. A couple dancers are still stumbling through --they lose their orientation on the floor easily on any turn larger than 90 degrees-- but we largely managed through it all.

The first A2 set was a rolling disaster. For some odd reason, 2-3 dancers just weren't finishing the calls. I'd call 'three quarter thru' but they left off the centers trade, I'd call 'scoot chain thru' but they'd leave off the final extend, etc.. I joked that they might as well do the entire call 'cause I'm paid the same either way. :-)

The second A2 set was vastly better: perhaps they just needed an extended warm-up. I really hope that (a) we get the A2 boot camp for February off the ground, and (b) these folks sign up for it... it would be a superb workshop opportunity for the folks who need an A2 refresher.

I talked to John about possibly using his employer's space for Ken Ritucci's Advanced blast weekend February 13-15. While I haven't seen the space myself, it was well-received by the Plus dancers a month ago. He'll check the space's availability tomorrow.

No Chesapeake Squares next Tuesday (US election day) or the following Tuesday (Veterans' Day).