Wow, you're biting off too much. Teach them community-dance stuff first - circle mixers, easy things to get them used to touching, allemanding, and giving weight. If they refuse to take hands and circle left, then I suggest you fake a heart attack and get out. Lindsay Morris Principal TSMworks [1]www.tsmworks.com 859-539-9900 [2]sharedweight.99.kyoto(a)spamgourmet.com wrote: [n.b. this has been 'cross posted' to the yahoo traditional callers list, in cas e anyone is on both lists...] This post from a llooonnnngg time dancer and first time caller who is requesting some advice for an unusual situation...but as it is my first post, I will explain a little about myself, and along the way that will explain the unusual situation and help guide and refine any replies. My name is david crespo, a name some of you no doubt fear -- I mean recognize -- or would (recognize, that is) (if you saw my ugly mug) (well, maybe fear...) from my 20 odd (quite odd) years of dancing and involvement in the dance community in New England, mostly Vermont (Etna, Norwich, Thetford, to Northern Spy etc.) and Maine (SMFA (Yarmouth), Falmouth, Bates, Bowdoinham...). As some of you thus know, about 3 years ago, at a Wake the Neighbors Bates dance I was met by a cute and not very frightening Japanese exchange student, Yukie, who with a very little gentle nudging at Deffa a week later, eventually (rapidly, that is) was able to parlay that happenstance circumstance into what is now a beautiful and happy marriage. She returned to Japan shortly after we completed our courtship and about a year later I followed. We're living in Kyoto. Alas, there is one tragic note attending this otherwise joyous and perfect scenario. Japan, you see, is a land thouroughly devoid of one essential nutrient: contradancing. You can imagine my dismay, tears, and lamentations. Sadly, then, since my arrival, I have been quietly (well not so quietly) teaching english while secretly incubating evil plans to conquer Japan, then Asia, then the world in 64 (drastic) measures (hmmm--- good name for a dance). This month, my long patient agony of waiting has begun to pay off. I have been given the opportunity to indoctrinate a few trusting and innocent souls into the sublime mysteries of la dance du contra and create an army of swiftfooted robots, ready and willing to do my bidding at every call. SOON I WILL CONQUER THE WORLD!!! ahem. please excuse me while my medicine kicks in. Ah, yes, thank you. OK, where was I? The fact is, my wife and I have been invited to lead a contradance workshop at a local festival on October 20. When we found out, we began doing as much research as we could on calling and so on. We found a few basic dances, like Baby Rose and Diane's Visit and Atonement Reel that we like and figured would be suitable and we have been practicing calling them. But I really welcome any suggestions... Actually, above and beyond some decades of doing things proper and improper, I took a caller workshop or two from Rick Mohr (thanks Rick) so I have a rough idea of what's involved. And I've learned a bit from practicing calling and writing a few ad hoc dances on my own. For example, I learned that being a dancer has habituated me to act ON the beat, but as a caller I need to act BEFORE the beat, eh....this flustered me at first. Are there any other typical first caller pointers we should be on the lookout for? In addition, there are a few other associated circumstances in this project that create the aforementioned unique situation. In brief (HA! fooled you), since I've rattled on too long, here is what I mean: I don't speak more than the rudiments of Japanese. My wife is still a beginner dancer, to wit, she isn't a strong enough one to call on her own. Between us we are trying to teach each other what the other lacks and hopefully make one good caller out of the two of us. One question that has come up is is it better to keep the standard names for the figures, or to Japanify them. (We are leaning to the former...Japanese has a very high percentage of english loan words, and they learn english (poooooorly) in school.) Still, has anyone ever tried to call across a language barrier? Japanese are touch sensitve. They don't touch, they don't give eye contact. They don't give weight. (They give wait). They don't hug. They don't even say I love you. They are very shy. For example, I am told that this is to the point that standing in a line of men facing a line of women is likely be uncomfortable, even for the younger generation, so Yukie feels we should use mixed couples with armbands to distinguish "gender"--I mean position. As we build a community of experienced dancers, it would be expected that some of this inhibition might wear off...). You can see why they need to dance. On the other hand, they are good followers. Any advice for working with a shy crowd? Some or many of the attendees at this workshop, we just found out, are likely to be children. Depending on the percentage, it may be necessary to do a kids dance, or at least a dance kids could enjoy. I am good at working with kids in general, but I would love any advice for doing a dance with young people. I don't know or haven't been able to find any children's dances, though I assume the Family Dance in Yarmouth is still up and I plan to contact Jeff Raymond about it, because I can't remember the caller's name (Nancy....) (though we have danced and chatted about dancing and calling several times at the May Day Festival...gads! say hi if you're listening..). So, children's dances are one thing I am looking for. We are working in a small space...maybe two lines of six couples each. Advice for small spaces???　 We are doing three workshops. If the same people return, we may do more advanced things, or we may just repeat teh workshop...but I would like to try different dances each time, for my practice. The room will be full of beginners, so no experienced dancers to rely on. Ballroom dancing had a certain following here (and in Kyoto there is a small set dancing group that we visited...small 14 or so... and a square dancing group that we plan to visit. ) but not enough to be helpful, in the sense that there are few cultural supports for learning (i.e. in the US most everyone knows (even if they don't admit it) how to at least fake a waltz or ballroom position...not here.) Think martian territory... I should add that we are seriously working towards starting a regular dance here (we've found an available and very suitable space, a church hall in a nearby church, for example) and this is for us a tryout and possible stepping stone. We want to whet people's appetite, and leave them wanting more. We have a half hour to do it... OK...apologies for the verbose and windy post. Fond regards to all of you I know, hajimemashite ("nice to meet you" in japanese, literally "beginning") to the rest and many thanks in advance for your time and help...cheers...david nothing rhymes with nostril... __________________________________________________________________________ __________ Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a reality with Yahoo! Autos. 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I've done a LOT of calling to non-English groups, and I LOVE it. It has forced me to examine my assumptions/techniques like nothing else. Here's a few things no one else has covered yet, I think. ******** Something to think about: dance terms like "hey" and "chain" are foriegn to us until we connect them to their concepts. They're sometimes even HARDER for us, since we have to unhook what we THINK they mean first. We all start out as non-native speakers. So if you want to do contras, go for it - they are entirely possible. I've called: * entirely non-verbal dances for Bosnian refugees -- taught everything by acting it out. * entirely verbal dances, stuck behind the mike with no hope of getting on the floor, for two hundred people, in French, which I DON'T speak, except for about twenty very useful words (see below). * mixed verbal/demo dances for (LARGE) groups of 100% inexperienced Russian orphans. ( I speak Russian with a good accent and execrable grammar) * LOTS of dances for 100% inexperienced ESL students, speaking just 20 English words. and done contras every time. Here's what's makes it work. -- Work up to them. Possible order: 1. An anywhere-on-the-floor dance, to learn about partners and neighbors and stars and circles. 2. Simple longways, like Galopede, to learn up/down and lines 3. Circle dance (keep-your-partner type) 4. "Harder" longways, usually one with a strip-the-willow 5. Circle mixer 6. Contra - BUT: one with progression but NO GENDER or CROSSOVER issues. --Teach a group of four volunteers ahead of time so they can demonstrate! -- Get everyone TALKING. You say: "Circle left" Your demonstrators take hands and say "circle", then say "left" as they start to move. EVERYONE says "Circle left!" AS THEY DO IT. The verbal learners will store things much faster, the call-and-response will help the group to gel --and will be comforting to many -- since it feels like"school", it takes the focus off of the partner relationships and makes it more about learning the dance. --Boil your cues down to the essential words - you can call a LOT of good basic dances with only "partner, neighbor, up, down, left, right, under, over, line, star, dosido, and swing." (If you need more words than that, rethink your dances.) Remember: WE need lots of words, like "right hand allemande three quarters" because we know that hands and allemandes can do many things. We need help choosing. THIS group has only ever done THIS dance, so "right hand" will work just fine as a memory cue. And who says you have to use the usual terms anyway? MANY people know how to count, why not say "1 2 3 4" for "long lines into the center" -- and maybe "4 3 2 1" for going back! -- Finally, use your voice - shape the words with drama, and KEEP THE WAY YOU SAY EACH MOVE consistant. Example: always say "Do-si-Do" with a good clipped emphasis, or say "SWWWINNG!" with a gleeful flip -- the dancers will respond to the musical shape of your voice even if the words don't get through. Good luck - and if you're going to buy books, be sure to get Marion Rose's Step Lively collections, they are the closest thing to perfect I've EVER encountered. EVERY dance WORKS. If you get her first two and the N.E. Dancing Master's first two, you are set for life. Cheers, Amy