UK Square dance callers courses

Subject: UK Square dance callers courses
From: Mr Red
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 06:50 PM

I can furnish her e-mail on request

realname: Zoe Bremer
about: Female callers
message: Dear Mr Red Just wanted to say.....

I am on a committee set up to promote square dancing in the UK. Part of our job will be to run caller schools. I wondered if you had any advice on how to recruit more women. We envisage training 20 students per school (residential, most likely Thursday to Tuesday). Some will be complete beginners. We may be able to obtain funding to train women so I need to find some women already working as MCs running ceilidhs, etc. who would be willing to learn the dance moves necessary (if they don't already know them). The first caller school will be next year, probably in Derbyshire, so there is time to take the beginners' square dance course in the meantime, given that most courses will start in September.

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: Bert
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 09:11 PM

Is that with The British Association of American Square Dance Clubs?

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: nickp
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 04:08 AM

Western Square (please, no!) - or 'any level can dance as long as they have a good time' for preference

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: nickp
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 04:12 AM

Perhaps I should expand...

The contact I've had with the more formal Square Dancing is that you have to advance through ability levels and can't dance with people/in dances of a higher qualification.

That is almost anathema to the huge majority of UK dancers.

If the idea is just at a general level for anyone who can do a bit of dancing... then that's a wonderful idea.

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: Mr Red
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 01:16 PM

This is about callers and giving them ability - but I ceilidh nearly every week and not a square - if you see what I mean. Tried calling - you just dun gotta want to do it. Watching and saying at the same time is a skill that must be acquired - preferrably in a learning environment not on the hoof as it were.

There is a school of thought that prefers the complexity end of the spectrum and not athleticism. Folk is strong enough to cover that spectrum in the UK. Crosswords v walking sort of preference.

I write computer programs so crosswords are too dificult for me.

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: Bert
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 10:22 PM

Hmmm, was that an answer to my question?

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: nickp
Date: 03 Jul 07 - 11:29 AM

Hi Bert,

No it isn't but a quick Google came up with a number of hits about Zoe Bremer which imply it is indeed the highly regulated 'Western Square' style - see below.

If that's what you like (personally I prefer to do a dance I feel like doing and not whether I'm qualified to) then fine but it doesn't really fit within the general 'folky, festivally, ceilidh, barndance, square dance' type of thing that is rather more prevalent in the UK.

Still, good luck to her if she wants to try.

quotes:

"Posted by Zoe Bremer on October 5, 2005, 3:37 pm
Britain plays host to the European square dance convention next year, 4th-6th August at Hemel Hempstead sports centre (7 halls, squares and rounds at all levels). Anyone going?
Contact for the event is .... etc (not Ms Bremer)"

and more explicitely from a post of hers commenting on a House of Commons point of order which referred to Dance Teachers...
"The Square Dance Association in particular frequently has problems dealing with people who have been taught incorrectly and then have to get students to "unlearn" their mistakes. There is an international syllabus for square dancing published by the callers' professional association, Callerlab."   

and...

"Beginners' Square Dancing
posted: 24-May-07
Course leading to Mainstream level in modern American square dancing. All ages (16+) welcome. Once you have reached Mainstream level you can take part in dances at this level anywhere in the world. Please call [name given] (caller) to enrol - [phone].
Type of notice: Class
Name of contact: Zoe Bremer
Organisation name: British Association of American Square Dance Clubs"

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: Bert
Date: 03 Jul 07 - 11:34 AM

I just asked 'cos I took a callers course with them years ago.

I do prefer modern American square dancing, although 'Fifties/Traditional' is fun too.

Didn't get too much out of English though, the same old dances got boring after a while.

Have fun and enjoy the style that you prefer, there's room for all tastes.

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Jul 07 - 12:32 PM

We had a contra group in Edinburgh for a few years that worked very well and did a few square dances. It was never very big, and no way would something that split the dancers into "levels" be viable - goes right against the grain of any kind of Scottish dance culture. Even the fairly regulated RSCDS will fit in anybody who can understand the instructions.

On the other hand, I could see a workshop getting enough takers if it aimed to teach a few basic square dances and how to call them.

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: Mo the caller
Date: 04 Jul 07 - 03:00 AM

Bert, that is the caller's dilema.
The English country dance clubs (EFDSS - dancing Playford type dances) run the risk, nowadys, of being driven by the novelty seekers.
The people who call are the ones who go to Saturday dances / courses / festivals / and buy books. So they want to try out all the new dances, using the members as guinea pigs.
Beginners are very happy when a dance crops up that they recognise.
And in between are the majority of club members who can dance better when they know a dance well enough and can think about fitting it to the music and reacting to the other dancers rather than what happens next. They DON'T want to dance the same dance till they are sick of it, but are quite glad when I call a chestnut ... "we used to do that a lot, haven't done it for ages"

I rarely go to English Ceilidhs now, haven't the energy for the clubs, find the one off fund raisers boring to dance at.
Calling them is a different story, I never get bored with seeiong people enjoying themselves, whether I need to call simple dances, that end up across the music, the latest complicated composition, or anything in between. I enjoy the challenge of fitting the programme to the dancers.

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: GUEST,Zoe Bremer
Date: 07 Jul 07 - 11:18 AM

Grand Square Incorporated (www.grandsquareinc.com) which is a Chartered US Foundation, recently sponsored a Caller School in Cambridgeshire, paying all tuition fees plus full board (five nights) for up to 40 students. In fact, two had to drop out.

The aim is to follow this up with annual Caller Schools, same length, same format, for 20 students at a time. However, I think it's going to be hard to attract women.

The courses will be open to anyone who is thoroughly au fait with the Mainstream syllabus. No calling experience required. Therefore, I was hoping that it might be possible to draw this to the attention of any women already working as MCs who had a basic knowledge of square dancing and would be happy to do the Mainstream course starting this autumn.

I'd also like to be able to organise some events to allow callers to retrain or to learn to teach wheelchair square dancing (never really tried in the UK so far).

I'd be pleased to hear from anyone with ideas! I think we can secure funding so that students don't have to pay.

Subject: RE: UK Square dance callers courses
From: Mo the caller
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:38 AM

So when you say you want to promote "square dancing" in the UK, do you mean you want to promote Modern Western Square Dancing?

No harm in MWSD for those who enjoy it but there's lots of other kinds.
Various different traditions in different parts of the USA so I'm told, some of them called square dancing by the people that do it but not danced in squares.

It can be quite exhillarating to dance to a call without a walk-through but I enjoy the inclusiveness of other sorts of clubs, where you can join at any time and come when you can, rather than needing to take a course. This does make problems for the callers in planning programmes.

MC's who want to improve their dance knowledge find plenty to think about at those festivals that have a bias towards dance e.g.Litchfiels, Chippenham, Eastbourne, Whitby, Sidmouth etc.

I did start to take the Mainstream course but my daughters canoe class changed it's night so I had to drop out, and I haven't wanted to finish it, certainly not to go on to Plus etc.
I do enjoy square dancing at festivals, where the caller walks through the figure and as much of the break as he thinks we need, and just throws the rest at us.

Yes, it does seem to be men that call squares