the teaching of dancing

Subject: RE: the teaching of dancing
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 10 Dec 17 - 03:28 AM

Sometimes I shorten dances - Just do 2 or 3 different moves.

Mr Guest - the gender neutral language is for beginner boys who sometimes do stand up together - and you don't want to make them feel they got it wrong. You may not need it. If you have more boys than girls you might introduce an all male morris dance.

But -I agree, fun and getting the next date in their phone is the main thing. If someone is willing, collect emails/texts and send out a reminder. How does your law stand on that?

Consider having a social time with an activity where they talk to people they have not met before eg People Bingo.

Do you charge? If so you might introduce some ' next entry free' coupons, with the dates of the next few printed on them, and give them out for a variety of things like ' first set on the dance floor' for a particular dance.   

I think a snowball would be a good dance to do. You can put in any move you like as long as the top couple end up at the bottom of the set at the end of each turn.
eg Ist couple turn right and left hand
   top 2 couples make a star
   top 3 dance in a circle
   top 4 forward and back
   top 5 cast and arch
Start again but couple 2 have to then remember what couple one did.

F.

Subject: RE: the teaching of dancing
From: GUEST,Morris-ey
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 01:29 PM

10 dances a session for beginners is far too many. 1 would be enough for absolute beginners to learn. I am not surprised few come back.

Subject: RE: the teaching of dancing
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 12:48 PM

Horses Branle/Horses Brawle Horse Branle description @ Webfeet
Andy "Scarf" calling but the jumps should be pronounced. This, I am sorry, is the best YouTube video I can find that demonstrates it as a Ceilidh Dance, rather than a display dance. But it is 300 years old - but don't tell them until they have made it their own.

I champion it because it is easy, doesn't need a partner, can be done with 8, or 7, 6, 9 or 10.

Bands and callers don't like it because it is easy, but what better way to get a wallflower off the seat - a non partner dance. Boys will have to hold hands with boys but that can generate laughs. It involves a simple leftwards step & jumping several times which young people can do. Then there is a "do something unsual" bit which really gets their creative juices flowing. And finally a weave for one person, which is designed to allow someone to get closer to someone they want to show off to.

I love the tune too.

Another good one is Chapelloise (there are better tunes - but YouTube again). Strictly speaking it is French, and at any Fest Noz they would dance it at least twice. We might even dive in after the dance has started, you can time it easily.

And at any Fest Noz they will do Circassian Circle at least three times in an evening. The French make it progressive - "as male" dancers move anticlockwise to the next "as female" person and indeed they start with partner on tother side so that the first progression is to your partner. And they love clapping as the "other" goes in. But in the UK we do it once (if called), usually as the last dance. And clapping is infra-dig in the English Ceilidh. I don't care I muck about clapping and it always gets a laugh.

I would have thought the "Dashing White Sargeant" is simple enough. And "Gay Gordons" maybe if you have got them polkaing by then. But there is always the girl turning under man's arm instead. A bit like Chapelloise with its forward backward move.

One I would avoid is TAG written by Richard Whynott (?) an American Contra caller - a wonderful dance but takes some understanding.

Any dance that includes a "if there's time swing your partner" helps them take stock.

Subject: RE: the teaching of dancing
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 12:07 PM

From the terminology I am guessing that you are American so your repertoire is what in the UK we would think of as "club" dances.

If you are teaching complete dances as opposed to teaching moves and calling dances then you have an underlying issue. Regular attendees will want new and more complex material while newcomers need it simple and made fun.

Fora is right about structuring the teaching but I would disagree on gender neutral calling. I have never seen it done well and is of course a micro agression to trans people by deliberately removing the recognition of gender from a pastime which has been structured around gender identity.

Subject: RE: the teaching of dancing
From: leeneia
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 10:28 AM

The dances are on a Saturday night. Any big person (i.e., not children) can come, from complete beginner on up. Age 16 and up. The band is good.

The problem is that people come once and never come again. I think they are overwhelmed by too much to learn and the attendant embarrassment at being in the wrong place during a dance.

What are the names of easy English country dances? I have read that new dances are all hard because the easy moves have been used up.

Subject: RE: the teaching of dancing
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 05:37 AM

not an experienced teacher, but a publicist and popularist.
My advice to newbies at our regular series in Stroud, Gloucs, England is:

"There are only two rules. 1) Smile 2) Keep moving."
They get it.

It helps that we have nationally known live bands and experienced callers, but these things vary. I do say listen to the caller, but my emphasis is on having fun, and that has to be conveyed. We do get a healthy crop of young people, and an age spread despite the demographic tending to those nearing (or teetering) towards retirement. We have a policy of asking anyone looking like they need a partner to get a few dances with the organisers. And, because this is my forte, I go round before and during the break and hand out flyers for the season. That is my opener for speaking to people. We don't have a Morris/song spot in the break because this is social dance and we want people to socialise, get their drinks, and anyway Morris dancers might represent 8 tickets we didn't sell. It is not the profit that worries us, though we aim to not make a loss (over a season). ie Sustainability.

If I get the time to mention to newbies I will point out that learning is like a language: You think in letters at the start, then you recognise words, and sentences start to be familiar. I am at the paragraph stage, but like all stories, that varies with the storyteller

And, as publicist, I do a fair amount of taking posters to willing shops, libraries, tourist offices etc in an area maybe 16 miles radius. And as festival goers may (ha) have noticed, at Festivals.

Maybe the man all dressed in red adds an aura that removes hints of stuffiness. Who knows, but it can't do any harm.

Subject: RE: the teaching of dancing
From: BobL
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 03:53 AM

Ten dances a session - sounds to me like a lot, but it depends on the length of the session and how active the dancers are. I regularly called 12 in an evening for keen dancers who, as soon as one dance finished, started forming up for the next. At most clubs it was more like 8 or 9, fewer if a "workshop" dance was on the programme. Whom are you teaching - evening classes, youth organisations, school groups?

It's the caller's job to see that people enjoy themselves, they won't come back if they don't, and learning will follow if they do. Choice of dances has a lot to do with it: standard ceilidh fare should be OK, plus some of the simpler historical dances just to show there's another side. No A-level dances with beginners!

Are you playing solo or in a band? The quality of the music is more important than you'd think, both musically (but you'll have to be the judge of that) and, with amplification, technically - at least these days we don't have to suffer cassettes or scratchy vinyl.

Wish you all the best.

Subject: RE: the teaching of dancing
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 09 Dec 17 - 03:50 AM

For youngsters start with a non partner dance. Try to make the dances as non sexist as possible in any talk through. eg tallest person on the left. Boys dance with boys in clubs these days - show no surprise if 2 boys dance with each other. It takes a bit of doing to rethink what language you would usually use - avoid ' man and lady'.
Demonstrate rather than try to explain if possible.
Try to make the dances progressive in that each dance has only one new bit. eg bridge of Athlone has a cast. The next dance could have a dip and dive and a cast.
Do dances at 2 speeds or gradually speed up- the second speed as fast as you think the dances can be sensibly danced. Youngsters can dance for longer than we oldies.
During the break give them enough time to put the date of the next dance in their phone
Finish with something like a 2 person down strip the willow ( no other moves ). One long set - with several couples going down at the same time. Expect laughter and mayhem.
Have fun.

Subject: the teaching of dancing
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Dec 17 - 10:58 PM

I'm looking for insights on the teaching of country dancing to young people, by which I mean from teenagers to about age 30.

Every two months I play music for English country dance, and it bothers me that so many people come once and never return. Our leaders teach about ten dances a session, and I believe that that is too much for learn. I remember how hard it was for me to learn a new dance (back when my knees were still good), and I think the new people are being driven away by the mental strain of it all.

Any suggestions from experienced teachers?