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Computer Coaching | ||||
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What Makes Choreography Difficult and Why Should We Care Choreography can be easy for dancers to execute or it can be very difficult, and this is independent of which Callerlab program the calls in a sequence come from (e.g. Mainstream, Plus, Advanced, etc.). Here is a partial list of some of the factors that can make a sequence difficult. | ||||||
Common formation or not Standard sex arrangement or not Good acoustics in the hall or bad Dancer experience How tired the dancers are Slipperiness of the floor | Left-handed vs right-handed Good or bad body flow Enunciation of the caller Dancer familiarity with the calls Tempo of the music (i.e. thinking time) How full the moon is, etc. | |||||
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Some of the above factors are beyond the control of the caller. The caller should just be aware of them, e.g. how slippery the floor is. Some of the items are within the callers power to avoid, to keep the dancers moving and happy, such as not using calls the dancers have never heard of, enunciating properly, being sure that body flow leads the dancers in the right direction for the next call instead of sending them somewhere else, and that the correct hand is available to do the next call. But even when the above items are kept in control, some sequences are just more difficult to interpret than others, for dancers with less experience. Choreography is not just either hard or easy, but can fall anywhere in between. An experienced caller should be able to slide the difficulty up and down this scale, without using bad choreography to do so. The way to gain this control is to first learn to recognize the difficulty in choreography that others create; then recognize it in choreography that you create; next you experiment with changes you make to see if things get easier or harder; and finally, having learned which changes do what, slide up and down the scale at will. Once you are there, hopefully you will have the judgment to keep the dancers moving at a level where they feel like they are being challenged, but they can still win. So, where do you start to learn how to recognize whether something is hard or easy? Well, I’ve got good news for you. You already know. I have found over the years, after presenting hard and easy sequences to callers, that all skill levels of callers have the ability to recognize which are which. I have even set up squares of very experienced dancers, who could dance smoothly through any Mainstream sequence without faltering. I used experienced dancers since faltering on some sequences would have given the callers that were observing a clue about difficulty. I was amazed and pleased to find out that even before callers have enough experience to control the difficulty of the dance that they are calling, they were able to tell how difficulty the choreography was. Here are some sequences for you to see for yourself. In the sequences that follow, all of which use only Mainstream calls (except one), some are very basic, some are standard and typical of “club dancing,” and some are quite difficult. On a scale of one to five (easy to hard), see if you can figure out which ones are which. If possible, don’t only read through the sequences, but walk an experienced square of dancers through them. Note that the body flow in all sequences is good and is not the contributing factor to their difficulty. Difficulty comes from sex arrangement and/or the need for the dancers to be aware of the formations that they are in. (After the sequences, you will find a list of numbers that shows the sequence number followed by a number from one to five which indicates difficulty from easy to hard.) | ||||||
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1. HEADS SQUARE THRU 3/4 & STEP AHEAD SIDES HALF SQUARE THRU CENTERS IN CAST OFF 3/4 TOUCH 1/4 SINGLE FILE CIRCULATE ONCE AND A HALF IN THE COLUMN OF 6 CIRCULATE ONCE AND A HALF CENTER 4 SINGLE HINGE & FAN THE TOP & OTHERS BEND THE LINE CENTERS PASS THRU STAR THRU WHEEL AND DEAL DOSADO ONCE AND A HALF ALLEMANDE LEFT! 2. HEADS SQUARE THRU TOUCH 1/4 SPLIT CIRCULATE MEN RUN PASS THRU WHEEL AND DEAL RIGHT AND LEFT THRU SQUARE THRU 3/4 DOSADO TO A WAVE WOMEN TRADE WOMEN RUN TAG THE LINE - RIGHT WHEEL AND DEAL ALLEMANDE LEFT! 3. HEADS SWING THRU SINGLE HINGE WALK AND DODGE TOUCH 1/4 CENTERS TRADE ALL EIGHT CIRCULATE WOMEN TRADE CENTERS SQUARE THRU & OTHER STAR THRU SWING THRU SINGLE HINGE FAN THE TOP TURN THRU WHEEL AND DEAL SQUARE THRU 3/4 SLIDE THRU CENTERS SQUARE THRU 3/4 & OTHERS SQUARE THRU ONE HAND ALLEMANDE LEFT! 4. (Contains a Plus call) FOUR LADIES CHAIN HEADS PASS THRU PARTNER HALF TAG FAN THE TOP RECYCLE & SWEEP 1/4 RIGHT AND LEFT THRU PASS THRU TOUCH 1/4 RECYCLE SPIN THE TOP WOMEN FAN THE TOP & MEN SINGLE HINGE THOSE FACING PASS THRU IN THE 2-FACED LINE HALF TAG ALL PARTNER TAG ALL STEP AHEAD PUTTING CENTERS IN CENTER RUN & ROLL (A PLUS CALL) BOX THE GNAT GRAND RIGHT AND LEFT! 5. HEADS SQUARE THRU SWING THRU SCOOT BACK RECYCLE VEER LEFT COUPLES CIRCULATE WOMEN TRADE TAG THE LINE - IN TOUCH 1/4 CIRCULATE MEN RUN SQUARE THRU 3/4 PASS THRU ALLEMANDE LEFT! 6. HEADS PASS THRU PARTNER HALF TAG FAN THE TOP SINGLE HINGE WALK AND DODGE REVERSE FLUTTERWHEEL BOX THE GNAT FAN THE TOP PARTNER HALF TAG MEN RUN LEFT HALF SQUARE THRU ALLEMANDE LEFT! 7. HEADS BOX THE GNAT HALF SQUARE THRU TOUCH 1/4 ALL EIGHT CIRCULATE ONCE AND A HALF CENTER WAVE RECYCLE & OTHERS SINGLE HINGE & THOSE MEN RUN CENTERS LEFT SQUARE THRU 3/4 SQUARE THRU 3/4 ALLEMANDE LEFT! | 8. HEADS LEAD RIGHT TOUCH 1/4 FAN THE TOP PASS THRU WHEEL AND DEAL PASS THRU TOUCH 1/4 RIGHT AND LEFT THRU PASS THE OCEAN SPIN THE TOP GRAND RIGHT AND LEFT! 9. HEADS CROSS TRAIL THRU SEPARATE AROUND ONE TO A LINE EIGHT CHAIN TWO BOX THE GNAT PASS THRU TRADE BY SLIDE THRU CENTERS PARTNER TRADE SAME SEXES TRADE ENDS FOLD CENTERS PASS THRU TWICE GRAND RIGHT AND LEFT! 10. HEADS SQUARE THRU SWING THRU MEN RUN COUPLES CIRCULATE WHEEL AND DEAL RIGHT AND LEFT THRU SWING THRU MEN RUN FERRIS WHEEL SQUARE THRU 3/4 ALLEMANDE LEFT! 11. HEADS HALF SQUARE THRU SWING THRU MEN RUN HALF TAG THE LINE WALK AND DODGE PARTNER TRADE REVERSE FLUTTERWHEEL HALF SQUARE THRU TRADE BY ALLEMANDE LEFT! 12. HEADS LEFT SQUARE THRU LEFT SWING THRU SINGLE HINGE SPLIT CIRCULATE FAN THE TOP LEFT TURN THRU HALF TAG THE LINE RECYCLE & SWEEP TWO QUARTERS ALLEMANDE LEFT! 13. HEADS SPIN THE TOP PASS THRU SWING THRU WOMEN RUN PASS THRU TAG THE LINE - IN RIGHT AND LEFT THRU FLUTTERWHEEL SPIN THE TOP TURN THRU ALLEMANDE LEFT! 14. HEADS PROMENADE HALF RIGHT AND LEFT THRU SQUARE THRU SWING THRU MEN TRADE MEN RUN WHEEL AND DEAL STAR THRU PASS THRU WHEEL AND DEAL RIGHT AND LEFT THRU SQUARE THRU 3/4 ALLEMANDE LEFT! 15. HEAD LADIES CHAIN HEADS SQUARE THRU SWING THRU SPIN THE TOP RIGHT AND LEFT THRU STAR THRU DIVE THRU SWING THRU MEN RUN WHEEL AND DEAL SWING THRU TURN THRU ALLEMANDE LEFT! 16. HEADS SPIN THE TOP TURN THRU PASS THE OCEAN FAN THE TOP RECYCLE & SWEEP 1/4 STAR THRU DIVE THRU CALIFORNIA TWIRL DIVE THRU PARTNER TRADE STAR THRU FORWARD AND BACK LEFT SQUARE THRU ALLEMANDE LEFT! | |||||
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1-4, 2-2, 3-5, 4-5, 5-3, 6-4, 7-5, 8-5, 9-4, 10-1, 11-2, 12-5, 13-4, 14-2,15-2,16-4 | ||||||
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Last updated on 14 May 2007 Web Master: donbeck@donbeck.org | ||||||