Breaking News, 24.Aug.2009:Many of these dances will have to be extensively revised in light of my recent experience in calling at Sugar Hill 2009. Dances without balances (or at least a long lines forward & back) tend to fall apart over time, without ongoing nudging from the caller. Many of the dances I have written fall into this category. The more the caller has to nudge, the greater the likelihood that he will make a mistake in the course of the dance.
I have come to believe that some dancers (probably the majority), like the raw energy of a hall of stomping people. Dances without balances have a more more refined feeling to them, which some people really like, but others find insipid and disappointing. Cary Ravitz wrote in his "Notes on Choreography", "I like to see dances with no balances or reverses of direction such as long lines forward and back. I will only call these once or twice in a night, but they have a special feeling that I like." For my own part, I have come to believe that at the balances form the backbone of a good dance, even though I personally favor dances without balances.
The dances vary greatly in quality. Many were written in a recent frenzy of creativity, and a good many more remain to be formatted and posted. I have no doubt that several contain outright errors either in the dances or in the write-ups. Some will be of interest only because they contain unusual moves or ideas that may stimulate others to write better dances around these moves. Feel free to try any these dances, perform them, or use them as the basis for your own compositions! Please send feedback!
My dances are available as a import file for Caller's Companion! Here's how to import them:
Updated 1/2/2010