Maia Calls Dances

Y’all, Queer Contra Dance Camp on the West Coast is SO EXCELLENT. A weekend of contra and queer joy among the redwoods—what a delight to call for these folks. I shared the calling with incomparable Chris Ricciotti, and got to work with some red-hot musicians: The Mean Lids, and Aaron Marcus / Emily Troll / Anna Patton.

I taught a workshop on waltz (“Stone Soup: Waltzing with What You’ve Got”), and one on holding contra lines together (“Contra Superglue”), and called a bunch of contras. Here are my programs: Read on →

A friend was recently asking for dances to build up their collection, as they were getting back into calling and their dance box had a lot of weird nonsense in it. (You know, that one dance you collected and wrote down but never actually tested, and then you try to call it and a hole opens up in the space-time continuum. Who hasn’t been there?)

Below are the dances I’d recommend to them and to anyone else with the same question. I’ve roughly grouped them into some categories that I find useful when building up a collection—any categories or classes of dances that I’ve missed?

Opener/Beginner dances

The dances you call first or second in an evening to get the beginners oriented, or that you pull out when someone’s entire bachelorette party (for instance) rolls into the hall. There are many of these to choose from but I’ve limited myself to just a couple.

• Hypnosis by Melanie Axel-Lute - a good intro dance with low piece count and lots of moving together, that doesn’t involve a chain. Good to just get people moving and not worry about teaching a chain yet.
• Airpants by Lisa Greenleaf — glossary dance, no chain Read on →

I’m thrilled beyond belief that I got to go to Pinewoods this summer, and dance, and hug all my friends, swim in Long Pond and eat pot de créme on the porch. Being on the mic again after all this bullshit was such a damn delight (and I even remembered which end to talk into!). So many thanks to the organizers who scrambled on 8 weeks’ notice to put together this incredible week. Read on →

I would say I’m alllmost recovered from the all-nighter I pulled this weekend calling the graveyard shift (4AM–7AM)—but heck, what a blast! Here’s the program I called (most of these walked through minimally or not at all):

Last weekend, I called my first techno contra (as part of a double dance at CDNY to celebrate the wedding of two of our lovely dancing humans 😍). It turns out, to no one’s surprise, that calling techno is a fair bit different from calling a regular evening dance. Here are my reflections on calling my first techno (including a bunch of great advice from folks on SharedWeight’s Callers’ Listserv).

Hey experienced contradancers! Have you been looking for a new way to contribute to your dance community? Here’s one that I’ve been trying. It’s really small, and has the potential to make a really big impact on the quality of our dances, especially as more and more of us get on board with it. Ready? Here it is:

Be quiet when the caller starts talking, and don’t talk through the walkthrough.

I’ve been contradancing for over eight years, and can jump into even the most complex and falling-apart of contras and still have some idea of what’s going on. But last summer at English-Scottish-Contra Week at Pinewoods, I tried Scottish Country Dance for the first time and I had an experience I haven’t had for quite a while: I was completely at sea in a set dance.

Friday evening

• The Boys from Urbana (John Coffman) – zig zag, balance and swing everyone
• Summer of ‘84 (var.) (Gene Hubert & Steve Schnur) – simple waves and shadows
• Wrinkled Ribbon (Melanie Axel-Lute) – full hey, promenade & circle right Read on →

Friday evening

• No-walk medley:
  • Treasure of the Soda Bar (Maia McCormick) – simple square through dance based on James Hutson’s “Treasure of the Sierra Madre”
  • Alternating Corners (Jim Kitch) – quintessential alternating contracorners dance
  • Triassic Poetry (Lindsey Dono) – visit future N via weaving figure on the side
  • Minimum Fuss, Maximum Fun (Dean Snipes) – the easiest box circulate dance Read on →