Maia Calls Dances

Whether you’re calling a regular evening dance or a block at a larger dance event, you want your dancers to leave the hall grinning. What might you look for in a last dance to end your session on a high note? Predictably, I have some thoughts! Here are my criteria for a good closer, and some of my favorite dances that fill this programming niche.

What makes a good closer?

Nothing too think-y

At the end of a session, and especially at the end of an evening dance or a longer event, people’s brains are fried and they just want to groove out. You don’t want to spend too much time teaching or to make the dancers think too hard. This is also not the time to take a programming risk or push the skill level of your dancers, lest you end on a gnarly dance where the hall struggles to keep it together. Instead, go for something tried and true, so you’re sure to end the evening on a high note. This is the time for choreography that is easy to grasp and satisfying to dance—you know, those magical choreographic combinations that “just dance themselves”.¹

Let the band shine

The last dance is also, IMO, the time to let the band shine. They’ve been working super hard this whole time, so pick a dance where you can get out of their way as soon as possible and let them do their thing. (I know some folks like to end on no-walkthrough dances or medleys, but I’ve stopped doing this unless I’m truly in a time crunch, in the interest of dropping my calls as soon as possible and letting the dancers enjoy the music.) While I can certainly imagine a band choosing to play something smooth and sweet, most often they’ll close with a barnbuster, so I will tend to pick dances that are balance-y or otherwise high-energy.

Good partner connection / high hall interaction

Many people choose to dance with someone special to close out an evening, festival, etc.; I want to give them lots of partner interaction time, and let them end the session/evening with their partner, which is why I strongly prefer closers that end with a partner balance and swing.² However, in addition to the partner focus, you’ll want to say your goodbyes to as many folks as possible,³ which is why my ideal closer includes a neighbor swing, and why I steer clear of multiple progressions (which run the risk of dancers missing out on half of their neighbors).

As I’ve been calling more weekends (and especially on the West Coast, where this idea is pretty strongly entrenched), I’ve been more excited about closers with multiple neighbor interaction. A grand chain along the line (and encountering an additional 2-3 neighbors while doing so) can be a great way to say goodbye to lots of folks. If your hall can handle it, dances like this are a great way to close weekends and festivals in particular.

No one is bored

For everyone to get their money’s worth on the last dance, you should maximize active time and minimize standing around. I will avoid any dances with only the 1s (or 2s) doing something while the other half of the hall waits for their turn. I’ll also avoid dances with 16+ beats of action for one role—e.g. a dance with two different 8-count lark allemandes.⁴ This is another reason I avoid multi-progression dances, in which you go through the line faster and potentially spend a higher proportion of the dance waiting out at the end.

A chance to move as a hall… maybe?

Some callers prioritize closers that let the whole hall move together and feel connection as a dance community. (This isn’t something I feel strongly about, but as other callers do, it seemed worth mentioning.) The extreme version of this is the whole set oval-ing left and then right, and a more subtle take that gets at the same theme would be “down the hall in lines of four”. Potentially even “long lines forward and back” can satisfy this consideration!

I also know callers who end their sessions by getting everyone up at the front of the hall cheering for the band—often by co-opting the end of a “lines of four up the hall” (“come alllll the way up the hall and let’s hear it for the band,” etc.) I don’t tend to do this, as I prioritize the considerations listed above, and in particular want to let the dancers vibe all the way to the end of the dance. Still, this thank-the-band maneuver can be a great way to give the band some extra special love, and to emphasize a feeling of community at the end of the evening or event.⁵

My favorites

Given all the considerations above, here are some of the dances I tend to reach for when I’m ending an evening (listed roughly in order of complexity).

• A1 Reel (Chris Weiler) — super simple, just let the band rock out.
• Tica Tica Timing (Dean Snipes) — dead easy Petronella dance, good for getting the dancers moving together.
• Still More O’Moore (Jim Kitch) — ends with a full Rory O’Moore into partner balance and swing; lots of balances and energy, hall moving together, low piece count with a B that basically dances itself.
• Maliza’s Magical Mystery Motion (Cary Ravitz) — accessible Petronella dance with “one weird trick” (i.e. Petronella to face new neighbors) that keeps it interesting for experienced dancers.
• Hume Fogg Reel (Susan Kevra) — the asymmetrical phrasing/fast allemandes in B1 can add a lot of great energy.
• Maid Marian’s Fancy (David Smukler) — a riff on the fabulous Mary Cay’s Reel, but with a full hey (and therefore a lower piece count and more room to groove).
• Mary Cay’s Reel (David Kaynor) — a classic. With future neighbor interactions and fast allemandes for the robins, it might confuse a hall with too many beginners, but it’s a high-energy, idiomatic dance that lets you interact with a lot of the hall.
• Train Delay (Maia McCormick) — one of mine, a simple shadow dance. I particularly like the energy of a right-hand pull-by → dosido 1.5x → meet your partner to balance and swing.
• Winter in Summerland (James Hutson & Jeff Spero) — one of my favorite closers! It’s got some waves balancing together, the transition into the hey is oh-so-satisfying, and then dancers get to groove out on a full hey before partner b&s. It’s on the tricky side if your hall has many beginners, but an excellent festival closer!⁶
• Vote With Your Feet (orig.) (Bob Isaacs) — grand chain up/down the line to interact with lots of neighbors, still fits in a neighbor swing and partner balance and swing. (In B1, can pass through to dosido with shadow if desired.)
• Salute to Larry Jennings (Ted Sannella, Larry Jennings var.) — grand chain up/down the line to interact with lots of neighbors. Doesn’t end with a full partner balance and swing (but rather a give and take to partner swing), but worth mentioning here because it ticks so many other boxes.

Those are some of my go-to closers; what are yours?