Finding Interesting Material Within Sight Calling

By Buddy Weaver, for Callerlab 2007

(click here for printable version)

 

Old School: referring to an older school of thinking. A term recently heard in reference to square dance calling; I am an “old school” caller. When I began calling 29 years ago, every caller started out by memorizing their patter calls, my father, a great caller in his day, told me “if you don't have time to memorize, then you don't have time to be a caller”. As I became more experienced as a caller, I graduated to modules, but again, most of the modules were memorized. It wasn't until a caller was accomplished as a caller, that he graduated to sight calling – that was the big one.

That was “old school”, but modern wisdom has callers go straight from zero to sight calling; this evolution of sight calling from what used to be using “sight” to move dancers smoothly from one call to another, then resolve the square is now where callers begin calling without a clue as to where the dancers will be going during the tip. The caller is watching one or two couples, giving a call, waiting for the couple to finish the call, then flip through a mental Rolodex of calls to find the one that will fit, then give that call only to have the entire process repeat itself for all night.

An example is: Heads Square Thru – pause – Swing Thru – pause; timing of Square Thru is ten beats when added to six beats for Swing Thru will be sixteen beats of dancing, but the sight caller has taken twenty beats. This is “sight timing” and is creating an entire generation of dancers that can no longer transition smoothly from one call to the next call. Its not the dancer's fault, it's because we have become so dependent on sight calling and it's symptom, sight timing.

Modern sight calling has also caused callers to lose their creativity, because the caller must see how the dancers finish a call to determine what to call next, they tend to work from grids, everything is seen linear as in lines or eight chains. We've lost the variety provided by calls that are not linear. Calls like Stars don't operate on a grid, so they are not used.

So lets use Star as a theme call to provide variety that can fit into a good sight callers program. Before we start though, let me point out that this is not “on the fly” calling, but requires preparation to know how the call works, how many beats will it take to go from point A to point B, what kind of helping words need to come from me, and most important – how to present it for successful dancing.

From a squared set: (get in)

Face Partner

Do Sa Do

Men Star Left

Partner Star Promenade

Heads Wheel Around and go Right & Left Thru

Pass Thru

Bend The Line (1p2p lines)

(Heads Wheel Around, but I prefer to keep the dancers moving so a quick “zero” is used)

 

Zero line: (get out)

Pass Thru

Wheel & Deal

Centers Make A Right Hand Star To Your Corner (must know how many beats)

Allemande Left

 

From a squared set: (get in)

Heads Make A Left Hand Star – Turn It To Your Corner

Do Sa Do (box 1-4)

(again to keep dancer flow, I used a Do Sa Do zero)

 

Zero box: (get out)

Right & Left Thru

Dive Thru

Centers Box The Gnat

Centers Make A Right Hand Star To Your Corner (must know it's half way)

Allemande Left

 

Using the same basic, we can make it challenging:

Zero box (in this description the side couples are on the outside)

Make A Right Hand Star Once Around

Stop – U-Turn Back Made A Left Hand Star

Head Ladies Lead Into A Flutterwheel (in the center, the sides drop back)

Centers Pass Thru

Swing Thru

Boys Run

Bend the Line

Right and Left Thru (1p2p)

 

From ZB (in this description the head couples are on the outside)

Make A Right Hand Star

Side Men Lead Into A Reverse Flutterwheel

Centers Pass Thru

Swing Thru

Boys Run

Bend the Line (box 1-4)

 

I want the dancers to know that I know where this tip is going and that I know exactly how we will get there. If for one second the dancers sense that I'm unsure of my material, their confidence in me and what they are doing, drops to zero and the whole tip will fall apart. Therefore, my timing and delivery must be perfect, which cannot be done “on the fly” or sight calling a “fishing expedition”.

Exploring timing as a topic, just a bit further, every caller must be careful to match calls that flow with one another that will insure proper timing. For example, Heads Square Thru, Swing Thru, Boys Run, Bend The Line, Wheel & Deal, is a sequence that does work but suffers from poor body flow for the dancers that it is impossible for the “Bend The Line” to flow into the “Wheel & Deal”. Can you make it work? Yes, by inserting “Lines Go Up & Back” between the two mentioned calls, creates a break in body flow that could allow the sequence to work. While it will work, it is using the call “Wheel & Deal” from facing lines of four is outside of most dancer's comfort zone and may require either a re-teach of the call or more beats of music for the dancers to figure it out for themselves.

 

 

Dancing outside of a comfort zone is another topic worth exploring. Many callers today, have a false measure of success meaning the only criteria for success is getting the dancers home while following the definition; the caller is saying “I'm perfect” while the dancers are saying “that was the worst tip ever” The following example is a bad sequence but is taken from actual dances: from any two couples facing two couples – Pass The Ocean, Pass The Ocean & Spread, Swing Thru, Single Hinge, Boys Box Circulate Two Places, Partner Trade & Roll, U-Turn Back, Do The Last Half Of Right & Left Thru. This figure took the dancers away from where they felt comfortable with the calls in many places, it created stop and go dance actions and asked dancers to reverse their body flow or just plain had them slamming into one another. Do not ever use this combination.

We can become creative in the use of our calls, while keeping the dancer's comfort zone in mind. For example, the call Coordinate is danced domestically almost by rote, knowing that I can build on it like this: from facing lines, Touch One Quarter, Coordinate Then The Girls Hinge to create diamonds. I've got their attention, particularly the girls since I called on them to do something different, so I'll call on them again by saying, from facing lines, Touch One Quarter, Coordinate But The Girls Don't Trade, Instead Girls Sashay And Once The Boys Move Up, You'll See Waves. Now I've got the Boys attention too. Lets call, from facing lines, Pass Thru, U-Turn Back, Left Touch One Quarter, Coordinate; while it feels different coming from a left handed column, it still allowed dancing by rote (circulate once and a half, same sex trade, boys move up). The dancers did it because I built a trust with the first few sequences, I knew how long it would take for the call to happen and what to say to help them, also when not to say anything at all. By contrast, from a facing line, Left Touch One Quarter, Coordinate in most cases would be a disaster for the dancers because it is far from rote and of such a challenge that it requires a re-teach of the call. In my personal opinion a re-teach does not offer the same gratifying response from the dancer as my first three examples would.

In closing, as an old school caller, when calling on the road, I'm told, with increasing frequency, “wow, you're fast”. I'm not fast as much as I call for the dancers to move from one call to another, all couples moving (not allowing two couples to stand there while only two couples do a bunch of calls), and a huge fan of “a body in motion, stays in motion”. As a square dance teacher for twenty nine years, I understand there is a difference between learning a new call and dancing the new call, and will always point out to my students that when they are ballroom dancing or line dancing, that they do not, in fact, do a “box” then stop, then do another move – no, they move from one action to the next and that is dancing. What I am seeing are dancers who are used to dancing a call, then as the caller stops, the dancers fall to an “at ease” position, with their weight planted on their heels. Their dancing is arrhythmic; they have never learned to dance and it's not their fault – it is our responsibility as callers to not only teach folks how to dance, but also call in such a way that they can dance. This my friends what you need to be a successful sight caller.

MR. YAOKO - THE MUSIC OF NEW HI HAT RECORDS 

By Buddy Weaver (1/07)

 

Hi Hat Records, one of the "big names" in Square Dance music, has a reputation of fine musicians playing excellent music.  Over the past four decades, Jimmy Bryant, who was billed as "the fastest guitar in the country", Dick Cary, the famous Jazz arranger, Del Katcher, a Les Paul protege', and Ken Carlton, music man to the L.A. studios, have made musical magic and history on Hi Hat Records.  The legacy continues with Mr. Hiroshi Yaoko.

Mr. Yaoko, is a dedicated Square Dancer; he along with his wife, Keiko, are also talented callers.  The Yaoko family lives in Tokyo, Japan and are members of the Tokyo Square Dance Club.  Mr. Yaoko has the unique ability to take classic songs and blend them into a smooth Square Dance rhythm with a contemporary sound.  Someone described his arrangement of "Can't Help Falling In Love", HH 5269 as Elvis meets Prince; a great release as evidenced by it's position on Hi Hat's best sellers list.

Since August 2004, Mr. Yaoko is credited with twenty-three hoedowns on the Blue Star, Hi Hat, and Dance Ranch labels; nineteen singing calls on the Hi Hat and Dance Ranch labels.  A complete discography can be viewed at: www.buddyweaver.com/mr_yaoko.htm and there are many audio samples at: www.buddyweaver.com/hihat.

Mr. Yaoko can further be credited with Hi Hat Records coming out of hibernation in October 2004 and a renewed, excited interest in this established record label.  Because of his modern Square Dance sound, the label was re-christened as New Hi Hat Records.  We believe dancers and callers everywhere join us at Blue Star, Hi Hat, and Dance Ranch with a heart-felt - thank you, Mr. Yaoko.