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Social Dance Calling: Part Two

A Jig, a Waltz or a Hornpipe?

[ Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4 ]

This is the second of a series of articles about calling for social folk dancing by Peter Barnard. For more information you can call Peter on (01427) 873937.

So, you've decided to have a go at calling and want to know how to start. In this and the next few articles I will be working through some basics:

country of origin
dance rhythm
speed
format of the dance

and an introduction to some of the technical terms found in a dance.

First, consider the country the dance comes from. It used to be the case that if you went to a ceilidh in this country you would probably do dances from England, perhaps with some from America and an occasional one from Scotland or Ireland. That's no longer so. You would now not be surprised to do dances also from other European (particularly France) and Middle Eastern countries. The country the dance originates from has a real bearing on all the elements of the dance, and it is useful to be aware of this before you start. However, these articles are aimed at teaching you to call English dances.

Secondly, a dance has a particular rhythm (i.e. jig, reel, hornpipe time and so on) and this will determine the type of stepping for it - i.e. whether it fits best to walking, skipping, waltzing etc. You can 'step hop' to hompipes, schottisches and polkas (although strictly speaking they require a '1-2-3-hop step). You can skip to jigs (in 6/8 time) and slip jigs (in 9/8 time) if they are played slowly enough, otherwise you have to walk to these. Walk to marches and reels, and waltz to waltzes - if you can't waltz, try dancing by stepping only on the first beat of the bar (i.e. of the 1-2-3 beats). Ask a musician to play you examples of these types of tunes so that you can become familiar with how they feel.

The speed of a dance is crucial. A dance to a fast reel can feel very different to one done to a slow reel. For an inexperienced caller it is best to have as much time in a dance as possible, and one way to achieve this is to ensure that your band do not play faster than you want them to. But watch out for very slow tunes because they seem to give the dancer twice the amount of time - even though 32 bars played slowly still takes up the same 32 bars. Similarly, start by calling dances of a standard 32 bars length since these give the caller more time to think than those with only 16 bars - such as 'Nottingham Swing'.

You may find that your band will say they know what to play for your chosen dance. But beware! Bands are known to choose different rhythms and speeds for dances, and you should work out first what tune or type of tune you want and then get them to do that. A dance normally done to a hornpipe becomes a very different dance when done to a jig. Remember! The band is secondary in importance to the caller!

In the next article I will be covering the amount of music a dance movement takes up and will start to talk about control. Meanwhile, keep dancing and paying attention to how other callers get the dancers to do what they want.

Peter Barnard

The Hallamshire Hornpipe

From a local MS collection (untitled in MS).
I called it this because there wasn't one...
Paul Davenport, editor.

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