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Social Dance Calling: Part Three

A Jig, a Waltz or a Hornpipe?

[ Part 1 | Part 2 | 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.

In this article I will be covering the amount of music a dance movement takes up, and the question of control - in my last article I considered the rhythm of the tune. Let's look briefly at a bar. In the context of a dance, a bar is the amount of music taken up by the step - in a polka this is the 1-2-3-hop; in a jig it is the skip done before changing feet; and in a waltz it is the 1-2-3 step.

It is next vital that you can recognise how long eight bars of music lasts. The reason for this is straightforward: most dance figures take up eight bars. The standard length of a dance is 32 bars, and most tunes used for dancing last for 32 bars before starting over again. Most tunes have an A and a B part, and it is common for the A part to last only 8 bars and then to be repeated. The same then happens to the B part.

`<-- 32 bars in all -->`
`<-- 8 bars -->`	`<-- 8 bars -->`	`<-- 8 bars -->`	`<-- 8 bars -->`
A	A	B	B

So, if you are going to guide the dancers and keep them within the overall structure of the dance, it is important that you know when an eight bar measure is coming to an end. Otherwise you will struggle to tell the dancers to do next movement at the right time. Try when listening to folk dance tunes to hear what 8 and 32 bars of music sound like. If in doubt, find a musician and ask them to play you once through an A or B part of a dance tune. It is tempting to think of a song tune, but they often have lengths that are not 8 bars.

To illustrate this: a right-hand star followed by a left-hand star; going into the middle of a circle and out twice; going forward and back in a line, then crossing over; each of these normally takes up 8 bars.

All of this raises something very important in calling, and that is control. Your aim is to get all of the dancers to the end of the dance at the same time and in doing this you will be exercising control over the way the dance progresses. All the preparatory steps I have mentioned so far with that end in mind. Knowing when the eight bar phrase ends means that you know that the next figure is coming up. So when you are starting to call it is advisable to get a band to use a tune that you are familiar with.

Next, different dances have different formations. The common ones are:

longways with a fixed number of couples
longways with an indefinite number of couples
squares
circles
Sicilian, i.e., a couple facing a couple round in a circle.

You might have noticed that at a dance the caller will mix these formations to give the evening's programme variety. Dances are made up of a number of figures which correspond to the amount of music. As I have said above, many dances take 32 bars of music. Typically this means that in a dance there are four figures, each of eight bars, with the figures coming in a set order. Once through the dance brings the dancers back to the start of the sequence, although the top couple may have move on (or progressed).

Next: In the next article I will be setting out some simple explanations to help you get the dance set up and going. Meanwhile, why not pop over to the next AVID dance to see how all this fits together? If you don't have the details to hand, ring Peter Barnard on (01427) 873937.

Peter Barnard

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