My AmWeek 2011 calling and teaching highlights: Karina and I leading couples dancing with Crowfoot, calling a techno contra, calling for camper open mic, free-form calling in evenings with Will Mentor.

(I’ll be teaching couples dance again at AmWeek 2012!)

Eric Black and Diane Zingale with many other organizers created an amazing AmWeek 2011. Visit the website and fb page and join us for AmWeek 2012! See Photos.

Mary Wesley and I attended morning calling session for squares with Will Mentor and contra with Erik Weburg. Will gave me the opportunity to mimic his freeform squares from the first night. Erik suggested that I be a little more assertive in my calling (rather than saying things in a question-sounding way).

In the afternoons, Karina Wilson and I lead couples dance workshops with the moving music of Crowfoot (Jaige, Adam, and Nickolas). The first day was waltz and moves from uncrossed-hands position, including the cuddle. The second day we did Scandinavian dance, including the Snoa and the Hambo. The last day we continued waltz with moves from crossed-hands position, including cape and skaters. In an additional “waltz-swap” session, dancers “traded licks”, which is such a great idea at dance camps with so many talented dancers.

Dance teaching handouts: waltz hambo

I got picked to call the techno contra, too. What a great surprise! I called a medley of 3 dances to music that Katie Hepp brought to camp, and Will djed (clicked “play”) from his Mac. Because the music is loud and it’s a medley, I found it helped to call most of the calls all the way through each turn of the dance, only dropping calls for “hook” moves, and having additional prompts like, “something new” or “listen up”, before transitioning to the next dance in the medley. It was more challenging to call because I was behind the speakers and couldn’t hear the music as well as I can with a live band; a monitor with the same mix as the floor would be helpful to hear both the music and my voice.

And some exciting news for me from the BACDS newsletter Winter 2012 about “American Dance & Music Week 2012″:

“Couple dancing including waltzes and other styles will be taught by returning teacher Erik Erhardt. Erik was very well received last July, and we’ve asked him to come back and do it again.”

To be invited back is the biggest complement!

The previous year, 2010, Joyce Miller and Joyce Cooper made sure we were well taken care of! Joyce Cooper, especially, went way out of her way to have a van at the airport parking lot for me and my five wonderful Santa Fe girls. Then, on the way home, Eric Black saved us by giving us (me, Karina, Laurel, Lauren, Mia, Zoe, Chelsea, Tank, Andrew) an emergency place to slumber and threw in an extra “Get out of Hell, free” card, which I hope I don’t have to use with him again… Eric and Diane’s thoughtful caring really makes life wonderful for those around them.

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Breaking through the brozone layer
Erik Erhardt
Type: Contra
Formation: Becket-CW
Level: Int
Read more…

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Mary Wesley is now the CDSS youth intern.  The youth intern position was created in 2008 for Ethan Hazzard-Watkins (2008-9), who has been a powerful leader in the folk dance community.  Max Newman has also been a great youth intern voice (2009-11) who I’ve learned from at workshops around the country, and has appeared in another post. Here’s Mary’s introduction as intern from the CDSS website:

Dear friends: I am thrilled to say hello to you as the new CDSS Youth Intern. As I settle into the position I will have lots to tell you about my ideas and projects. Look for my voice in the CDSS blog and updates on the “Youth Desk” soon. For right now I am tickled to have a brand new e-mail address: mary@cdss.org. Use it! I rely on you to be my eyes on the world of song and dance that we all share. Let me know what’s happening in your community: What are your challenges? What’s working well? What are you really excited about? The more I hear from you, the more energy and direction I will have to support your endeavors. I can’t wait to chat with you! See you on the dance floor. — Mary

I’m excited for Mary because she is passionate about dancing and dance leadership and I am confident she has the skills and drive to continue to make great things happen (for youth) in the dance community.  She’s here to support us, so help her help us by sending her an email and letting her know our dancing dreams.  She can help make them come true…

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A personalized song? for me?

Artist: Katherine Sanden
Music: Eri-Eri-Eri-Erik (lyrics), March 2010

Interview (June 2010) with Katherine Sanden about music and song writing.  Kat studied mathematics at Princeton University.  She now tutors in mathematics, teaches music and piano, and writes sublime rhymes and beats.

For contra dance weekend Stellar Days & Nights, in Buena Vista, Colorado, February 18-21, 2010, I drove up with Richard, Laurel, and Karina Wilson, Lauren Lamont, and Della O’Keefe. During the silent auction CDSS‘s Max Newman and I got into a fierce bidding war over a custom song written and performed by Katherine Sanden. I had every intention to win, and when the bell rang, I had. In the spirit of the “new sincerity” I requested a “monster ego explosion” (after all, how many chances will I have for someone to write a song about ME!?). What I got was much, much more! I still flush with embarrassment each time I hear it. Quality headphones are recommended for a dynamic experience of the full audial range. Everyone needs a steamy power jam — lucky me!

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I’m happy to write about two touching events consistent with my vision that I helped organize the last few months: teaching middle schoolers folk dance, and organizing a youth-led contra in Santa Fe.

Rob Campbell invited me into his 4th-5th-6th grade class at the Montessori of the Rio Grande Charter School to teach folk dance.  As a dance leader, I’m still pretty green, but I have a real passion for bringing dance to the next generation.  So without any preparation, other than thinking about how to help kids dance together, I went in with my headset mic, my battery-powered amplifier, a few index cards, and my enthusiasm and positive attitude.  Rob had already done some great preparation with the kids, letting them know about calls that are in 8 beats and so on.  He’s a long-time dancer and does the sound at many of the Albuquerque dances.  His wife, Deb, has been a pivotal figure, too, organizing “Boo camp” and many other things in our community.  When I arrived, the kids were ready to dance.  I talked a bit about music and the structure of a dance, but got them moving pretty quickly.  I wasn’t expecting some of the challenges, such as reluctance to hold hands between selected people and social structure (friends, not friends, etc.) that would be a powerful force for who was willing to dance with whom.  However, calling dances where the kids kept their partners (reels, circle mixers without the “mix”) usually worked just fine, and having the partner anchor I think was helpful for beginners.  Oh, and the word “partner” — I quickly starting saying “pair” because they didn’t want it to sound like they were dating or anything.  Rob reported back, “The children loved it, and I even got some feedback from parents because their children are talking about how fun it was at home.  A few children were even practicing some of the moves yesterday at school!”

We had several weeks together in school, but we both wanted the kids to dance to live music out in the world.  On March 5th we had a 6-7pm pre-contra dance in Albuquerque with his class, and some of the parents danced, too.  The McPapenhagen’s played for us (Gary Papenhagen, Scott Mathis, and Linda Mathis).  The kids loved, loved, loved the live music!  We danced several dances, concluding with a donut dance one of the kids wrote!

Donut formation dance
Anastasia and Erik Erhardt
Type: Reel
Formation: Donut (longways set, bent into a circle)
Level: Beginner

A1 ———–
(8) Partner allemande Right 1X
(8) Partner allemande Left 1X
A2 ———–
(8) Right-diagonal Do-si-do
(8) Left-diagonal Do-si-do
B1 ———–
(8) Partner two-hand turn 1X or 2X
(8) Right-diagonal right-elbow turn 1X
B2 ———–
(8) Left-diagonal right-elbow turn 1X
(8) Partner Do-si-do
C ———–
(32) Sashay the donut

Notes: C: Sashay the donut – choose a couple, they sashay between the lines, each subsequent couple following them, backing out when they return home.  It effectively turns the donut inside out.

Rob wrote, “Thanks so much for hosting a fabulous dance for my class last Saturday!  Everyone loved it, and parents are still talking to me about how fun it was.  They also can’t stop talking about what a great job you did, and that they think you should be working with children all the time.  Several families have expressed interest in coming to more dances!  Woohoo!”

The Mullanys (Riley 14 and Maddy 17) and Lauren Soherr (11) rock my New Mexico contra world!  I hosted a youth-led dance, Sat March 12th in Santa Fe, that featured the young Mullanys as the band with Lauren and I calling.  Riley (guitar) and Maddy (fiddle) worked all day on sets of tunes.  There included a few particularly challenging tunes, but all were played with character and feel, personality.  Riley’s including more walking bass in his guitar playing, and Maddy playing has a cheerful, spirited lilt.  They are an easy-going band to call to, and a delight to listen and dance to.

Lauren is a natural and able performer.  Lauren has called a few dances, and her dad David has been encouraging for her.  She showed up at the dance with a dance or two prepared, but had this sheet of dances from the CDSS website.  I asked her how many she wanted to call, she didn’t know, but I knew she could do more than two.  So we stepped to a quiet area and I had her call a couple more off the sheet.  She had them immediately.  So it was decided.  I’ll call one, she’ll call one, and we’ll do that until she has to go home.  I helped her get started and finish the first two, but I handed her the mic on the third and forth and let her go.  She can go as far as she can dream.

Maddy and I called a six-dance medley (four times though each one) with a set of six tunes that Marj (mom) and Riley worked up.  It was really exciting.  We followed the NEFFA format, where the last time through each dance is called by the next person so the new caller’s voice is familiar for the change to the next dance.  The music was awesome.  We called easy dances because the novelty is in the no-walk through, what’s-coming-next? form of the medley.  I would really like to do this again.  Oh, yeah, Maddy’s a solid caller, too.

Laurel Wilson, of Wilson family fame, led a song to end the night.  She had learned the song that day and brought her guitar, which she’s been playing for less than a year, to accompany herself.  She’s becoming a confident performer and I hope she’ll help close our dances regularly with a song.

I’m excited to see what we can do when we have all our talented youth together.  Lauren Lamont, Mia Bertelli, Karina Wilson, Leticia Gonzales, and many others bring my evenings to vibrant life when they’re there, too.  I really love my young contra family.

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“All join hands” by Richard Wilson

with Erik Erhardt and Lauren Lamont

This book tells the story of Richard Wilson’s start and many contributions as a dance leader in the country dance community. Included are dances, stories, pictures, and poems, all bringing to life the many ways Richard has touched our lives.

If you would like to make a contribution to the book, there are three ways.  (1) Tell us a specific way Richard has enriched the community, and enriched your life and made it more wonderful.  Stories may be written (1-4 pages) or be a short audio recording (4-10 minutes) which we will transcribe and give to you to edit.  (2) Do you have good pictures you’d be willing to share?  We can take physical pictures to scan. With each photo please provide photo credits, location, date, event, and an anecdote for the photo caption.  (3) Who else should I contact who might like to contribute a story?

Contact “Lauren Lamont” <cheshirecat360@aol.com> for more information, or to provide a contribution.

March: There is still time to contribute…

Richard Wilson demonstrates an example of his drumming/dancing healing rhythms.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fakeHGr0ptc

Jim Boros has these videos of Richard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwgFl0AHKVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmUyDgvHjaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWOZCNCX_vs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbwe05yaeFo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFPEoJa6yeE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca9ejuLWC8Q

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Left-hand Gypsy
Erik Erhardt
Type: Contra
Formation: Duple-Indecent
Level: Easy-Int

Read more…

dance, Fun

Written for Katherine Sanden, who wrote me a song.  She likes the traditional “reel” dances that have a couple down the center with all the attention.  I ruin that by having the other folks swing during the sashay down, but redeem myself with the leapfrog move (that Heather Carmichael came up with).  And if you like a hay, there’s two of them!

Sashay, Sassy Kat
Erik Erhardt
Type: Contra
Formation: Four Facing Four
Level: Int

Read more…

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Voyager
Erik Erhardt
Type: Contra
Formation: 4-facing-4 Becket-CW
Level: Int

Read more…

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Last year (2010) a group of us younger folks (me, Karina and Laurel Wilson, Lauren Lamont, Mia Bertelli, and Zoe Kelly Linkletter) were invited out to a wonderful camp in California.  We had an amazing time and this year Karina and I are on staff teaching couples dance!

BACDS American Dance and Music Week, Sunday-Friday, July 3–8, 2011

Waltz and Scandinavian couples dancing workshop Read more…

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