March 6, 2006, 9:54 a.m. (Message 44505)
Greetings! Doug Schneider’s post and subsequent clarification raises a couple of points. As I always understood it, the main purpose of the eight (or four) bar intro was to alert the dancers to the change of tempo from the previous dance and give them a feel for the new tempo as they made up sets. The point that has been made elsewhere is that, until relatively recently, there were no recaps at all. The order was: band intro, MC calls for ‘missing’ couples and confirms sets made up, all dance. The introduction of recaps, lengthening the time between the intro and the actual start of dancing, suggests that a re-think of when the ‘intro’ is played, perhaps along the lines Doug suggests, could prove useful. The second point (from the clarification of the difference in Doug’s terminology between recap and brief) points up a growing trend that, in my view, needs to be stopped. Recaps or whatever you want to call them should be brief! I now flee the room whenever Quarries’ Jig (an excellent dance) is on the programme because the ‘brief’ tends to take longer than the dance. Doug’s suggestion that not only should there be a full length talk through, as one would find in a full dance description, followed by what seems to me to be a recap, fills me with horror – all that dancing time wasted. Given the number of dances on programmes today, recaps are necessary and here to stay: turning social events into classes is not. Jim Healy Perth and Monaco
March 6, 2006, 11:55 a.m. (Message 44509, in reply to message 44505)
The MC could do 2 things - they could ask every set whether the 1st couple knows what they will be doing and ask couples to quickly swap position (if everyone does why bother recapping) and they can call the dance 1st time through both of these practices should reduce the amount of time taken. In addition, dancers could be asked to refrain from applauding recappers who simply read the entire instructions. In message <xxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx>, Jim Healy <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx> writes >The second point (from the clarification of the difference in Doug’s >terminology between recap and brief) points up a growing trend that, in >my view, needs to be stopped. Recaps or whatever you want to call them >should be brief! I now flee the room whenever Quarries’ Jig (an >excellent dance) is on the programme because the ‘brief’ tends to >take longer than the dance. Doug’s suggestion that not only should >there be a full length talk through, as one would find in a full dance >description, followed by what seems to me to be a recap, fills me with >horror – all that dancing time wasted. Given the number of dances on >programmes today, recaps are necessary and here to stay: turning social >events into classes is not. -- Bryan McAlister
March 6, 2006, 3:24 p.m. (Message 44512, in reply to message 44505)
Greetings Jim said >I now flee the room whenever Quarries' Jig (an excellent dance) is >on the programme because the 'brief' tends to take longer than the dance. >Doug's suggestion that not only should there be a full length talk through, >as one would find in a full dance description, followed by what seems to me >to be a recap, fills me with horror - all that dancing time wasted. Given >the number of dances on programmes today, recaps are necessary and here to >stay: turning social events into classes is not. Two or three years ago, I was at the St Andrews Branch Dance during Summer School. John Sturrock was the MC and Quarries' Jig was on the programme. John introduced his recap by saying this was the "cheese sandwich dance" - a perfect description I think. When I am MCing and giving a brief recap for this dance I usually say it "has the Quarries' Jig formation" although I am prepared to elaborate if required. All our Branch dance programmes are advertised two to three months in advance in the Newsletter so dancers have plenty of time to swat up on dances they don't know. We have recaps at recorded dances but not at band dances - cribs are provided with the ticket. Helen Helen C N Brown York, UK