Techno Contra and Medley Format

4/24/2012

Over the course of the Contra Sonic series and others, there have been some interesting choices as to formatting. Some series have stuck to the traditional contra dance format, with dances lasting something like 10 minutes apiece and there being distinct breaks between them. Others have attempted to do extra-long medleys, where people are encouraged to drop out at the ends as they get tired (which may or may not actually happen in practice). Still others have attempted a hybrid of the two, having regular contras until the last 30-60 minutes, at which point they switch to a medley format.

I've been to techno contra evenings where the medleys are done well; I've also been to dances where the medleys have crashed and burned and may have qualified for Federal disaster relief. I have my opinions on this, but I'm interested in yours: particularly in a techno contra, is a format change something that enhances the experience, detracts from it, or has no effect?

Eman

4/28/2012 08:27:21 pm

I say no to medleys!

Ryan (blogger) link

4/29/2012 12:06:15 am

Out of curiosity, how come? I know people who love them and people who really don't (and others who love them in moderation as a once-in-a-while thing), so I'm curious as to why.

Eman

4/30/2012 08:53:49 am

I need to be forced to take breaks. I hate to miss dancing to a cool song because I had to take a break. During a medley that is guaranteed to happen. There should never be main music during breaks.

Perry

4/30/2012 03:49:13 am

I am a gigantic fan of medleys. As a matter of fact one of the things that really attracted me to the techno contra format was the notion that there would be more long medleys - 20 minutes up to 1 full hour. NOTHING is more exhilarating than an hour long medley. Shorter medleys are good too. The problem is that some of the earlier medleys were poorly-chosen dances - you can't really throw in a dance that requires an explanation in the middle of a medley - you're just screaming for it to crash and burn. I truly miss medleys at the Contra Sonic.

I am interested in the reasons behind not liking them. Some people have said that you're stuck with a bad partner. Yeah - sometimes you're going to dance with a new person or you're going to dance with someone other than your closest friend. That happens in contra dancing. That said - a caller should announce when the medleys are going to happen, or just schedule them the way they are at NEFFA - like the medley will start at 9:30 and last for an hour, or 20 minutes, or whatever your time of choice is, and make that known ahead of time so you can book your medley partner.

Peter

5/3/2012 10:07:10 am

I much prefer an evening with standard-duration sets that are 8-10 minutes long. That format feels the most social and mingly to me and generally allows for enough partner changes to partner with maybe half of the people I would really like to in a given evening. The lines get shuffled often enough to where it's possible to get a chance to dance with everyone in the hall, too. Shorter durations also allow for higher energy.

When I have danced at evenings with either all long medleys or ending with long medleys, it has been kind of a let-down experience. All the ingredients were there to have a great evening, but due to infrequent partner changes, it felt much less social.

I don't mind having a medley during an evening if it's e.g., a 12 minute medley in the second half with no walkthrough. That way, it doesn't reduce the number of dances in the evening.

For Contra Sonic in particular, I think it does well to have standard-duration sets since one goal of the series is to attract newcomers. Having newcomers feel pressured to spend an hour with someone they have never met before and might not even like doesn't seem like something that would help retention. I would expect the quite the opposite, actually. Likewise for those who don't get a partner for a long medley and end up sitting out 30 minutes to an hour.

David Millstone, the new president of CDSS, has written an interesting article about catering to different segments of a community:

http://www.davidmillstonedance.com/writing/essays/32-essays-creating-a-vision

I personally have trouble understanding the allure of newcomer-unfriendly contra dances. I have always thought that the unique thing about contra dancing was that it's accessible to anyone, so you can dance with everyone, not just a small group of people who chose to dedicate their lives to a particular dance style.

Perry

5/3/2012 09:15:54 pm

That David Millstone article is quite interesting. That and what Ryan is trying to achieve with this website seems to highlight the clash between dance styles. Contra dancing should always be about community, and a lot of what David says is correct - don't talk during walkthroughs, allow the caller to do the walkthrough without interrupting with your own mini-lesson (a few of my pet peeves). The question is - a whole different topic - what about the dips, twirls, etc, that have become so popular? David says - NO! He'd probably be aghast if he found this site with so many Friday Flourishes when he'd prefer just the basics.

There is LOTS that David says that I have seen in many places - things that I think that every contra dancer should be reminded of. We DO need to be more friendly towards new folks. But that said - the contra dance community needs to serve all its dancers, and I think a great number of younger dancers like the challenging dances and the fancy flourishes. Sometimes I see this schism between younger and older dancers. I don't think that's going away soon and I think we need to come to terms with it. Many people call it the "folk process" - folk dance changes as the times change. No one should EVER forget where dance came from - but at the same time it has the potential of getting stale and boring if we don't change things up from time to time to give things a little more pizazz.

Indeed - there are times when I don't want a high-energy contra dance - I want to have a nice evening of dance with some pleasant music. There are other times I want the high energy stuff so I can just go crazy one evening. There are things that every dancer should be aware of to keep the committment to community, but at the same time, they are part of the community too and have a role in shaping it as well - hindering that will likely turn them off and have the potential of harming the dance.

Indeed - more dialogue is needed.

Peter

5/4/2012 09:09:02 am

Perry,

I haven't noticed any correlation between demographic group and philosophy. Some of the most vibrant dances I have been to have been on college campuses with lots of energy, an appreciation for simple dances, and not much in the way of elaborate flourishes.

My main takeaway is that it is helpful to define the vision for a series or event so people can join together in pursuit of common interests and either find or create whatever it is they are looking for.

dest/jess(ie)/etc.

5/4/2012 01:09:23 pm

Getting back to previous topic:

Medleys are great fun and i love them, but it's important to be aware of how they're done. If a medley isn't really ridiculously long--so long that you can't dance the whole thing nonstop--it's safe to assume that folks won't change partners and will book in advance. If you're one of the cool kids and you get a nice long session with your favorite partner, that's a double helping of awesome. If you're from out of town and you don't know so many people, it can feel like a big reminder of how far outside the clique you are, especially if you're used to being inside the clique at home. We need to be tender about that. In fact, we need to just generally be more tender about making sure that our eagerness to dance with our favorite partners doesn't keep us from discovering some new gem of a partner who just happens to be in town, or from just welcoming someone new. Everyone wants to feel included, and not everyone is an extrovert.

In many cases, chaos dancing can actually mitigate the one-partner-for-a-long time-effect, especially if we use it to expand our partnering horizons. But i do sometimes get concerned that we can get wtoo wild in our chaos-ing. The first run-through or two of a new dance in the medley should be chaos-free, so everyone can figure out the steps. And if you're dancing a two-headed monster, for goodness sake make sure you only switch in a way that tells everyone just what role they're dancing with who. I've seen a lot of sets break down when a two headed monster suddenly splits and we're left with five people trying to figure out their role and their partner and get to the next move all at once. Medleys take more concentration; we need to balance the chaos against that need to make sure we keep everyone moving.

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Techno Contra and Medley Format

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