Positional Calling

This list is for anyone interested in exploring positional calling within traditional dance (contra, squares, ECD, community, family dance, Irish ceili, Scottish ceilidh, etc). 

Our goal is to support each other by discussing topics of interest to callers specifically in relation to positional calling. We encourage callers to also join some of the other Shared Weight lists as those communities are valuable resources for other aspects of calling.

We discuss a wide variety of topics – the following are just a few examples:

• What to consider when you first begin to use positional calling.
• What terminology is useful in both the teaching and prompting of dances.
• How to teach a newcomers lesson using positional calling.
• How to help your dance communities ease into accepting positional calling.
• Examples of positional dances I have called that worked well/better than I expected (suggestion to include the script/patter used for the walk through, not just the dance calls.
• HELP! I would love to call the following dance but am running into difficulty teaching it.  Suggestions are welcomed!
• Dance communities responses to Positional Calling and the collecting of quotes to promote it.
• What types of dances are particularly suited for this style of calling.

Who is welcome: Callers from any form of traditional dance and with any level of experience are welcome.  This list is a safe space. We encourage creative, respectful, and spirited discussion of ideas. By joining this list you agree to the above as well as the general shared weight list standards.  If you do not agree, or are aggressive, hurtful, or disrespectful in your emails, this is not the right space for you.

We hope you will join us!

-Seth Tepfer & Emily Addison, List Administrators

The idea for this list emerged out of a workshop on positional calling led by Beth Molaro and hosted by Seth Tepfer. Callers who participated in the workshop wanted to continue the conversation and make space for others to join the discussion.

The list moderators/admins are Seth Tepfer & Emily Addion

Brooke Friendly, Woody Lane, Claire Takemori, Lynn Garren, & Alice Raibourn are list champions. List champions actively support the list by promoting its existence and encouraging conversation. If you would like to become a list champion, please reach out to Seth or Emily.

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The Growing Up Trad! archive is private.

If you are a list member, you can access the archive by visiting this link.

If you have technical questions about how the list works, please check out the technical FAQ page.  If you still haven’t found the answer to your question, email the list moderators – Seth Tepfer & Emily Addison.