Calling Parties
Almost all Wednesdays, 7:00pm
433 Marford Drive, Creve Coeur
Learn to call dances, or just come and dance and join in the conversation about dancing, calling and music. Bring a snack or drinks to share if it's easy.
Dance writers! Calling Parties offer you the opportunity to try out your new dances with Live Salt and Pepper Shakers. We display here the "Jeanne and Don" set, the "Bob and Martha" set, and the "Italian ( Marina and Jerome)" set. Thanks go to Jerome Grisanti for the fine craftsmanship.
What's a Calling Party?
On Wednesdays, almost all of them, people go to Martha's house in Creve Coeur at 7:00pm, and, when there are four or more, start lining up for a contra dance (or an English dance — it's an open-minded group) and begin dancing. Sometimes it's the first time through a dance for one of the callers and time is spent figuring out how the dance goes, and sometimes, it's the last time through the dance before the caller takes it "live" and there's just the fun of dancing. You don't have to be a caller to come. Callers need dancers to practice on. New dancers are especially welcome. We dance, we talk, and yes, there is wine involved.
We are learning to call several different kinds of dances from the "set dance" tradition (dancing in groups or sets, rather than in couples or by yourself). Most of them dances are modern American contra dances, but we also call some square dances (mostly New England or Southern Squares), Playford-era (1600-1800 AD) English Country Dances, modern English Country Dances, Colonial-era American contra dances, and some early-mid- 20th-century New England "Chestnut" dances.
People who have called at Calling Parties
- Billy Boyer ‡
- Larry Boyer ‡
- Martha Edwards †
- Joe Felsen *
- Chrystal Gallaci Jones †
- Bob Green ‡
- Kimberly Hall ‡
- Karen Jackson ‡
- David Keller†
- Kent Koeninger *
- Mac McKeever ‡
- Wade Pearson ‡
- Missy Reisenleiter ‡
- Eric Schreiber ‡
- Kay Tomlinson †
- Dale Wilson †
*Hatchling (has called a dance - read more)
†Fledgling (called a third to half a dance)
‡Caller (called a full dance)
*The Calling Party blog: see http://dancecaller.blogspot.com. We haven't kept it up as well as we used to once many of us started enjoying Facebook, but it has some great stories, and a lot of useful discussion.