Callers Commandment 1 … USE YOUR MEMORY

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(The first of the ten commandments contained in the ancient “exodance” scrolls given by the Presence on the clouded mount and currently being interpreted by scholars of the obscure text)

 

Make an effort to memorise the dance you are going to call.

 

I know the test of a caller is not a test of memory – but at least we can try to call ONE dance during an evening without reading it out from a crib sheet.  That does not require a superhuman memory; many dances can be memorised in fewer than ten words.

 

Most callers I know show prodigious feats of memory when dancing (especially if the caller gets it wrong!).  If all we do is read out from a card, we may as well just hand out copies and let the dancers read it for themselves.

 

Imagine you go to an amateur dramatic production and the actors enter stage, scripts clasped in hands, and read out their lines.  You would not be impressed.  This, of course, never happens:  the actors make an effort to memorise hundreds of words along with entries, cues, stage movements, gestures and exits.  These are ordinary people who want to do their bit well.  The demands on a caller’s memory are much less exacting, so the message we may be giving is that we do not care too much about doing our bit.

 

Part of the problem is that we feel the need to have our crib handy – just in case.  Then, because we know we are going to have our crib handy, we see no need to cope without it.  It becomes a flame to which we are drawn as a moth.

 

Some callers have virtual cribs.  These are not on paper, but are visualised in the mind.  These callers do not gaze at a card;  they gaze into space – a slight improvement (perhaps) but not much.  We ought to know the dance so well, we can call it like we drive a car, or perform any familiar task.  Then only can we be absorbed in the feel and flow of the dance, and direct our gaze to where it is most needed – at the dancers.

 

Of course – like the actors – we can have a quick peek at our script off-stage.  This is recommended – but simply as a quick check that our memory is working just fine.

 

So the challenge is this:  pick ONE dance to call from memory.  Choose one you know well (make it easy to prove TO YOURSELF that you can do it).  Then, next time, make it TWO dances … and then …

 

 

Sibby