Daily Archives: April 22, 2009

22 Apr

Video: Bear Miller calling to Hooked on Classics

Bear Miller recently posted a video to his Facebook page showing him calling high energy Plus at a Halloween dance in Colorado. (You may not be able to access the Facebook stuff if you’re not registered.) The music? Hooked on Classics (check the link if you’ve ever wondered what all the tunes are in that medley of disco-infused classical extracts). iTunes link: Hooked on Classics.

Note: almost no square dance costumes…just a variety of Halloween costumes.

At the very beginning of the clip, note what the dancers do when Bear calls Square Thru 4. Later on

, you can see the non-active dancers doing that move while the actives actually square thru.

Bear nails the ending. Sort of like a gymnast sticking on the dismount, except callers aren’t required to do it…it’s just way cool when we manage it. Bear was good…I thought he wasn’t going to make it , and then bang! there it was.

22 Apr

Summer Decisions

Oh dear, oh dear…shall I raise the level of my incompetence and attempt to learn C3B this summer?

This would involve traveling to Germany, most likely attending iPAC, and then heading to Plön for Clark Baker‘s weeklong C3B compact class.

I learned C3A in a weekend a long time ago, and have been dancing (using the word loosely) it two or three times a year ever since. So it’s not like I’m bored with C3A even remotely. On the other hand, there aren’t many opportunities to learn C3B in an intensive way (which is necessary for me

, since I sure can’t learn it through regular classes in Albuquerque).

So, do I need or even want to learn full C3? Yes, I think it will increase my choreographic understanding, and it’s always fun to learn something new. No, I’m not even really competent at C3A; I don’t get to dance it all that much. Full C3 would be one more level that I wouldn’t get to dance that much. I’ve heard that C3B is really hard.

Do I want to go to Germany for a couple of weeks this summer? Yes , it would be exciting. No, I’d be away from T-B. I haven’t been out of the States in over 20 years (I think that’s a yes and a no).

Decisions, decisions….