Standard E-Mails to the Class (Dana Scott, Spring 2007)
These are some of the e-mails that Dana sent when she was Class Coordinator. Spring, 2007.
In addition to the Week 1 ...Week 12 13 e-mails, there are invitations to the class dance and other events.
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Week 1
Hi!
My name is Dana Scott, and I'm the Coordinator for the Tech Squares
Spring 2007 class. We're glad you could come to our Fun Night a few
weeks ago and hope you'll join us this Tuesday, February 13th, for the first
night of class.
...
You can find more information about Tech Squares on our website:http://www.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/activities/tech-squares/
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.
...
You can find more information about Tech Squares on our website:http://www.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/activities/tech-squares/
If you have any questions, or would like to be removed from this list,
don't hesitate to contact me.
...
The definitions for all the calls that we have learned so far are
available on the Tech Squares website:http://www.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/~tech-squares/lessons/
Hard copies of these definitions are always available at the gate
table.
In addition, here are some links to different websites with animations:
http://www.tamtwirlers.org/tamination/http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~noriks/ENGLISH/English-Index3.htmlhttp://www.remus.dti.ne.jp/~jsda/sdtext/sdtext/basicpro-eng.html
And, as always, if you have questions or need help, feel free to ask
me, Bill, or any club member!
...
We've learned a lot of material so far -- congratulations! If you
find that you are starting to have trouble with the calls and the pace
at which we teach, I encourage you to read over the call definitions
before clss. They can be found athttp://www.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/~tech-squares/lessons/
The pace of the class will not get any slower and the material will
not get easier. Remember, we are teaching the first two programs of
square dancing (Mainstream and Plus) in 13 weeks -- other clubs can
take almost a year. It's very important that you're comfortable with
the calls from the first few weeks, as the rest of the class will
build on them. It may turn out that our style and speed of class and
dancing is not for you. If you have concerns or need help, talk to
me.
...
If you ever need to know where we're meeting, you can find all of that information here:
http://www.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/~tech-squares/schedules/
The "weekly schedules" link will show you where we are as far in advance as we know. There's also a link on the left sidebar to all of our schedules.
...
NEFFA Festival! This is a giant yearly event put on by the New
England Folk Festival Association. It's not a Tech Squares event, but
there will be lots of other folk dancing and music events, and lots of
Tech Squares people will be there. You can find more information
about it at http://www.neffa.org/. If you're interested, find me on
Tuesday night and I can let you know more about it. If you'd like to
go but don't have a way to get there, I can also help you find a ride.
...
49th annual New England Square and Round Dance Convention. NESRDC is
quite an experience, and since you will have finished Mainstream by
then, you can dance nonstop for 2.5 days if you so choose. Ted, Bill,
and Clark will be calling. Lots of Tech Squares people will be there.
You can find a limited amount of not-very-useful information athttp://www.nesrdc.org/. For more and more useful information, ask any
club member on Tuesday night. We'll talk more about Convention in
class meeting as the time gets closer, but rides and hotel rooms will
be arranged by a volunteer from the club if you'd like to be in on
them.
...
Tech Squares is hosting a weekend-long dance event with an out of town
caller and cuers. I'm talking with the dance organizers now to see if
we can arrange to have some of the weekend be at class level. I will
keep you posted as I know more. For now, you can find information athttp://www.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/~tech-squares/schedules/weekends/may07.html.
I hope all the students had a relaxing spring break, and if you
celebrate Passover or Easter, enjoy your holiday! And please,
remember to do your taxes early so that you can come out and dance at
all these awesome events! (This means you, Bill.)
...
In addition, remember that all of the weekly definition handouts are
available online. If you've missed a week, reading through the
definitions before class can be very helpful:
http://www.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/~tech-squares/lessons/
A few notes:
...
1. Dancing backwards: I think this would be too dangerous, since no
one would be able to see where they were going. A similar but safer
idea would be to do "nose dancing." To do this, everyone turns one
wall left or right and then sticks their elbow out to make a "nose."
Then you dance the entire tip sideways from how you should be facing.
This is actually harder than going backwards, and by the way, you
can't really use hands. More information athttp://www.tiac.net/~mabaker/square-games.html (search for "nose
dancing"). Another idea is that Ted can ask dancers to "undo" the
previous call, which would be a little bit of backwards dancing
without total chaos. Or, on an undo, we could have everyone u-turn
back and walk backwards along the path of the call they just did.
...
8. Gemini, tandem, or some combination: seehttp://www.tiac.net/~mabaker/square-games.html (search for "gemini").
...
Please get back to me ASAP so I can find a caller, book a room, and
fill out a square.
Dana
E-Mails to Club and Outside
To Club: Order Badges
Hello Tech Squares!
I'm going to be putting in a badge order at the end of this week.
If you would like a new badge or bar, you need to tell me by THURSDAY,
May 3rd. If you will be at Tech on Tuesday or at the Sandie Bryant
weekend, be prepared to pay for it then. If not, I will email you to
deal with payment after I've put in the order.
Pin-back badges are $6.00.
Magnet-back badges are $9.00.
Bars are $3.50.
If you would like a new badge, I need to know:
first line (larger, commonly first name)
second line (smaller, commonly last name)
pin- or magnet-back
If you would like a new bar, I need to know:
What you want it to say (duh. =) )
Send me your orders! Your deadline is Thursday, May 3rd.
Dana
Badge Company: Badge Order
Hi Peggy,
I'll need 25 badges (23 magnet-back, 2 pin-back) and 2 bars. The
badges should be in the standard Tech Squares style with the larger
first line.
2 notes:
Joanne McLernon -- if it's possible to raise the "c" so that it's
level with the top of the letters rather than the bottom, please do.
Marketa Valterova -- If possible, this name should have 2 accents,
both rising from left to right (/), one on the "e" in "Marketa", one
on the final "a" in "Valterova."
Badges:
1st line 2nd line pin/magnet notes paid
(First) (Last) (M|pin) ($9|$6)
bars:
PAST PRESIDENT
EX BANNER COMMANDO
You can ship the order and invoice to:
Dana Scott
(Address)
Please let me know the final total and when I can expect them, and I'll start the process of getting a check for you.
Thank you!
Dana Scott
Tech Squares Class Coordinator
pin: 5@ $6 = $30
magnet: 21@ $9 = $189
bars: 2@ $3.50 = $7
shipping: $8
$234
real total = 245.30
To Club: Class Dance Announcement
The spring class will finish Mainstream this coming Tuesday! To
celebrate, we're having a dance for them next weekend.
Class Dance
Sunday, 4/15, 2-4
W20-491
Bill Ackerman calling
Dress is casual. Please bring food for the refreshment table!
I will not be helping the class members find partners, as I do on
Tuesdays, so please be friendly and ask them to dance. Also, please
give them preference when squaring up; no class members who want to
dance should be sitting out.
Also, I will not be adjusting the squares as I do on Tuesdays, so
please try to distribute yourselves (as angels) among the squares
roughly evenly so that the success rate (and consequently the fun
rate) is higher.
To Club: Want Caller for Rest-of-Plus Crash Course
Hello callers!
I am both blessed and cursed with a lot of extremely psyched class
members.
Since there will be no class-level dancing at the May weekend, it's
been suggested by the officers and the aforementioned psyched class
members that I put together a super-fast session to learn the
remaining 9 calls they'll need to come to the weekend.
All the class members who have replied are doing well in the class and
willing to put in time outside of class to make an effort to really
know the extra calls.
So far the most popular times are Monday evening (first choice) and
Wednesday evening (second choice). Would any of you lovely people
like to call a crash-through the rest of plus on either of those
nights? The 9 calls in question are:
Chase Right
Peel the Top
(Anything) and Spread
Teacup Chain
Track II
Single Circle to a Wave
Dixie Grand
Grand Swing Thru
Ping Pong Circulate
In addition, if the crash session is Monday rather than Wednesday, they will not yet have learned:
Coordinate
Cut the Diamond
Follow Your Neighbor
(Anything) and Roll
Spin Chain and Exchange the Gears
Trade the Wave
Please let me know quickly so I can find some angels, book a room, and
let the psyched class members know what's happening.
Thanks!
Dana
Veronica: Plan for Grand March
Hi Veronica,
We finally had our officers' meeting and we talked about the Grand
March.
The consensus was that we would like to have a grand march, but that,
in the past, the march has taken up a lot of time in an already packed
evening. We now have several calls to teach, plus two hack tips, plus
the awarding of diplomas.
So, we'd like to request two things:
1. We would love for you to lead a Grand March, but it should take no
longer than 5 minutes.
2. Given that it will be shorter than in the past, we'd like to
emphasize the moves that allow marchers to interact or make eye
contact with everyone else in the march, like the spiral or the
bridge/tunnel that usually goes at the end.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks so much for continuing to do this! It's nice to have
a sense of continuity and history by involving one of our founders.
Dana
To and From Veronica: Planning for Grand March
Dana, I am SOOOO delighted there will be more time for the Grand March !
I had visions of having to reverse the spiral when it was only beginning
and I do dearly , dearly believe that having some other figure or figures
before the spiral and tunnel is important. However, I'm not certain what
you mean by keeping the emphasis on the group. Please explain. Are there
certain figures you have in mind that seem more or less groupy?
Getting folks to line up promptly is a way to keep the time from
evaporating. Can the class be reminded to line up quickly at their last
class meeting tomorrow?
And could the club be reminded, perhaps during a club tip early in the
evening? It might mean more coming from a club member than from me.
Also thanks for the names and e-mail addresses -- this is very helpful.
I was hoping to be at Tech more often this semester, but one thing after
another has happened, including the deaths of three people important to me,
a major backache that lasted two weeks after driving home from Baltimore
and my brother's funeral, changes at work, and now this blankety-blank
bursitis for which the doctor says no dancing for now, grrrrr. I was
especially upset last night as I went to my usual Scottish country dance
session to hang out ('cause I'm not supposed to dance), and a lovely
newly-composed dance was introduced which really interested me. After the
group got the hang of it, the teacher announced that the new dance is "Miss
McClure's Strathspey" composed especially for me by Roger Gilbert, a very
skilled and attractive dancer himself, who admires how I dance strathspays,
especially those with flirtacious moments! Can you imagine? I was so
delighted but also so upset that I couldn't dance "my" dance.
I'm not supposed to dance tomorrow -- especially the squares as all the
quick, brief turns are potential trouble for the bursitis which is in my
right leg near the hip joint. But I will lead the Grand March, especially
the spiral, as that is consistent walking, and I'm hoping for a few rounds
as well. But I enjoy dancing the hack tips and I'm sad I shall have to sit
them out this time.
So while I won't be full steam ahead, I will be there and I'll be
especially happy to lead the Grand March.
All the best,
Veronica
Hey Veronica,
I hope the bursitis isn't bothering you as much. If you can't dance
with us, at least you should be able to come to graduation and have
fun and cue some rounds for us.
> However, I'm not certain what
> you mean by keeping the emphasis on the group. Please explain. Are there
> certain figures you have in mind that seem more or less groupy?
In your previous mail, you said
> Ideally, a Grand March should give time to establish the couples as well as
> the group...
I think (and it was the consensus at the officers's meeting) that for
something like this, where the couples are mostly random anyway and
what we are celebrating is the inclusion of the new people into the
group, "establishing the group" should be more the focus than
"establishing the couples."
We felt that things like the spiral and the tunnel are good for
"establishing the group," which is why we'd definitely like to keep
them, and comparatively little time should be figures that involve
marching alone or with just one other person.
Does that make more sense?
I'm glad I could give you more time, but we are still pretty pressed
timewise, so please be aware of that.
> Getting folks to line up promptly is a way to keep the time from
> evaporating. Can the class be reminded to line up quickly at their
> last class meeting tomorrow?
I've already suggested that they try to find a partner earlier in the
evening, and I'll be sure to mention it at class meeting.
> And could the club be reminded, perhaps during a club tip early in the
> evening?
Sure. I'll ask Ted to mention it.
What exactly should we be telling everyone to do? Stand with your
partner in a column down the center of the room, or something else?
I'm glad to hear you'll be cueing something for us tonight! I hope I
am not so busy that I won't be able to dance it. =)
See you tonight!
Dana