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Moving Up To Advanced or Challenge
(Ver. 1.3)
By Allan Hurst � allanh
[at] supportnet.com
Originally written 10/15/03,
Last updated 1/18/2004
Converted to HTML 1/18/04
When
should you learn a new dance level?
More
specifically, when should you move up to Advanced or Challenge?
There�s an old joke in
L/G/B/T square dancing that goes something like this: �When you�re able to dance
a take-no-prisoners Plus tip as either gender, carry on a conversation with at
least one other person in your square, anticipate each call correctly, and
cruise the hot number across the room � you�re ready to dance Advanced.�
This joke � and I admit,
there�s a very small kernel of truth to it � and the attitude that
accompanies it often scares off many great dancers from even trying
Advanced. That�s not a good thing. This article talks about what you can
reasonably expect if you decide to move up to Advanced or Challenge dancing.
Note: Since some clubs teach
A1 & A2 as separate levels, and others teach them as a single level, I�m
choosing to refer to A1/A2 dancing in this article simply as �Advanced�.
�IT�S ALL GOOD.�
Many A&C dancers have an
unwarranted bad attitude about Basic, Mainstream, and Plus.
It�s important to remember that nothing is wrong, bad, or boring about Plus, Mainstream, or Basic � when the level is called properly.
Experienced dancers will
tell you that in the hands of an imaginative caller, �even Basic� can be fun
and challenging. (You don�t believe me?
Try a �take no prisoners� Basic or Mainstream tip at Convention some
time, or ask your local club caller for such a tip.)
For some reason (perhaps all
of the �level snobs�), Advanced still seems to hold some mystical power to both
entice and discourage Plus dancers at the same time.
�Oh, I�m not GOOD enough to
dance ADVANCED,� can be heard nearly as often as �I can�t WAIT to move up to
Advanced!�
(Plus dancers may be
comforted to know that this set of mixed attitudes also shows up in Advanced
dancers considering taking a C1 class.)
Let�s cut through the fog of
mystery surrounding Advanced & Challenge dancing, and talk about what�s
involved in moving up a dance level.
PUTTING THE NUMBERS IN
PERSPECTIVE.
Talking about levels in
terms of numbers of calls often scares away potential Advanced dancers. By the time dancers graduate at Plus,
they�ve learned approximately 100 calls and concepts.
A1 & A2 add roughly
another 100 calls/concepts to that list.
The same goes for C1.
That sounds like a lot to a
typical Plus dancer � until you realize that non-dancers are completely in awe
of Plus dancers, who have memorized over 100 different calls and concepts!
It�s all relative. When you
started dancing, you were probably blown away by the expert moves of angels
when you watched Mainstream or Plus level �star tips.� Be assured, the Advanced and Challenge
dancers you know today, all started off as Mainstream and Plus dancers in the
past. They did it, and so can you.
FROM PLUS TO ADVANCED:
WHAT TO EXPECT.
There are a few key
differences to dancing Advanced versus Plus.
Everything you already know about Plus dancing applies, with a few
additional twists.
�APD� stands for �All
Positions Dancing�. This means you have
been trained to dance each call from all possible positions. Put a bit more simply � you�re an APD dancer
if you can execute any call from any position, regardless of whether a boy or
girl is �normally� in that position.
One example of an APD (or
�nonstandard�) application would be girls on the end of a wave recycling boys.
�DBD� stands for �Dancing By
Definition� (or �Dance By Definition�).
You are a DBD dancer if you can apply the CALLERLAB definition of a call
to a sequence called from any (legal) position. DBD dancers memorize the definition of a call, and are able to
apply it from any CALLERLAB-legal position.
One example of DBD would be
to call �Crossfire� from outfacing lines of four � which ends in a � tag (�Ping
Pong Circulate�) formation. (Note: If
you�re a Plus dancer and don�t know how to dance this, don�t worry � this is an
example of an Advanced or Challenge application of the call �Crossfire�.)
It helps in Advanced and
Challenge dancing to be bidansual (able to dance either the boy�s or girl�s
part), but it�s not strictly required.
I happen to think it helps a lot to be bidansual, but that�s strictly a
personal opinion.
I generally advise
non-bidansual, dancers to angel a Basic/Mainstream class as the opposite gender
before starting to learn Plus or Advanced, just to be aware of �how the other
half dances�. There are only about a half-dozen
calls that are gender-specific.
If you choose to take up
Advanced and you only dance one gender role, but you�re a strong APD/DBD
dancer, you should be OK. However, you
should also be aware that Advanced and Challenge callers are known to often run
dancers through �normal� calls in sashayed positions.
Twist #3: Compound calls.
Plus has something that I
term �compound� calls. Such calls usually have as many as four defined parts,
each of which requires doing something very different from all of the other
parts. One compound call may be
comprised of several different sets of movements.
One example of a Plus-level
compound call is the �Spin Chain� family � �Spin Chain Thru,� �Spin Chain The
Gears,� and �Spin Chain And Exchange The Gears.�
When you think about it �
there are actually a generous handful of such calls in Plus. Aside from the �Spin Chain� family, there�s
also �Load The Boat,� �Teacup Chain,� �Coordinate,� and �Relay The
Deucey.� Suddenly, Advanced doesn�t
seem all that different from Plus, does it?
Advanced introduces several
more compound calls, such as Chain Reaction, Motivate, and Transfer The
Column. The difference is, these calls
can be longer and slightly more intricate than most Plus-level calls.
This doesn�t mean that
Advanced compound calls aren�t fun, however.
While some Advanced calls can take a bit longer to master than simpler
Plus calls, many dancers find the slight additional complexity of these calls
is offset by a substantially greater sense of accomplishment.
One important thing to be
aware of: Advanced and Challenge compound calls require a higher level of
teamwork within the square than lower dance levels. (This is a general rule
for most Advanced and Challenge level dancing.) If you�re not a good �team player� when square dancing, you won�t
enjoy Advanced or Challenge.
Advanced introduces the idea
of concepts. A dance �concept� is a way
of doing things applied to calls you already know from lower levels. One such example is the �As Couples�
concept, where dancers are arranged in couples, and each couple acts like a
single dancer.
Concepts aren�t suddenly
introduced at Advanced. Plus dancers
already know two examples of concepts by the time they graduate: �[anything]
And Roll� and �[anything] And Spread�.
Advanced just gives the caller a few more concepts to play with. (And each level from C1 on up introduces
additional concepts.)
Plus dancers are familiar
with many different dance formations, such as: static squares, columns, � tag,
� tag, � tag, waves, two-faced lines, diamonds, lines of four, etcetera.
Advanced & Challenge
introduce new formations at each level, such as Hourglasses, Butterflies, and
Galaxies. Many of these formations are
combinations of shapes you already know.
(For example, an Hourglass is a diamond within a box, while a Galaxy is
a box within a diamond.)
Advanced often uses calls
and formations you already know, but puts them together in different ways, or
allows the caller to apply calls to formations in ways that aren�t legal at
Mainstream or Plus.
Extend, Hinge, and Tag the
Line are some examples of calls that have extended applications at
Advanced. (See the CALLERLAB
definitions for A1 & A2 dancing at http://www.callerlab.com
for more information on extended Advanced applications of Mainstream and Plus
calls.)
C1 actually manages to
extend �Recycle� - in reverse! - by breaking it down into thirds, and
regurgitating the first two parts as a new call, �2/3rds Recycle�. C2 takes the final part of �Spin Chain And
Exchange The Gears�, and presents it as a separate call entitled �Walk Out To A
Wave�.
Advanced-to-Challenge
doesn�t seem to me to be quite as traumatic as Plus-to-Advanced, but that may
just be my own personal observation from angelling many A&C classes.
All of the Plus-to-Advanced
twists also apply to Advanced-to-Challenge.
More Compound Calls.
In C1, there�s a special
emphasis on compound calls, such as Scoot & Plenty, or Pass The Axle. The compound calls in C1 often seem longer
or more complex than in Advanced.
Most new C1 dancers report
being most disoriented by the number of �big� compound calls, some of which
sound alike, or sound like lower level calls (e.g., �Linear Action�/�Linear
Cycle�).
More Concepts.
At C1, new concepts such as
Blocks, Concentric, Phantom, and Triangles are often applied to existing calls.
A New Way Of Learning.
Challenge requires a
slightly different learning approach than lower levels. Due to the higher number of variations,
positions, concepts, and formations, relying on �muscle memory� to learn calls
doesn�t work at C1. You really need
to know the call definitions by heart.
There�s no magic secret to
working past this, except to learn the definition of each new call until you
can recite it from memory when needed.
(Many experienced Challenge dancers can still be heard muttering
definitions of some calls under their breath when dancing.)
Contrary to popular myth, it
IS allowed to have fun dancing Advanced or Challenge.
So why do people say that
A&C dancing is so somber and humorless?
The higher level of teamwork
involved in Advanced & Challenge dancing means that squares sometimes
appear to outside observers to be a bit quieter and more serious than Plus or
Mainstream.
A&C dancers aren�t quiet
because they�re not having fun; instead, they�re quiet because they�re
concentrating on solving the problem as a group. The increased complexity of some of the calls means people have
less time for fluff, which gives an impression of a more sober floor demeanor.
Inside the square, however, it�s a different story.
Most Advanced and Challenge
dancers I�ve talked with report a substantially greater feeling of
accomplishment at the end of an Advanced or Challenge tip than when they dance
Plus.
This is because Advanced and
Challenge both require a greater degree of interaction and cooperation than
does Plus. This especially applies to
C1 (and higher) dancing, which demands that the square work as a tightly knit
group.
There are absolutely no
rules banning A&C squares from having fun.
Some of the rowdiest tips
I�ve danced in have been A&C tips. As with lower levels of dancing �
everything depends upon the chemistry between each of the dancers in each
square, and between the squares and the caller.
You don�t have to be a
�perfect� Plus dancer to learn Advanced � because there is no such thing as a
�perfect� Plus dancer.
Everyone makes dance mistakes
once in a while. Even Advanced and
Challenge level callers can make mistakes dancing at Plus or Mainstream.
(There�s a reason dancers are awarded a �Purple Heart� dangle when they dance
in a square with three or more callers.)
Most people who are reasonably
comfortable with APD/DBD Plus dancing do just fine at Advanced (and later, at
Challenge).
As with anything worth doing well, Advanced and Challenge dancing requires an up-front investment of time, energy, and patience.
Many of the clubs I�ve
worked with put new dancers through Basic, Mainstream and Plus within a
year. Other clubs spend four to nine
months learning each of these levels.
The length of time
required for learning Advanced or Challenge really depends upon your local club
and caller.
I�ve seen A1 and A2 taught
as separate levels requiring one year each in some clubs. Other clubs teach both together over a
single year. C1 and higher levels are
usually taught over the course of one year, though some clubs I�ve danced with
prefer to spend two years.
A&C dancing provides a slightly
different � some say more subtle � �buzz� than Mainstream or Plus, but most
A&C dancers report that the end result is more than worth the time and effort.
I suggest that the real payoff
of A&C dancing is a substantially increased sense of personal
accomplishment and pride at completing complex sequences, and an amazingly
strong sense of teamwork and �mental telepathy. �
[end]
Allan Hurst is a C1 dancer
and A2 caller living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is presently having a wonderful time learning C2. Since his first Basic/Mainstream/Plus class
with El Camino Reelers in 1995, he now is also a member of Foggy City Dancers,
Midnight Squares, Squares Across the Border, and Chi-Town Squares.