From the Mic

Episode 7 - Chris Page

Episode Summary

This episode, Mary talks with caller and choreographer Chris Page, who has called contras and English country dance in San Diego for about 15 years. When calling, his main concern is being serious about dancers not taking themselves too seriously. Along with Michael Dyck, he's turned his obsession with the history of contra dance choreography into something productive through the online database, The Caller's Box. There are lots of fascinating tidbits for callers and choreographers alike in this one. Check it out!

Episode Notes

See the From the Mic website for great bonus content, including pictures and audio, transcripts, and more. Click here to download the transcript directly.

And the Country Dance and Song Society for information about Contra and English country dance across the continent.

Sound bites featured in this episode (in order of appearance):

• Chris calling the dance Chinese New Year written by himself with music by the Gotham Pioneers (Lise Brown, Naomi Morse, Peter Siegel) at the Concord Scout House in 2011
• Chris calling the dance Half a Slice written by Bob Isaacs with music by the Crabapples (Teresa Fife, Bob Silberstein, Norm Cotton, Marta Lynch) at at BACDS dance in Palo Also, CA in 2011
• Chris calling the dance Midwestern Rories written by himself with music by Welcome to Your Feet Again (Lloyd Carr, Mike Kerr, Siena Kaplan and Rachel Reeds) at the Portland Intown Contra Dance in 2018

More about Chris

• Chris's website contains a wealth of knowledge and gifts: all the dances he's ever written, dance programs, a wonderful annotated list of highlights from Ralph Page's folksy publication "Northern Junket," and more!!
• As Chris describes in the interview, The Caller's Box is a contra dance database produced by Chris and Michael Dyck. Thousands of dances at your fingertips!