The New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA) is pleased to present “Give-and-Take,” by the late Larry Jennings. “Give-and-Take” is the sequel to Larry’s 1983 “Zesty Contras.” Nearly one-half of “Give-and-Take’s” 176 pages consist of dance sequences (628 of them, plus 90 more variations), one-quarter are pedagogical material, and one-quarter everything else (including provocative remarks, exhortative essays, arcane analyses and guidance for dance administrators).
Purchase Information
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Bona fide dealers may order 10 or more copies per order, standard wholesale discount, customer pays for shipping. Please use the web form on our Contact page for more information.
Single Copies
Single-copy purchases may be made through the following dealers:
Country Dance and Song Society www.cdss.org
Folk Arts Center of New England www.facone.org
About “Give and Take”
Here’s the table of contents for “Give-and-Take.” Further below is the table of contents for the 1983 “Zesty Contras” book by Larry Jennings.
Give-and-Take:
a sequel to ZESTY CONTRAS, featuring
628 Dances in the New England Style,
Provocative remarks, Exhortative essays
and Arcane Analyses
By Larry Jennings, 2004
Published by the New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA)
Suggested retail price USD $22.50
Pages: viii + 168 Size: 8-1/2 x 11 inches
Give-and-Take -- Table of Contents
FOREWORD iii
PREFACE iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v
PERMISSIONS v
I. INTRODUCTION
I-1. Vision and Titles 1
I-2. Content of Give-and-Take 1
I-3. Selection of Dances 1
I-4. Composer, Caller & Editor Relations 2
I-5. Caller Alert 2
II. REFERENCE
II-1. Glossary 3
II-2. Explanatory Notes 6
EN1: Balances 6
EN2: Current Foursome 6
EN3: Diagonal Action 6
EN4: End Effects 8
EN5: Formation 8
EN6: Heys 10
EN7: Moving Up or Down 11
EN8: Neighbors 11
EN9: Neutrals 11
EN10: Out of the Minor Set 12
EN11: Progression 12
EN12: Shadows 12
EN13: Stations 12
III. DANCEMISTRY
III-1. The Way Duple Minor Contra Dances Work 13
III-2. Why Diagram Dances? 14
III-3. Set Spacing 14
III-4. Diagrams 15
III-5. Nomenclature for duple minor contras 23
III-6. Foursome Classes 28
III-7. Algebraic Analysis of Diagrams 29
IV. THE ESSENCE OF CONTRA DANCING
IV-1. You Get Out What You Put In 32
IV-2. Is There a Minor League Contra Dancer? 33
V. ESPECIALLY FOR CALLERS
V-1. The Travails of a Booking Coordinator 35
V-2. Time Management 36
V-3. Discretionary Time 37
V-4. Set Management 38
V-5. The "Get Through It" Syndrome 41
V-6. Genuine Feedback 41
V-7. Effective Lingo 42
V-8. Pitfalls for an Unwary Caller 44
V-9. Spicing Your Program 45
V-10. Teaching Without Lecturing 45
V-11. Trends in Choreography 47
V-12. Are You Boxed In? 48
V-13. Composers' Opportunities 49
VI. TOPICS IN ADMINISTRATION
VI-1. Pathways to Contra Nirvana 51
VI-2. The Facilitator's Role in Reaching
Contra Nirvana 52
VI-3. The Contra Dance Contract 54
VI-4. Procedures for Booking Coordinators 55
VI-5. An Implementation of Telling It
Like It Is 56
VI-6. Fake Problems in the Contra
Dance World 57
VII. LARRY SAYS
VII-1. A Collection Of Contra Anecdotes 62
VII-2. The "We Did It" And The
"Something's Wrong" Syndromes 60
VII-3. What If We Consistently Checked Up? 60
VII-4. The Proprieties of the Partner Game 61
VIII. TIDBITS FROM DISCUSSION SESSIONS
VIII-1. New England Traditional Dancing
Where Are We Going? 62
VIII-2. Minutes Of Callers' Roundtable 64
VIII-3. Implementing Your Vision 66
VIII-4. Dancer's Forum: Influencing the
Leaders 68
VIII-5. Communication between Producers
and Callers 69
VIII-6. What Do We Cherish? 70
VIII-7. Cures For Pet Peeves 72
VIII-8. Caller Vs. Organizer 74
VIII-9. The Name Game 76
VIII-10. Steering Your Dance Series Down
The Pathway To Nivana 78
VIII-11. Is The Center Set Syndrome
All Bad? 80
VIII-12. The Five Deadly Sins 81
VIII-13. Secrets Of A Successful Series 83
VIII-14. Callers' Problems, "Identifying
Opportunities" 84
IX. DANCE TRANSCRIPTIONS
IX-1. Notation 86
IX-2. Headings, Piece Counts, Letter
References, Abreviations and
Symbols 86
IX-3. Contras 89
IX-4. Triplets 155
IX-5. Other Formations 158
APPENDIX - Program Planning Matrix A1
BIBLIOGRAPHY B1
About “Zesty Contras”
ZESTY CONTRAS
A Selection of 500 New England Style Dances
with a Provocative Explanatory Text
Published 1983 by NEFFA
Suggested Retail price $10.00
ZESTY CONTRAS -- Table of Contents
Forward v
Author's Preface vii
Acknowledgements viii
Bibliography xi
Part I. Zesty Contras
1. Introduction 1
2. The NEFFA Contra Series 1
3. The local Style - Zesty Dancing 3
4. Scope & Philosophy of This Book 4
Part II. Use of the Transcriptions
5. Preliminaries 6
6. Overview 6
7. Conventions and Lack Thereof 7
8. Glossary 9
Part III. The Mini Lectures
ML1. The New England Contra Dance 13
ML2. New England Contra Dancing 13
ML3. More on Zesty Dancing 14
ML4. Fundamentals of Dance Sequences 17
ML5. The Joys and Sorrows of "+" 18
ML6. Composing Your Dance 19
ML7. Dance Transmission 20
ML8. Programming 21
ML9. Musicians and Music 22
ML10. Does Contra Dancing Need You? 24
ML11. Conversations Topics and
Suggestions for Administrators
and/or Producers 25
- Outline 26
- Notes 27
ML12. Communication Between Caller
and Producer 29
ML13. Checklist and Suggestions
for Callers 29
- Outline 30
- Notes 31
ML14. A Parting Word 32
Part IV. The Transcriptions
A. Contras 33
B. Triplets 73
C. Other Formations 79
Appendix
Headings, Piece Counts, Letter References,
Abbreviations, and Symbols 89