Mike Jacobs

As part of their series of focusing, in depth, on a single caller for their April issue each year, Zip Coder featured Mike Jacobs in their April 1989 issue. They have given me permission to make available a scan of that article. Thanks to Pam Clasper (in purple) who had a copy of the issue and scanned it for me.

If you are not a subscriber to Zip Coder, and if you are involved in Advanced or Challenge dancing or calling, you should support them. Check out their website and become a subscriber.

The article, written 20 years ago, is available here. I found it interesting and learned a lot about someone I dance to, and worked with in Callerlab.

A lot has happened since that article was written. For example, Mike was Chairman of Callerlab from 2002 to 2004, became an accredited Caller-Coach in 1996, was Vice Chair of the Caller Training committee, and a member of the Board of Governors. Mike was a frequent speaker at the annual Callerlab convention. His talks with John Sybalsky on What Makes Dancing Difficult and How People Learn are classics. Other recent topics include Simple Sight, Competition Dancing, Modular Calling, and Dealing with Difficult People (Mike knew he could be one). In 2002 Mike was asked to be the mystery caller for the Pacific Northwest Teen Square Dance Festival.

Mike played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Alliance for Round, Traditional and Square Dance in 2003 and has provided support ever since.

Ken Robinson has created a memorial web site for Mike. It is available here.