I have a few in my collection, and usually use them at dances at the end or beginning of the evening when the crowd is tiny. I even have one that I made up on the spot one time at a tiny dance when I did NOT have any in my repertoire and had only six dancers.
I first encountered a triplet at a dance at Bates College (Lewiston, Maine USA) about twenty some-odd years ago. I believe that Wild Asparagus was playing. It had been a marvelous evening - and the crowd had dwindled as the hour got late. I was thrilled that the caller knew a dance that we could do with so few of us. If the crowd is inexperienced I often walk it three times (similar to the way some callers walk squares so everyone gets to try the figures). But if the crowd is experienced then once is enough since the ones in my collection are pretty straightforward. -cynthia Maine, USA -----Original Message----- From: callers-boun...@sharedweight.net [mailto:callers-boun...@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Kalia Kliban Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 3:34 PM To: call...@sharedweight.net Subject: [Callers] Triplets Hi all I just encountered a triplet in the wild for the first time (they don't get called much around here, and I've been out of the dancing loop for a bit) at our Santa Rosa (CA) contra last Friday. It was Ted's Triplet #24. Apparently wild cheering is traditional when one of Ted Triplets is announced? As an English dancer, I found it to be a pretty simple and straightforward dance and a nice break from loads o' longways, but the contra dancers all around me were falling to bits, apparently completely flummoxed by the small sets. How often do triplets show up in programs where you dance? How often, and in what sorts of settings, do you call them? What do you do differently to teach them, to help contra dancers with the unusual formation? They seem like useful dances, both for a change of pace and for those dreaded dinky crowds, but as I mentioned, this was my first time encountering one in years of dancing. Are they more common on the East Coast? Kalia _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list call...@sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
