Dear Ron,
I find that circle mixers can be a great choice! There is something
quite lovely about all the dancers being in the same set together. I
will often use a circle mixer when there are a large number of newer
dancers; there are lots of great reasons to do so! On occasion, a
scatter mixer is another way of generating partner change, and some fun.
Here are some of my favorite circles:
Atlantic Mixer
by unknown
Circle Mixer/Circle/Easy
A1 -----------
Promenade
A2 -----------
Ladies turn back, Gents continue all single file
B1 -----------
New Partner allemande right
Allemande Left
B2 -----------
Partner Balance & Swing (can be dosido and 2 hand turn)
Cabot School Mixer
by Ted Sannella
Circle Mixer/Easy
A1 -----------
Circle right
Forward and back
A2 -----------
Circle left
Corner allemande right once
Partner allemande left once
B1 -----------
Corner do si do and swing
B2 -----------
Promenade
First Turn in May
by Tom Hinds
Circle Mixer/Improper/Easy
A1 -----------
Forward and back
Forward and back
A2 -----------
Corner (previous partner) Allemande left
Partner allemande right
Corner allemande left
Pass this partner by the right
B1 -----------
New Partner Balance and Swing
B2 -----------
Promenade
I Don’t Know Why
by unknown
Circle Mixer/Improper/Beginner
A1 -----------
Circle left
Circle right
A2 -----------
Everybody forward and back
Only the ladies forward, turn around, look to the left diagonal
B1 -----------
New Partner do si do and Swing
B2 -----------
Promenade
Let's Celebrate the Day
by Linda Leslie
Circle Mixer/Circle/Beginner
A1 -----------
Circle Left
Circle Right
A2 -----------
Ladies into the center, turn alone
return and swing *this* partner
B1 -----------
Gents into the center, turn alone (a new partner is slightly on the
right)
return and swing your new partner
B2 -----------
Promenade
North Shore Mixer
by Tony Parkes
Circle Mixer/Improper/Easy
A1 -----------
Circle left
Circle right (or f & b twice)
A2 -----------
Corner allemande left once
Partner allemande right once
Corner allemande left once
B1 -----------
Partner do si do
Corner swing
B2 -----------
Promenade
Welcoming New Friends
by Dale Rempert
Circle Mixer/Improper/Easy
A1 -----------
Circle Right
Forward and Back
A2 -----------
Circle left
Forward and back...on the way back, roll away with a half sashay,
(ladies to the left)
B1 -----------
Balance and Swing the next
B2 -----------
Promenade
On Oct 25, 2012, at 11:31 AM, Ron T Blechner wrote:
Hi callers,
I've been finding circle mixers extremely valuable for dances with
newer
dancers. They provide a way both to expose them to many different
experienced dancers as well as to make them comfortable with the
idea of
dancing with different people all night. (We've all seen The Couple
That
Shows Up And Dances Just With Each Other that doesn't come back
because
they don't really meet anyone ...)
I was looking for some alternatives to La Bastringue that I can do
early in
the evening, like 2nd or 3rd dance. Other mixers I've seen include
doing
things like Do-Si-Do or Allemande one person and coming back to
another;
I've found for new dancers that can often be confusing. ("Find another
partner-less person in the middle of the circle" is only amusing so
many
times.)
Also, I called this at MIT on Tuesday evening and it worked pretty
well
with a high percentage of new dancers.
It's a variation on La Bastringue which I'm tentatively calling "La
String
Bean". If you've seen this or something really similar before, let
me know
so I can start calling it by its proper name.
A1: Ladies to the center and back (4,4)
Gents to the center, turnaround and back (4,4)
A2: Current P Alle L 1.5x (8)
New P DSD (8, forgiving)
B1: Same New P B+S (4,12)
B2: Promenade the ring CCW, Gents turn in Ladies so all face in (14,2)
Optional: Make the promenade 8 beats and end the B2 with a courtesy
turn
once and a little more.
One major point of this dance is to stealthily teach the Courtesy
Turn from
the Promenade, something I stole from a new-dancer-lesson from, if I
recall
correctly, Peter Stix.
Critique / suggestions welcome. (Thanks to Mr. Bob Isaacs for initial
suggestions earlier this week.)
In dance,
Ron Blechner
contradances.tumblr.com
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