The more I think about it, the more I think that Gene Hubert probably thought the phrases in The Butterfly are too short for a dance with such long, flowing figures. When I think of a flowing dance, I think of a dance where one's movement is uninterrupted. Fan in the Doorway certainly fits that description, what with the heys and such; in fact, there are only two times for the gents in the entire dance where you need to change direction of motion (when turning single to come back up the hall, and when bending the line to circle left, which is opposite the direction of your momentum at that moment).
The Butterfly has three-beat phrases, so, if matched with Fan in the Doorway, you'd get stops in the music when the dancers' motion doesn't stop. That said, I think there are probably ways of playing the tune where a sensitive band could make it work fine. But I think it does make sense that a longer-phrased tune would be more advisable generally. On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 12:50 PM, Cis Hinkle <chin...@mindspring.com> wrote: > >Cis Hinkle says "The Butterfly" is not quite suited for "Fan in the > Doorway" Anyone know why? Seems I've danced it to that tune but it has > been a few years! > >-Joe Micheals > >Seattle > > I was startled to read I had an opinion on this subject until I read the > original posting from 2010. I obviously didn't make it clear, but that > comment about The Butterfly came from the author (the great Gene Hubert) in > Dizzy Dances III, from which I was quoting. As I said in the post, at the > time I had never called Fan in the Doorway (which I agree is a beautifully > flowing dance). > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > call...@sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > -- David Casserly (cell) 781 258-2761
