The other night at a dance which I was calling the band asked if they could play Petronella for a dance with that “as in Petronella” move*. Although I have become less a curmudgeon about Chestnut tunes like Petronella & Rory O’More, highly influenced by Laurie Andres, I thus asked the dancers if they’d mind dancing a dance with no swings. The challenge was met and, I think, dancers had fun with Petronella. And, they now know a bit what callers mean when they say, “as in Petronella,” when describing the balance in a ring, twirl to the right figure.
I always find the “as in” description weird way to say it, as most of the time 98% of the attendants have never danced Petronella or Rory O’More. OK it is a few more syllables saying, “the signature move borrowed from an old dance called Petronella,” or “Rory O’More.” Who knows? Putting it that way might make a dancer or two want to go figure out what the dance Petronella or Rory O’More was like? It might also give a bit of understanding why so many dances allude to the dance with “ella” or “oh-more” in the title like Tom Thoreau’s Barbarella: Barbarella (of course with Kudos to Jane Fonda) Becket by Tom Thoreau A1 Petronella Balance & Twirl twice A2 Two more Petronella Balance & Twirl B1 Partner Balance & Swing—can be changed into a NO SWING dance by: Partner Do Si Do, Neighbor Do Si Do B2 Right & Left Thru Across, Circle Left Half Way, with Partner, Slide Left to Next Couple B2 can be a Promenade Half, Circle Half, Slide to next Or, when calling this with a greater percentage of beginners: B2 Long Lines Forward & Back, Circle Once, Slide Left This dance can be danced with beginners and be interesting enough to entertain experienced dancers. It can also be adapted into a more amorphous and beginner friendly by doing it with small circles anywhere in the room of two, three or ? couples making circles: A1 & A2 Pet Balances B1 Possibilities: * Partner Balance & Swing * Partner Do Si Do then Swing * Corner Do Si Do, Partner Do Si Do—Now a NO SWING dance * Anything you can come up with for 16 beats… B2 With Partner (or as mixer with Corner) Scatter Promenade forming new circles I find when calling to a large number of beginners, showing and teaching the balance but then giving permission to just bounce around for four beats then move once space to the right—four small steps or a twirl—the have fun with this, and it’s accessible. Erik Hoffman From: Jerome Grisanti via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2022 8:05 AM To: Lisa Sieverts <l...@lisasieverts.com> Cc: Caller's discussion list <call...@sharedweight.net> Subject: [Callers] Re: Dances with fewer swings I second Lisa's idea, with the added note that such choreography will likely face some resistance if it's not sold well. So I encourage fun and creative choreography that will outweigh the perceived l External (contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>) INKY is learning...<https://protection.inkyphishfence.com/report?id=bmV0b3JnZnQxNTA4MDU5L2VyaWtAZXJpa2hvZmZtYW4uY29tLzc4YTAwYTVlN2VmNGVmMDE2YzYwNWJhN2IxMjEwYjNmLzE2NjkyMTk1NDMuMzg=#key=f136bb8a031f313df18993001a5847ce> Report This Email<https://protection.inkyphishfence.com/report?id=bmV0b3JnZnQxNTA4MDU5L2VyaWtAZXJpa2hvZmZtYW4uY29tLzc4YTAwYTVlN2VmNGVmMDE2YzYwNWJhN2IxMjEwYjNmLzE2NjkyMTk1NDMuMzg=#key=f136bb8a031f313df18993001a5847ce> FAQ<https://www.inky.com/banner-faq> GoDaddy Advanced Email Security, Powered by INKY<https://www.inky.com/protection-by-inky> I second Lisa's idea, with the added note that such choreography will likely face some resistance if it's not sold well. So I encourage fun and creative choreography that will outweigh the perceived loss of value of dances with fewer swings. We might reinvigorate ideas from old square-dance figures (lady/lark around two, gent, robin drop through) and from English dance (cast and lead, set and turn single). Selling meaning to explore the fun and connective elements in these figures, rather than seeing them as placeholders. I'm sure there are many more ideas and I'm interested in them. Jerome On Wed, Nov 23, 2022, 10:18 AM Lisa Sieverts via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote: At the risk of derailing this conversation, ah, I definitely am derailing it so will change the subject line. I’d like to see new COVID-aware choreography with fewer swings. If swinging is perhaps the most dangerous thing we do while dancing, I’d like to see some new dances that emphasize partner swings and de-emphasize neighbor swings, and at least some dances without any swings. I’m intrigued by the idea that dances without swings open up 32 beats of opportunity for new choreography. Lisa Sieverts 603-762-0235 l...@lisasieverts.com<mailto:l...@lisasieverts.com> On 23 Nov 2022, at 9:30, Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers wrote: > "during the average contra evening, you will spend approximately 30 minutes > swinging" > > Tangent: I thought "that can't be right" but a little playing with numbers > and I think it is. My back of the envelope: guess ~12 dances, each ~17 > times through, with ~20 beats of swinging per dance. That's 4k beats of > swinging, which at 118bpm is 35min. Another way to think of it is that in > a 3hr evening half of your time is dancing and a third of that is swinging. > > Jeff > _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-le...@lists.sharedweight.net>
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