Once again, I'm with Seth. On Thu, Jun 12, 2025 at 4:23 PM Tepfer, Seth via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote:
> First or second dance of the night. > Sent from my iPhone > > On Jun 12, 2025, at 4:05 PM, Lisa Sieverts via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > Great answers, thank you for replying so quickly. > > Is this a good first dance of the evening? Last dance? Somewhere in the > middle? > > Let me know what you think. > > Lisa > Nelson, NH > > Lisa Sieverts > 603-762-0235 > [email protected] > > On 12 Jun 2025, at 15:50, Winston, Alan P. wrote: > > Hi, Lisa, et al. > > Karen Missavage (as was; she's Karen Dunnam now) posted on > rec.folk-dancing in 1999. > ------------------------------ > > Favors the Rose (aka The Fan Dance) > Formation: Line of gents on one side of hall, line of ladies on the other. > > Your honored person (costume contest winner? the President? the host?) is > placed at the top of the set in the middle, and presented with the favor. > (Fake > roses work well, and are more durable than a fan. This weekend we'll be > using a > plastic pumpkin.) Two people of the complimentary gender leave their line > and > stand on either side of the victi--I mean, the first whatever. S/he > assesses > the two others, makes a decision, and hands the favor to the first > runner-up. > The selected one and the selector dance down the set, and join their > respective > lines. The FRU steps to the center of the set, and the process is repeated > for > the other gender. > The CW people go nuts over this. It's the only dance some of the younger & > shyer ones will do. I usually tell them that under no circumstances may > they > toss the favor to the third person in line and then take the top four > people, > so this puts the idea in their heads. Sometimes there is pantomined > pleading, > down on one knee, sweeping hat gestures, outrageous flirting (fanning, > ankle > displays). A couple weeks ago a woman took a look at the guy on the left, > then > the one on the right. She tossed the flower up in the air and ran away from > them down the set! Yours truly has been known to abscond with a handsome > soldier, or the favor-holder. > This can be a work-out for the band, but it's a nice break from calling and > instructing and teaching. N.B. do not bring out three chairs for them to > sit > in. They get too comfy and it takes too long. > --Karen M. > in Ann Arbor > > Here's a video Karen posted in 2020: > https://pie.yt/?v=https://youtu.be/9LBLZejhpnU?si=X38-ALXBLts5p5yo&pieshare=1 > ------------------------------ > > Here's what Neil Schein posted on this list in 2023: > > Favor of the Rose > -Line up three chairs and get a rose (or whatever). > -Form two lines of people, one on either side (any criteria, inequal is 💯 > fine). > -Position the bride or groom in the middle chair and give them the rose. > -Bring two people from one line and have them sit. Center person gives > rose to one, dances up center with the other. > -Remaining person moves to center chair. Repeat, alternating lines. > > To answer your question: > > There is no set tune, there is no timing, there is no phrasing. Have the > band play something lively that won't wear them out becauses it might go on > a long time - I'd thikn they could do a medley they'd use for a contra > dance, or whatever they like. Crooked tunes are okay. > > I don't think this dance is really a dance in the sense you're thinking > of. It's a game. > (That is, there's hardly any figures and there's not necessarily any set > timing, depending on the crowd.). It's more of an improv opportunity where > the people at the head of the line try to get the one holding the token to > choose them. > > If you want it to be strict timing and very active, you can get people > doing the whole thing in 8 bars (seen in the video, I think.). If it's a > playful crowd and they want to goof with "choose me!", etc, etc, phrasing > goes completely to hell and you as caller may have to urge them to make a > decision. > > I've only called it a couple of times, for CIvil War dances. And it turned > out that the reenactors around here had no tradition of doing it and didn't > want to do do drama or improv, so we got htings moving pretty fast. At 8 > bars a time,; you can do it a lot of times. If I were doing it now for a > wedding / ONS etc - here in the SF Bay Area, where all our contras are > "larks and robins" I would really consider the crowd if I were going to do > it at all, and I'd strongly consider whether the business of lining up > gender-presentations should really be a thing. > > -- Alan > ------------------------------ > > From: Lisa Sieverts via Contra Callers > [email protected] > Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2025 11:55 AM > To: Shared Weight Callers > Subject: [Callers] How to run The Fan Dance? > > BEWARE: This email originated outside of our organization. DO NOT CLICK > links or attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content > is safe. > > Hi all, > > I’m doing a wedding anniversary dance in a week and I think The Fan Dance > would be good. But I can’t remember the details of how it goes. > > I’m thinking of the dance where there are three chairs in a row and two > lines of people. One person sits in the middle chair, and one from either > line sits next to them. The middle person holds a fan or other chotke. The > middle person chooses one person to give the fan to and then dances with > the other person. > > But what’s the timing and what kind of music? I used to do this a lot when > I lived in Idaho but haven’t called it in eons. > > Thank you! > Lisa > Nelson, NH > > Lisa Sieverts > 603-762-0235 > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > -- www.huntandallison.net http://thsmaritime.com/ www.centralhallcommons.org
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