Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Erik Hoffman]

First of all, I agree with Jim below: be careful of presenting dances 
that are a struggle for a large number on the dance floor.


Second, as mentioned, in the Pat Shaw dance, Walpole Cottage, dancers do 
visit all four corners, and the music fits that.  In my reduction of 
Walpole Cottage, Walpole Dollhouse, active dancers only visit two 
couples.  It would be possible to modify it so that dancers visit all 
four in the minor set by requesting a 40-bar tune, such as Little Billy 
Wilson (AABCC), or The Snoring Mrs. Gobiel (AABBC, I think), and 
others.  Here's the dance and it's modification:


Walpole Dollhouse
3 face 3 Sicilian Circle
by Erik Hoffman -- mostly lifted from Pat Shaw's Walpole Cottage

A1Lines of 3 forward & back (8)
 End four right hand star (8)
A2Middle people turn contra corners with two in opposite line
 End taking the "shortcut" (beeline) home to (original) lines of 3
B1Circle six half way
 Lines of 3 forward and back
B2Threesomes basket swing, end facing original direction

To modify it to visit all 4 corners, simply add a part (that 40-bar 
tune) and stick the two more corners in the third part:


A1 Same
A2 Same
B1 Next two contra corners
B2 Circle & F & B
C1 Basket Swing

This dance is very forgiving, as it doesn't really matter which corner 
people go to.  And the basket swing at the end is a chance to forgive 
all and start again.



~erik hoffman
oakland, ca


On 5/19/2013 6:19 PM, James Saxe wrote:

Aahz Maruch asked re Ron Buchanan's "Contra Corners Canon"
(or "Country Corners Canon"--I've seen both spellings and
don't know which one Ron prefers):


That sounds awfully similar to the Plus-level square dance call "Teacup
Chain", do you have a reference so I can check?  ...



and Yoyo Zhou replied:

It's probably similar in timing / phase shift but there are some 
differences:


teacup chain has the inactives at the sides (rather than the corners)
teacup chain has the ladies active (rather than the heads)


Also, CCC has pairs of "active" dancers always turning
in the middle in between turning one corner person and
turning the next corner person. In Teacup Chain, the
ladies go into the middle after turning head gents but
they go directly from the side gents to the head gents
without going into the middle first.  So CCC is not just
TC rotated by 45 degrees and with some of the gender
roles changed.

I've seen "Country Corners Canon" work well and give a
dancers a feeling of accomplishment when presented by a
skilled teacher to a suitably skilled and attentive
group of dancers, such as might be found at a workshop
session at a dance camp.  But I strenuously urge against
trying to present a square of this complexity to any group
of dancers until and unless you (the caller) have a proven
track record of calling more moderately challenging
squares to similar groups of dancers with good results.

On page 59 of his book _Give-and-Take_, Larry Jennings
relates an anecdote to which he gives the title "Ambitious
Caller Meets Cocky Dancers."  The dance sequence in the
anecdote is not named, but from the description, I think
it's almost certainly "Country Corners Canon."  (I suggest
that the identity of the caller in the story, if anyone
happens to know it, had best be left unstated.)  The scene
Larry describes is not pretty:

A few people found it exciting and rewarding to figure out
such a difficult figure ...  Others, finding it hopeless
..., just entered into a random walk and appeared to have
a good time.  However, there was an appreciable number who
struggled to understand the figure and, when they could
not, took on an air of resignation, and in fact, many of
them went home.

Unfortunately (in my opinion), when something of this sort
occurs in a community where most of the dances are contras
and where some of the dancers already have negative feelings
about squares, I think many of those dancers are likely to
interpret the incident as further indictment against squares
in general.  On the other hand, if an overly complex contra
(say, one with surprising end effects, unusual out-of-minor
set interactions etc.) fell apart, those same dancers would
think only that that particular dance was too confusing, or
that it was a poor choice for the occasion, or that the
particular caller had taught and called the dance poorly.

--Jim

___
Callers mailing list
call...@sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[James Saxe]

Aahz Maruch asked re Ron Buchanan's "Contra Corners Canon"
(or "Country Corners Canon"--I've seen both spellings and
don't know which one Ron prefers):

That sounds awfully similar to the Plus-level square dance call  
"Teacup

Chain", do you have a reference so I can check?  ...



and Yoyo Zhou replied:

It's probably similar in timing / phase shift but there are some  
differences:


teacup chain has the inactives at the sides (rather than the corners)
teacup chain has the ladies active (rather than the heads)


Also, CCC has pairs of "active" dancers always turning
in the middle in between turning one corner person and
turning the next corner person. In Teacup Chain, the
ladies go into the middle after turning head gents but
they go directly from the side gents to the head gents
without going into the middle first.  So CCC is not just
TC rotated by 45 degrees and with some of the gender
roles changed.

I've seen "Country Corners Canon" work well and give a
dancers a feeling of accomplishment when presented by a
skilled teacher to a suitably skilled and attentive
group of dancers, such as might be found at a workshop
session at a dance camp.  But I strenuously urge against
trying to present a square of this complexity to any group
of dancers until and unless you (the caller) have a proven
track record of calling more moderately challenging
squares to similar groups of dancers with good results.

On page 59 of his book _Give-and-Take_, Larry Jennings
relates an anecdote to which he gives the title "Ambitious
Caller Meets Cocky Dancers."  The dance sequence in the
anecdote is not named, but from the description, I think
it's almost certainly "Country Corners Canon."  (I suggest
that the identity of the caller in the story, if anyone
happens to know it, had best be left unstated.)  The scene
Larry describes is not pretty:

A few people found it exciting and rewarding to figure out
such a difficult figure ...  Others, finding it hopeless
..., just entered into a random walk and appeared to have
a good time.  However, there was an appreciable number who
struggled to understand the figure and, when they could
not, took on an air of resignation, and in fact, many of
them went home.

Unfortunately (in my opinion), when something of this sort
occurs in a community where most of the dances are contras
and where some of the dancers already have negative feelings
about squares, I think many of those dancers are likely to
interpret the incident as further indictment against squares
in general.  On the other hand, if an overly complex contra
(say, one with surprising end effects, unusual out-of-minor
set interactions etc.) fell apart, those same dancers would
think only that that particular dance was too confusing, or
that it was a poor choice for the occasion, or that the
particular caller had taught and called the dance poorly.

--Jim

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Yoyo Zhou]

On Sun, May 19, 2013 at 3:19 PM, Aahz Maruch  wrote:
> On Sun, May 19, 2013, Yoyo Zhou wrote:
>>
>> There's a Ron Buchanan square, Contra Corners Canon, that has all 4
>> heads visit all 4 sides as their contra corners. I don't remember the
>> details well, but the head ladies are turning each other in the center
>> while the head gents turn their corners and vice versa.
>
> That sounds awfully similar to the Plus-level square dance call "Teacup
> Chain", do you have a reference so I can check?  (If you don't get it
> today, I won't see it for a week ;-)

It's probably similar in timing / phase shift but there are some differences:

teacup chain has the inactives at the sides (rather than the corners)
teacup chain has the ladies active (rather than the heads)

Yoyo Zhou

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Aahz Maruch]

On Sun, May 19, 2013, Yoyo Zhou wrote:
>
> There's a Ron Buchanan square, Contra Corners Canon, that has all 4
> heads visit all 4 sides as their contra corners. I don't remember the
> details well, but the head ladies are turning each other in the center
> while the head gents turn their corners and vice versa.

That sounds awfully similar to the Plus-level square dance call "Teacup
Chain", do you have a reference so I can check?  (If you don't get it
today, I won't see it for a week ;-)
-- 
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6http://rule6.info/
  <*>   <*>   <*>
Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Yoyo Zhou]

There's a Ron Buchanan square, Contra Corners Canon, that has all 4
heads visit all 4 sides as their contra corners. I don't remember the
details well, but the head ladies are turning each other in the center
while the head gents turn their corners and vice versa.

(If anyone has the details, I'd be interested in collecting it!)

Yoyo Zhou

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Colin Hume]

On Sun, 19 May 2013 15:16:26 -0400, r...@rochester.rr.com wrote:
> Yes, Sags, Bob is asking about dances where each of the actives
> visits all four contra corners.  David Millstone called such a
> dance during the Puttin' on the Dance organizers conference. Alas,
> I don't know the name. It was a 3 facing 3 Sicilian circle
> formation, and it moved quickly.

I bet that was Walpole Cottage, which has already been mentioned.

Colin Hume

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Kalia Kliban]

On 5/19/2013 12:16 PM, r...@rochester.rr.com wrote:

Yes, Sags, Bob is asking about dances where each of the actives visits all four 
contra corners.  David Millstone called such a dance during the Puttin' on the 
Dance organizers conference. Alas, I don't know the name. It was a 3 facing 3 
Sicilian circle formation, and it moved quickly.

Rich


It's certainly not the dance you're thinking of, but Chris Sackett's 
"Pony Express" uses this pattern.  You can find it in his and Brooke 
Friendly's book Impropriety vol 3.  It's a dance for 3 couples in a 
ring, arranged with each person across the set from their partner.


Kalia

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[r...@rochester.rr.com]

Yes, Sags, Bob is asking about dances where each of the actives visits all four 
contra corners.  David Millstone called such a dance during the Puttin' on the 
Dance organizers conference. Alas, I don't know the name. It was a 3 facing 3 
Sicilian circle formation, and it moved quickly. 

Rich

- Reply message -
From: "Aahz Maruch" 
To: "Caller's discussion list" 
Subject: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?
Date: Sun, May 19, 2013 3:00 pm


On Sat, May 18, 2013, bob...@aol.com wrote:
>
>  I was talking with an older member of our dance community and he said
> it had been "a thousand years" since he danced a dance that had Contra
> Corners where the actives visited 4 corners. He could not remember the
> name.  I promised him I would ask.

I'm confused, don't the actives visit the four corners in a normal
contra corners?  Or do you mean *each* active visits all four corners?
-- 
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6http://rule6.info/
  <*>   <*>   <*>
Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html
___
Callers mailing list
call...@sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Aahz Maruch]

On Sat, May 18, 2013, bob...@aol.com wrote:
>
>  I was talking with an older member of our dance community and he said
> it had been "a thousand years" since he danced a dance that had Contra
> Corners where the actives visited 4 corners. He could not remember the
> name.  I promised him I would ask.

I'm confused, don't the actives visit the four corners in a normal
contra corners?  Or do you mean *each* active visits all four corners?
-- 
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6http://rule6.info/
  <*>   <*>   <*>
Help a hearing-impaired person: http://rule6.info/hearing.html

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Hanny Budnick]

And then there are Sackett's Harbor and the 3-facing-3 version of Mason's 
Apron...
Hanny

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[JohnFreem]

This was a very popular dance in Ann Arbor well into the mid 80s. Our 
Morris side used to improvise a bit. A favorite variation was to change 
direction 
at the end.

John B. Freeman, SFTPOCTJ

Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 Corners?

[Dorcas Hand]

Thanks to Keith Holmes, we just danced Walpole Cottage last night! Excellent 
fun.
Dorcas Hand
Houston, Texas

-Original Message-
From: callers-boun...@sharedweight.net 
[mailto:callers-boun...@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Alan Winston
Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2013 7:27 PM
To: call...@sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] Anyone know a dance that has Contra Corners with 4 
Corners?

Pat Shaw's three-face-three dance "Walpole Cottage" has a contra-corners with 
all four corners; I think both Erik Hoffman and Seth Tepfer have made simpler 
versions of it.

-- Alan




On 5/18/2013 5:10 PM, bob...@aol.com wrote:
>   I was talking with an older member of our dance community and he 
> said it had been "a thousand years" since he danced a dance that had Contra 
> Corners where the actives visited 4 corners. He could not remember the name.
> I promised him I would ask.
>
>   
>
> bob...@aol.com
>
>   
>
> ___
> Callers mailing list
> call...@sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

___
Callers mailing list
call...@sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

Re: [Callers] Teaching in Classroom

[Dan Pearl]

Arms folded in dosidos?  I don't "correct" it for three reasons:

1. I don't want to undermine the kids' model of what this dancing is all about. 
 In other words, I don't want the message to be "if you are doing THIS, then 
you are wrong". 


2. The folding of their arms keeps the kids from confusing the movement with 
any number of other movements that do use hands/arms, and that's a win in my 
book.

3. Unless they are doing a demo where uniformity counts for something, IT 
DOESN'T MATTER!  In picking my battles, this one is way, way down on the list!

Re: [Callers] Teaching in Classroom

[Delia Clark]

Hi Sue,
I did a wonderfully fun artist-in-residency project for two days with a local 
elementary school last spring, working with a few folks from our house band 
(fiddle, guitar and accordion), though a single fiddle would have been fine - 
I've done that with school groups too.  It's a small school so we doubled up 
grades: k-1, 2-3, 4-5 and I got to work with each group for almost an hour and 
a half each day, then on the evening of the second day there was a school-wide 
festival, which included a short dance featuring the dances I had taught the 
kids, and our full band came to play.  The idea was that the kids would spread 
themselves out and help their parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents and older 
siblings to learn the dances.  It was a complete blast.  

I ended up choosing Virginia Reel, Haste to the Wedding, and Simple Square, 
plus I taught them all to waltz.  There's hardly a cuter sight than 
kindergarteners waltzing with each other, and they REALLY got into it, many of 
them becoming quite accomplished!  For waltzing, I completely played down the 
boy/girl thing and just said to choose anyone (including teachers!), and 
switched partners often, but I did teach the ballroom position as an option, 
after mastering just holding two hands.  The other three dances were all 
accessible to the full range of K-5, especially because I encouraged them to 
dance with people from other grades, or their family members, at the big 
evening dance. 

I, too, really recommend the New England Dancing Masters series, books and CDs. 
 We have a kids/family dance every month and I've found those to be hugely 
useful. The three books/CDs I use by far the most are Chimes of Dunkirk, Listen 
to the Mockingbird, and Sashay the Donut as I prefer these to the games.  I 
just called the dance, Sashay the Donut, Friday night, in fact, to a group 
including wee 4 year olds and a somewhat disabled grandparent and they were all 
beaming - it just took a little longer!

Good luck and, mainly, have fun!
Delia


On May 18, 2013, at 4:03 PM, Sue Robishaw wrote:

> Hi,
>I've been asked to teach some dances in a local elementary school. It 
> would be grade by grade. Any suggestions/advice? I've called Family Dances 
> but not schools and am a bit hesitant. I'll have a fiddler for music.
>Thanks for any help!
>Sue Robishaw, U.P. of Michigan
> ___
> Callers mailing list
> call...@sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers


<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>:<>

Delia Clark
PO Box 45
Taftsville, VT 05073
802-457-2075
deliacla...@gmail.com

Re: [Callers] Greenfield Formation

[John Sweeney]

Polly said, "Here is a formation I used only once, I don't know if it
has a name... anyone familiar with it? Triplet: From proper line up:
Ones cross over improper, (face down or across as needed). Twos cross
over improper. Twos and Threes circle right 1/4 to Becket."

Umm... Isn't that just three couples in a circle?  There are countless
dances in that formation.

A nice contra in that formation is Alamo Triad by Bob Marr (it is in
"Give-and-Take").  Circles of three couples all the way down the hall,
with all the ones facing down; ones progress down the hall; twos and
threes progress up the hall.  Just make sure everyone is listening when
you tell them that when twos and threes reach the top they have to
decide who will be the next ones - if they both try to be new ones at
the same time it gets messy :-)

Happy dancing,
John

John Sweeney, Dancer, England j...@modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

Re: [Callers] Greenfield Formation

[Andrea Nettleton]

How does the dance go?
Andrea

Sent from my iOnlypretendtomultitask

On May 18, 2013, at 3:45 PM, P E  wrote:

> To the forum:  Here is a formation I used only once, I don't know if it has a 
> name... anyone familiar with it???
> 
> Triplet-  From proper line up: First couple are "ones", second couple are 
> "twos" third couple are "threes". 
> Ones cross over improper, (face down or across as needed). Twos cross over 
> improper.
> Twos and Threes circle right 1/4 to becket.
> 
> The purpose was to make a small longways-type set in which each couple (with 
> lady on the right) could progress counterclockwise. (Ones become twos, twos 
> become threes, threes become ones.) 
> 
> Polly
> 
> 
> ___
> Callers mailing list
> call...@sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

Re: [Callers] Teaching in Classroom

[David Harding]

Be sure you understand the teachers'/school's goals in the venture. Are 
they adding some variety to a unit on pioneers?  Are they doing a 
physical education unit on dance?  Do they have some time to kill and 
they want a day without making lesson plans?  If there is a specific 
educational goal, think about how to tie in your commentary.  For 
example, many of them will have read "Little House in the Big Woods", 
with its dance scene.


If you are teaching squares, remember that they are unforgiving in the 
number of dancers, and regardless of class size, you can't count on 
every student to show up.  That means you have to be prepared for 
flexibility.  Perhaps a few parents could be dragged in to fill out the 
squares as needed.


The Lloyd Shaw Foundation (http://www.lloydshaw.org/) has excellent 
materials for teaching traditional dance in schools.


On 5/18/2013 3:03 PM, Sue Robishaw wrote:

Hi,
I've been asked to teach some dances in a local elementary school. 
It would be grade by grade. Any suggestions/advice? I've called Family 
Dances but not schools and am a bit hesitant. I'll have a fiddler for 
music.

Thanks for any help!
Sue Robishaw, U.P. of Michigan
___
Callers mailing list
call...@sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers