> On Sep 30, 2019, at 5:09 PM, Bill Baritompa via Callers
> wrote:
>
> Hi Becky, John and all,
>
> I think it is slightly more complex.
> Have a look at the young dancer here
> https://youtu.be/sFVToeQdCPY?t=385
> She does not look awkward and the flow is good.
>
> ...
I still think
Becky Liddle via Callers wrote:
> What was helpful to me to begin to feel/notice flow were comments from the
> caller during the walk-thru that primed me to pay attention to flow: things
> like “when we dance this to music, you’ll notice that your momentum from the
> ___ move carries you right
I'd expect a contra dance tempo in the 80s to feel not merely slow, but
excruciatingly slow, especially if in the low 80s. To get an idea, try playing
one of the Youtube videos in the slower half of the list I posted on Wednesday
afternoon, and then use YouTube's "Settings" control (click on th
While looking for more videos of contra dancing in Denmark, I instead came
across a video in which Danish caller Else Bach Nielsen calls a
New-England-style square (coincidentally written by Tom Hinds) to the music of
visiting American band Phantom Power:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ
I looked for videos of contra dancing in Denmark and found these three:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hhxwVuoI2g (119-120 BPM)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4KB-uSWkKc (117-118 BPM)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03ALEBBtUbc (~113 BPM)
These all seem to be from the same even
Becky,
I may be off-base about this, and I'd welcome differing opinions from other
list members, especially if they're based on actual experience, but I expect
you would find some dancers who seemed *amazingly* resistant to dancing a
hash-called recovery routine of the sort that you describe.
On Sep 21, 2019, at 1:14 PM, I (jim saxe ) wrote, in
response to Rich Sbardella's question about tempos for (New England) squares
vs. for contras:
> My impression, though I don't have solid data to back it up, is ...
To illustrate the difficulties of gathering solid data on such matters, here's
Rich,
My impression, though I don't have solid data to back it up, is that in
communities where it is (or was) common to mix contra with New-England-style
phrased squares, the tempos for the squares tend(ed) to run pretty similar to
tempos for contras in the same community, or perhaps just a li
The March 1975 issue of _Sets In Order_ magazine has this on page 39;
CHEROKEE ROAD (42)
By Ken Down, Scotia, New York
Heads right and left thru
Cross trail thru
Separate go around two make a line of four
Just the boys roll a half sashay
Just the girls roll a ha
In discussions among dance callers and organizers, online and off, a variety of
topics come up from time to time that might be grouped under the heading of
empowering people (especially new dancers) to say "No". Some examples:
* Assuring new dancers that it's ok to decline an invitation
There are some adjustments that people can make to compensate to inability to
move quickly, for example allemanding just halfway instead of once and a half;
swinging just halfway around instead of once and a half or twice and a half (or
zero times instead of once, twice, or more); skipping a mov
Thanks to all who have offered comments, on-list and off, about using music
during a contra dance newcomers' orientation.
I have follow-up questions to some of the things people have said. I also
welcome anybody's additional comment on any aspect of the subject, whether or
not they relate to m
I'd like to hear from any of you who can share experience or advice about
making use of music during the introductory lesson (a/k/a "new dancers'
orientation", "beginners' workshop", etc.) that often precedes a regularly
scheduled contradance.
What source of music do you use? (Recorded music pl
On Aug 29, 2019, at 9:22 PM, K Panton via Callers
wrote (re teaching about the relation of dance
figures to the music):
> As it happens, I'm calling a regular contra evening in a few weeks and I'm
> going to experiment, right off the top of the beginner session, by playing a
> tune (i.e. star
On Aug 18, 2019, at 7:33 AM, Linda S. Mrosko via Callers
wrote:
> I think I'll focus on quickly saying something like the difference between
> reels (animated alligators) and jigs (all the kings horses...) ...
Linda,
I presume and hope that if you use "animated alligators", "all the kings ho
On Aug 18, 2019, at 7:33 AM, Linda S. Mrosko via Callers
wrote:
> And 4 potatoes. Anybody got a good 4 potatoes story?
I have one.
You may think that "4 potatoes" is an old traditional name for that little
sequence of fiddle shuffles sometime used to start off a tune. San Francisco
Bay
Linda,
I'll hazard a guess that the request to lead "dances that encourage really
paying attention to beat counts" is really a request for dances that keep
everyone dancing together in time to the phrasing of the music. I think that
skilled contra/ECD/Scottish/... dancers who dance to the phra
I rather like the term Greg Frock's suggestion (not claimed to be original) of
"Thread the Needle". While I've heard "Thread the Needle" used with other
meanings, I think there's little danger of confusion in the contra context,
especially since that the action is rare enough that the caller wi
I believe the star would be once around. Note that the Gents/Larks would chain
by the left hand, ending on the left of their respective neighbors.
--Jim
On Aug 2, 2019, at 1:37 PM, DAVID HARDING via Callers
suggested
> A1 N B&S
> A2 Down hall, turn as couple, up hall
> B1 Circle RIGHT 3/4, s
A nice easy dance for introducing Contra Corners is "Down by the Riverside" by
Melanie Axel-Lute:
http://www.maxellute.net/down.html
The dance is a progressive 3-face-3, ending with a basket swing in B2 after
which dancer open out with anyone in the middle, facing a new threesome. Like
E
On May 18, 2019, at 11:28 AM, Rich Dempsey via Callers
wrote, regarding flat-hand allemanders:
> ... I still don't understand what those people are thinking.
The question of "what those people are thinking" often comes to my mind in
relation to dance style points in general. A caller (wheth
On Mar 28, 2019, at 2:39 PM, Bob via Callers
wrote:
> ...
> Live or mixed recordings? If live then it should be perfectly square AABB. If
> mixed, the only thing you can count on is 8-beat phrases. ...
Can you even count on 8-beat phrases if someone, such as a caller or a
knowledgeable DJ, ha
On Mar 24, 2019, at 9:52 PM, I wrote:
>
> The term "Left Star Thru" was indeed sometimes used in to refer to a varian
> of Star Thru using the gent's right hand and lady's left.
Ooops. Of course, I meant to say "... a variant of Star Thru using the gent's
_left_ hand and lady's _right_.
--Jim
On Mar 24, 2019, at 9:51 PM, Don Veino via Callers
wrote:
>
> I think I've actually heard Arizona Twirl from somewhere as well.
>
> In the interest of keeping the lexicon as small as possible, why not just say
> "with inside hands, twirl to swap" or similar?
>From the position of facing coupl
On Mar 21, 2019, at 2:29 PM, Rich Sbardella wrote (in part):
> Many MWSD calls have left versions. For example Pass Thru (by right
> shoulder) and Left Pass thru (by left shoulder). Swing Thru is another.
> Swing thru is turn half by the left, half by the right, but Left Swing Thru
> is tur
On Mar 21, 2019, at 12:02 PM, John Sweeney via Callers
wrote:
> Hi Seth,
> 1) Larry Jennings has a whole section on this in Give-and-Take.
> Page 42: Effective Lingo.
>
> He suggests that you don’t need any fancy names. Just use
> “Twirl to Swap”. As you do the wal
Alexandra Deis-Lauby wrote:
> If the figure is new to your dancers, use a triplet (by David smuckler) or a
> three facing three (Melanie axel lute wrote one). Contra corners is much
> easier in that formation.
You can find Melanie Axel-Lute's "Down by the Riverside" here:
http://www.maxe
On Jan 7, 2019, at 9:26 AM, Jonathan Sivier via Callers
wrote:
>
> Back in the 1980's, when I first encountered dances with this figure, the
> term "Box Circulate" hadn't been coined as far as I know. I've only been
> hearing that term fairly recently (which could easily be 10 years or more
Allison,
Thanks for your answers. They were exactly on target at addressing the spirit
of my questions and were quite informative.
Thanks for clarifying that the issue about Mad Scatter was anxiety about not
finding new partners, and not about anyone being fixated on some idea like "I
want to
Good advice from both Alan and Rich. I agree with Rich that you could repeat
more than one well-received dance from last time.
Alan wrote:
> and have a couple slightly more challenging ones - with progression, etc - up
> your sleeve but without any emotional investment in actually using them.
On Apr 11, 2018, at 5:18 AM, Tom Hinds wrote:
> Jim, maybe the meager response was because you didn't give an example. And
> what does "the DL;TR crowd" mean?
I didn't give an explicit example in my 2014 message
https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/msg07945.html
b
On Apr 6, 2018, at 3:49 PM, Yoyo Zhou via Callers
wrote:
> I recall reading something, possibly from Jim Saxe on this list (and maybe
> from Larry Jennings?), about how in most dances without out-of-minor-set
> interactions, you come back into the set ... once - after progressing to the
> end
Luke,
You wrote:
> I'm especially curious if something similar exists in the square dance
> repertoire; specifically the figure used in B1
Ron Buchanan's dance "Heymania"
http://www.quiteapair.us/calling/acdol/dance/acd_210.html
includes interlocking heys similar to the your "all 8 half
An important thing to remember is that sometimes *you just can't
please everyone* no matter what you do. That applies not only
to issues that some would characterize as being about "political
correctness" (singing call lyrics; the "g-word"; gendered vs.
gender-free names for dance roles), but to m
Here's a dance that I think rewards good timing:
Brimmer and May Reel
by Dan Pearl
Duple improper contra
A1. Balance and swing (new) neighbor
A2. Right and left through
#1 couple swing
B1. Down the hall four in line (4!)
#1 couple (in center) C
Folks,
When I sent out my request back in May soliciting lists of
recommended tunes for patter squares, I wrote:
> ... If you got this query via a mailing list, please send
> tune lists directly to me and *not* to the entire mailing list.
> .., I'm trying to see which tunes get mentioned
> *indep
Folks,
This is a reminder about the query I sent out in May asking for
people's lists of recommended tunes for patter squares. If you
were thinking of sending me such a list, please do. While I've
gotten some responses, the number so far has been disappointingly
low. (If anyone knows of some ot
Linda Mrosko asked:
> As an aside -- how do you quiet a room with terrible acoustics full of loud
> people? Thanks!
John Sweeney replied:
> Last time I had the challenge of working with a room full of noisy
> youngsters (most of whom didn’t speak English) I just led by example,
> start
On Jun 15, 2017, at 3:08 AM, John Sweeney wrote:
> There is a very good example of the rollaway into a Docey-Doe, that Tony
> mentions, in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfZZdB2MyKs at 5:16. ...
And note how the start of the 'Docey-Doe" is described
in the narration: "From the circle, the ladi
Deborah Hyland wrote:
> > The next question I had was whether the circles got progressively bigger or
> > whether it was always circles of 4. Thanks so much!
And Tony Parkes replied, in part:
> One could conceivably use a Texas do-si-do (now called do-paso just about
> everywhere) with circles
The version of the "Docey-Doe" done by Shaw's exhibition
group, the Cheyenne Mountain Dancers, can be seen multiple
times in this video:
https://squaredancehistory.com/items/show/769
also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA-Qoipv-Kk
Tony Parkes wrote:
> ... the instructions in Shaw’
Clare,
I've called at the SF Free Folk Festival before. As Nick says,
you can expect to see a fair number of experienced contra dancers
there. This was true even last year, when S was also a one-day
event with the evening contra opposite the Palo Alto contra, and I
think the San Rafael contr
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