[Callers] Fewer than 6 dancers - Ideas?

Kalia Kliban via Callers callers at lists.sharedweight.net
Tue Oct 4 13:59:11 PDT 2016


On 10/4/2016 12:09 PM, QuiAnn2 via Callers wrote:
> I recently called at a contra dance where we had exactly 6 dancers for almost the entire evening (one joined us later but only occasionally danced). This was unexpected as they usually have attendance in the 12-20 range. I was able to piece together a night of mixers, triplets, and oddball dances to make it work and the dancers were game for anything so it ended up being a fun night. But it got me thinking about what to do if only 4 dancers came to a dance (meaning even if I jumped in, we would only have 5 total dancers). In order to be better prepared for next time, I have a couple of questions.
>
> 1) Do you have any dances you can share that would work for 4 or 5 dancers? Or also dances for 6 dancers that are not triplets (have plenty of triplets). I have already collected Do-Si-3 and Haste to the Divorce, both of which I modified so that they would not progress.
> 2) Could a whole evening (3 hours) of dance be put together for just 4-5 dancers?
> 3) What preparation can be done by me in advance to help with this situation? It’s possible to talk with the organizer in advance about canceling the dance if only 4 or 5 dancers show up, however, this particular dance is a 75 minute drive one-way and I’d prefer to avoid the round trip if there won’t be enough dancers. For various reasons, any dance promoting that I do myself would be largely ineffective for this particular dance.
>
> Would love to hear about any ideas you can share. Thanks!

Domino 5 by Derek Haynes
5-person set, 4 in a square and one in the middle, thusly:
Top of hall
#2	#1
     #5
#3	#4

A1 1-4 #5 dances RH star with the dancers on the right (1,4)
    5-8 #5 dances LH star with the dancers on the left (2, 3)
A2 1-8 #5 passes #1 by R to start whole hey for 3 (5, 1, 3). 
Skip-change step is fun in the heys.
B1 1-8 #5 passes #2 by L to start whole hey for 3 (5, 2, 4).
B2 1-8 In 4 steps, 5 and 1 pass R shoulders to change places.  Then 1 
and 2, 2 and 3, 3 and 4.



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