[Callers] Ralph Page Style

[James Saxe via Callers]

I started contra dancing in 1980, so got in on the tail end of
the period when the "Chestnuts" were staples of the repertoire
and well known to many dancers.

The way I remember dancing the transition from the end of one
round of "Rory O'More" to the beginning of the next was for the
active dancers to end their swing by falling back to proper
sides, facing partner across the set, ready to cross and cast
down the improper side.  Commonly, instead of falling all the
way back into line at the end of B2, active dancers would fall
back (almost) to arm's length and catch hands so as to initiate
the crossing at he start of A1 with a little tug.  You can see
some examples here:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jPqECMr9Y8

For "Chorus Jig", I think the most common thing was to end the
swing in B2 side-by-side with partner, facing up, gent on the
left and lady on the right (thus on proper sides of the set),
ready to cast down the outside.  A variation I would occasionally
use was to finish the swing by falling back face-to-face with my
partner towards *improper* sides, catch hands (as described above
for "Rory O' More"), and pull by to proper sides, at which point
we would be facing out of the set and ready to start the dance
over by going down the outside.  (I don't recall whether I picked
that flourish up from someone or discovered it on my own, and I 
don't know how many other people ever used it.)  Looking at some
old videos of Chorus Jig

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O09f-3yGMuE  (1986)
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFnxKaBV_as  (1992)

I didn't spot any instances of the fall-back-improper-and-pull-by
flourish, but in this more recent video

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG9OWAsUb48  (2007)

you can see it done about 0:33-0:36 by the *second* active couple
from the top of the set in front of the camera (man with headband
and woman in blue and whit print dress).  


All these B2->A1 transitions flow very nicely for dancers wha
are familiar with them.  In all three of these videos, you can
also see examples of active men spinning clockwise after guiding
their partners into the initial cast.  You can also see some other
variations, some of which (and I'm not going to single them out)
may not have been entirely intentional.

I can't speak with any authority about how the transitions from
B2 to A1 in "Chorus Jig" and "Rory O'More" were commonly danced in
1970 or 1960, 1950, etc.

--Jim

On Oct 17, 2016, at 9:01 PM, Neal Schlein via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> 
> Richard, I also recall reading that comment about Page's opinion on Chorus Jig--I think it was in A Time to Dance, but might have been in Shadrack's Delight.
> 
> I find a ball room swing that ends facing up and casting down the outside (one’s own side) a lot of fun - but perhaps you mean if you end the swing facing down - that certainly doesn’t flow as well.
> Martha
> 
>  
> I was particularly thinking of an improper cast, yes, but the other depends on the specific choreography, partner, music, speed, and line spacing.  Sometimes it works just fine, as you say, but the floor pattern isn't as elegant and the relative speed can be all wrong for the dance narrative.   If you are swinging to improper and then are supposed to cast down, however, that's simply not possible from a standard ballroom swing; the best you can do is end the swing facing down and step apart to go down the outside.  Then the dance loses its visual structure because there's no actual cast.
> 
> It also doesn't work well if you are supposed to cross and cast--the timing changes because you are already close together, plus you need to disentangle.
> 
> I may have a somewhat unusual way of enjoying and assessing the flow of dances, because I always envision them from above as I dance.  I'll tolerate somewhat non-flowing choreography so long as the visual pattern created is crisp and elegant.  On the other hand, dances that don't create a distinctive and pretty floor pattern irk me greatly if the sequence isn't 100% natural.  (This includes just about every dance that needs the phrase "ooze" or "shift" to describe the progression. Circling to a slide, or promenading, or similar things are fine; "oozing" makes me think of radioactive sludge!)
> 
> Neal
> 
> 
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