[Callers] New Dance?

Mon Oct 2 15:19:42 PDT 2017

And here's the video!

You'll see that several dancers have "too much" time during the swing, but
also that everyone is starting the swing right on the B2, not earlier. Most
dancers are enjoying the swing for the full 16 beats, several stop
automatically after they've swung for 12.

Another note: this is at BIDA, where we've recently switched to the terms
Larks and Ravens.  The difference between who was dancing in which role
before the switch and a few months after is absolutely astounding to me
(and so wonderful!), though if you're not used to analyzing choreography
from a gender-free video, it could look a bit baffling! Just know that
there are many folks dancing in roles which don't align with the
traditional Gents and Ladies.

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/3br0WlZGyq0

On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 5:50 PM, Angela DeCarlis <aedecarlis at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks all! I have a video uploading to YouTube now of the dance's debut
> from last night, I'll post it here when it's done. You'll see that the
> dancers are using up the music for both the poussette and the star, at
> least in this crowd. Maybe it would be different for other (more advanced?)
> crowds, but I encouraged everyone to take their time, and it seemed to work
> out pretty well!
>
> While I like the dance of Ryan's, Maia, a big part of why I wrote this
> dance was because I was struggling to find a contra dance that included a
> pousette and *didn't* included any challenging figures (mad robins,
> ricochet hey, etc). I thought about including a walk-around before the
> partner swing, but the connection is already there, so I decided to just go
> old-school and let the dancers swing their partners for the full 16 beats.
>
> Angela
>
> On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 5:36 PM, Maia McCormick via Callers <
> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> Your dance doesn't look familiar to me (for whatever that's
>> worth)--though I agree with Dugan's point that experienced dancers will
>> take fewer that 8 counts to do that pousette and fewer than 8 counts to
>> turn the star 3/4 (probably a lot fewer!), so it will potentially be a
>> very, very long swing. If you care, you could potentially get around that
>> by doing a walk-around and swing to eat up that extra time. Or just leave
>> it and let the dancers sort it out!
>>
>> Agreeing with Dugan yet again, I've been calling that figure a "facing
>> star", which seems to work well and be descriptive.
>>
>> And if you're itching for a dance with pousettes and facing stars, I
>> premiered this one of Ryan Carollo's at YDW this weekend and folks seemed
>> to dig it:
>>
>> *Trip to Saratoga** by Ryan Carollo* || improper
>>
>> *A1:* half pousette w/ P (gents pull)
>> facing star 1¼ (gents fwd)
>>
>> *A2:* P walk-around & swing
>>
>> *B1:* half hey (gents by L), ladies ricochet
>> N swing
>>
>> *B2:* long lines & gents roll N
>> half pousette w/ P (ladies lead)
>>
>> Ladies be proactive to catch P's hand in B2. B2 pousette should be
>> leisurely or ppl arrive at A1 early.
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 5:09 PM, Bill Olson via Callers <
>> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Mac, Well "Gypsy Star" and "Gypsy Waves" are two other Ravitz dances
>>> that have the interwoven long wavy lines and the "Gypsy Star", not sure if
>>> there are more. Probably.. But as long as you brought it up, the problem I
>>> found that most dancers had with the figures was NOT the Gypsy Star but
>>> rather the woven waves which, to many, were a little too "intimate" for
>>> comfort..  Just my observation from admittedly a pretty small sample..
>>>
>>>
>>> bill
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* Callers <callers-bounces at lists.sharedweight.net> on behalf of
>>> Mac Mckeever via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
>>> *Sent:* Monday, October 2, 2017 8:53 PM
>>> *To:* Dugan Murphy; callers
>>>
>>> *Subject:* Re: [Callers] New Dance?
>>>
>>> Cary's dance is Woven Waves.  I really liked it and called it several
>>> times - and I hav also danced it on several occasions
>>>
>>> I stopped calling it because I was not getting good feedback on the star
>>> figure from the dancers.
>>>
>>> Mac McKeever
>>>
>>> St Louis
>>>
>>>
>>> On Monday, October 2, 2017, 3:30:07 PM CDT, Bill Olson via Callers <
>>> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Dugan and all, I don't know if Cary Ravitz actually "invented" the Gypsy
>>> Star but he wrote a dance entitled that and a lot of others that include
>>> it. Dugan, you're sort of Cary's protégé, right?, so you must know the
>>> dance. This is the same figure, correct??
>>>
>>>
>>> bill
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* Callers <callers-bounces at lists.sharedweight.net> on behalf of
>>> Dugan Murphy via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
>>> *Sent:* Monday, October 2, 2017 8:16 PM
>>> *To:* callers at lists.sharedweight.net
>>> *Subject:* Re: [Callers] New Dance?
>>>
>>> Hi, Angela,
>>>
>>> I've been calling the figure a "facing star," when I bother naming it at
>>> all while teaching or prompting it.
>>>
>>> Also, nice dance, though I suspect that since experienced dancers tend
>>> to take fewer than eight beats to do half poussettes and 3/4 stars, I
>>> suspect that dancers may end up swinging for as many as 20 beats.
>>>
>>> Dugan Murphy
>>> Portland, Maine
>>> dugan at duganmurphy.com
>>>
>>> <http://duganmurphy.com/>
>>> DUGAN MURPHY <http://duganmurphy.com/>
>>> duganmurphy.com
>>> Dugan Murphy is a nationally known contra dance caller, co-organizer of
>>> Portland Intown Contra Dance, a Maine Storyteller, and a non-profit
>>> consultant. He's based in ...
>>>
>>>
>>> <http://duganmurphy.com/>
>>> DUGAN MURPHY <http://duganmurphy.com/>
>>> duganmurphy.com
>>> Dugan Murphy is a nationally known contra dance caller, co-organizer of
>>> Portland Intown Contra Dance, a Maine Storyteller, and a non-profit
>>> consultant. He's based in ...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> www.DuganMurphy.com
>>>
>>> <http://www.duganmurphy.com/>
>>> DUGAN MURPHY <http://www.duganmurphy.com/>
>>> www.duganmurphy.com
>>> Dugan Murphy is a nationally known contra dance caller, co-organizer of
>>> Portland Intown Contra Dance, a Maine Storyteller, and a non-profit
>>> consultant. He's based in ...
>>>
>>>
>>> www.PortlandIntownContraDance.com
>>>
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>>> Portland Intown Contra Dance <http://www.portlandintowncontradance.com/>
>>> www.portlandintowncontradance.com
>>> Portland Intown Contra Dance is a weekly Thursday contra dance to live
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>>>
>>> Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2017 14:03:37 -0400
>>> From: Angela DeCarlis <aedecarlis at gmail.com>
>>> To: callers <callers at lists.sharedweight. net
>>> <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>>
>>> Subject: [Callers] New Dance?
>>> Message-ID:
>>>         <CA+h6_BYyybaF3qCeyDrJO1p=DLn9 x+CyJ75xEgGWiut3+4R+YA at mail.
>>> gmail.com <DLn9x%2BCyJ75xEgGWiut3%2B4R%2BYA at mail.gmail.com>>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>>
>>> Hey y'all!
>>>
>>> After a lovely weekend of both Contra and English at Youth Dance
>>> Weekend, I
>>> had an itch for programming some English-inspired choreography at BIDA
>>> last
>>> night. Since I didn't have a dance with the figures I wanted, I whipped
>>> one
>>> together on the drive home, tested it in the driveway, and debuted it
>>> last
>>> night. Success!
>>>
>>> Now the question, of course, is whether or not someone already wrote it!
>>>
>>> -===-
>>>
>>> Amble On East
>>> Becket CCW
>>>
>>> A1: Long Lines Forward & Back
>>>       Ladies Chain Across (to Neighbor)
>>> A2: Ladies Dosido 1x
>>>       Neighbor Swing
>>> B1: Give & Take, Gents draw Partner into 1/2 Poussette CCW
>>>       With NEXT, Gypsy Star* 3/4 (Ladies backing up)
>>> B2: Partner (Long) Swing
>>>
>>> -===-
>>>
>>> *Do we have a new name for this figure yet? I called it Gypsy Star in the
>>> walkthrough once or twice before realizing I should maybe figure
>>> something
>>> else out, and the phrase "Special Star" actually escaped my mouth, to the
>>> absolute delight of some of the dancers.  During the dance itself, I just
>>> called "Star."
>>>
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>>
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>
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