[Callers] Variation or Original Composition - A Question of Semantics

[Tom Hinds]

Isaac, you raise a very good question.  There are so many dances that the issue of originality is bound to come up.  

> Of course we're all going to have different opinions.  To those who have been on this list for some time I apologize for repeating myself.  Since you are relatively new I'll relay something I heard Ted S. say.  A dance has to have 50% new choreography to be new.  And Ted was looking at contras and squares of his day like Petronella and Hull's which had unique A parts and the same B.

Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 2, 2017, at 10:05 PM, Isaac Banner via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> 
> Hey all,
> 
> A question I've been mulling over for several months now is where the line blurs from "a variation of" to "a dance based on" to "a dance of my own" when writing contras.
> 
> For example:
> Last Hey (First Hey var.) - Paul Balliet and maybe Isaac Banner in a way?
> Becket, CW
> A1:  (8) Circle left 3/4
>        (4) Rings balance
>        (4) Pass through u/d
> A2:  (8) Ladies alle. left 1.5x
>        (4) Short waves balance
>        (4) Partner alle. right 3/4
> B1: (16) Ladies pass left, hey for 4
> B2: (16) Partner balance/swing
> 
> In this case, I took First Hey, shifted it off by a phrase, and changed what had then become the A2. I've called it at four or five dances out in the northwest now, and I've waffled back and forth between calling it "a variation of..." or "a dance of mine, based on..." and I'm still not sure on which I want to use. 
> 
> I'll admit I'm still fairly new to this list, but at least in the several months I've been following conversations here it seems fairly regular that I see someone put out a dance, asking if it exists, only to get several responses of "Oh, yes, I wrote that but with 8/16/32 counts different." I always feel like it must be exciting, in a way, to know that you and another caller both put together the same ideas, but I also would guess that it must be a little disheartening, in a way, to know that your newfound baby isn't quite yours and yours alone...heck, Newton and Leibniz both developed Calculus and 300 years later even that can't seem to be settled.
> 
> Over the last few years I've heard callers talk about when they consider a dance to be a unique sequence and the majority opinion seems to be if a full phrase is unique between the two, but I'm not sure that's always a hard and fast rule...
> 
> Anyways, I've been very curious what other people have to say on the topic. Please let me know what you think.
> 
> Thanks,
> Isaac Banner
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