[Callers] How would you teach this? What would you call it?

[Luke Donforth]

Alan, I agree that dolphin poussette is an apt description for what's going
on; and concur that it probably wouldn't help all the dancers (and less so
in Contra than in English, I think).

The star bursts as envisioned below definitely have a dolphin hey poussette
feel, with the two couples curving around each other.

Here's another triplet with a star burst.

Cabot Starburst Triplet
Formation: Triplet

A1 -----------
(1s improper, 2s and 3s proper)
(16) 1s & 2s Neighbor balance and swing (optional: 3s with partner)
End with 1s in the middle of the group of 3
A2 -----------
(8) Lines of 3, forward and back
(8) 1s & 3s Left hand Star
B1 -----------
(8) 1s & 2s Right hand Star
(8) 1s & 2s starburst; ladies lead out and to the right (1s & 2s swap); 3s
come up through the middle to the top (now 3-1-2)
B2 -----------
(16) Partner gyre and swing
New 1s face down, 2s and 3s face up

I spent an hour tonight rocking a baby to sleep; so there's another contra
with the figure; that gets rid of the star 3/4 that the last improper
formation had.

Star Burst Insomnia
Formation: Becket-CCW

A1 -----------
(6) Circle Left 3/4
(10) Swing neighbor
A2 -----------
(8) Long lines, forward and back
(8) Left Hands across star
B1 -----------
(8) Star Burst, gents lead out and curve left, ladies lead in
(8) With new neighbors, Right Hands across star
B2 -----------
(8) Women allemande right 1-1/2
(8) Partner swing

As a side note, about a decade ago, I wrote in to shared weight asking
about ladies allemanding before a swing; which hand works better? (And
started a long tradition of finding out someone else had already written
the dance in question.) This dance could go either way, depending on if you
started with a left or right hand star (switches who leads out, and the
direction of progression)

The thousand or so dances I have in Callers Companion are not exhaustive,
and reflect my own proclivities in collection and composition; but the
stats come out as
40 dances: ladies allemande right->swing
14 dances: ladies allemande left->swing

For comparison, on the gents side, I have
121 dances: gents allemande left->swing
2 dances: gents allemande right->swing

(I'm not counting the allemande to balance or gyre and swings, I'm just
looking at when they two happen in the same phrase) So while not as
strongly biased as the gents left->swing; the general consensus seems to be
that if the ladies are going to allemande into a swing, it's probably
better by the right hand.

Thank you again to Shared Weight for being a resource for all these years
(both the organizers and the contributors).

I'll refrain from posting any more star burst dances until I actually get
to call one for dancers ;-)
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