<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>The author of "Monkey in the Middle" is Sherry Nevins of Seattle.</div><div>Her original version is slightly different from the version</div><div>(collected by Lynn from Carol) in Val's recent message.</div><div><br></div><div><div> Monkey in the Middle, by Sherry Nevins<br> 9-person set: circle of 8, plus 1 in the middle<br><br> A1 Circle left (8)<br> Circle right (8)<br> A2 Into the middle & back (8)<br> Into the middle & back (8)<br> B1 One in the middle, swing [some]one [Ballroom,<br> elbow, or 2-hand swing. Choose fast!] (8)<br> Those 2, swing 2 [The swinging pair let go of each other, and<div> each swing someone new.] (8)<br> B2 Those 4, swing 4 [Each swings one of the remaining five. The</div><div> left-over person becomes the ...] (16)<br> New monkey in the middle. [The other eight] join hands and ...<br><br>In a message I have from Sherry, she wrote (in 2011):</div><div><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>... I found a page</div><div>from late December 2003 or early January 2004 headed "9 Pin Var."</div><div>with the dance written out ... It appears I first called</div><div>it (listed as "9 Pin Var.") at the South End Square Dance on</div><div>1/30/04. On 2/1/04 it was written on the set list for the Family</div><div>Dance as "Monkey in the Middle".</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Note that Sherry considers the formation to be a "circle" of eight--</div><div>rather than a "square"--plus one extra person. While Sherry got her</div><div>inspiration from traditional versions of Ninepin Reel, her dance</div><div>has no calls directed to "heads" or "sides", and there needn't be</div><div>any presumption that swinging pairs will be in opposite gender roles.</div><div><br></div><div>Another thing that distinguishes the dance from traditional versions</div><div>on Ninepin Reel is the sequence in the B part</div><div><br></div><div> One in the middle, swing [some]one<br> Those 2 swing 2<br> Those 4 swing 4<br></div><div><br></div><div>with the person left over becoming the new "Monkey in the Middle".</div><div>This contrasts with the usual method of choosing a new "ninepin",</div><div>in which five dancers race to dance with four potential partners.</div><div>The result of Sherry's method is that the person not chosen in one</div><div>round of the dance gets to be the first chooser in the next round.</div><div><br></div><div>The pattern of having 2, then 4, then 8 dancers swinging is</div><div>reminiscent of a "multiplication" (a/k/a "snowball") dance of</div><div>the sort sometimes done at wedding receptions or used as an</div><div>ice-breaker at teen parties. I can remember seeing such dances</div><div>in the 1960s, and I'm sure the idea wasn't new then. But so</div><div>far as I know, Sherry is the first to have integrated the</div><div>multiplication/snowball idea into a version of the ninepin</div><div>dance.</div><div><br></div><div>Sherry composed her dance as a 32-bar phrased sequence (though as</div><div>you can see, her version is just a little different from what Carol</div><div>apparently called at RPDLW). Some of the people who have since</div><div>spread the dance call it unphrased, for example Michael Ismerio</div><div>as heard in this video:</div><div><br> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg2xx9tkxmE">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg2xx9tkxmE</a><br><br>Note also that Michael only has dancers go in and back once</div><div>before the middle person starts the series of swings. It didn't</div><div>take many steps of folk processing to produce these differences:</div><div>Michael tells me he learned the dance from Sherry. While Sherry</div><div>understands that once a dance is released "into the wild", the</div><div>folk process will follow its course, I believe that if the dance</div><div>is published anywhere, she'd like her original phrased version to</div><div>be given.</div><div><br></div><div>The words</div><div><br></div><div> ... swing one.</div><div> Those 2 swing 2</div> Those 4 swing 4</div><div><br></div><div>are the way Sherry calls the action in the B parts. I use those</div><div>calls also. But during the walk-through, I explicitly tell the</div><div>first swinging pair to let go of each other and each swing</div><div>someone new. I do that because the very first time I called the</div><div>dance, I said "Those 2 swing 2 more" during the walk-through,</div><div>and I saw some people swinging in a basket of four.</div><div><br></div><div>Note, by the way, that the dance adapts very easily to a 10-person</div><div>version. Just have two people in the middle each time and have</div><div>them start the sequence of swings by swinging each other.</div><div><div><br></div><div>--Jim</div><div><br></div><div><div>On May 18, 2015, at 10:48 AM, Val Medve wrote (to the SharedWeight</div><div>callers' forum):</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Hi all. Several folks asked me off-line for the Monkey directions. Here's Lynn Ackerson's note and dance instructions, with her permission -- and our thanks. And thanks, too, to Rich Goss for his even speedier reply to my request! Val</font></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; "><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; "><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; ">From Lynn Ackerson:</div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; ">The [RPDLW 2015] syllabus will be available for sale soon. We usually wait a year before putting it online. But as a sneak peak, here's how the dance will look in the syllabus:</div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; "><br></div><h2 style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; "><a name="14d6733ae9b248cc__Toc419663205" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); ">Monkey in the Middle</a><u></u><u></u></h2><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 9pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">As called by Carol Ormand<u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 9pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Source: Unknown<u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 9pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Formation: Ninepin: 4 couples in a square, with an extra person (the “monkey”) in the middle<u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 9pt; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">Music: <i>Joys of Quebec</i> <u></u><u></u></span></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; "><b><i> </i></b></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 0.5in; ">A1 Circle left<u></u><u></u></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 0.5in; "> Circle right<u></u><u></u></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 0.5in; ">A2 Into the middle and back<u></u><u></u></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 0.5in; "> Monkey in the middle, swing someone<u></u><u></u></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 0.5in; ">B1 Those two separate and swing two more<u></u><u></u></div><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; "></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 0.5in; ">B2 Those four separate and swing four more; finish in a square with a new monkey in the middle<u></u><u></u></div><div><br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 9:32 AM, Val Medve <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:val.medve@gmail.com" target="_blank">val.medve@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex; position: static; z-index: auto; "><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; ">That was quick! </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; "><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; ">Two list members sent the instructions to me. Thank you! Val</div></div><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 8:32 AM, Val Medve <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:val.medve@gmail.com" target="_blank">val.medve@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex; "><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; ">At the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend (RPDLW) in January, Carol Ormand called a fun & silly little dance that I liked: Monkey in the Middle. I think there were 4 couples plus 1 extra person ("the monkey"). I don't think that the 2015 RPDLW syllabus is available yet online. Would anyone have instructions they're willing to share? Val Medve, Essex, Vermont (</span><a href="mailto:val.medve@gmail.com" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; ">val.medve@gmail.com</a><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; ">) </span><font color="#888888"><br clear="all"></font></div><font color="#888888"><div><br></div>-- <br><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">My new email address is <a href="mailto:val.medve@gmail.com" target="_blank">val.medve@gmail.com</a></div></div></div></font></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote></div><div><snip></div></div></div><div><br></div></body></html>