<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47556">Movements are best described with the minimal syllables possible with minimal jargon.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559"><span><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559" dir="ltr">"Mad Robin" became part of contra in the last ten years or so. Unless someone comes up with more succinct and descriptive words, we are probably stuck with "Mad Robin"</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559" dir="ltr">Actually now that I think about it, one could describe the Mad Robin action as "side gypsy"</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559" dir="ltr">"California twirl" predates my 1985 introduction to contra. One could say "twirl to swap," but that is not any more helpful for new dancers. California twirl is here to stay.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559" dir="ltr">Concerning "petromella" when I started contra dancing, callers teaching a dance, would almost always say something like "balance and shift one place and spin if you wish as in Petromella" and would prompt during the dance with "balance and spin" or "balance and shift." In the mid '80's we actually danced "Petronella" often enough so that most dancers knew from where it came. Only in the past ten years has some callers started calling the move Petronella. I will always teach and prompt this without reference to "Petronella" and avoid the unnecessary jargon</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47559" dir="ltr">There is no compelling reason to stop using gypsy.<br></div><div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47560"> </div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47984">Michael Fuerst 802 N Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217 239 5844<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_47985"><span style="font-size:small;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1450209021640_48145">Links to photos of many of my drawings and paintings are at www.ArtComesFuerst.com</span></div></div> <br><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 13px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"><font size="2" face="Arial"> On Tuesday, December 15, 2015 8:54 PM, Aahz Maruch via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:<br></font></div> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container">On Tue, Dec 15, 2015, Michael Fuerst via Callers wrote:<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> "Balance and spin" has the same number of syllables as "Petronella"<br clear="none">> and avoids unnecessary jargon<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Of course, some of us think that unless there's a compelling reason (as<br clear="none">possibly in the case of "gypsy"), keeping the old terminology is part of<br clear="none">the charm of folk dancing (in the generic sense, as opposed to IFD).<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Should we also get rid of "California Twirl" and "Mad Robin"?<br clear="none">-- <br clear="none">Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 <a shape="rect" href="http://rule6.info/" target="_blank">http://rule6.info/</a><br clear="none"> <*> <*> <*><br clear="none">Help a hearing-impaired person: <a shape="rect" href="http://rule6.info/hearing.html" target="_blank">http://rule6.info/hearing.html</a><div class="yqt3343323464" id="yqtfd83076"><br clear="none">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">Callers mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:Callers@lists.sharedweight.net" href="mailto:Callers@lists.sharedweight.net">Callers@lists.sharedweight.net</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net" target="_blank">http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net</a><br clear="none"></div><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>