Ah, the impacts of technology. I was recently calling for a contradance at
the Maine Social Forum. It was a crowd of primarily beginners, with only a
smattering of experienced folks. During one of the dances, one young man got
a cell phone call. He stepped out of line to take the call! His partner
carried on for a moment or two, but then the line started to break down. I
had to jump into the line and grab his partner - calling while we danced -
to keep it going. It worked. Fortunately I'd had a little practice on this
at another dance earlier this summer when an elderly gentleman simply
decided to step out and sit down during a - thankfully - very simple dance -
and I had done the same thing rather than stop or let the line crumble.
Just wanted to "share"
:-)
-cynthia
Hello everyone,
I apologize for the outage. In case you hadn't noticed, the server that
hosts SharedWeight had a power supply failure yesterday afternoon. I
scrambled to put a replacement together, and I'm nearly there.
Mail should now be working again, but the websites won't be back up until
tonight at the earliest.
Any mail sent over the past 24 hours will probably be automatically resent
by your mail server. If you did get a bounce, simply resend it. (If it
continues to error, it may take another hour or two for the DNS change to
fully propagate.)
-Seth
Hi all
I have a version of Steamboat Quickstep that seems to be a variant of the
version in CDM 1 (#7). My version is proper.
(A1) Down the center 4 in line (elbows linked), and backwards back to
place
(A2) Down the center 2-by-2 (1s lead)
1s only turn alone (this is the progression)
All back
(B1) Star Right once around
Star Left back (stars are hands across)
(B2) All Swing Partner
My question is: It seems awkward to end the swing, everybody proper, lady on
the right, and facing down the hall.
The version in CDM has the same problem.
Thanks for your help,
Rickey Holt.
On Thursday, August 31, 2006, there will be a special contra dance at
the Chesterfield Town Hall in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. This special
contra dance will be from 8:00PM-11:00PM, with a beginner's workshop at
7:30PM and will celebrate "Iron Dancer Weekend". "Iron Dancer Weekend"
is a special event that happens on Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day
Weekend, with five nights of contra dancing: Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday @ the Brattleboro Dawn Dance, and Monday @ the Nelson Town Hall
in Nelson, New Hampshire.
Music will be provided by the musical duo of Randy Miller on fiddle and
Dedo Norris on piano. The musical duo infuses the modern and
traditional styles of Cape Breton and New England to form a dynamic
dancing experience. With his modern style and rhythmic technique
calling with be provided by Jeff Petrovitch (Petro). Admission is
$8.00, $6.00 for seniors and students. For more information:
603-313-7197 or info.cdc(a)verizon.net. This special contra dance is
sponsored by the Chesterfield Dance Committee.
Hi Folks, Esp. those who responded to the family dance post.
I had a great time calling a dance in Gorham NH. The dance is held in a
converted church on the corner
of Rt 16 and Rt 2. The dance hall is small could hold mid 30s attendance
comfortably, though they have had 40+
I did call Do-SI-Three (Thanks Linda!) and several triplets early on
the first hour: we had 3 couples, the final 2 hours swelled to 24
dancers.
These were mostly experienced dancers so I was able
to call contras, circles, and squares with confidence ( my comfort
zone!)
There were smiles all around! The dancers really did not wish for the
evening to end!
(it was time to go watch the sky show!)
The band is excellent and very accommodating to the caller.
The dance is held 2nd Saturdays May-October
It's a good dance to bring your whole bag of tricks. Could be a family
dance, it could be a real
stomper!
Thanks to all,
Gale
Hi Rickey and others,
I use Sherry's Family Contra often in settings with lots of kids and/or adults
with little contra experience. It is a legitimate, bona fide contra dance, and
for that audience is probably the most failsafe contra I have in my repertoire.
Indeed, I taught it just this week for a class of 8 & 9 year olds at a dance
camp, a class that included several kids who were not enthusiastic dancers. They
all did just fine. Barb Kirchner posted the dance a year ago on the
trad-dance-callers list:
Family Contra (Sherry Nevins)
A1 Balance ring 2x, circle left 1x
("Go IN... and OUT... and IN... and OUT)
A2 Balance ring 2x, circle right 1x
B1 DSD with neighbor, DSD with partner
B2 DSD 1.5 as a couple
This isn't a dance to call for the hard charging aerobic contra crowd-- as you
can see, there's no swings in it (gasp!) and yes, Rickey, you're right, they'll
plow right through that final figure and would want to do something more. But in
its family setting, it can indeed take kids and their parents a full 16 counts
to negotiate the figure.
David Millstone
> From: Cortni Frecha <cortni(a)arrowmaker.org>
> Lark in the Oven - unknown source
"Lark in the Oven" was written by Robert Cromartie to honor Amy Larkin, when she was pregnant with Silas.
--
Robert Jon Golder
164 Maxfield St
New Bedford, MA 02740
(508) 999-2486
Lark in the Oven - unknown source
duple improper, contra, intermediate, chunky reels
A1 N balance, box the gnat
N allemande R 1-1/2x to long waves M face out
A2 Rory O'More balances
B1 N allemande R 1/2
M cross by L, swing P
B2 R/L through
Circle L 3/4, pass through
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sautee Swing - Barb Kirchner
becket, contra (backwards progression), intermediate,groovy reels/jigs
A1 LL F&B
R/L through
A2 Circle L 1x
Slide L, Circle L w/new N -3/4
B1 Gyp/swing or Bal/swing N
B2 Gents allemand L 1-1/2
Swing P
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tica Tica Timing - Dean Snipes
becket, contra, easy-intermediate, happy reels/ B1&2 balances
A1 Circle L 3/4, N swing
A2 Promenade
Ladies chain
B1 Balance ring/Petronella x2
B2 Balance/swing P, slide L
Hi callers,
I am planning to use a dance soon that I have just collected. Has anyone
called Family Contra by Sheri Nevins? It has a neat progression in B2.
The active couple faces the inactive couple and they dos-si-do around each
other as couples 1 ½ times to progress. The figure takes up the entire B2.
Has anyone found that there is too much music for the figure? If so, how do
you deal with that?
Does anyone remember Daybreak Reel, by Michael McKernan of the old Apple
Jack band. My notes have B2 as ladies chain over (and not back) balance and
right hand star ½ way. Is there really a balance in there? If so who with?
And is the star a hands across star looks like a good idea if it is.
Also, I have been using Bob Dalsemers January Mixer a lot. I wouldnt mind
doing it in August, except that it might be time for another dance. What
easy circle mixers do you like?
Thanks again,
This is a great resource,
Rickey Holt.
