Sometimes I first do a circle mixer such as Lucky Seven which has a
Grand Right & Left to the 7th person, or a square with a Grand Right &
Left (or Grand Chains as we call them over here in the UK) to get used
to the weaving flow of a hey.
I heard the expression "swimming through people" from someone and like
using it.
I find using hands can really help, but then a lot of beginners offer
the wrong hand when they turn, so I emphasise that they shouldn't offer
a hand when you turn; the person coming out of the set has the right of
way and knows which way to go - take the hand they offer you.
The momentum from the hand contact usually makes people turn the right
way; when you drop the hands then eye contact is great - just keep your
eyes on the last person you pass and you will turn the right way.
There are a lot more heys than the ones listed earlier: three-person
(e.g. #1 man with the two ladies in a Proper dance) occurs in longways
sets, and in other formations any number of people can be involved!
There are also Ricochet Heys, Tapsalteerie Heys (only one couple doing
the ricochet each time), Dolphin Heys and so on.
That is why it helps to teach the principles: swim through the people,
only turn at the end of the line, use eye contact to turn the right way,
loop on the turns to give room for the other people.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 &
07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
Donna mentioned Delphiniums and Daisies, which is one I use often when teaching
a hey.
I'll just mention that the Tanya Rotenberg, author of the dance, strongly prefers
dancers in B1 to move directly into a long swing rather than interrupting the
flow with a balance.
That allemande left in A1 does a nice job of undizzifying the continuous clockwise
motion of the swing/circle/allemande R sequence at the end of the dance.
David Millstone
I like Delphiniums and Daises to teach the Hey for beginners. I try to
introduce the Hey in the third or fourth dance which means that I've already
introduced all the other figures in this dance to the dancers so that they
only have one new figure to learn. (And the other figures in this dance
are easy).
I like the ease of having all the dancers facing across the set to begin
the hey and that the dancers are anchored by being with their partner at the
start and finish of the move. I verbally say "Go across the set, turn
around and come back without bumping into anyone." (humorous moment breaks
any tension about learning a new figure)
And then we walk it through "Ladies cross the set passing each other by
the right and pass your neighbor (Gent) by the left, Gents cross the set
passing each other by the right and pass your Partner (the Ladies) by the
left" and so on. Sometimes I just tell the Gents to follow their partner
If they are still having trouble with that then I don't hesitate to do a
demo (reminding dancers to only watch one person so they can see the
individual's path).
I personally don't like to compare the Hey to the Ladies Chain because
I've seen men try to Courtesy turn the lady approaching them when hearing it's
like the Ladies Chain.
Delphiniums and Daises Tanya Rotenberg Improper
A1. 8 Neighbor allemande L 1½
8 Ladies chain to partner
A2. 16 Hey (LR, NL, GR, PL)
B2. 4,12 Partner balance, & swing
B1. 8 Circle L ¾
8 Neighbor allem R 1½
Donna Hunt
In a message dated 2/19/2012 4:03:10 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
holt.e(a)comcast.net writes:
Hey all,
Can you think of other dances that meet all or most of the criteria that
have been listed in this thread, including Dan's, and that are generally
good dances for beginners?
Thanks for your suggestions,
Rickey Holt,
Fremont, NH
-----Original Message-----
From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
[mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Dan Pearl
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2012 3:21 PM
To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] Heys for new dancers
Yes, Flirtation Reel is a lovely dance, but there are a few things about it
which make it a bit less than ideal for dancers' first exposure to heys.
First, the transition from the up-the-center to the hey provides no
momentum/flow guidance about which shoulder to pass to start the hey. For
the first hey dance, I'd prefer one with stronger flow at the moment of
initiation.
Second, the series of passes (NR, 2's L, Same sex R, 1's L, etc.) is not
only different from most heys (which have same-sex in the center [because
they are equal dances]), but the series of passes seems to be a bit harder
to grasp in the same way that the differing roles of unequal dances bumps
up
the complexity of the sequence a bit.
For my money, a hey dance that satisfies my requirements is a modified
"Roll
in the Hey". The original is:
A1 circle left; swing neighbour
A2 circle left three quarters; swing partner
B1 long lines go forward and back; half ladies chain across
B2 hey for four, ladies pass right to start Lately, I have been calling it
A1 Dosido neighbor; swing neighbor. This is much more forgiving than the
Hey/Circle (full) left combination.
This dance features a Ladies Chain immediately before the hey, and the
women's track is essentially the same as the hey. I use this similarity
when
I walk through the dance.
Dan
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As the caller for the chestnuts session, I simply should have broken the long
lines for all the dances in half, as we did with Money Musk, the next to last
dance. With that dance, we were able to get everyone to be an active couple.
I was impressed with the relative ease at which this setting up the sets took
place; last year, we used small orange cones-- thank you, Linda Leslie-- to make
a separation between the top set and the bottom set in a line, but dancers managed
to create a space with no visible marker, and hold on to that separation.
I should have done that with the other dances, too. It would have made it possible
for everyone to be active without resorting to the solution that Luke suggests.
Lesson learned.
Notorious played some terrific music for the session. I was struck with the final
times through Hull's Victory, where the band went from key of D to Eb to E to
F. Whew!
For those interested, we danced:
Petronella
Rory O'More
Hull's Victory
Morning Star
Money Musk
Chorus Jig
David Millstone
--- Beth wrote:
The key to not having the sets re-merge is to make sure that the first set has
an odd number of couples in it.
--- end of quote ---
True, if the dance is a duple minor; I don't think that's the case, though, for
triple minor dances: Money Musk, Sackett's Harbor, British Sorrow, Market Lass,
Jamie Allen, Careless Sally, Doubtful Shepherd, older versions of Lamplighter's
HP, and so on.
For duple minor dances, in conditions such as the packed floor at the Dance Flurry,
it might be possible with the assistance of a few skilled floor managers to set
up long lines, have dancers take hands four, break the sets midway down the hall,
and then bring the last couple from the far end of each set in the back of the
hall to become last couple in the front set, still maintaining that wide alley
between the sets.
David Millstone
Hello all,
I've just returned from the Flurry, where among other wonderful things, I
got to dance a Cracking Chestnut's session. I was struck by the constant
need to shorten the sets and make more sets. The Chestnuts are popular.
Even using the width of the hall, I know there were some 2s that never
became 1s for some dances.
Several of the Chestnuts end with a Right and Left across and back. If you
changed that to a pass through, with new neighbor courtesy turn; pass
through, with new new neighbor courtesy turn; you'd add two more
progressions to the dance, moving dancers up and down the hall much more
quickly.
Adding a new move to a Chestnut might seem the most egregious of
anachronisms, and/or it might help dancers enjoy them when the sets are
long. I imagine the idea of adding progressions to Chestnuts is not new. Is
it important to dance the Chestnut as close to form as possible, and any
deviation defeats the purpose? Or is the joy of Chestnuts the time-tested
match of moves with tune?
I'd really like to hear others thoughts. Thanks
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
www.lukedonev.com
Read said "Perhaps I'm not picturing this correctly, but anything that
encourages dancers to give weight with the outstretched arm is something
I would discourage. When I teach the swing, I go out of my way to teach
that the outstretched hand is purely decorative, that you're not giving
any weight there."
Perhaps looking at the picture will help. You can find it at
http://www.amazon.com/Zesty-Contras-Selection-Provocative-Explanatory/dp
/images/B00072379M
Click on the picture a couple of times and wait for it to load the
higher resolution version and you can see it clearly.
The arms that would normally be outstretched are NOT outstretched!
No, you don't give weight there. You should keep your own balance in a
swing.
Centrifugal force is what generates pressure against the areas of
connection - primarily the man's right hand on the lady's left
shoulder-blade. Having the connection at each other's elbows provides
another area where the centrifugal force can be resolved. It is very
comfortable and very easy to swing faster in this hold.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 &
07802 940 574
http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive Events, Instructional DVDs and
Interactive Maps
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
I'm with John Sweeney. I love to swing in more-or-less the position that is depicted
on the Zesty Contras cover. I'd encourage the women not to rest their hand where
it's shown in that illustration, though; a better place in most situations is
somewhere in the vicinity of my right shoulder blade, so that the woman's left
hand and arm are supporting herself as much as my outstretched right ones. I keep
my left thumb closer to my other fingers, too, to avoid a death grip squeezing
on my partner's right arm.
I love this swing for many reasons. With our joined arms, we can make a small
circle and I like the rounded feeling. Also, as Larry Jennings pointed out, such
a swing is much better for crowded halls; your outstretched arms won't smash into
someone else (or be smashed into), you're taking up less space, and that circle
of arms and bodies that you make is sort of a protected zone that you and your
partner inhabit.
David Millstone
Lebanon, NH
When I learnt contra dancing (after 30 years of dancing other forms of
traditional dancing) I was shown the swing hold from "Zesty Contras" -
depicted on the cover and described on page 15 as "a modified ballroom
position with the man's left hand near the woman's right elbow as shown
in the "Zesty Contras" logo".
I would describe it more as the man's left hand cupping the lady's right
elbow, with the lady's arm lying on the man's arm, and her hand curving
round his upper arm just above the elbow.
I find it an excellent way to swing because:
- it brings you closer together
- it reduces the angle between your bodies and makes it easier to look
at each other
- it provides more support for the lady by holding her elbow
- it takes up less room on a crowded dance-floor
I just spent a weekend in America dancing with 350 people. I use this
hold all the time in a standard swing, but when I initiated this hold
most of the ladies didn't seem to know where to put their arm and hand.
When I watched other dancers I didn't see anyone else doing it.
Can anyone tell me why this wonderful hold, which appears to have been
the standard 30 years ago, has virtually disappeared?
Thanks,
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 &
07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk <http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/> for
Dancing in Kent
The SharedWeight list grew out of a callers' class at Pinewoods. The impetus for
setting up the list was to provide a way for callers to support each other. The
list includes many who are relatively new to the caller's mic, plus others who've
been calling for some time
I recently found something relevant by Ira Glass, host of "This American Life"
on public radio, and would like to bring it to the attention of new callers in
particular. He's talking in particular about storytelling, making videos, but
his comments apply to any creative endeavor, such as calling dances.
David Millstone
Lebanon, NH
=== quoted material follows:
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of
us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there
is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good.
It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing
that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints
you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know
who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work
doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this.
And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know
its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself
on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going
through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as
good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone
I've ever met. It's gonna take awhile. It's normal to take awhile. You've just
gotta fight your way through."
--Ira Glass
===
Here's a video clip of him talking, from which these quotes were taken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY
If you want to see the words animated:
http://vimeo.com/24715531
