At Contra Dancers Delight Holiday this year, Dean asked Robert Cromartie to
call Our House and my husband Dave to video tape it so Dean would have a
video of the dance being danced.
Robert had never called it before and in our callers workshop we
"practiced" with him for calling it later that night. Some people were
concerned about the flow of the star into a Gypsy meltdown. It "feels"
like it would be a left shoulder gypsy, which of course won't 'melt' into a
swing. So we also discussed changing it to Balance and swing. In the end,
we stuck with Dean's original and I think it went fine, but I just wanted
to toss it out that there are those who "prefer" the balance. Sort of like
Delphiniums and Daisies - most people call that one with a Partner B&S but
it was written without the balance. So the "folk process" may be tweeking
Dean's dance a bit.
--
JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
"We are as gods and might as well get good at it!"
- Stewart Brand
>Cis Hinkle says "The Butterfly" is not quite suited for "Fan in the Doorway" Anyone know why? Seems I've danced it to that tune but it has been a few years!
>-Joe Micheals
>Seattle
I was startled to read I had an opinion on this subject until I read the original posting from 2010. I obviously didn't make it clear, but that comment about The Butterfly came from the author (the great Gene Hubert) in Dizzy Dances III, from which I was quoting. As I said in the post, at the time I had never called Fan in the Doorway (which I agree is a beautifully flowing dance).
Hey everyone,
I was talking to dean the other day and mentioned that more than one person had request edit his excellent dance, and asked whether it was ok to share it with everyone. So here is Our House, by Dean Snipes. Deb, I know I wrote that the star is 3/4, but it really is 1x.
Cheers,
Andrea
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
> I love this dance by Dean and am glad to share. Written for a contra friend who always said come over to our house! A real community builder.
>
> Our House
> By Dean Snipes
> Becket
> A1 M Alle L 1 1/2
> N Sw
> A2 Ladies chain to P
> Star L 1x and a step till the ladies can take R with another lady making a long lady wave in the center of the set.
> B1 all bal, ML, WR
> All (Rory) Slide, ML, WR-into a new star, W are looking at their shadow's back, P is in another star, far away, seemingly
> Star R 1x, men move along your home side a little to meet P
> B2 P B&Sw
>
I really like the flow of Becket Contras where the progression is a circle and then a slide into a circle with the next pair. Nice to watch the whole hall do it.
>
> Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 14:14:15 -0000
> From: "John Sweeney" <info(a)contrafusion.co.uk>
> To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Callers] Flow & Glide Contras
> Message-ID: <000001cf227c$8da40720$a8ec1560$(a)contrafusion.co.uk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am planning some workshops, for festivals here in the UK, with the title
> "Flow & Glide Contras: Dances with beautiful flow, connectivity and a
> smooth, satisfying glide." (Thanks to Sarah VanNorstrand and no doubt many
> others for the title!)
>
> I have lots of ideas already, but am always interested in finding great
> dances that I am not familiar with.
>
> If you don't mind sharing, please let me know your favourite ONE or TWO
> contras that fit this description.
>
