Hi All,
A few years ago I was playing with what I called a "Slingshot Hey." The effect is almost the same as Ricochet Hey in that it reverses the direction of a pair of dancers, but with an allemande instead of a push off. When the Ricochet Hey gained popularity, I tabled it until a couple days ago.
We choreographers have recognized if you want a Ricochet segue into a swing the hey better be passing left in the middle and passing right at the edges. Passing left at the edges the ricochet when meeting in the middle leading to a swing just doesn't flow.
In the dance I came up with having a half hey with a "reversal" to a swing and demanding the ladies/robins start the hey passing right shoulders a Ricochet Hey goes:
ladies/robins pass right
partners pass left
gents/larks ricochet into a partner swing
-An Ugly Flow, Forget About It!...
But having the gents/larks "slingshot"-allemande left-back the their partner to swing worked fine.
Now we choreographers can create dances using the "Slingshot" version when a hey needs to start with dancers passing right in the center.
December 24
Erik Hoffman
Becket but Robin on Left, Lark on Right
A1 with Neighbor's Right Hand: Balance, Box the Gnat
Right & Left Thru (A1 is All Across, then Back)
A2 Half "Slingshot" Hey
(Robins pass Right, Partners pass Left, Lark Allemande Right once to:
Neighbor Swing
B1 Give & Take-Larks bring Partner to Lark's side
Partner Swing
B2 Facing across: Petronella Balance and Spin with an Over Spin to
Face Next Neighbors Up and Down (Progression) to:
Petronella Balance & Spin, end facing across
First danced on Christmas Night and the annual Christmas Night Dance in Santa Barbara, 2022
Note: the Balance, Box Gnat, Right & Left Thru is borrowed from Square Dancing.
Erik Hoffman
Oakland, CA
Yes, Tricontracller is correct. The Slingshot Hey should be:
ladies/robins pass right
Neighbor pass left
gents/larks ricochet into a neighbor swing
All I can say is, “oops.”
From: Tncontracaller <tncontracaller(a)gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2022 10:04 AM
To: Erik Hoffman <erik(a)erikhoffman.com>
Subject: Re: [Callers] A New Dance & a Sling Shot Hey
I believe the A2 is robins pass right pass neighbor left.Sent from my iPhone
External (tncontracaller(a)gmail.com<mailto:tncontracaller@gmail.com>)
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I believe the A2 is robins pass right pass neighbor left.
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 27, 2022, at 12:30 PM, Erik Hoffman via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
Hi All,
A few years ago I was playing with what I called a “Slingshot Hey.” The effect is almost the same as Ricochet Hey in that it reverses the direction of a pair of dancers, but with an allemande instead of a push off. When the Ricochet Hey gained popularity, I tabled it until a couple days ago.
We choreographers have recognized if you want a Ricochet segue into a swing the hey better be passing left in the middle and passing right at the edges. Passing left at the edges the ricochet when meeting in the middle leading to a swing just doesn’t flow.
In the dance I came up with having a half hey with a “reversal” to a swing and demanding the ladies/robins start the hey passing right shoulders a Ricochet Hey goes:
—An Ugly Flow, Forget About It!…
But having the gents/larks “slingshot”—allemande left—back the their partner to swing worked fine.
Now we choreographers can create dances using the “Slingshot” version when a hey needs to start with dancers passing right in the center.
December 24
Erik Hoffman
Becket but Robin on Left, Lark on Right
A1 with Neighbor’s Right Hand: Balance, Box the Gnat
Right & Left Thru (A1 is All Across, then Back)
A2 Half “Slingshot” Hey
(Robins pass Right, Partners pass Left, Lark Allemande Right once to:
Neighbor Swing
B1 Give & Take—Larks bring Partner to Lark’s side
Partner Swing
B2 Facing across: Petronella Balance and Spin with an Over Spin to
Face Next Neighbors Up and Down (Progression) to:
Petronella Balance & Spin, end facing across
First danced on Christmas Night and the annual Christmas Night Dance in Santa Barbara, 2022
Note: the Balance, Box Gnat, Right & Left Thru is borrowed from Square Dancing.
Erik Hoffman
Oakland, CA
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All this grapevine chitchat got me thinking: Krikey, this is one of those
instances where you don't realize something changed until much later. Kind
of like trying to remember the last time you rolled down a grassy hill as a
kid.
We used to do the grapevine-ish step when circling when I started contra in
Ottawa about 25 years ago - kind of as a way of allowing one to look both
forward and back. I have no idea where or when that stopped. Weird!
Ken Panton
dear callers and dance writers,
has anyone out there come across/written a contra dance that incorporates
the dance move, Yemenite (as in “Yemenite right; Yemenite left”), from
Israeli folk dance?
thanks much !!
--
* Elizabeth Bloom Albert *
Anybody driving from the north to Winter Dance Week at John C. Campbell
Folkschool in Brasstown NC? I would gladly carpool with you. Please
contact me! Thanks,
Susan in Ohio [image: 🎶] [image: ☺]
330-347-8155
woosterdance.com
Hi,
I am wondering if you have any dances for low numbers of dancers (perhaps 6
or less), when most or all of the dancers are beginners and adults. I am
also wondering if you have any dances (presumably different dances), that do
not require choosing a partner and are good openers for beginner adults.
Thanks as always to all,
Rickey Holt.
Hi Joe,
You can contact Emily Rush, who shares her Google drive link with folks to use for calling techno contras.
I’ve called a techno contra recently using a couple of her tunes as well as slowing down the BPM on some EDM music I found online (Spotify, Apple Music, etc)
There are amazing DJs who have made some fun dance mixes and many of them are square tunes. I counted them out to be sure for mine.
I also got some tunes from Caller DJ Noah Grunzweig in Portland OR. And a recording from a zoom techno contra that M’Gilvry Allen did for our Zoom NYE 2020.
Good luck!
Claire Takemori
> On Dec 3, 2022, at 10:54 AM, contracallers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net wrote:
>
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Seeking new Techno Contra recorded music (Joe Harrington)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2022 10:46:08 -0500
> From: Joe Harrington <contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [Callers] Re: Seeking new Techno Contra recorded music
> To: Lisa Sieverts <lisa(a)lisasieverts.com>
> Cc: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> Message-ID:
> <CAHyB5qFG_wBakAtYSVD60D=JWyRT6gkAh+W7YivOo-WOtzT4cQ(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: multipart/related;
> boundary="000000000000161a7205eeee5b6a"
>
> Folks, please be careful talking about buying and trading contra DJ mixes
> in a public forum. Unless the music is original (e.g., Dr. Shadow), it
> isn't legal to buy and sell mixes unless the creator/seller bought
> mechanical licenses for every input track and kept the licenses current
> when they sold the copy to you. Those licenses are $15/track plus a few
> pennies per copy, making a 10 mix collection with three tracks per mix a
> whopping $450/year to create and retain the right to sell or give away
> free. They are separate from the performance licenses available from
> Callerlab. We haven't attracted the attention of the music industry like
> the square-dance callers did a while back (leading to threatened lawsuits
> and the creation of Callerlab). Callerlab's license lets you PLAY music
> you've legally acquired at non-private events, whether paid or not. To
> make mixes or give it to someone else without destroying your copy, you
> need a mechanical license.
>
> That said, I'm putting together some resources for contra DJs. One item in
> development (don't hold your breath) is a solution to the music mixing
> problem that does not require a mechanical license because it does not
> create a "fixed form" copy of the created work. If you're interested in
> DJ-related conversations and resources, sign up here:
>
> https://forms.gle/uZcHhH7P8eDUy2Pz5
>
> We've had one zoom call so far, and traded good advice and experiences
> about building fun, diverse pop-music contrra dances!
>
> Thanks,
>
> --jh--
> Joe Harrington
> Organizer, Greater Orlando Contra Dance
> Faculty Advisor, Contra Knights, the UCF contra dancing club
> contraknights.org
> FB, Ig: Contra Knights
> contradancerjoe(a)gmail.com
> 321-696-9914
>
> On Sat, Dec 3, 2022 at 10:12 AM Lisa Sieverts via Contra Callers <
> contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> I love the D.R. Shadow album, here’s the Apple Music link. It’s not new
>> (2015) but it’s very cool.
>>
>> [image: preview.png]
>>
>> Electro Contra
>> <https://music.apple.com/us/album/electro-contra/1040606364>
>> D.R. Shadow <https://music.apple.com/us/album/electro-contra/1040606364>
>> <https://music.apple.com/us/album/electro-contra/1040606364>
>>
>>
>> Lisa Sieverts
>>
>> On Dec 2, 2022, at 10:50 PM, Lissa Bengtson via Contra Callers <
>> contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>
>> I have some great Techno Contra music I purchased in 2018 from a super
>> Washington DC DJ. But I’m wondering if there are some newer mixes, using
>> recent artists, that I could purchase in time to get used to them before
>> our January 14 TechnoContra? (I’ll be one of the callers.)
>>
>> Please contact me if you know of a source! Many thanks!
>>
>> Lissa Bengtson
>> lissabengtson(a)gmail.com
>> 210-627-5940
>> San Antonio, TX
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>>
>
Hello Folks,
I am looking for some contra dances which have a holiday theme for
Christmas, Chanukah, or New Year's (Eve) for an open contra dance.
Do You have any favorites?
Rich
