AI is invading our lives, but can sometimes be useful — for example,
ChatGPT is pretty good at reformatting contra dances!
In Philly we have mostly multi-caller evenings, where the coordinator gets
dance submissions from many callers (in many formats), creates a program,
and sends out the result. Sometimes the program looks like a fruit salad of
formats, but (OCD?) I like everything to be concise and uniform.
See example below, where ChatGPT unifies dances in 4 formats — Callers Box,
one posted here, my website, and Bob Isaacs’ format. It took a few tries to
refine the instructions (and I only tried this one output format), but in
the end it’s a pretty amazing result from minimal instructions in plain
English.
Rick
=========================
My Instructions to ChatGPT
=========================
Please reformat the contra dances below as follows:
Format dance headers as e.g. “Title (Author) Formation”
If formation is omitted, use “Duple Improper”
Format part names as e.g. “A1: ”.
Eliminate beat counts for figures (like “8”).
Put a part’s figures on one line, separated by commas, no period or spaces
at the end.
And this is important — format as plain text, do not format as markdown.
Centrifugal Hey
by Gene Hubert
Permission: full License: CC-BY-NC
FormationBase: Duple Minor
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#duple-minor>
- Improper
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#improper>
Progression: Single
Figures:
A1
(8) Neighbor allemande
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#allemande>
right
1 & 3/4
(8) Men <https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#men>
allemande
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#allemande> left
1 & 1/2
A2
(16) Hey
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#hey>
(PR;WL;NR;ML;PR;WL;NR;ML)
B1
(16) Partner swing
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#swing>
B2
(8) Right and left through
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#right-and-le…>
with
partner
(6) Circle left
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#circle-left-…>
3/4
(2) Pass through
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#pass-through>
along
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm#across-along>
(NR)
Stars are Aligned
by Lisa Sieverts
BECKET, CCW
1.
LH Star
2.
RH Star
3.
P Do Si Do (on side)
4.
P Swing
5.
Whole Set Oval Left
6.
Whole set Oval Right
7.
F&B
8.
LH Star, on to the next, partners moving along the line
*Trip to Trillium* Bob Isaacs Becket-L
A1. 8 Circle L ¾
8 w/Partner weave the line past
two (1)
A2. 8 w/N3 square through three
8 N2 swing
B1. 8 Robins chain to partner
8 ½ hey (RR, N2L, LR, -)
B2. 4,12 Partner balance, swing
Fluidity
By Rick Mohr; September 2017
Contra, BecketCaller's Box
<https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=18477>
Level: Easy/Intermediate
A1:
3/4 Hey *(larks pass left shoulders to start)* (12)
Robins allemande left (4)
A2:
Gypsy and swing neighbor (16)
B1:
Right and left through (8)
Circle right (8)
B2:
*(With next couple)* Circle left 3/4 (6)
Swing partner (10)
=========================
Output from ChatGPT
=========================
Centrifugal Hey (Gene Hubert) Duple Improper
A1: Neighbor allemande right 1 & 3/4, men allemande left 1 & 1/2
A2: Hey (PR, WL, NR, ML, PR, WL, NR, ML)
B1: Partner swing
B2: Right and left through with partner, circle left 3/4, pass through
along (NR)
Stars are Aligned (Lisa Sieverts) Becket CCW
A1: Left-hand star, right-hand star
A2: Partner do-si-do, partner swing
B1: Whole set oval left, whole set oval right
B2: Forward and back, left-hand star on to the next, partners moving along
the line
Trip to Trillium (Bob Isaacs) Becket Left
A1: Circle left 3/4, with partner weave the line past two
A2: With N3 square through three, N2 swing
B1: Robins chain to partner, half hey (RR, N2L, LR)
B2: Partner balance, swing
Fluidity (Rick Mohr; September 2017) Becket
A1: Three-quarter hey (larks pass left shoulders to start), robins
allemande left
A2: Gypsy and swing neighbor
B1: Right and left through, circle right
B2: With next couple circle left 3/4, swing partner
Greeting callers!
I'm putting together a program of challenging contras for an upcoming gig.
This is an area where I'm still developing - hooray for new horizons!
Would anyone be willing to share a favorite challenging dance or two from
their repertoire?
Many thanks,
Hannah Chamberlain
Westbrook, ME
Watching dancers play around at a recent dance, I had the following idea for a “choose your own adventure” variation.
The idea is that you do a full hey, but any or all crossings can be replaced by ricochets, with no pattern or requirements (other than that both people have to agree on the choice made at each stage.) They can then straighten things out by circling left until every body is on the side where they belong.
For example, here is the modification of Gene Hubert’s Butter along these lines
Becket
A1 Progress left to the next couple, circle left 3/4,
Neighbor swing
A2 Long lines
Robins chain
B1 Robins start a full hey by the right, with ricochets permitted, but not required at each of the 4 crossings
B2 Circle left until everyone is on their original side with their partner
Partner swing
I don’t know whether the variable circle length and resulting shorter or longer swing will be a source of fun or an annoyance, but it looks worth trying.
I think if everyone ends up where they started at the end of the hey, they probably should do a long swing, rather than requiring a circle left all the way, but that’s a detail.
At this point, I am calling dances only occasionally, so I won’t be trying it out any time soon.
Please let me know what you think, and how it goes if you try it out.
Thanks,
Russell Frank
Monterey, CA
These are my table top contra dancers.
I move them around, and they help me visualize tricky end effects, etc. Is there an app for this purpose? Thanks,
Stacy Rose
541.808.1002
rosecontra(a)gmail.com
www.stacyrosedance.com
Hi all,
I frequently hear people talking about "Giving Weight" when they want
dancers to make a good connection. Unfortunately, since the term is not
well-defined, a common reaction is for people to interpret it as "Pull" or
"Lean". I really don't want you to pull me or lean away from me or give me
your weight!
Please have a look at this article and see if I can persuade you to talk
about "Connection" instead.
https://contrafusion.co.uk/Connection.html
Thanks.
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
I was studying my dance collection yesterday, prepping to call a 60th Wedding Anniversary dance, when I (re)discovered “Downtown Stroll” by Linda Leslie. What a great dance! You barely have to teach anything. Role doesn’t matter.
Downtown Stroll #2 by Linda Leslie
Circle Mixer/Beginner
Begin with a partner
1. Promenade, turn alone
2. Promenade back
3. (Face Partner) Poussette in & out
4. Repeat
5. Partner do si do
(Face on the left diagonal)
6. New partner do si do
7&8. This Partner Balance & Swing (or 2-hand turn)
"I don't have enough Balance, Neighbor Box rhe Gnat, Larks Allemande Left
dances" led me to a few dances, and I've got one that I wanted to check in
with folks.
It's similar to Jan Larsen's "Xi'an Warriors", but a R+L through instead of
promenade, and a balance, box the gnat instead of the N Alle R, balance and
swing instead of right shoulder round.
Anyway....
Duple Imp.
A1. N Bal, Box Gnat
Larks Alle L 1.5x
A2. P Bal, Swing
B1. R+L Thru
Robins Chain
B2. Hey for 4 (Robins R, PL, Larks R, NL, etc)
In dance,
Julian Blechner
Hi all,
I’m doing a wedding anniversary dance in a week and I think The Fan Dance would be good. But I can’t remember the details of how it goes.
I’m thinking of the dance where there are three chairs in a row and two lines of people. One person sits in the middle chair, and one from either line sits next to them. The middle person holds a fan or other chotke. The middle person chooses one person to give the fan to and then dances with the other person.
But what’s the timing and what kind of music? I used to do this a lot when I lived in Idaho but haven’t called it in eons.
Thank you!
Lisa
Nelson, NH
Lisa Sieverts
603-762-0235
lisa(a)lisasieverts.com
