Hi Caller Listservers :)
I've been collecting dances over the last few years and there are a few
that I'd like to add to my box but for which I don't have a name. I've
listed 11 below. If anyone has the brain (or computer program!) to help me
out, it would be much appreciated!
Authors are awesome too and a few have question marks as to the actual
moves. (I can test the move issues with our callers group here but it's a
small group without a way to look up names).
Much thanks :)
Emily in Ottawa
*
*
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 1: IMPROPER*
------------
N B&Sw
------------
LL F&B
L Gyp 1.5
------------
P B&Sw
------------
L Chain
Star L to next couple
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 2: IMPROPER*
------------
LL F&B
N Swing on the side
------------
CL 3 places
P Swing
------------
G Al ???which hand??? 1.5
G face N to start half hey
------------
Promenade up & down set (G inside/mid)
Turn (wheel as a couple) and come on back
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 3: IMPROPER*
------------
N Bal & Sw
------------
LL F&B, G roll L away with half sashay
LL F&B, L roll G away with half sashay
------------
L in for Al L 1.5
P Swing
------------
Ladies Chain
LH Star
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 4: IMPROPER*
------------
L in 4 steps & Bal Wave
L out, G in & Bal Wave
------------
G Al L until see N
N Swing
------------
CL 3 places
P Swing
------------
LL F&B
Ladies Chain
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 5: IMPROPER*
------------
N B&Sw
------------
LLF&B
L Al L 1.5 (or Right???)
------------
P B&Sw
------------
G DSD 1 X
Cir L 3/4 & pass through to new Ns
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 6: IMPROPER*
------------
LLF&B
N Al R once around (fast)… L Al L ½ … with R to P to make a wave
------------
Bal wave & slide to R (face to face)
Bal wave & slide L (face to face)
------------
P B&Sw
------------
Cir L 3 places
N Swing
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 7: IMPROPER*
------------
CL 1X
Couple DSD
------------
N DSD
N Swing
------------
G Al R 1.5
P Swing
------------
Cir L 3/4
Bal Circle & Cal Twirl
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 8: IMPROPER*
------------
N B&Sw
------------
LLF&B
L Al R 1.5
------------
P B&Sw
------------
Ladies chain
LH Star (look for new neighbours)
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 9: IMPROPER*
------------
N B&Sw
------------
La Chain
Ladies back in, lead R shoulders for ½ Hey
------------
P B&Sw
------------
La Al R 1X … P Al L ½ … G Al R ½ … N Al R once and a bit onto the next N
(keep flowing)
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 10: IMPROPER??? BECKETT?*
------------
Cir L 1X (all the way)
R&L Through
------------
La Chain across
La Chain on L diagonal (TO SHADOW)
------------
Bal Ring + Petronella
Bal Ring + Petronella
------------
Turn to B&Swing your Partner
???not sure if I have this dance right
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*??NAME 11: CIRCLE MIXER*
------------
Cir R (8 steps)
Cir L
------------
Forward 4 (with clap) & back
Corner???? Al L 1X
------------
P Al R 1X
New N DSD 1X
------------
New N (now your partner!) Swing
Promenade to R
Speaking as a dancer here and not a caller, I enjoy a square now and then
but I really don't like it when the caller calls two squares back to back.
If I sat out the first one, that generally means I have to sit out the next
one too. The last time that happened in our community, one of the dancers
complained that he had driven two hours to get there and had only gotten
two dances in the second half because the caller had called two squares
back to back and took a really long time to teach both of them. In my
experience, the main reason contra dancers don't like squares is that it
takes a long time to get set up, there is a chance you will get left out if
you're slow to find a partner and then can't get enough other people to
make a square, and that it often takes more teaching time. I don't think it
has anything at all to do with the dance itself.
So my advice is to call one square in the first half and one square in the
second half and find something that can be taught quickly and is
interesting and fun. I will happily dance those squares!
JoLaine
Hello all,
I've started to become aware of a few trends in the community around the
Shared Weight Callers list:
1. The list volume has increased
2. The subject matter is increasingly focused on tiny details of the
calling experience, usually only of interest to someone who has been
calling for many, many years. And these details are debated at length
(increasing the volume of the list).
3. People are leaving. Not in mass droves, but a noticeable amount. And
some are telling me that the list does not serve their needs.
This list was started 9 years ago (next week!) with the express purpose
of supporting and encouraging the newer caller. An open forum where the
most basic of question was not only tolerated, but celebrated. We
succeeded in creating that community for many years, but lately, that
vision seems to have been lost along the way. It would be a shame to
lose that part of what made this group special.
Seth and I started this list, but all we did was start the ball rolling.
This is your community, your forum for discussion. I will support
whatever this list wants to become. I just want us to be conscious and
deliberate about deciding what it will be.
So, let's start a discussion about the Purpose of the List and the
future of Shared Weight. Here are some thoughts to consider:
A. Since there seems to be a split in the discussion, should we split
the list? On one side is experienced callers discussing master-level
details of calling, programming, teaching and history. On the other side
is the mentoring of newer callers who need help at the apprentice and
journeyman levels. We could start a master-callers(a)sharedweight.net list
quite easily. People could change their subscription based on their
interest.
B. If we keep this list as-is, how do we make it easy for someone to
determine what will be relevant to their level of interest? How do we
know when to ask someone to take their debate of a trivial issue off list?
C. How do we keep the experience of the list useful and relevant to the
most number of people at the widest range of experience levels?
Thanks to all of you for your participation, whether you post, or just
lurk. I love being a part of the traditional dance community and
especially part of our subset of dance callers.
Happy Dancing,
Chris Weiler
SharedWeight Founder/admin/moderator
Craftsbury, VT
Personally, I like to dance and call squares as much as contra dances, but in many locales there is a strong preference for contras. If you were going to program a square or two in an evening otherwise devoted to contra dances, which ones would you pick? Or what would be the characteristics of squares that you think would make the contra devotees say "That wasn't so bad after all"? (This is assuming you have asked and the organizers haven't told you they expect all contras).
I am programming this Friday's Tallahassee dance right now, so this is not just an academic question.
Richard Hopkins
hopkinsrs(a)comcast.net
850-894-9212
850-544-7614 cell
Sent from my iPad
Hi Everyone - Many of our easier dances include down-the-halls, but there
are so many ways to come back up! There's turn alone, and turn as a couple
of course, but there's also sliding doors, right-hand-high-left-hand-low,
loop-de-loop, cloverleaf. What are your favorite dances that include an
unusual down-the-hall? I've thought of putting together a program that
highlights all the different ways to go down the hall. I think there is a
wide enough variety in these dances that it could be doable without boring
the dancers.
JoLaine
--
JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
"We are as gods and might as well get good at it!"
- Stewart Brand
> 2. Re: Purpose of the List (Perry Shafran)
>
> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 15:42:34 -0400
> From: Sam Whited <sam(a)samwhited.com>
>
> On 09/11/2013 03:34 PM, Lindsay Morris wrote:
>> I say keep one list. I too know where the delete key is.
>
> Agreed. And if volume is a problem for you, you can't be managing your
> email properly.
I'm for one list; I'm not a caller but find the discussions interesting.
Some readers may not know about the Digest feature which reduces the number of distinct pieces of email.
Also all posters should try to remove all the irrelevant stuff and then the content is smaller and more readable.
For people like Jeff and Dave, who value the musical part of the dance experience so very highly, a steady diet of contras seems like the best one. Squares have other satisfactions, and other people may value those. For example, the experience of fast-paced southern squares, with some degree of unpredictability in the breaks, danced to a hard-driving southern band, is a different but also pleasurable kind of high.
But I realize that's a bit off my original topic, which was, what squares do you tend to pull out of your box when you have decided to call one or two at a contra dance? Saying you would never call any squares at a contra dance is of course a valid response.
Richard
Richard Hopkins
hopkinsrs(a)comcast.net
850-894-9212
850-544-7614 cell
Sent from my iPad
Jim said:
= = = = = = = =
By the way, contra choreographer Al Olson coined the term "line heys for
threes" to describe actions such as [starting with 1's already below 2's]
Gypsy R with Neighbor
Gypsy L with next neighbor
I've also seen actions similarly analogous to heys for four--e.g., from
duple improper starting formation, pass N by R sh to meet future N and gypsy
L, then pass orig N by R sh again to meet N from previous round and gypsy L.
= = = = = = = =
I love these moves and have heard them called Gypsy Heys. That's
another one for your list, Sam.
And while we are on heys, do you have these on your list:
Tapsalteerie Hey (Ladies half hey, men ricochet, ladies ricochet, ladies
half hey) (Tapsalteerie is Scottish for topsy-turvy, apparently)
Cupid's Hey (see Jim Hemphill's dance of the same name)
Celtic Hey (see Kathy Anderson's "The Tropical Gentleman")
Wizard's Walk
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
Hi all;
I'm looking for a complete (or, as complete as this sort of thing can
be) list of Contra Dance moves. Once I exchausted all of the ones I
could think of off the top of my head, I started using Wikipedia's
list [1].
Can anyone think of any less-common moves that are missing from that
list? I know there are lots of square dance moves that are adapted to
contra dances fairly regularly that might be missing from the article
on Contra; I'm basically looking for any move that's ever been used in
a contra dance (even if only once). Contra squares (in which any
square dance move is more or less valid) probably don't count. The
move should work in `normal' contra dance formations and/or mescolanzas.
Thanks,
Sam
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_dance_choreography
--
Sam Whited
pub 4096R/EC2C9934
https://samwhited.com/contact
Hi Jeff,
You said, " At contra dances I've only heard seesaw to mean a left
shoulder Dosido". Since Sam was going for "fluid motion", and Seesaw can
mean Left Shoulder Gypsy, and that would make a smoother flow into a Shadow
Swing, then I was actually guessing he meant Left Shoulder Gypsy. I always
say what I mean when I call a Seesaw. Just in case... :-)
You said, " In contra all balances are with joined hands". Well,
that depends on exactly how you define a contra dance. If you include
ancient and traditional ones, then I am pretty sure that you will find
plenty of examples of balances without hands. :-)
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
