Hi All:
The Friends of the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield, MA invite you to enter The Greenfield Formation Contest - please see the attached for details. We look forward to seeing what you come up with -
Bob
>
> Date: Tue, 21 May 2013 21:28:07 +0100
> From: "John Sweeney" <info(a)contrafusion.co.uk>
> To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Arms Folded in Dosidos
> Message-ID: <896C826125B44AB7A52BF412A8E4E3D0@study>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
> Why teach the dosido spin? Because it helps people to know which way to
> spin, and because there are elements like catching your partner's eyes
> between the spins that people won't necessarily pick up without some
> guidance.
A couple of thoughts about spinning or not spinning - that has nothing to do with folded arms...
If you and the person you are do-si-doing and spin exactly once you can both keep your eyes on each other.
If you and the next opposite role person up/down the line don't spin you can both keep your eyes on each other, and then when you get back to place there is the person you were do-si-doing in front of you.
Hi,
RE hot weather dancing: It was once recommended to me that when it is hot
dance just as hard, but shorter, maybe only 10 times through. Perhaps also
take longer breaks, and of course remind folks to drink water. This is not
instead of the great suggestions for dances to use in the heat. What do you
think of running several of the dances energetically but short?
Rickey Holt,
Fremont, NH
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
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I'm sure there are others but here's my dance titled "Angry Birds"
A1: Circle left 3/4,
Mad robin, facing neighbors with gents passing in front first
A2: Gents take right arm around each other's torso to do a U turn back to
their partner (spin optional)
Partners swing
B1: Ladies cross the set by R shoulders, using right arms around torso to
spin each other into a twirl
Neighbors swing
B2: Balance and spin to the right (Petronella)
Balance and spin to the right again, spinning extra to face new
neighbors
It includes both the mad robin joke, and a catapult-style fling. I have not
tried this out in the wild; I'm sure it "works" but no idea how the gents
will react to the arm around, or whether it's actually fun.
On Sat, Jun 1, 2013 at 11:12 AM, <callers-request(a)sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Send Callers mailing list submissions to
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Sashay (John Sweeney)
> 2. "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded in Dosidos)
> (James Saxe)
> 3. Re: "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded in Dosidos)
> (Jonathan Sivier)
> 4. Re: "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded in Dosidos)
> (Charles Hannum)
> 5. Re: "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded in Dosidos)
> (Jonathan Sivier)
> 6. Favorite Hot Weather Dances (Donna Hunt)
> 7. Re: "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded in Dosidos)
> (Ric Goldman (letsdance))
> 8. Re: "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded in Dosidos)
> (Andrea Nettleton)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 17:05:04 +0100
> From: "John Sweeney" <info(a)contrafusion.co.uk>
> To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Sashay
> Message-ID: <688B0730D2344A89B91D326A50EDF0BF@study>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Sorry - it changed chasse (with an accent) to "chass?"
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 09:10:17 -0700
> From: James Saxe <jim.saxe(a)gmail.com>
> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: [Callers] "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded in
> Dosidos)
> Message-ID: <B10FBC78-968B-48E2-8500-5B7BEB30A61B(a)gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
> On May 31, 2013, at 12:50 PM, Aahz Maruch wrote:
>
> > Bit of trivia I learned recently from square dancing: what we call a
> > Mad
> > Robin is also properly called a sashay (as opposed to the usual
> > half-sashay....).
>
> I've mentioned this before on this list and I guess it's time
> to mention it again: Check out the B2 part of the dance "Saint
> Paddy's Day" by Kirston Koths, as seen in _Zesty Contras_ or at
>
> http://www.quiteapair.us/calling/acdol/dance/acd_137.html
>
> The action that Kirston describes as a a "full sashay" (facing
> neighbor and maintaining eye contact as much as possible, walk
> clockwise around partner) is precisely the figure that has
> come to be known to contra dancers as a "Mad Robin", though in
> Kirston's dance it's done with dancers moving around partners
> across the set while looking up or down at neighbors. Kirston's
> description of the action as a "full sashay" certainly derives
> from one of the historical uses of that term in square dancing
> (Ken Sweeney's observation that "full sashay" is not currently
> part of the approved MWSD terminology as codified by CALLERLAB
> notwithstanding).
>
> Kirston wrote "Saint Paddy's Day" in 1982. The term "Mad Robin"
> entered the contra dance lexicon (for an action that only
> vaguely resembles something from the English country dance
> "Mad Robin") much later--perhaps in the late 1990's.
>
> Can any of you pinpoint who introduced term "Mad Robin" with
> it's current contra dance meaning, or when, or what dance they
> were describing?
>
> --Jim
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 11:55:13 -0500
> From: Jonathan Sivier <jsivier(a)illinois.edu>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded
> in Dosidos)
> Message-ID: <51AA2771.6050001(a)illinois.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format=flowed
>
> On 6/1/2013 11:10 AM, James Saxe wrote:
> > Can any of you pinpoint who introduced term "Mad Robin" with
> > it's current contra dance meaning, or when, or what dance they
> > were describing?
>
> The name, and figure, almost certainly come from the English country
> dance Mad Robin (Playford 1687) as reconstructed by Cecil Sharp in 1922.
> In this dance the 1's do the figure of dancing around their neighbor,
> usually while maintaining eye contact with their partner, and then the
> 2's do it. In the figure as it has been imported into contra modern
> contra dances it is usually done with everyone moving at once.
>
> An idea for a workshop. Do a variety of older dances, ECD and early
> American, with various figures now considered to be standard in contra
> and square dance as well as modern dances with those figures.
> Possibilities would be Hunsdon House (1665) with a grand square and Mad
> Robin as well as any one of several different dances from the 1600's and
> 1700's with heys and contra corner type figures. I think I will propose
> this as a possible workshop for our local dance group, though it will
> have to be in the fall since our summer schedule is already set.
>
> Jonathan
> -----
> Jonathan Sivier
> Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances
> jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
> Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html
> -----
> Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
> A: It depends on what dance you call!
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 13:11:01 -0400
> From: Charles Hannum <root(a)ihack.net>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded
> in Dosidos)
> Message-ID:
> <CAEqW=hPXPvKKb1NtYJbUKB=wt+0kdEk3PNgPkgMfJ=
> 7w3NCccg(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> I've been trying to rename it to "Angry Bird", but I haven't got much
> buy-in yet.
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 1, 2013 at 12:55 PM, Jonathan Sivier <jsivier(a)illinois.edu
> >wrote:
>
> > On 6/1/2013 11:10 AM, James Saxe wrote:
> >
> >> Can any of you pinpoint who introduced term "Mad Robin" with
> >> it's current contra dance meaning, or when, or what dance they
> >> were describing?
> >>
> >
> > The name, and figure, almost certainly come from the English country
> > dance Mad Robin (Playford 1687) as reconstructed by Cecil Sharp in 1922.
> > In this dance the 1's do the figure of dancing around their neighbor,
> > usually while maintaining eye contact with their partner, and then the
> 2's
> > do it. In the figure as it has been imported into contra modern contra
> > dances it is usually done with everyone moving at once.
> >
> > An idea for a workshop. Do a variety of older dances, ECD and early
> > American, with various figures now considered to be standard in contra
> and
> > square dance as well as modern dances with those figures. Possibilities
> > would be Hunsdon House (1665) with a grand square and Mad Robin as well
> as
> > any one of several different dances from the 1600's and 1700's with heys
> > and contra corner type figures. I think I will propose this as a
> possible
> > workshop for our local dance group, though it will have to be in the fall
> > since our summer schedule is already set.
> >
> > Jonathan
> > -----
> > Jonathan Sivier
> > Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances
> > jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
> > Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_**leader.html<
> http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html>
> > -----
> > Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
> > A: It depends on what dance you call!
> >
> >
> > ______________________________**_________________
> > Callers mailing list
> > Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> > http://www.sharedweight.net/**mailman/listinfo/callers<
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers>
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 12:26:04 -0500
> From: Jonathan Sivier <jsivier(a)illinois.edu>
> To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded
> in Dosidos)
> Message-ID: <51AA2EAC.7090005(a)illinois.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format=flowed
>
> On 6/1/2013 12:11 PM, Charles Hannum wrote:
> > I've been trying to rename it to "Angry Bird", but I haven't got much
> > buy-in yet.
>
> How about "Crazy Crow", "Wrought-up Wren", "Disturbed Duck", "Insane
> Ibis", "Passionate Pigeon" or others along the same lines? ;-)
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 13:43:10 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Donna Hunt <dhuntdancer(a)aol.com>
> To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
> Subject: [Callers] Favorite Hot Weather Dances
> Message-ID: <8D02D069E172234-21F0-46857(a)webmail-m213.sysops.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hi
> As the summer is beginning (nearing 90 degrees today!) I'm wondering if
> any of you have favorite dances that you call that are not all action all
> the time. Please share modern dances that have interesting choreography
> and will help to keep the dancers cool or at least give them a break from
> the action for some of the dance.
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Donna Hunt
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 14:03:34 -0400
> From: "Ric Goldman \(letsdance\)" <letsdance(a)rgoldman.org>
> To: "'Caller's discussion list'" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded
> in Dosidos)
> Message-ID: <002201ce5ef2$5731c860$05955920$(a)rgoldman.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> There's a Morris dance which uses the figure called Belligerent Blue jay.
> :-)
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:
> callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Charles Hannum
> > Sent: Saturday, June 01, 2013 1:11 PM
> > To: Caller's discussion list
> > Subject: Re: [Callers] "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded in
> Dosidos)
> >
> > I've been trying to rename it to "Angry Bird", but I haven't got much
> > buy-in yet.
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Jun 1, 2013 at 12:55 PM, Jonathan Sivier <jsivier(a)illinois.edu
> >wrote:
> >
> > > On 6/1/2013 11:10 AM, James Saxe wrote:
> > >
> > >> Can any of you pinpoint who introduced term "Mad Robin" with
> > >> it's current contra dance meaning, or when, or what dance they
> > >> were describing?
> > >>
> > >
> > > The name, and figure, almost certainly come from the English country
> > > dance Mad Robin (Playford 1687) as reconstructed by Cecil Sharp in
> 1922.
> > > In this dance the 1's do the figure of dancing around their neighbor,
> > > usually while maintaining eye contact with their partner, and then the
> 2's
> > > do it. In the figure as it has been imported into contra modern contra
> > > dances it is usually done with everyone moving at once.
> > >
> > > An idea for a workshop. Do a variety of older dances, ECD and early
> > > American, with various figures now considered to be standard in contra
> and
> > > square dance as well as modern dances with those figures. Possibilities
> > > would be Hunsdon House (1665) with a grand square and Mad Robin as
> well as
> > > any one of several different dances from the 1600's and 1700's with
> heys
> > > and contra corner type figures. I think I will propose this as a
> possible
> > > workshop for our local dance group, though it will have to be in the
> fall
> > > since our summer schedule is already set.
> > >
> > > Jonathan
> > > -----
> > > Jonathan Sivier
> > > Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances
> > > jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
> > > Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_**leader.html<
> http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html>
> > > -----
> > > Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
> > > A: It depends on what dance you call!
> > >
> > >
> > > ______________________________**_________________
> > > Callers mailing list
> > > Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> > > http://www.sharedweight.net/**mailman/listinfo/callers<
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers>
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Callers mailing list
> > Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 14:11:47 -0400
> From: Andrea Nettleton <twirly-girl(a)bellsouth.net>
> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] "Full sashay"/"MadRobin" (was Re: Arms Folded
> in Dosidos)
> Message-ID: <0D466FA5-ABDF-40A1-B5F3-D3CEE0CF9F77(a)bellsouth.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> But Mad Robin is a nickname for a Puck-like character, in literature.
> Also known as Robin Goodfellow, a player of harmless pranks, random doer
> of little good deeds, a bit mischievous and secretive, given to pinching a
> sleeping queen of a night. I think perhaps the author of the ECD thought
> the flirtatious nature of the move was a bit Puckish. So alternate bird
> names wouldn't be proper substitutes. I have also hard the move called a
> shuttle, which I think diminishes the flirty part too much. Mad Robin
> works, even if less descriptive than we might like. Playful Parallels just
> doesn't quite cut it. But if we think of Mad Robin as Robin Goodfellow,
> aka Puck, maybe it sits a little more easily as a name for that very
> playful move.
> Andrea
>
> Sent from my iOnlypretendtomultitask
>
> On Jun 1, 2013, at 1:26 PM, Jonathan Sivier <jsivier(a)illinois.edu> wrote:
>
> > On 6/1/2013 12:11 PM, Charles Hannum wrote:
> >> I've been trying to rename it to "Angry Bird", but I haven't got much
> >> buy-in yet.
> >
> > How about "Crazy Crow", "Wrought-up Wren", "Disturbed Duck", "Insane
> Ibis", "Passionate Pigeon" or others along the same lines? ;-)
> >
> > Jonathan
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Callers mailing list
> > Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
>
> End of Callers Digest, Vol 106, Issue 2
> ***************************************
>
Aahz Maruch said, "I learned recently from square dancing: what we call
a Mad Robin is also properly called a sashay."
Well, yes and no...
In Modern Western Square Dancing the definitions are provided by
CALLERLAB - http://www.callerlab.org/ - see the "Basic and Mainstream
Definitions".
The Half Sashay is fully defined and includes:
"Styling: Dancers use a normal couple handhold, pulling slightly toward
each other as they initiate the sashay movement. As the dancers complete
the call, they catch hands to end in a couple handhold..."
In contra dancing a Mad Robin can start and finish with or without a
hand hold - I suspect "without" is more common.
But that is only half a Mad Robin. The Sashay itself has been
deprecated. CALLERLAB says, "The terms "Full Sashay" or "Sashay All The
Way Around" are not part of any dance program. This is improper language
and should not be used."
(So, definitely not "properly called a sashay"!)
Of course square dancers outside the MWSD world (and many of the clubs
within the MWSD world!) do what they want anyway :-)
The other challenge is that "Sashay" means lots of different things to
different people:
Dictionary definition: to walk or glide in an ostentatious way.
Sashay down the hall: take two hands with your partner and go
side-together-side-together down the hall (we normally say "Gallop" in
England).
In a waltz-time dance: take ballroom hold and step sideways (1 & 2
instead of 1,2,3) (we normally say "chassé" in England).
And indeed, in the dance world, "sashay" is derived from the word
"chassé" and has lots more variations - see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashay
So, I think I would stick to calling it a Mad Robin :-)
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
I did some Irish Set Dancing at Chippenham Festival last weekend and one
of the dances (from Clare, I believe) had a "dosido" - but in this dance
it was a left shoulder dosido with exactly two clockwise spins.
When did people start dosido spinning in contra dances? Where did the
idea come from?
Did the contra dance version and the Irish Set Dance version come into
being independently?
Thanks.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
Erik said, "It's just gone out of fashion in the contra dance world"
... and the square dance world, and the ceilidh world, and the English
Country Dance world, and the English folk dance world, etc! :-)
Erik also said, "I have yet to hear one of the proselytizers for the
spinning Do Si Do discuss the problem of the directional nature of the
Do Si Do and how they teach that..."
I think the problem of direction comes because callers DON'T teach a
Dosido - they rely on new dancers picking it up from existing dancers,
who of course may well be spinning. One caller told a tale of how, when
calling, she said that in this dance she wanted the dancers to do an
ordinary dosido; apparently some dancers asked what she meant and were
amazed to discover that there were no spins in a standard dosido!
If there are ANY newcomers at a dance then I will teach the dosido; I
tell them to start facing their partner, work out which is their right
shoulder, go forwards, sideways, backwards without turning and finish
facing their partner - I usually explain that it comes from the French
dos-à-dos meaning back to back.
If it is an ONS I am usually in the middle of the floor with my wife and
my wireless head-mike and I demonstrate it.
If I see anyone folding their arms I tell them that dancers don't do
that any more so they don't have to do it, but that they can of course
do it if they want to - I always say, "Innovation and improvisation are
good" making it clear that they can do what they want as long as they
are in the right place at the right time and don't mess anyone up.
If anyone is spinning I will tell the newcomers that they may see people
spinning and they can ignore it - the move works if one person spins and
the other doesn't.
If they are a keen energetic crowd I may show them how to spin the
dosido since it is fun and some of them pick it up straight away and
love it.
If it is an English ceilidh I definitely don't mention spinning since it
is much harder to do it when dancing hop-steps or skip-change steps - it
is not part of the style. Likewise with ECD groups (which don't really
exist in England - we mix all the styles up at each event!) since it is
not considered part of that style (though often works very well!).
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
<<Delayed because I sent from the wrong e-mail account...>>
I personally don't like arms folded in a dosido, so my three points in
favour of not folding was really a light-hearted response to the
previous post with three points in favour of saying nothing.
I always explain these things with a smile, tactfully, and make it
absolutely clear that they can fold their arms if they want: "innovation
and improvisation are good!" :-)
Why teach the dosido spin? Because it helps people to know which way to
spin, and because there are elements like catching your partner's eyes
between the spins that people won't necessarily pick up without some
guidance.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk <http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/> for
Dancing in Kent
