Kalia,
At South Bay Contra ( SF Bay Area) we have a sign posted around the hall (edited from a sign that I got from Pasadena Contra that edited the sign from Lake City Contra). It says:
When looking for your next dance partner, please know:
Anyone can ask anyone. Don’t wait to be asked.
If someone asks you to dance, it’s fine to say no.
You don’t have to sit out a dance because you declined an offer.
If you want to dance, ask someone right after the last dance ends. Sitting down means you are not going to dance.
We also ask that the caller reiterate this during the lesson and during the dance.
Claire Takemori
On 12/16/17 11:39 AM, Kalia Kliban via Callers wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Those of us who started dancing 2 or 3 decades back probably remember
> the rule about sitting out the dance if you turn down a partner offer.
> A very competent male dancer I know who started around the same time I
> did (late 80s) recently confessed to me that he never asks anyone to
> dance because he doesn't want to put folks in the position of thinking
> "If I don't dance with this guy then I have to sit one out.? Oh crap,
> guess I'll have to dance with him."? For the record, he's a totally
> solid and delightful dancer.
>
> To what extent has that earlier etiquette norm either survived or been
> replaced, and what has it been replaced with?? In your dance
> community, do you have a written statement of the etiquette around
> this?? Our community's statement doesn't directly address this issue.
>
> Kalia
> _______________________________________________
Thanks for the numerous varieties that have been posted!
Any ID at this point on the (very possibly folk-processed...) specific
variety that I described? (I'm pretty sure I'm describing it pretty
exactly as danced at Flurry '17.)
(For your convenience ;-) here again is the description: )
Formation: square with a cpl in the middle (i.e. 5 cpls)
A:
Middle cpl 1/2 R&L with cpl #1, which becomes new middle cpl
That cpl uses momentum from courtesy turn to turn twd cpl #2, 1/2 R&L with
that cpl
Cpl #2 becomes middle, 1/2 R&L with cpl #3
Cpl #3 becomes middle, 1/2 R&L with cpl #4
Cpl #4 becomes middle [turns to face current #1, which is orig middle]
B:
Couples currently along up/dn axis (heads+middle) turn back on ptnr, now
all can form 2 rings of 5, circle L/R;
Ptnr swing (some ppl may have to spin around to find Ptnr)
- Yaron
Hi,
I picked up this dance at Flurry '17. Iirc, the caller (I think it was Bob
Isaacs, not sure, it was near the end of the festival, it's all kinda
fuzzy...) said he picked it up at another festival and didn't know the name
of it. He named the caller that he got it from - but I don't remember the
name...
Formation: square with a cpl in the middle (i.e. 5 cpls)
A:
Middle cpl 1/2 R&L with cpl #1, which becomes new middle cpl
That cpl uses momentum from courtesy turn to turn twd cpl #2, 1/2 R&L with
that cpl
Cpl #2 becomes middle, 1/2 R&L with cpl #3
Cpl #3 becomes middle, 1/2 R&L with cpl #4
Cpl #4 becomes middle [turns to face current #1, which is orig middle]
B:
Couples currently along up/dn axis (heads+middle) turn back on ptnr, now
all can form 2 rings of 5, circle L/R;
Ptnr swing (some ppl may have to spin around to find Ptnr)
Thanks!
Yaron Shragai
A quick question:
How many callers believe that one role does the majority of the work in a
courtesy turn or a butterfly whirl? If so, can you explain how the shared
weight that differs from an allemande?
I've always been taught about shared weight being essential in all contra
moves, and I guess I'm still surprised when I hear callers prompt "pick her
up and take her to the other side" as if the person in lady/raven role is
not giving any weight. (Or similar one-role-biased prompting.)
Thanks,
Ron Blechner
Hello all,
I'm remembering a few workshops I'd taken with Rick Mohr a few years ago,
and also an occasion where I collected a dance from his calling. He happily
gave me the name and author of the dance, but was also quick to note that
he had substituted out different moves for 16 counts of the dance, so that
it would work better with his evening's program.
Now, someone like Rick can just do this in his head. He has a data base of
common combinations of dance moves, and where everyone ends up after
executing them. As such, he can easily make substitutions on the fly,
because he knows offhand that A+B=X+Y.**
What I'm wondering is, has anyone bothered to write down and compile a list
of common choreography substitutions? I'm thinking a spreadsheet of some
sort, where we think about the net product of various combinations of dance
moves, and categorize the combinations based on their output.
For example: Neighbor Promenade across, Ladies Chain = Long Lines Forward
and Back, Gents Allemande L 11/2.
If no one has already done this, I'll start a new thread where we can begin
to collaboratively write one up!
Thanks, All!
Angela
**Yes, the momentum in each of these scenarios is probably different, and
one might be better than another. But this depends on the rest of the
dance's choreography, and for these purposes I don't especially care. :)
***Also worth acknowledging that substituting out an entire 16-count phrase
could easily result in calling a different dance written by a different
author, but I'm more concerned about using this technique for practical
programming purposes.
Hi All,
First, it's been quite a while since I've contributed, and I have 767 unread Callers' List emails... Life's been busy. And, I've just replied to a couple emails without reading the whole thread. Hope I didn't butt in too soon..
Then, I've recently written a couple of dances. One I'm sure is new. The other I need to check with y'all to see if I actually did come up with it, or if I just recalled it from some distant or recent dance...
>>>>>>>> The new one >>>>>>>>>
Turnstile
Becket-Erik Hoffman
A1) Circle Left ¾; Pass Thru up & down, New Neighbor Swing
A2) Women Chain Right to Shadow; Men Allemande Left 1½
NOTE: actually, men are start an allemande for 3 full turns!
B1) Pick woman across, take her half way,
Women loop back WHILE men (continue) allemande half
Pick up Partner, take her half way (to original side)
Butterfly whirl
B2) Women (across) Do Si Do; Partner swing
For some reason, men want to end the allemande every time they pick someone up... The second time I called this I had the men allemande three times around, in the hopes they would get the feel of it. I also developed the call:
Men Allemande one and a half,
Pick up that neighbor there, take her just half way
Drop her off & go another half
Pick up your partner
Or something like that.
There are two square dances: The Texas Star (in some versions), and The Chinese Fan, that have men (or women) in a double star, and have the women (or men) looping back to the men (or women) behind.
>>>>>>> The second dance >>>>>>>>>
This is the one that needs to be checked.
If I did make it up I'm calling it Sole Delight, as it was first danced at the Springfield, Missouri Sole Fest.
So:
(The proposed) Sole Delight
Becket
A1) Petronella Balance with an overspin to new Neighbor
Neighbor swing
A2) Hey, Men start, Left shoulder-end in long waves, Men facing in, Women out, same Neighbor in Right Hand
B1) Box Circulate x 2
(Balance wave, Men Cross while Women loop Right; Balance Wave, Women Cross as Men loop)
B2) Box Circulate x 1 (Men Cross, Women Loop) Partner Swing
Is it new?
~Erik Hoffman
Oakland, CA
Recently called a dance with an allemande R into long waves, balance wave,
allemande L. Because of personal preference, I taught the balance as
"balance left, then right", but cuz I didn't teach it all that clearly, the
dancers defaulted back into balancing right first, and enough tricky stuff
was happening in the dance that I didn't wanna correct them in flight.
I'm just wondering: do others agree that a balance left makes more sense /
flows better in this context, or is this a weird personal preference? In
your opinion, does the flow of the balance left outweigh its potential
unidiomaticness?
Cheers,
Maia
I had a Girl Scout Dance coming up Sunday and I was thinking how I would
get 150 six to nine year old girls to know which hand was right and which
hand is left. On the way to my contra calling gig on Saturday, the thought
arose that right hand sounds very close to red hand. On the way to the
Scout Dance, I stopped and purchased scissors and some red ribbon (the
store did not carry yarn) and asked that the leaders tie a red ribbon
bracelet around each scout as they entered the hall. When I called dances
with arm turns I called, "Turn your partner with your red hand, change
hands, other way back." It worked so well that I know I will do it again.
I thought I would share this trick, and then ask if anyone has useful
methods when working with only children. Please share some trade secrets.
Rich Sbardella
Stafford, CT
