Thought I'd share this with the group. I wrote this last April while touring with Tempest in the East.
Back story. We stayed with Laura Light in Asheville, NC. The neighborhood were she lives has a resident who has a botanical garden. Only the folks in the neighborhood are allowed in. She gave us a tour.
Laura’s Secret Garden – Rich Goss Improper
(Start take inside hands with Neighbor)
A1: (with inside hands) Neighbor Balance, Star Thru, Gents alle left 1 1/2
A2: Partner Bal and Swing
B1: (Form ring) Ring Bal, twirl to right, Neighbor swing
B2: Pass Thru (no hands, face out, NO CT),
Roll away to LL (gents roll ladies r/l, keep facing out) LLFB away (turn to face new neighbor, keep inside hands)
Sent from my iPhone
Hi, Bob - makes sense that this would have occurred to you first! I'll
mark it down as "Surf's Up" by Bob Isaacs.
Dugan Murphy
Portland, Maine
dugan at duganmurphy.comwww.DuganMurphy.comwww.PortlandIntownContraDance.comwww.NufSed.consulting
*From:* Callers <callers-bounces(a)lists.sharedweight.net> on behalf of Bob
> Isaacs via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> *Sent:* Monday, June 5, 2017 11:31:47 PM
> *To:* Callers List Serve; Dugan Murphy
> *Subject:* Re: [Callers] Has This Dance Been Written?
>
>
> Dugan and All:
>
>
> Yes, this occurred to me as well. I call it Surf's Up (7/3/14).
>
Do any of you have this dance sequence under a different title and author?
If not, I'd like to claim it as my own composition.
"And We Still Dance" by Dugan Murphy (duple improper contra)
A1 Long Wavy Lines (Gents facing out; neighbor in right hand) Balance (4) -
Circulate (Ladies cross while gents turn to face in, taking neighbor's
place) (4) / Long Wavy Lines (Gents facing in; partner in right hand)
Balance (4) - Circulate (Gents cross while ladies turn to face in, taking
partner's place) (4)
A2 Neighbor Balance and Swing (16)
B1 Gents Left Hand Allemande 1.5 (8) / Partner Swing (8)
B2 Ladies Chain to Neighbor (8) / Left Hand Star Once to Retake Hands in
Long Wavy Lines (8)
The thought occurred to me today that the Rory O'More-inspired figure in
"United We Dance" by Bob Isaacs could be replaced with a circulation figure
to create a different dance with the same fun star-wave transition. I can
imagine someone before me having the same thought.
Dugan Murphy
Portland, Maine
dugan at duganmurphy.comwww.DuganMurphy.comwww.PortlandIntownContraDance.comwww.NufSed.consulting
Hey all,
Michael Karcher suggested this was a good endpoint for dance questions. I
used this simple jumble at a dance recently. I never looked into whether it
was an existing sequence, but I would assume so... -
Improper
A1. Neighbor balance/swing
A2. Ladies RH 1.5x, Partner swing
B1. LLFB, Ladies chain
B2. Left hand star, Next neighbor dosido
Anyone have this on a card?
Thanks,
Isaac
Silly question of the day: is there some expectation/standard for what a
"Trip to ..." dance contains - other than the words "Trip to" appear in the
title?
<Can you do an initial impromptu lesson that lasts
about 15-20 minutes which then flows gracefully into your first contra
dance?
Woody>
Woody, I was able to ask for a lesson at the start, but will only do it if there are not enough experienced dancers to help. I’m told to expect new dancers rolling in throughout the evening, so we will have to just teach as we go.
Seth, Yes if there are lots of beginners and too few experienced contra dancers, I plan to bring barn dances, mixers for a fun time! I’m calling a family dance earlier in the day and will have a wide selection ready for various possibilities in dancers.
Nick, Yeah, too late to add a 50 minute intro to contra session, but I’ll give them the feedback for next year. I noticed at NEFFA they had an intro session every day. I didn’t notice any intro to contra at FolkLife, but wasn’t looking for it either…..
Jim, Thanks!! Great advice.
Thanks so much everyone !
Claire
Hi everyone.
I?m looking for advice. I?m calling a FFF next Sat and live in SF Bay Area, where the average person has never heard of contra dance. I got advice from Alan Winston, who called the contra dance a couple years ago when it was a 2 day event and the contra was Sunday evening. Now it?s a 1 day festival and the contra is Sat 630-10pm. The other dance that evening is Blues/Fusion, which I expect will have a HUGE crowd. There is also a contra dance about 30 minutes South of the venue and a waltz evening 30 minutes East, so I?m not confident that a bunch of experienced contra dancers will show up. I?m sure some will, as many are also musicians who will be volunteering that day.
I have several very easy contras (low piece count, connected, easy single progression, stays in minor set, etc) and plan to slip in brief reminders during each walk through (since new dancers can join at any time in the 3.5 hours). I?m sharing the contra calling with one person, and there is a caller for a couple squares, and a caller of 3/4 time contras. I don?t know how the eve will be broken down yet, but I?m likely to call 2-3 contras in each half.
It?s in a high school gym, so I know to keep calls short and clear due to acoustics.
I?m wondering about offering a 20 minute lesson before the dance???
Thanks for any advice about free folk festivals (assuming there won?t be a lot of experienced dancer ringers). I?m just back from FolkLife and NEFFA and they are full of experienced contra dancers??
Claire Takemori (SF Bay Area)
Hi everyone.
I’m looking for advice. I’m calling a FFF next Sat and live in SF Bay Area, where the average person has never heard of contra dance. I got advice from Alan Winston, who called the contra dance a couple years ago when it was a 2 day event and the contra was Sunday evening. Now it’s a 1 day festival and the contra is Sat 630-10pm. The other dance that evening is Blues/Fusion, which I expect will have a HUGE crowd. There is also a contra dance about 30 minutes South of the venue and a waltz evening 30 minutes East, so I’m not confident that a bunch of experienced contra dancers will show up. I’m sure some will, as many are also musicians who will be volunteering that day.
I have several very easy contras (low piece count, connected, easy single progression, stays in minor set, etc) and plan to slip in brief reminders during each walk through (since new dancers can join at any time in the 3.5 hours). I’m sharing the contra calling with one person, and there is a caller for a couple squares, and a caller of 3/4 time contras. I don’t know how the eve will be broken down yet, but I’m likely to call 2-3 contras in each half.
It’s in a high school gym, so I know to keep calls short and clear due to acoustics.
I’m wondering about offering a 20 minute lesson before the dance???
Thanks for any advice about free folk festivals (assuming there won’t be a lot of experienced dancer ringers). I’m just back from FolkLife and NEFFA and they are full of experienced contra dancers……
Claire Takemori (SF Bay Area)
So, a while back I was working with a band and they played a tune that was sort of new for them, and the A part was fine, but the B part was unusual anyway, and hard to know where the count was, in particular because they were unfamiliar with it, and I tried to count and call so the dancers could keep going, and it kept coming back together in the A, but falling apart in the B, until things snowballed and the dance completely fell apart. What is the best thing to do or say in a situation like that so that the band doesn’t feel too much as if it is their fault, and the dancers don’t feel it’s their fault? And yes, it’s always the caller’s fault, since I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what the heck was going on with that tune, but the dancers couldn’t find their way in it either. Anyway, back to what to do to make everyone feel a little better after that.
Martha
Ooh tricky - you definitely need to tell the band, maybe point out the odd
phrasing and that you'll need to see if you can find a really good specific
dance for it to work nicely. I'm intrigued as to what the tune is now -
maybe the list can suggest something useful if you let us know?
Bob
On Tue, May 30, 2017 at 10:43 PM, Martha Wild <mawild(a)sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Next dance was rock solid, and easier, and tune was rock solid. So they
> did redeem themselves. I have listened to a version on line and it has a
> WEIRD B part - it is nominally 16 counts but the emphasis is kind of like
> 6, 6 and 4, and it is weird beyond belief. How do I ask them to never play
> it for me again?
>
> On May 30, 2017, at 2:38 PM, Bob Morgan <ceilidh.caller.bob(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> In the moment, move right along. Next dance needs to be rock-solid, next
> tune needs to be rock solid. Drop the difficulty through the floor and get
> your dancers dancing again as quickly as possible. Don't dwell and let the
> dancers forget it ever happened.
>
> Afterwards either ask the band to play it for you again if you have time
> and see if you can work it out collectively or just say something on the
> lines of "It's a shame I just couldn't seem to get the hang of tune X, is
> there something unusual about it?" Ideally of course the band will have
> been paying attention and be suitably annoyed at themselves that they
> didn't get it right (the absolute optimal response of course would have
> been for the band to have changed tune).
>
> Bob
>
> On Tue, May 30, 2017 at 10:16 PM, Martha Wild via Callers <
> callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> So, a while back I was working with a band and they played a tune that
>> was sort of new for them, and the A part was fine, but the B part was
>> unusual anyway, and hard to know where the count was, in particular because
>> they were unfamiliar with it, and I tried to count and call so the dancers
>> could keep going, and it kept coming back together in the A, but falling
>> apart in the B, until things snowballed and the dance completely fell
>> apart. What is the best thing to do or say in a situation like that so that
>> the band doesn’t feel too much as if it is their fault, and the dancers
>> don’t feel it’s their fault? And yes, it’s always the caller’s fault, since
>> I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what the heck was going on with
>> that tune, but the dancers couldn’t find their way in it either. Anyway,
>> back to what to do to make everyone feel a little better after that.
>> Martha
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Callers mailing list
>> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
>> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>>
>
>
>
Wrote this over the last several months and called it last night in
Charlotte:
Swim at Round Pond, improper
A1 1's in the middle gypsy and swing
A2 Circle left 1x and neighbor swing
B1 Down the hall four in line, turn alone, come back
B2 Neighbor balance, 2's gate 1's down the middle, New neighbor mirror
do si do
The dance ends up being a bit on the ECD side. It was written in honor
of my literally hot week at the CDSS Pinewoods Camp last summer. I took
many swims at Round Pond right outside Nonesuch cabin.
Stephanie Marie
