Contra Callers

contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net

19 participants
4374 discussions

by Luke Donforth via Callers

It's 5 am, and I find myself awake and writing dances; specifically 4x4s. Unfortunately, I don't have 8 dancers waiting on my insomnia to test things, so I figured I'd send them to shared weight... Possibly this is a choreographic question already answered in square dancing, but I'm not familiar with the outcome. How well does a four person do-si-do work? I'm thinking of something along the lines of: Doubled-si-do Four Facing Four A1 ----------- (4) Give and Gents take (up and down) (12) Neighbor swing A2 ----------- (8) Women's Chain back to partner (up and down), turn to face in (8) All four Women Do-si-do 1x B1 ----------- (8) All four Men Do-si-do 1x (8) All eight Circle Left 1/2x B2 ----------- (16) Partner balance and swing End facing line of direction In my head, the four person do-si-do is a right hand star sans hands; but not sure how well it'll fly; especially since the right diagonal women have less far to turn to face in than the left diagonal women coming out of the chain. Thoughts? Thank you -- Luke Donforth Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>

9 years, 6 months

Re: [Callers] 4-person do-si-do

by Greg Allan via Callers

Hey, I'm new here, but what a great idea for a figure, Luke. Am I correct in assuming that, in addition to being similar to a RH star sans hands, that the dancers are also facing the same direction throughout the figure, like you're supposed to do for a regular two-person do-si-do? So the dancers would be walking forward 4 steps, moving around three other dancers, and then reversing back to place? I can't see it taking much more time than a regular RH star. The dancer's adjust, just like they do to any other figure that takes more or less time than allotted, realistically. There's also a figure from English country dancing, which is not much like you're suggesting, but it may provide some inspiration for tweaking this figure. It's called a Mad Robin and involves 4 people doing a sideways do-si-do in couples. What if you had the closer women do a do-si-do followed very quickly by the next two? And then take the previous suggestion about choreographing a "soft" figure afterwards, so the one or two beats is not an interruption. Greg

9 years, 6 months

Re: [Callers] 4 person do-si-do?

by John Sweeney via Callers

Hi Luke, I suspect you will have timing problems in a Double Contra because of the extra time it takes for the people at the ends of the lines. I have a couple of dances with a DosiAll and the other challenge is getting them all to start at the same time. I solve this with a Balance the Ring first; that launches everyone into the DosiAll at the same time. My contra with a DosiAll is a standard contra, so it is two couples - four individuals - all doing a dosido at the same time. When I teach it I sometimes get the men to dosido and then the ladies to dosido, then explain that we can't afford all those extra notes, so they are going to have to do both dosidos at the same time. If they start moving slightly more to their left than they would normally then that will help to avoid crashes. The balance before each DosiAll is to ensure that everyone starts into the movement at the same time. It's really at its best when all four dancers do the counterclockwise spins that are common in dosidos. You can also teach it by getting the four dancers to do a four person Gypsy; that is the track they follow - now do it as a Dosido. The dancers all have to be confident and go for it - because you are following the same track, but with your back to the other people, or spinning, then you need everyone to keep moving. I have included below a three couple dance which only has three people doing the DosiAll at the same time. I sometimes use that to get people used to the concept. DosiAll (by John Sweeney) Contra; Becket A1: Circle Right Half Way; Balance the Ring DosiAll A2: Circle Left Half Way; Balance the Ring DosiAll B1: Partner Balance & Swing B2: On the Left Diagonal: Half Hey - Ladies lead by Right Shoulder Half Promenade Across and flow into. Gypsy A Trois (by John Sweeney) Three Couples in a Circle A1: Circle Left Four Steps; Balance the Ring Men DosiAll A2: Circle Left Four Steps; Balance the Ring Ladies DosiAll B1: Partner Allemande Left to Ladies Right Shoulder Gypsy WHILE Men Single File Promenade CCW outside the set B2: Meet your Partner (second time, at home): Partner Allemande Left (about half) to your Corner Corner Swing - this is your new Partner x3 should take you home Please let me know if your dancers enjoy them. Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

9 years, 6 months

4 person do-si-do

by Richard Hopkins via Callers

In southern-style square dancing, there are several variations on a figure which is often called “dosido” for two couples, and they are nothing like what Luke is imagining. They go by names like Georgia Rangtang, Georgy-Alabam, Do-si, Dosido and (I think) in MWSD a version of it is called Do Paso. That’s not to say that the figure you are describing isn’t a good one for your dance; it’s just another reason to avoid calling it a dosido. Richard `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Richard Hopkins Tallahassee FL 850-544-7614 hopkinsrs(a)comcast.net > On Dec 1, 2015, at 4:01 PM, via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > callers-request(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > callers-owner(a)lists.sharedweight.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Caller needed: 1/16 Stanford barn dance (Aahz via Callers) > 2. Re: Caller needed: 1/16 Stanford barn dance (Aahz via Callers) > 3. 4 person do-si-do? (Luke Donforth via Callers) > 4. Re: 4 person do-si-do? (Tom Hinds via Callers) > 5. Re: Caller needed: 1/16 Stanford barn dance > (Aahz Maruch via Callers) > 6. Re: 4 person do-si-do? (Aahz Maruch via Callers) > 7. Re: Caller needed: 1/16 Stanford barn dance > (Bill Olson via Callers) > 8. Re: 4 person do-si-do? (Hilton Baxter via Callers) > 9. Re: 4 person do-si-do? (Rich Sbardella via Callers) > 10. Re: 4 person do-si-do? (Don Veino via Callers) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 14:27:22 -0800 > From: Aahz via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > To: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Subject: [Callers] Caller needed: 1/16 Stanford barn dance > Message-ID: <20151130222722.GA23748(a)panix.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Howdy, > > I've been asked to run a barn dance Saturday Jan 16, 9pm-11pm, but I'm > busy. The dance will be part of the Western Regional Outdoor Leadership > Conference: > > http://outdoored.stanford.edu/center/wrolc-2016/ > > If you don't know where Stanford is, you're probably coming from too far > away to make sense. ;-) > > There will be 100+ college students. The theme for this year's > conference is "diversity", and they would prefer a caller who can fit the > theme in addition to having experience with one-night-stand environments. > > I've offered to be a filter so that they don't need to deal with the > responses, so please respond privately to me if you're interested and > available. I've already explained that booking will be somewhat > difficult both because of the relatively short notice and because it's > Ralph Page weekend. > > I probably will also be sending out an e-mail blast to people I have > addresses for, apologies if you get this twice. They have already > contacted other callers so you may actually get three copies... > -- > Square/Contra Caller http://caller.aahz.ws/ > <*> <*> <*> > "Those who hear not the music think the dancers mad." > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 16:10:45 -0800 > From: Aahz via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > To: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > Subject: Re: [Callers] Caller needed: 1/16 Stanford barn dance > Message-ID: <20151201001045.GA4132(a)panix.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > On Mon, Nov 30, 2015, Aahz via Callers wrote: >> >> I've been asked to run a barn dance Saturday Jan 16, 9pm-11pm, but I'm >> busy. The dance will be part of the Western Regional Outdoor Leadership >> Conference: >> >> http://outdoored.stanford.edu/center/wrolc-2016/ >> >> If you don't know where Stanford is, you're probably coming from too far >> away to make sense. ;-) > > Someone pointed out that I should at least have mentioned that this is > California. > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 05:45:27 -0500 > From: Luke Donforth via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > To: "Callers(a)Lists.Sharedweight.net" <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> > Subject: [Callers] 4 person do-si-do? > Message-ID: > <CAFrKOZbyzOSGTT2YwMjcghwcmXnQi+ek0J-=ekz0QKJgGLi7Ng(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > It's 5 am, and I find myself awake and writing dances; specifically 4x4s. > Unfortunately, I don't have 8 dancers waiting on my insomnia to test > things, so I figured I'd send them to shared weight... > > Possibly this is a choreographic question already answered in square > dancing, but I'm not familiar with the outcome. How well does a four person > do-si-do work? I'm thinking of something along the lines of: > > Doubled-si-do > Four Facing Four > > A1 ----------- > (4) Give and Gents take (up and down) > (12) Neighbor swing > A2 ----------- > (8) Women's Chain back to partner (up and down), turn to face in > (8) All four Women Do-si-do 1x > B1 ----------- > (8) All four Men Do-si-do 1x > (8) All eight Circle Left 1/2x > B2 ----------- > (16) Partner balance and swing > End facing line of direction > > In my head, the four person do-si-do is a right hand star sans hands; but > not sure how well it'll fly; especially since the right diagonal women have > less far to turn to face in than the left diagonal women coming out of the > chain. > > Thoughts? > > Thank you > > -- > Luke Donforth > Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com> >

9 years, 6 months

Caller needed: 1/16 Stanford barn dance

by Aahz via Callers

Howdy, I've been asked to run a barn dance Saturday Jan 16, 9pm-11pm, but I'm busy. The dance will be part of the Western Regional Outdoor Leadership Conference: http://outdoored.stanford.edu/center/wrolc-2016/ If you don't know where Stanford is, you're probably coming from too far away to make sense. ;-) There will be 100+ college students. The theme for this year's conference is "diversity", and they would prefer a caller who can fit the theme in addition to having experience with one-night-stand environments. I've offered to be a filter so that they don't need to deal with the responses, so please respond privately to me if you're interested and available. I've already explained that booking will be somewhat difficult both because of the relatively short notice and because it's Ralph Page weekend. I probably will also be sending out an e-mail blast to people I have addresses for, apologies if you get this twice. They have already contacted other callers so you may actually get three copies... -- Square/Contra Caller http://caller.aahz.ws/ <*> <*> <*> "Those who hear not the music think the dancers mad."

9 years, 6 months

woodrow wilson

by jean francis via Callers

absolutely excellent article; thanks Michael. I was, in a past life, a "Woodrow Wilson fellow" at Princeton and never knew this but I surely agree with the articles conclusion (and its relevance to the gypsy discussion)

9 years, 6 months

Woodrow Wilson never gypsied

by Michael Fuerst via Callers

Dont erase Woodrow Wilson. Expose him. | | | | | | | | | | | Dont erase Woodrow Wilson. Expose him.Woodrow Wilson was a visionary statesman and, at the same time, a racist with repugnant ideas. (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images) | | | | View on www.yahoo.com | Preview by Yahoo | | | | | Michael Fuerst 802 N Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217 239 5844

9 years, 6 months

Dances with R & L Thru

by Rich Sbardella via Callers

I am looking for a few good contras with a R & L Thru that do not contain a Ladies chain. Any suggestions? Peace, Rich

9 years, 6 months

Identifying Dances (Was "Anyone know this dance?"]

by Jeremy Gmail via Callers

There are occasional requests on this forum for a dance to be identified, which got me thinking. As with, I’m sure, many callers, I have a number of dances that I’ve come across, often at dances, where I know neither the name nor the author. I like to honour the choreographer by mentioning their name and the name of the dance when I call it, but I can’t do this if I don’t know it. It is usually relatively easy to find the author if you know the title, using Michael Dyck's excellent Contradance Index, but without a title it becomes a much bigger task. An “obvious” solution would be a magical web page that lets you put in the dance and to reward you with the name and author. Apart from the massive logistical challenge of creating and maintaining such a database, this seems morally dubious as some authors prefer not to publish their work. So what can we do? We could all ask on [Callers] but we’d soon get fed up with the forum being taken over. I wondered about a “please identify this dance” (sub-)forum, similar to the many ”ask the expert” forums (fora?) you see in the IT community. Do members have any thoughts about this? Will it work? How do we get people on it? What are the issues? Is there a batter / alternative approach? Over to the Hive Mind. Jeremy http://barndancecaller.net/SocialDance.html

9 years, 6 months

Anyone know this dance?

by Ann Fallon via Callers

I learned this dance from George Marshall at the Charlottesville, VA, Fall Festival, 2014. Can someone tell me the name of the dance and its author? Thanks. Improper Contra A1 Half-pousette around Neighbors, women push Swing Neighbor A2 Men allemande L 1 1/2 Meet P and pass R for half a hey B1 Gypsy and swing P B2 Women chain Circle RIGHT into half-pousette >

9 years, 7 months

Jump to page:

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Contra Callers