I have quite a different understanding of these terms than John Sweeney does.
“Hand cast” is not done with an arm around. That would be simply “cast off” in a New England style contra, common in those wonderful classic contras we call the chestnuts. Hand cast is distinguished from just a cast by the fact that you join hands rather than do the arm around. It’s used, I’d say, when flow would be improved by a hand connection at that moment.
What distinguishes “hand cast” from “gate” is progression. The word cast implies that the figure involves progression, typically the ones and twos exchanging positions. In Louise’s dance There and Back the figure does not involve progression, and so I think calling it a gate turn is clearer. But “gate” is borrowed vocabulary, imported into contra dance from ECD like “poussette,” which is why it is not yet universally understood by readers of this list.
I would also argue that in almost any dance with this sort of move, the turn is far more satisfying if the pivot point is the joined hand, rather than one person horsing the other around. If twos remain in place during a hand cast the set would move down the hall; twos are moving up just as much as ones are moving down.
David Smukler
Syracuse, NY
> From: "John Sweeney" <john(a)modernjive.com <mailto:john@modernjive.com>>
> Subject: [Callers] Re: Dance with petronella right and left
> Date: April 14, 2023 at 7:01:27 PM EDT
> To: <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>>
>
>
> Hi Amy,
> “Hand Cast”, “Gate”, “Wheel Around” (which I am surprised is not in https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/Glossary.htm), and “Turn As A Couple” are all fundamentally the same move.
>
> Two people stand side by side, facing the same way, and hold the nearest hand. They rotate staying in line with each other.
>
> The only questions are where the pivot point is and how far you turn. Wheel Around and Turn As A Couple usually mean that the pivot point is the joined hands and that you turn 180 degrees. Hand Cast and Gate usually mean that the pivot point is one of the dancers and the rotation can be 180, 270 or 360 degrees, depending on the dance.
>
> Of course, nowadays most contra dancers told to Turn As A Couple will do a California Twirl instead.
>
> And “Hand Cast” can be done with arms around each other’s waists, or by, for example, #2s facing up and offering an elbow for the #1s to hook into so that they can be whirled around the corner – more likely when the #1s are galloping up the set and need help to redirect their momentum!
>
> Happy dancing,
> John
>
> John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com <mailto:john@modernjive.com> 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574
> http://www.contrafusion.co.uk <http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/> for Dancing in Kent
>
>
>
From Here To Infinity
Laurie P
~ When I dance, I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole, that is why I dance. ~Hans Bos~ ~
In 1810, and for some years before and after, Sudbury MA (incorporated in 1639) was the site of a monthly barn dance. One of the local dance masters, Allen Ortep, composed a contra dance, where four dancers would balance in a circle, left foot then right foot, followed by shift/spin left one place. Allen and another local dance master both had interest in the same lady. To shorten a long story, Allen did not get the lady, and eventually stopped attending the Sudbury dances. His successful rival then composed a dance where four dancers balanced in a circle, right foot hen left foot, followed by a shift/spin right one place, and named it petronella (spell petronella backwards to find out why). To honor these events, Sudbury MA was given the zipcode 01776. (Thanks to Don Veino for pointing out Sudbury's zipcode.)
Today, many contra callers and composers have promoted the word petronella to both a verb and noun for a circle balance followed by everyone shifting/spinning right one place. But if the spin/shift is instead to the left, the figure is better designated "Allen Ortep," or for brevity, "Ortep"
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Tami Dahl <dahltami888(a)gmail.com<mailto:dahltami888@gmail.com>>
Hi Everyone,
We have a potluck and caller workshop coming up at the end of April! They are focused on calling styles in the contra community. We hope you can join us for them!
For a while now we have been experimenting with a gender-neutral calling style called Larks and Robins. We'd like to get your feedback on this - so we’d like to invite you to a potluck before the regular Friday dance on April 28 to come and talk with us about how it’s been going.
After the potluck, our Friday dance at Dec Rec will introduce a third option for gender neutral calling - "positional" calling, which removes gender and role terms altogether. Our intention is for these experiments to explore ways to deliver great dances efficiently, inclusively, and authentically. Come check it out, give us your feedback, and enjoy the great music by Snapfinger with Ed Howe and positional calling by Beadle!
The following Saturday morning on April 29, Beadle will run a positional calling workshop with live fiddle tunes to help callers in the area play with another way of getting dancers to the right place, on time. All levels welcome - more details in the flyer attached.
Email Tami at dahltami888(a)gmail.com<mailto:dahltami888@gmail.com> with any questions!
April 28 | Friday Night Dance and Potluck Discussion @ Decatur Rec Center 6:00pm
• 6:00 - 7:45 Potluck and community discussion on gender neutral calling
• 8:00 - 10:30 Dance, positional calling by Beadle and tunes by Snapfinger with Ed Howe -- Leila Soulen (fiddle), Alan Gordon (mandolin, cittern), Laura Joseph (guitar), Russ Sites (guitar, clawhammer banjo), and Ed Howe (fiddle)
April 29 | Saturday Morning Caller Workshop: ‘Positional Calling’
* 10:00 - 12:00 Caller Workshop in Decatur, GA
* Sign up with this form <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle…>
* Facilitated by Beadle, fiddle by Ed Howe - more info in the flyer
Hi all,
The Wikipedia "Square Dance" entry, which covers all Square
Dance (Playford, ECD, MWSD, traditional American, Irish, etc.) was recently
vandalised with claims that Square Dancing is racist and antisemitic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_dance
These claims have now been removed. But, in order to show how
far from the truth they are, I thought it might be nice to set up a page
which showed all the different styles of Square Dancing from around the
world and across time.
I therefore created this page:
http://contrafusion.co.uk/SquareDanceHistory.html with a brief history and
lots of diverse videos.
I would be grateful for any additions, corrections,
suggestions, etc., especially for suggestions of videos which show any other
forms of Square Dancing, or from any other countries.
Please let me know if you have any good ideas.
Thanks.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802
940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
I remain entertained that while we conjure how to ensure dancers complete repetitive 30+ second sequences relatively in time to repetitive tunes, some can retain infinitely complex sequences for infinitely complex music within. Frank Hodes, who dance with Martha Graham, just died. Here is a link to his New York Times obituary which contains a link to his most well known performance with Ms Graham https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/arts/dance/stuart-hodes-dead.html?unlock…
After dancing to some of Lisa's Greenleaf's 🔥 squares at Beantown Stomp
last weekend, I'm feeling inspired to add some to my repertoire. (To be
clear, I'm looking for squares-for-contra-dancers, not MWSD squares.)
1. Any resources to recommend for someone learning to call squares?
2. Any advice to share, techniques to look into, things you wish you'd
known when starting out / wish contra callers knew about squares?
3. Suggestions for callers to look up on YouTube (besides Lisa ofc) /
fave videos?
4. Favorite dances that I should add to my box?
Thanks in advance,
Maia
--
Maia McCormick (she/her)
917.279.8194
I remember my first experience dancing with Sandy Bradley when she came to Boston some time in the late 60s or early 70s and did a workshop on western style squares. I was so excited about the different style and feel of them to the New England and southern squares I was used to. After moving to Michigan we invited her several times to call our dances, which we held then in a bar on the shore of a pretty lake.
Bob
Ah, I remember dancing to her calling at the Round Lake Inn. What fun!
John B. Freeman, SFTPOCTJ
On March 20, 2023, at 12:42 PM, "Stein, Robert via Contra Callers" <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I remember my first experience dancing with Sandy Bradley when she came to Boston some time in the late 60s or early 70s and did a workshop on western style squares. I was so excited about the different style and feel of them to the New England and southern squares I was used to. After moving to Michigan we invited her several times to call our dances, which we held then in a bar on the shore of a pretty lake.
Bob
