Hi,
Recently I ran across the barndance in the Disney cartoon "The
Martins & the Coys" segment of the "Make Mine Music" series (about 4:50
into the cartoon -- [1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtyUycHvYls). I
liked the "moving arches" figure so I tried it out on my Int'l dancers
and they really enjoyed it. They much preferred it over Dip & Dive (so
did I). In consideration of my more moderate humans, we didn't do the
dance exactly as shown in the cartoon (see below). But I'm wondering:
(1) Is the dance in the cartoon a particular dance? (2) Is there
another name for the moving arches figure? (3) Do you have other dances
that use that figure?
There are a lot of options as danced in the cartoon, of course, but
since I had four couples and wanted to keep it to regular AB length,
this is what turned out to work well. It was fun and fairly simple
dance but it did require keeping the set tight and moving as there was
no "recovery" time. I think it would be fun with three couples and
another swift round.
Disney "The Martins & The Coys" Barndance #1 - four couple longways
A: Moving Arches -- Cpls 2,3,4 make arches & move up as Cpl#1 faces
down and goes thru arches to bottom.
At botttom, turn & join arches going up. At top turn & go thru arches
to bottom. Keep moving. Two rounds back to original place.
B1-8: Cpl 1 -- Thru Arches to Bottom
8: Hands 4 -- Circle Left (top 2 cpls and bottom 2 cpls)
B2-8: Partner -- Right Arm turn
8: Neighbor -- Left Arm turn
March cheers! Sue Robishaw, U.P. of Michigan
References
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtyUycHvYls
Hey Folks,
I do enjoy dances with good partner interaction...but I have a lot of
those. What I am interested in now is contra dances with minimal partner
interaction. No. Not dances without a partner swing. (That would likely
engender too many complaints.) I'm looking for dances with eight or fewer
beats of partner swing, total, for the dance..
Yes. A four-count partner swing would work. But often the better choice
is one with ones-only swinging or twos-only swinging, (so the partner swing
count for the entire dance is lower overall).
I am particularly interested in easy-to moderate contra dances with good
neighbor interaction (including neighbor swings).
Thanks,
Greg
Santa Cruz, CA
*******************
On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 1:11 PM, JoLaine Jones-Pokorney <jolaine(a)gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi all - I'm looking for dances that have LOTS of partner interaction.
> What are your favorites?
>
> --
> JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
>
> "We are as gods and might as well get good at it!"
> - Stewart Brand
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
Lady Walpole's Reel would qualify for minimal partner interaction:
Note that there is no partner swing, and not much other partner
interaction.It is said that this dance was composed by Lady Walpole,
who, for social reasons,had to dance with her estranged husband, but
wanted to spend as little time with him as possible.
*A1:Neighbor Balance & Swing *
*A2: #1s down the center, turn alone, return and cast around #2s *
B1: Women Ch across & back
B2:Promenade across; Right and left through thru back.
**
e.
I'm not sure that there is an "ultimate partner time" dance. It is all
personal opinion. Almost any dance can be a great partner dance if it has good
choreography, good music, a willing partner, and neighbors who are also into
the groove. I think it is a partner thing, not a dance thing. I have had
great partner time dancing simple dances and lousy partner time dancing "hot"
dances.
John B. Freeman, SFTPOCTJ
Hi all - I'm looking for dances that have LOTS of partner interaction.
What are your favorites?
--
JoLaine Jones-Pokorney
"We are as gods and might as well get good at it!"
- Stewart Brand
Emily,
If your dancers aren't used to out of set dances, be sure to warn them
not to get too relaxed when they are out at the end of the set.
Someone will be coming to them at an unexpected time and if they are
used to relaxing or socializing while they are out at the ends they
will be caught off guard.
In both dances below, after dancers are in Becket, have them take
hands in long lines to ID shadow. In one hand is partner, the other
hand has the shadow.
A couple I like
Groundhog Daze Becket
A1 Shadow gypsy
Partner swing
A2 Circle left 3
Balance the circle, 2's arch, 1's dive thru
B1 Next neighbor balance and swing
B2 Long Lines forward and back
Ladies pull by right, partner allemande left 3/4
Run Rooster Run II Becket
A1 On left diagonal, gents pass right and swing your next neighbor
A2 Ladies chain
Left hand star once around
B1 Partner balance and swing
B2 Right left thru
Long Lines forward and back
In Run Rooster Run, while you have the dancers in long lines
Identifying their shadows, also have the guys look straight across at
their current neighbor, then left to the next neighbor gent they will
pass right shoulders with and then one more place left to ID that
next neighbor they are going to swing.
Good Luck,
Jim
Hi everyone,
I've been doing a bit of calling-card box cleaning, and I was wondering if any of you could help me put some names and authors with these dances.
Here they are:
#1 - by ???
(wavey line, ladies L in center)
A1: Balance wave, slide R, Bal wave, slide L
A2: Neighbor Bal & Swing
B1: As couples, go forward to center, gents draw Pt home and Swing
B2: Circle L 3 places, make wavey line
Bal wave, walk forward to a new wave
This is very similar to Cheat Lake Twirl by Perry Shafran, Saturday Night Line by Joseph Pimentel and Rock the Cradle Joe by Ridge Kennedy. Perhaps it's simply a folk-processed one of those, but George Marshall called it at Flurry and I thought it might have it's own name and author.
#2- by ???
A1: Bal ring, spin R, Bal ring, spin R
A2: Bal ring, California twirl, new Neighbor swing
B1: Circle L 3 places, Partner Swing, face down
B2: Down the Hall, 4 in line
Gent 1 turn alone, Gent 2 R-hand high, L-hand low
return
#3- by ???
A1: Neighbor dosido, Neighbor allemande R 1 1/2
A2: Gents pull by L, Pt gypsy & Swing (though the timing must be a bit off there- maybe the Gents pull by crosses the end of A1 into A2)
B1: R&L through, Ladies chain back
B2: Hey for 4, look for new Neighbors
#4- by Jim Kitch becket
A1: Circle L 3 places, Neighbor swing
A2: R&L through, Star L 1 x, look for new Neighbors
B1: New Neighbor, Bal, box the gnat
Mad Robin, gents pass in front first
B2: Gents cross, passing L-shoulders,
Partner gypsy & Swing
Thanks for any help!
Best,
Sarah VanNorstrand
I haven't actually had a chance to road test this (and my thanks, by the
way, to Bob Isaacs, who was his usual gracious and helpful self when I asked
him to look at it before I posted it). James is correct that the opposite
sex person one passes in stepping into the wave is the same person both
times. If I'm L1, my current neighbor -- M2 -- passes me by the right shoulder
and is facing the same direction as I face in the first wave. After the
swing, M2 is still across from me (with his shadow on his right). He passes
me again by the right shoulder and is facing the same direction in the
second wave as well. (So it's a little like the progression up and down the
line in Flapjack Express -- you travel away from your partner in parallel with
your current opposite sex neighbor, come back in parallel with that
neighbor, and each of you finds your respective partner for a swing.) I do think
(from a safety standpoint) that it's a good idea to keep the couples out
of the center of the set during the short swing -- we've all had the
experience of the joined-hands-swing-bonk, I assume -- and my "make the ladies
come to you" instruction really had that purpose in mind.
If anybody else calls this, I would love to know how it went. I wrote it
as a smooth "cool down" dance after something particularly vigorous -- hence
the name. I think reels would suit, with an absolutely identical and
slightly bouncy A1 and 2, and a very smooth B1-2? It would have a very different
feel with jigs, I think, but I hope to try it both ways.
April Blum
In a message dated 2/22/2013 12:00:46 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
callers-request(a)sharedweight.net writes:
Today's Topics:
1. Re: Does this dance already exist? (Michael Barraclough)
2. Re: Does this dance already exist? (James Saxe)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:42:41 -0500
From: Michael Barraclough <michael(a)michaelbarraclough.com>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Does this dance already exist?
Message-ID: <1361468561.2881.9.camel@The-Beast>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
I called this in Baltimore last night (? world premier).
It is a good dance but it is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to ensure that the men
do not move from where they are in the swings in A1/A2. I taught it
emphasizing this and called it thus. However, as I reduced my calling,
so the men started moving. The result is that the positions move and
couples don't know who the opposite couple is with ultimate chaos as odd
couples get left out in the middle of the dance. I stopped the dance,
re-emphasized the need for the men to stay put and we were just fine
when they heeded the advice!
Michael Barraclough
www.michaelbarraclough.com
On Mon, 2013-02-18 at 17:10 -0500, Hgrastorf(a)aol.com wrote:
> Wrote this one on my way back from calling Norfolk.
>
> Slow M'Ocean Becket
>
> A1 Pass thru to an Ocean Wave (Ps are facing in opposite directions).
> Balance forward and back. Swing your SHADOW (who is facing you in the
next
> wave). (Gents, make the ladies come to you.) End facing across.
> A2 Pass thru to an Ocean Wave. Balance F/B -- swing your Partner, who
is
> facing you in the next wave. End facing your original Ns.
> B1 Ladies chain to your N. Ladies allemande R 1.5 (continue to hold Rt
hands)
> B2 Ladies pick up your partner, star promenade across with a butterfly
> whirl (to the lady's side). Promenade across (to gent's side), with
ladies
> passing RIGHT shoulders, and curl RIGHT to face the next neighbor,
ready to
> pass the Ocean.
>
> I can't think of another dance that starts this way -- anybody?
>
> April Blum
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
-----------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:23:30 -0800
From: James Saxe <jim.saxe(a)gmail.com>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Does this dance already exist?
Message-ID: <FE997E49-8469-4AF6-8B6E-C0056CD488A9(a)gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
I've never called "Slow M'Ocean", but from diagramming it on paper it
seems to me that the A1/A2 should work perfectly well (and leave dancers back
in their original starting positions at the end of A2) if men and women
advance EQUALLY to get into the swings. In this case, the "Pass thru to an
Ocean Wave" actions in A2 will have everyone passing the same opposite-sex
neighbor as in A1 (but the same-sex neighbors will be different for both men
and women). In Michael's interpretation, if I understand it correctly, the
Ocean Waves have the same pairs of men in A2 as in A1. I suspect very s
trongly that my interpretation is the one the author (April Blum) intended,
but I invite her to speak for herself on the matter.
The progression in B2 where couples pass by W's R shoulder and loop R
(relative to out-facing direction, i.e., clockwise around a big oval) is rather
unusual and is the part that I'd expect to give the most difficulty.
--Jim______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
End of Callers Digest, Vol 102, Issue 17
****************************************
In a message dated 2/22/2013 3:53:17 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
callers-request(a)sharedweight.net writes:
Send Callers mailing list submissions to
callers(a)sharedweight.net
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
callers-request(a)sharedweight.net
You can reach the person managing the list at
callers-owner(a)sharedweight.net
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..."
Today's Topics:
2. Re: Slow M'Ocean (Perry Shafran)
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:04:02 -0800 (PST)
From: Perry Shafran <pshaf(a)yahoo.com>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Slow M'Ocean
Message-ID:
<1361556242.16277.YahooMailNeo(a)web120702.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
April,
This is if both the gents and ladies move to their shadow rather than just
the ladies moving, as originally written, yes?? Because the way it's
originally written (and the way we danced it on Wednesday), when the gents don't
move, then it's the same same-sex neighbor each time.? Did you intend for
the gents and ladies to both move towards their shadow and stay with their
neighbors??
I thought it was a REALLY nice and fun dance, BTW, and magic when everyone
finally got it.
Perry
****************************************
It's a little like Double Mud Pig, in that you have a permanent shadow (for
the ladies, it's the gent to the left of their partner, on the same side
of the set, for the gents right ditto), but also, during each iteration of
the dance, you have a "temporary" shadow -- your current opposite sex
neighbor. That neighbor/shadow is with you in both waves, and the ladies chain
to that neighbor at B1, but you never swing that N/S. Does that answer your
question? I don't think it matters if both parties move, AS LONG AS you
wind up across from your (new) opposite sex neighbor at the beginning of each
iteration, that same N at the end of A1, and at the end of A2. I suspect
that the dance offsets slightly (as does Double Mud Pig, a wonderful dance
which also tends to break down, with a couple left out in the middle). Thank
you for letting me know you enjoyed it.
April
