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4369 discussions

Re: [Callers] A Question About Nantucket Sleigh Ride

by David.Millstone＠valley.net

Gale's right that "ride the waves" is a common shortcut for the figure, but I also like to get into a rhythmic chant: Actives arch and the inactives under, Inactives arch and the actives under, Actives arch and the inactives under, One more time, and dosi do... (or "Ones arch and the Twos under" if that works for your crowd. The name "Nantucket Sleigh Ride" refers to whaling. After the sailors harpooned a whale, it often would swim off at great speed, pulling the small whaleboat behind it. David Millstone

17 years, 3 months

Re: [Callers] A Question About Nantucket Sleigh Ride

by gtwood＠worldpath.net

clicked out to soon (darn computer) Nantucket Sleighride is one of my favorite dances to dance and call! The "Ride the Waves" looks great from a high stage. (The arches resemble ocean waves thus the name) Beginners as well as experianced dancers seem to really enjoy the dance. (nuf said) Original Message: ----------------- From: Rickey holt.e(a)comcast.net Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:47:04 -0500 To: callers(a)sharedweight.net Subject: [Callers] A Question About Nantucket Sleigh Ride Hi All, In B1 of Kirstin Koths' dance Nantucket Sleigh Ride there is a figure I will call "Arches". In this figure everyone is facing up and the ones, who are now below the twos, join inside hands, make an arch and walk forward, while the twos duck and back under that arch. Then the twos arch and walk forward while the ones duck under to place. My notes say to do arches twice. It would appear from the timing that that entire sequence - ones over twos under and twos over, ones under - is repeated twice. Is that what you remember? Rickey Holt Fremont, NH _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers -------------------------------------------------------------------- myhosting.com - Premium Microsoft® Windows® and Linux web and application hosting - http://link.myhosting.com/myhosting

17 years, 3 months

Re: [Callers] A Question About Nantucket Sleigh Ride

by gtwood＠worldpath.net

Hi Ricky, You can teach it as 1s Arch 2s back through 2s arch 1s back through (2X) the traditional call after teaching the dance is "Ride the Waves" which is the whole arch sequence. It saves a lot of 'talk' during the dance. Gale Original Message: ----------------- From: Rickey holt.e(a)comcast.net Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:47:04 -0500 To: callers(a)sharedweight.net Subject: [Callers] A Question About Nantucket Sleigh Ride Hi All, In B1 of Kirstin Koths' dance Nantucket Sleigh Ride there is a figure I will call "Arches". In this figure everyone is facing up and the ones, who are now below the twos, join inside hands, make an arch and walk forward, while the twos duck and back under that arch. Then the twos arch and walk forward while the ones duck under to place. My notes say to do arches twice. It would appear from the timing that that entire sequence - ones over twos under and twos over, ones under - is repeated twice. Is that what you remember? Rickey Holt Fremont, NH _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web.com - Microsoft® Exchange solutions from a leading provider - http://link.mail2web.com/Business/Exchange

17 years, 3 months

A Question About Nantucket Sleigh Ride

by Rickey

Hi All, In B1 of Kirstin Koths' dance Nantucket Sleigh Ride there is a figure I will call "Arches". In this figure everyone is facing up and the ones, who are now below the twos, join inside hands, make an arch and walk forward, while the twos duck and back under that arch. Then the twos arch and walk forward while the ones duck under to place. My notes say to do arches twice. It would appear from the timing that that entire sequence - ones over twos under and twos over, ones under - is repeated twice. Is that what you remember? Rickey Holt Fremont, NH

17 years, 3 months

Re: [Callers] Can you name this dance ? Well I can !

by The Witful Turnip

Hey gang, Kathy's in Costa Rica at the moment (I'm so envious!) but took a minute to email and let me know that she wrote the dance I asked about below. It's called Top Spin. There you go... Bev ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:25:36 -0500 From: "The Witful Turnip" <wturnip(a)sympatico.ca> Subject: [Callers] Can you name this dance ? To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Message-ID: <000001c870f3$3bf22d30$6d00a8c0@BB1> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all, I was poking around on YouTube for banjo tunes and happened to stumble across a video of Kathy Anderson calling this dance in St Louis. Does anyone know the name and author of this dance? Thanks in advance! Bev A1. (starts in a wavy line, ladies in ctr by L, neigh in R) Balance wave, neighbors allemande R 1/2 Gents allemande L 3/4 to long wave down the ctr, balance wave A2. Gents allemande L 3/4, partner swing B1. Ladies allemande R 1 1/2 Neighbor swing B2. Partners R hand balance across, pull by R, pull by neighbour L (sq thru) With the next, do si do (into the wave) *************************************************************************** The Witful Turnip wturnip(a)sympatico.ca "Ambition is the last refuge of failure." - Oscar Wilde *************************************************************************** ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers End of Callers Digest, Vol 42, Issue 15 ***************************************

17 years, 3 months

challenging contras

by Richard Green

Hello, I am posting this on both the sharedweight and trad-dance-callers lists: Next month at the Downeast Festival in Maine I am scheduled to do a short session which I have called "challenging contras." At the time that I suggested it, I thought that I fondly remembered enjoying challenging dance sessions at dance festivals. But as I think more about it I realize that the only ones I can actually remember were sessions where the dances seemed so complex that it was almost impossible to get 4 or 6 people together at once who understood what to do, or on the other hand being somewhat disappointed because the dances didn't seem challenging enough. I am sure the line between too much and too little is probably different for everyone. Can anyone suggest dances that experienced dancers might find somewhat challenging, perhaps something with an unusual figure? I have heard several people on this list mention that anyone can dance anything as long as the teaching is good enough, so that will be my own challenge. I plan to try a couple dances that are not the standard duple formation, but I would like to find at least one that is duple, so any suggestions or advice are welcome. If you can also include the transcription or tell me where to find the dances I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance! Richard

17 years, 3 months

Can you name this dance ?

by The Witful Turnip

Hi all, I was poking around on YouTube for banjo tunes and happened to stumble across a video of Kathy Anderson calling this dance in St Louis. Does anyone know the name and author of this dance? Thanks in advance! Bev A1. (starts in a wavy line, ladies in ctr by L, neigh in R) Balance wave, neighbors allemande R 1/2 Gents allemande L 3/4 to long wave down the ctr, balance wave A2. Gents allemande L 3/4, partner swing B1. Ladies allemande R 1 1/2 Neighbor swing B2. Partners R hand balance across, pull by R, pull by neighbour L (sq thru) With the next, do si do (into the wave) *************************************************************************** The Witful Turnip wturnip(a)sympatico.ca "Ambition is the last refuge of failure." - Oscar Wilde ***************************************************************************

17 years, 3 months

Re: [Callers] organizing dance cards

by lynn ackerson

Wow, Tom. I thought I was the only one anal enough to do that. All of my dances are listed in an Excel file which has columns for title, author, who swings whom, formation, and for many major defining figures. I then print out all of my dances with Petronella turns, down the hall, or any other defining figure. Then when I need to replace my hey dance with a simpler one, I can just turn to the page of titles of hey dances I have printed out. My cards are organized first by formation (contras; squares; mixers; dances for 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 couples), and within each group, they are alphabetized by title. The cards are in large photo albums that display three 4x6 cards on each side of each page - really helps when wanting to find something quickly. Lynn ----- Original Message ---- From: Thomas J Senior <thomasjsenior(a)gmail.com> To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 8:13:00 AM Subject: Re: [Callers] organizing dance cards Hi Folks, Coming out of LURK mode. Many years ago, while calling a dance in Milwaukee, i noticed that my selection of dances all had "down the middle 4 in line." Ouch. To help me avoid this obvious programming faux pas, i started a computer data base of my dance cards. I code each dance with its main moves/story line: ie. both couples swing. Each of my cards now has a number on it. I've printed out my list of dances several ways, since i don't have a lap top at the dance, And when i need to change programs on the fly, i can usually find what i need in the listing. The biggest advantage to this system is that, if you put the cards back in order after the dance, you can easily find the card the next time. Hope this may help, Tom Senior (chicagoland) > -----Original Message----- > From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net [mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Amy Cann > Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 9:58 PM > To: Caller's discussion list > Subject: Re: [Callers] organizing dance cards > > Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net> on Monday, February 4, > 2008 at 9:09 PM +0000 wrote: > >I'm reorganizing my dance cards > ... > >The dance that's most puzzling to me right now is Mary Cay's Reel > > I often sort my dances by storyline, so for me the defining move of Mary > Cay's is that the women do something special WITH EACH OTHER, while the > men look on/cheer. > > There is a very specific social thing that happens at moments like this - > ( other examples: "ladies down center 2 by 2 with each other" or "men > gypsy each other" ) - when one gender displays and the other watches > > (and BOY does that other gender like to watch sometime!) > > so Mary Cay's, for me, goes in the "Gender Fun" category. > > Other categories include "Where did my partner go - wait, how did you end > up THERE?" and "Look at me aren't I cool?" > > > > We all get caught sometimes - we just can't seem to find a next dance that > doesn't repeat the previous one in some way - the same starting move, the > same progression, yet aNOTHer down-the-hall-in-lines-of-four. > At moments like this, I often opt to go for the dance with the most > different "storyline" or "social structure", and ask the band for a > contrasting tune type, in the (perhaps naive) belief that the dancers > won't notice repeating move so much if, say, the first one struts and the > second one slinks. > > Cheers, > Amy > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > -- Tom Senior Dance while you can. _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

17 years, 3 months

Kathy Anderson's Weave The Line

by Rickey

Hi Line Weavers, In Kathy Anderson's contra "Weave the Line" dancers zigzag their way to their third neighbor couple in A2. What happens to those dancers less than 3 neighbor couples away from either end of the line? Rickey Holt. Here's the dance as I collected it from U Tube of all places. This was not clear from the video which did include the walk through. Weave the Line Duple Improper, Double Progression by Kathy Anderson A1 Star Left (1) (8) Circle left (1) (8) (to place) A2 Zigzag to 3rd Neighbor keep Partner, veer left right and left to 3rd Neighbor face Neighbor #3, and Do-si-do them (one person at a time, not as couples) B1 Turn around to face Neighbor #2 Balance and Swing them (end swing facing across) B2 Long Lines forward and back Actives Swing Partner

17 years, 3 months

organizing dance cards

by Rebecca Lay

Hi Callers, Rebecca Lay here in Brattleboro, Vermont. I'm reorganizing my dance cards tonight; putting them in categories that I've determined by asking myself the question: "What is the figure that defines this dance?" So, I've got a section for full-hey dances, those that include a Petronella figure, dances that go down the hall, etc. I've got plenty of categories (well, at least I think I do), and I still have some dances that don't seem to fit into a category. The dance that's most puzzling to me right now is Mary Cay's Reel, by David Kaynor. The defining figure in this dance is when the women "chain the set," but I don't have a category for that, since this is the only dance in my repertoire that contains the figure. I've thought about adding this dance to my "wave" category, since the chain-the-set is sort-of like a momentary wave, but I feel like that might be a stretch. Any ideas? How would you categorize this dance? (And, do you have any more dances you like to call that include a chain-the-set figure? I like it!) Thanks, everyone. -Rebecca

17 years, 3 months

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