Hi Seth and Luke,
This discussion has inspired me to revisit grid contras.
We danced a grid contra yesterday at our monthly dance in Christchurch.
The majority of the dancers (24) were experienced but 8 were less so.
Even so it went well and all found it fun.
Here is a video of the setting up, teaching, walk throughs and the dance.
With a bit of computer animation thrown in.
https://youtu.be/gLKBm4j7gbQ
There were a few hiccups with the filming as my camera suffered tripod
droop! I had a great birds eye view from the stage, but the
camera less so :-(
I called a variation of Petronella Fancy which I wrote in 2012.
It was inspired by Kim's Game by Colin Hume. Petronella Fancy
was originally a type of 4 face 4, but easily extended to
an arbitrary regular grid.
The variation I used last night changed the order (to suit the
music better) and used both a double progression and
double transgression.
We danced on a grid of 4 adjacent contra lines of length 4 couples.
Total of 32 dancers. The dance has a period of 10 during which
each dancer will swing 5 different neighbors (each twice).
The 2s in the left line, 1s in the right line, 2s in front hands-four
and 1s in back hands-four all travel around the perimeter of the grid.
The 6 remaining couples form 3 pairs that vibrate back and forth.
This is the version we danced.
Petronella Fancy DP
A1 (4) [Entire oval along the set] Balance ring (4) Petronella turn
(4) [Entire oval along the set] Balance ring (4) Petronella turn
A2 (4) Pass through along (NR)
(4) Pass through along (N2R)
(8) N2 neighbor swing; face partner
B1 (8) Men allemande left 1 & 1/2
(8) Partner swing
B2 (8) [Groups of four] Circle left 3/4 [with N2]; face along
(8) Lines across the set forward and back
In general this dance is interesting if the grid does not have many
interior hands-four rings, as those couples vibrate and see very
few neighbors.
Here is the original
http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=12042
It had a single progression and this means that couples traveling around the
perimeter are out very frequently which is not much fun.
I can easily generate animations for other size grids if anyone is interested.
Cheers, Bill
On 10/10/2018 9:05 a.m., Tepfer, Seth via Callers wrote:
> When a couple moves up and down the lines, we call that 'progression'.
> When a couple moves ACROSS the lines, I call that 'transgression'. Not
> counting four face fours (aka mescolanzas, double countras) I know of three
> dances that 'transgress' in some form or another:
You may have seen my "Feeling Gravity's Pull" which I posted at the end of
the recent Mad Robin teaching thread.
In that dance, there's a move where partners are facing in side by side on
the outside of the set (where the Gents have forward momentum and the
Ladies neutral to backward momentum) and my intent was for them to rotate
around their inside hand connection with the Gents going forward and Ladies
backing up once around. (As opposed to the Gent walks a circle around the
Lady.) So the net effect would be like a courtesy turn, in going around a
central point between the dancers, just a little "wider."
I believe the correct term for this would be "Hand Cast" but I had a dancer
who was adamant about it being a "Gate" in ECD so when I posted the dance
that's the term I used. I've again done some googling and found no ready
reference to a "Hand Cast" in ECD and only the slightest in a contra
context, yet the term sticks in my mind.
What say ye? Is "Hand Cast" a thing and correct in this context?
Thanks,
Don
In addition to Pong, the grid contra I've tried at two dance weekends,
there's also some six face six dances I wrote; only "two out of three ain't
bad" has actually been field tested. I've had it succeed and be enjoyed,
I've also had it degenerate into a circle mixer.
http://www.madrobincallers.org/2014/02/26/6-facing-6-contra-dances/
On Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 7:20 AM Bill Baritompa <bill.baritompa(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi Seth,
>
> Ages ago you mentioned your dance Transgressions on SW and I made
> some snapshots of it.
>
> I checked callers box and notice that the link to the snapshots
> in the caller's notes of
> http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=12040
> is no longer valid as picasaweb is dead.
>
> I've moved the snap shots here:
> https://photos.app.goo.gl/uxB2Qh4Ya7K31cBX7
> so you can send an update to Chris to fix the callers box listing.
>
> I've also added a few more snapshots of the paths and neighbors met.
>
> Luke Donforth wrote a very interesting grid contra which he called Pong.
> It has both progression and transgression which changes during the dance.
>
> The paths of couples are diagonal but bounce off the boundary of the grid,
> thus solving the problem of some couples not moving very much or at all.
> However this was at the expense of have 'changing states' that dancers had
> to be
> aware of.
>
> https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/msg10581.html
> http://www.madrobincallers.org/2017/09/19/pong-a-grid-contra/
>
> I had corresponded quite a bit about it. He actually tried the dance at
> one point.
>
> I've attached some comments about it and this is video about the math
> https://youtu.be/S_qCbQIAFbQ
>
> Cheers, Bill
>
>
>
>
>
When a couple moves up and down the lines, we call that 'progression'.
When a couple moves ACROSS the lines, I call that 'transgression'. Not counting four face fours (aka mescolanzas, double countras) I know of three dances that 'transgress' in some form or another:
* Out of Bounds*, Will Mentor
* Becket's Crossing, Chris Kermiet
* New and Improved, Super Ultra Snake Oil #9* (seth's riff from) Roger Diggle
What others are out there?
Seth
*Technically these are 'minor' transgressions since they only go over to the other line and then come back. Still, they are 'crossing the line'!
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I was in the MRI tube yesterday and this dance asked to be written down. To
any one's knowlege does it exists?
In the MRI. Imp.
A1- in ring bal. Petronella, repeat; N swing
A2- LLFwB; Ladies/Raven chain
B1- ladies/Raven chain; P swing
B2- in ring bal. Petronella, repeat; balance California twirl to new N.
In the B2 you can skip the courtesy turn and make a bit lonher swing with
your partner if you choose.
I really don't like a lot of turning and spinning due to a personal balance
issue but this felt fun.
Thanks all.
Mary Collins
Hello Callers! Around the breakfast table at Penelope Weinberger’s house this morning, while on tour with Cloud Ten, I came up with this dance. Wrote it with the Sam Bartlett tune Penelope’s Cruise (also written for Penelope Weinberger) in mind. Wondering if it is already out there? Thanks for your input!
Jean Gorrindo
Breakfast at Penelope’s
by Jean Gorrindo
Contra/Improper/Easy-Int/Double Progression
A1 -----------
(8) Partner R-Hand Balance; Square Thru (pull by Partner with Right, Neighbor Left)
(8) Partner Balance & Box the Gnat
A2 -----------
(16) Neighbor balance and swing
B1 -----------
(8) Women allemande Right 1-1/2
(8) Partner swing
B2 -----------
(8) Long lines, forward and back
(8) Women's Chain
As may be obvious, I love Mad Robins. I'm still working on what is the best
way to teach them.
I know about the "Dosido/now face your Partner/on the same path as the
Dosido, do a Mad Robin" approach and have used it.
I've heard other callers I admire admonish to not use the "wrong" move as a
teaching tool for the "right" move - as it's that much harder to "unlearn"
the original bit.
What I've observed is that newer dancers may end up focused on the wrong
person, facing the wrong direction, and possibly doing the "Dosido Twirl"
when using the Dosido teach. But they *do* follow the correct path (so long
as the caller remembers to say SeeSaw vs. Dosido as the correct analogue)
on the floor. Some can make the facing adjustment and some persist in
facing the wrong way. If the dance tolerates the facing differences, all is
OK.
As a practice, I actively solicit feedback on my calling at each gig. Out
of a recent one I got into an extended discussion about the Mad Robin teach
with a dancer whom had struggled with their beginner partner in a sequence
that evening. I had read that crowd as highly experienced so did only a
basic teaching of the move, which they reported having not got through to
this beginner. They freely offered that all was well around them, it was
just a frustration in their own experience. We touched on the merits and
drawbacks of the Dosido teach (which I chose not to use in that situation
as it appears to annoy experienced dancers, plus because of the above
points).
I'm trying to evolve to something that teaches both the correct motion and
the facing direction at the same time - *without* taxing experienced folks'
patience. I have my own ideas on this but welcome others'.
So, how do *you* teach a Mad Robin most effectively and efficiently? Do you
vary it by context, crowd composition, other factors?
Thanks,
Don
Hi All,
Chrissy Fowler of Belfast Flying Shoes fame has asked me to share with you
the email below. (She's on the SW organizers list but not the callers
list).
This resource she's created is pretty amazing ... enjoy!
Emily
===================================================
Hi Shared Weight Organizers List.
I'm writing to share a resource that I recently put together - Dancing in
Literature: A Partial Bibliography. It's posted on the Belfast Flying
Shoes blog (http://belfastflyingshoes.org/dancing-books-for-flying-shoes/)
and is meant to be widely disseminated. As noted on the front page of the
pdf, this project was supported by a dance education grant from the Maine
Arts Commission and by Belfast Flying Shoes, with help from many
contributors.
The word "partial" is key. This is by no means comprehensive, and I'm
making no recommendations about the literary value of any of the books.
But it's a resource, and I'm happy to imagine it being of use.
Cheers,
Chrissy Fowler
I wanted to have a dance where dancers did the dolphin hey figure with a neighbor rather than with a partner so that knowledge could be transferred from one person to another. I wrote this dance with that purpose. This dance borrows much from Seth Tepfer’s “Dolphin Yay!” dance and Andrea Nettleton’s “Porpoiseful Play”. Much thanks to both of these choreographers for their great dances.
Please take a look at this dance and let me know if you know it to be already written in this way. The slice in the beginning can be changed into a double slice (left diagonal forward to new neighbors, left diagonal back to next new neighbors) to make it a double progression, giving more dancers a chance to be the dolphin couple. I called this in Santa Barbara, CA, on 9/30, with the double slice. The dancers gave the dance a thumbs up. Click on these words for a video link. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoYYc4mKzrE>
Thanks,
Jacqui
Iluka Iluka
by Jacqui Grennan
Contra/Improper
A1 -----------
** BECKET ** ID Lady 1 and Gent 2 (AKA “top couple”)
(8) LEFT DIAGONAL - Slice (single progression) or double slice (double progression) to new Neighbors
(8) Lady 1 & Gent 2 (”top couple”) left shoulder ‘round 1-1/2 to face Lady 2
A2 -----------
(14) Dolphin Hey for 3 (6 passes) - Dolphins pass Lady 2 right, end by passing Lady 2 at the same place where the hey was started
(2) Lady 2 cross the set
B1 -----------
(16) Neighbor right shoulder ‘round/Swing
B2 -----------
(6) Circle left 3/4
(10) Partner Swing
It's on! Same venues as last time; same prices as advertised on the flyer.
Book your Early Bird tickets at http://eiff.org.uk/tickets.html
Colin Hume
Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://colinhume.com
