Hello all,
Linda Leslie's suggestion of gyre as a replacement for gypsy bubbled around
in my brain and a new (I think) dance percolated up. It has a twist that
isn't the gyre (which I consider just new nomenclature); women casting out
of the swing to travel from one minor set to another (similar to gent's
movement in Scoot by Tom Hinds).
I haven't gotten to test it with dancers yet, as I just finished running it
through with pegs on my desk; but I wanted to share it in support of a new
term.
A Gyre for Linda
by Luke Donforth
Contra/Becket-CCW
A1 -----------
(4) Pass through to an ocean wave (ladies left, catch right with partner)
(4) Balance the short Wavy line
(2) Walk forward
(3) Shadow gyre right 1/2
(3) Gents gyre left 1/2 in the middle
A2 -----------
(16) Neighbor gyre right and swing
B1 -----------
MEANWHILE FIGURE:
(8) Men allemande Left 1-1/2 WHILE women cast cw around whole set one
woman’s place
(8) 1/2 Hey, passing partner by right shoulder
B2 -----------
(16) Partner gyre right and swing at home
As for the other aspects that have been discussed:
I pronounce it with a softer g sound. For reasons unclear to me, gyre has
different accepted pronunciations; but (to my knowledge) gyration doesn't.
As for using the term (which I clearly support); it costs me nearly nothing
to switch and helps make the dance more accessible for some; both in
dropping a term some find offensive and making the name more descriptive of
the move. My job as a caller is to help share the joy of dancing, and if
this does that I'm in favor of it.
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
I wanted to share a contra written in honor of Linda Leslie - it was called
this weekend in a session with the Youth Festival Orchestra at the 2018 New
England Folk Festival to a nice reception. Full details at
http://veino.com/blog/?p=1990 .
May it bring dancers joy - as did she.
-Don
*¡Que Linda! - DI - Don Veino 20180211*
*A1*
Neighbor Balance & Swing
*A2*
Long Lines Forward & Back
Mad Robin CCW 1+1/4x (Ladies through center 1st, to Wave/4 across)
[N by LH, Ladies RH center]
*B1*
Balance Wave, Neighbor Allemande Left 1/2x,
Gents Pass Right to cross, Partner Swing
*B2*
Circle Left 3/4x, Ring Balance & CA Twirl
I was recently thinking about star to star transitions. There are lots of
great dances that go star 1x to opposite hand star 1x (such as Lisa
Greenleaf's "Poetry in Motion", Robert Cromartie's "Al's Safeway Produce",
Linda Leslie's "Burlington Spirit"...); and then there are the star -> same
hand star dances (Mike Richardson's "Star Trek", my "Voyager", Dugan
Murphey's "The Next Generation"...)
Are there dances that use star just half way -> with next, opposite hand
star 1/2 way? I'm envisioning something with a bit of a zig-zag feel, but
that could be done in crowded dance halls where you don't want folks
swooping out laterally (like John Coffman's "Boys of Urbana"), but more
connected than a single file promenade snake like Cary Ravitz's "March of
the Coffee Zombies".
Are there already dances out there like this?
Switchback Stars
Improper, single progression
A1
With #1 Neighbors, Left Hand star 1/2x
With #2 Neighbors, Right Hand star 1/2
With #3 Neighbor, left shoulder gyre 1x
A2
With #2 Neighbor, right shoulder gyre and swing (now current neighbors)
B1
Circle Left 3/4
Partner Swing
B2
Ladies chain across to neighbor
Long Lines forward and back
If so, how do they handle the timing?
And for that dance (assuming it doesn't already exist), would you prefer it
as written above, or shifted to put the progression in B2?
Switchback Stars + 16B
Improper, single progression
A1
With Neighbor, right shoulder gyre and swing
A2
Circle Left 3/4
Partner Swing
B1
Ladies chain across to neighbor
Long Lines forward and back
B2
With #1 Neighbors, Left Hand star 1/2x
With #2 Neighbors, Right Hand star 1/2
With #3 Neighbor, left shoulder gyre 1x
come back to Neighbor #2, now current neighbor
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
Luke I think you've come up with something original. The only dances I know of that have a series of half stars were written by Rod Linnel. He came up with a figure (i believe) he called grand star and used in a double square.
Sent from my iPad
Hi folks,
This is a pretty simple dance without a neighbor swing. Anyone recognize it
as already existing?
A1
Neighbor Allemande Right 1 1/2
Gents Allemande Left 1 1/2
A2
Partner Balance and Swing
B1
Long Lines forward and back
Promenade across set with partner
B2
Ladies chain back to neighbor
Left hand star 1x
Thanks
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
>Yoyo Zhou
<https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=callers@lists.sharedweight.net&q=from…>
Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:19:18 -0400 (EDT)
<https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=callers@lists.sharedweight.net&q=date…>
>Thanks, all. I've found that the first dance (? 1), as I noted it, isn't in
>any of your collections, because it doesn't work:
This is an old thread, but I was searching for an easy introduction to an
alle/orbit figure and landed on it.
I have made a fix to Yoyo's original transcription that, as he described,
resulted in couples swapping sides and, my guess, cycling back and forth
within one place of the starting point forever!
The fixed dance is as follows and has a CCW progression. I swapped a LL for
the R/L and juggled a figure here or there in A. the only hiccup is the
slight grinding of gears (i.e. reverse of momentum) for the ladies
transitioning from a swing to a chain (but not a biggie and it occurs often
in the repertoire).
*A1*
*(8)*
*LL F & B*
*(8)*
*Gents alle L 1.5*
*A2*
*(8)*
*N Swing*
*(8)*
*Ladies Chain*
*B1*
*(8)*
*Cir L 3/4; pass thru*
*(8)*
*New ladies alle L 1.0*
*Gents orbit CW*
*B2*
*(16)*
*P Bal & Sw*
I've discovered this is very similar to Cary Ravitz's "Amy's Harmonium"
leading me to think that Yoyo might have had that dance in mind.
https://danceminder.com/dance/show/amysha
*A1* LLFB (partners roll away w/half sashay on the way back)
Gents allemande right 1 3/4 8
*A2* Neighbor balance and swing 8
*B1* Ladies chain across
Circle left 3/4, Pass thru (up/down) to new couple 8
*B2* Ladies alle lt 1x while Gents orbit 1/2 CW(left)
Partner swing
I like Cary's better for flow (his balance/no balance swings are a better
fit) BUT the roll-away is an extra thing to throw off novices. On the other
hand, there's no reason that, in the first version, partners couldn't flow
right into a 16 beat swing (or dancers' choice), foregoing the balance.
Hi Luke:
There is a resemblance to this one which can be found in a 2016 posting:
Dick and Mary's Departure (for Dick and Mary Ashbrook)
Jan Larsen
Duple, improper
A1 Neighbor allemande right 1 ½,
Men allemande left 1 ½
A2 *Partner balance and swing ( *alt: gypsy and swing)
B1 Ladies allemande right 1 ½
Swing your neighbor
B2 Half promenade,
Left hand star
Regards
Ken Panton
Had a recent inspiration on a couple of Butterfly Whirl sequences - looking
for input on a few questions/options... opinions welcome!
Thanks,
Don
Butterfly DRAFT 20180410.1 - 4 Face 4 - Don Veino
A1 LLF&B, Circle/8 RIGHT 1/2x
A2 Circle/4 Left 3/4x, Opposite N Swing [at Gent’s progressed home]
B1 (option A) Gents Star Left ~3/4x (to P)
P Star Promenade 1/4x [all at progressed home], Butterfly Whirl to face
center
(option B) Opposite Gents Allemande Left 1+1/2x (to P)
P Star Promenade 1/2x [w/in opp. 4; to all at progr. home], Butterfly Whirl
to face up/down
B2 (option A) Ladies Star Right 1x (to P), P Swing & face progression
(option B) Opposite Ladies Allemande Right 1x (to P), P Swing & face
progression
Questions:
- Option A, IMO, is more of a "real" 4 facing 4 - but I'm uncertain if the
timing will work? (Option B = bog standard timing.)
- Is there a strong argument for one option vs. the other - will dancers
care if the majority of the action is in 2-couple groups with opposites
rather than involving all 4 couples?
- Will there be a significant space problem when all 4 couples pass through
the center in B1 option B?
Butterfly DRAFT 20180410.2 - DI - Don Veino
A1 N Balance & Swing
A2 Gents Allemande Left 1+1/2x (Ladies left arm over P’s right as picked
up),
P Star Promenade 1/2x, Butterfly Whirl CCW along set to next Ns*, stay
connected with P
B1 Ladies Catch RH, Star Promenade P 1/2x CW, Butterfly Whirl CW into P
Swing [on L’s home side]
B2 Ladies Chain, Half Hey (back to THIS N...)
End effects: re-enter in Butterfly hold with P (where/how depends upon
answer below)
*Question: I believe the butterfly shift could progress this dance forward
(whirl shift to right as face out) or reverse (shift left). I believe
reverse progression would flow/feel slightly better but forward progression
could be less confusing to dancers - which would be best?
Hi, Luke,
Great new ideas on 4X4 choreography! In regards to the "Tamlin's Cross," I
think the rollaway-swing transition in A1 would feel less than ideal, or
even awkward because the direction of the rollaway is counter to the
direction of the swing.
I love that transition when the gent is sashaying left and passing a dancer
in the lady role from the gent's left hand to gent's right hand right, then
the gent can catch the other dancer in the lady role in a swing (as in
"Rollin' with Rhode" by Jim Hemphill, "Rollaway Sue" by Bob Isaacs, "Luna
in the Library" by Ron Blechner,""Roll Twelve" by Chris Page, and "Into the
DMZ" by Cary Ravitz, among others). I fear that the rollaway-swing
transition as it is written in "Tamlin's Crossing" wouldn't be as
satisfying as int he dances I listed.
Thank you for your innovations and I look forward to seeing more!
Dugan Murphy
Portland, Maine
dugan at duganmurphy.comwww.DuganMurphy.comwww.PortlandIntownContraDance.com
> Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2018 12:16:42 -0400
> From: Luke Donforth <luke.donev(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] New (?) 4x4 contra
>
> Thanks all for the feedback! I'll reach out to Erik and Nils.
>
> As Rick pointed out, the dance could work from standard 4x4 lines; and I
> certainly wouldn't object to folks dancing it that way. In my head, the
> half grand hey precludes this from many dance events, so I figured dancers
> I could toss this at would probably not be thrown by the bent formation.
> But keeping the non-hook moves simple is worthwhile.
>
> I haven't done a Dutch Crossing workshop, although I've been meaning to.
> Nice to see Lisa getting everyone through it, thank you for the link; and
> the reminder to learn Dutch Crossing.
>
> Colin, I don't remember the last time I got to call a 48 bar dance. But if
> I get a band itching to play one, now I've got some things in the quiver.
>
> Jim, I'll admit Heymania is intimidating to me. I like the fixed timing of
> contra, the squishyness of squares is a challenge for me. I'd have to work
> up to that one with some simpler non-musically-square squares.
>
> As for this dance, dropping the balance before the partner swing and
> letting the hey flow into B2 seems the simplest and most forgiving way of
> handling the timing. I like the idea of the reunion moment being marked in
> time though, so that partners know when they're supposed to find each
> other. You could give the hey more time in B1 at the expense of some of the
> neighbor swing. What about the following variation, informed by Chris's
> comments on timing?
>
> Tamlin's Cross (variation)
> 4x4 (lines or bent)
>
> A1
> (4) All 8 go into the middle
> (4) Gents roll partners away on the way out
> (8) Corner Swing, square set
> A2
> (8) Gents left hands across star 1x; gents drop out
> (8) Ladies left hands across star 1x;
> ladies keep hands, and take right hand with corner (making crossed wavy
> lines of 4)
> B1
> (4) Balance the wavy lines of four
> (12) half grand hey, start passing corner you swung by right
> then turn away from corner you swung
> B2
> (16) Partner Balance and Swing
> End the swing facing new couple, having swapped sides with your trail-buddy
> couple
>
> That gives both roles the muscle memory of a left hand star in the middle
> as prep for the handless-star in the hey; which could either be helpful or
> monotonous.
> <digression>
> I wouldn't usually chase a left hand star with a left hand star, but I
> think left will flow better for the gents out of a swing; and I want the
> corners to take right hands (because getting folks to balance left then
> right seems impossible outside of Rory o'More). The two left hand stars
> would also leave some room for silliness on the part of the dancers.
> A2 could be ladies right hand star, then gents left; but I'm not super fond
> of the swing->ladies go in transition. It happens a lot in swing->chain,
> but I don't think it would add to the dance here.
> </digression>
>
> Thanks again for sharing your experience :-)
>
