30 Aug
2013
30 Aug
'13
5:22 p.m.
JoLaine Jones-Pokorney asked for dances with unusual twists
on down-the-hall and come back up.
Kalia Kliban mentioned Al Olson's "Leaving Home", which adapts
an action from the English dance "Dublin Bay".
A2 Line of 4 lead down for 4, turn toward N to face up
but keep
backing down the hall for another 4, then lead up for 4, turn toward
N to face down and keep backing up the hall,
Another contra using this action is Sue Rosen's "Handsome Young
Maids". See, for example
http://www.library.unh.edu/special/forms/rpdlw/syllabus2004.pdf
Cynthia Phinney mentioned "Hickman's Hey", in which dancers go
down the hall and dance half a hey before coming back up. While
searching for information about it (see my previous message), I
found a variant called "Fiddling Frog Contra" by Leonard Ellis.
See
http://www.artkitchen.com/DanceContra/FiddlingFrog.html
One of my favorite dances with an unusual transition between going
down the hall and coming back up is "Brimmer and May Reel" by Dan
Pearl:
Duple improper
A1. Neighbors balance and swing.
A2. Right and left through (across only)
1's swing and face down
B1. Down the hall four in line (1's between the 2's) (4 steps)
1's California twirl (4)
Neighbors allemande with handy hand twice around (M1 & W2
by left, W1 & M2 by right) (8)
B2. Up the hall two-by-two, 1's leading the 2's (4)
1's cast unassisted to 2nd place while 2's continue up into
1st place and turn alone (towards each other) (4)
Circle left 1/2 (4)
Pass through along the line to meet new neighbors (4)
Dan's original version had the A1 and A2 as
A1. Neighbors swing (8)
Right and left through (8)
A2. 1's balance and swing
but I believe he now prefers (as I do) to start with a long neighbor
swing, ending at the end of the phrase instead of in the middle.
I'm not sure what Dan's current preference is about the balance in
A1. Some callers omit it out of deference to dancers who are late
finishing the B2. I think that including it rewards good timing.
I also think it shouldn't be a scramble (for dancers in decent
physical condition) to finish the B2 in time. However, timely
calls can be crucial, especially in the first few rounds of the
dance. If you allow the dancers to go down the hall four steps
before you begin calling the California twirl, then they'll get a
late start and may not be able to catch up during the entire rest
of the B part.
--Jim