[Callers] Less-used figures

Hello callers, I am just back from a wonderful two days at the DownEast Country Dance Festival in Maine. There was something I noticed there that I thought was worthy of note on this list. I was sitting out watching Linda Leslie do a walk-through for a dance. The dance had a contra-corners figure in it and the dancers got lost enough trying to walk it through that Linda had six couples do a demo. It struck me that fifteen years ago I don't think that would have had to be taught at an event like the Festival, because it was a figure we used (and was taught to us) so frequently in the regular Saturday night dances that the number of people attending an event like the festival who didn't know it would be low. It seemed to me to be a reflection of doing the older dances so much less often than we used to. I remarked on this to the person I was sitting with, but then realized that he is in his twenties and does not know the kinds of dances that used to fill an evening of dancing around here back in the 70s and 80s (when the majority of dances we used in an evening might well have been older traditional dances and were as likely to be proper as improper). His assumption is contra corners is a figure that always has to be taught no matter who the crowd. When relating this story to my partner, who was not at the festival, he asked whether people sat down when Linda did the demo. Most of them did - but there were a good number who did not. He recalled how it used to be that when the caller asked for a demo, the whole rest of the hall automatically squatted or sat so everyone could see. Very often now people remain standing during demos (at least around here). Just two interesting observations on the evolution of what we're doing and how we do it. I've made a note to teach the contra corners at my local dance sometime soon. (other callers have used it there - but very infrequently). Best to all of you, -cynthia