12 Feb
2014
12 Feb
'14
6:27 p.m.
On Feb 11, 2014, at 2:53 PM, Greg Mcenzie wrote, concerning the
dance "Kiss the Bride" by Jeff Spero" (see _Southern California
Twirls_ or http://www.quiteapair.us/calling/acdol/dance/acd_81.html
for instructions):
Kiss the Bride is particularly difficult because it
uses the circle
3/4,
pass through transition at the end and the last call I need to fit
in is
"dosido" which takes two beats. Because it is where the progression
takes
place I also want to say "With the NEXT" to make that clear as
well. On my
current dance card I "solved" the problem by giving the "Pass
Through" call
early. That is unacceptable to me and I was trying to come up with
a good
way to make it work using calls that are precisely in time with the
phrasing.
I will beg to differ with Greg on two points.
First, I see no point in urging dancers to brisk circling in cases
where the action following "circle left 3/4; pass through" gives the
dancers adequate opportunity to make up time if they use 8 beats to
circle left 3/4--as, for example, in "Kiss the Bride", where "circle
left 3/4; pass through" is followed by "new neighbors do-si-do and
swing".
Second, in cases where I think inspiring dancers circle briskly *is*
worthwhile--for example, when "circle left 3/4 (6); pass through (2)" is
followed by "new neighbors balance"--I think it is no sin to finish the
call "pass through" before beat 6 of the circle. In fact, in such
cases, I usually give the call "pass through" on beats 3 and 4.
In illustration of my first point, look at this this video:
http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/contra/contra-modern/235-small-potatoes
The dance is "Small Potatoes" by Jim Kitch (alas, I couldn't find a
video
of "Kiss the Bride"), called by Karen Jackson. The description beside
the video frame gives the B2 of the dance as
(8) Circle left 3/4, pass thru;
(8) Next neighbor do si do
But if you watch what the dancers are doing, you'll see that they're
generally taking eight beats to circle 3/4. You'll also see that they
generally have no trouble completing both the pass through and the
do-si-do in the next eight beats, so that they're ready for the balance
at the beginning of the A1 music. The caller, by the way, utters the
"through" in "pass through" usually on beat 7 of B2, except in the
second round of the dance, where she says "through" on beat 6, and in
the sixth round, where says "pass through" on beats 9 and 10. (By the
sixth round she may have been about the drop that call altogether but
then noticed a few people who seemed still to need a reminder.) There
may be some who would criticize Karen's timing, but when I look at the
video I don't notice even the slightest evidence that the call timing
is giving rise to any awkwardness on the floor.
In illustration of my second point (about calling "pass through" during
beats 3 and 4 of the circle), look at these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_-uD_-nV6g
(Steve Zakon-Anderson calls a contra medley at the Concord
Scout House. Notice his timing on the third sequence in
the medley, Lisa Greenlef's "After the Solstice", wich
starts around 5:40.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMInHQo4mJY
(Maggie Cowan calls "Black Bird in the Night" by Don
Flaherty.)
My mean reason for giving the call "pass through" on beats 3 and 4 is
that I hope the slightly "early" call will implicitly encourage any
slow circlers to pick up their pace. If you say "pass through" on
beats 5 and 6, it's already too late to help any dancers who haven't
gotten their circles turned 3/4 of the way around by the time you say
"through".
A secondary advantage is that I then have all of beats 5-8 to give
the next call, for example:
go ON to then NEXT; BALance and SWING
or
make NEW VAVES and BALance NOW
or
NEW LAdies ALlemande LEFT
[as in "THe Equal Turn" by Tom Hinds]
etc.
--Jim