Hopefully a fun question. At the same time as the pandemic, I moved to my
rural hometown, and (after some years of hunkering) have gone from
'sometimes' to 'occasionally' to now monthly hosting a barn dance with a
great band on a wonderful dance floor here.
I have promised the dancers "as we get practice, and as we build up skills
in the community, gradually we can start doing dances with more moves," and
some of the regulars asked for a 'practice dance' with a few of these fun
ones, so I now get to plan one. But I suddenly realized, I haven't myself
danced contra in such a long time that most of the names of the 'old
favorites" have abdicated the brainspace they used to hold.
So, *what I'm asking for: *
*Remind me the names of simple, fun dances that include some of my favorite
figures (roll-away with half sashay, Rory O'Moore, maybe box circulate or
butterfly whirl?) *I want to give them a taste for "why it's worth it to
get more complex" without actually getting TOO complex yet (probably going
to avoid becket formation, and I don't think I want to teach heys yet. I
haven't taught courtesy turns (chain, R&L through, et al) yet, but I could
probably do so either at this practice or a future one. Most of our
progression thus far have been "pass through", but if there's a good
candidate dance with a non 'pass through' progression, I can modify it a
skosh to keep things consistent.
I am attaching the program from our last dance to give you a sense of where
we are (
https://contradb.com/programs/278 ). This practice dance is going
to have 12 dancers, who have understood progression as we've done it in Do
Si Three and in Jefferson's Remorse, and on the dance floor they've been
some of the ones helping newcomers understand.
Thanks in advance for your recommendations!
Allison
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Allison Jonjak
allisonjonjak(a)gmail.com
allisonjonjak.com