[Callers] Re: Contra corners recommendations needed

Chorus Jig is both a dance and a tune written for that dance, but you can dance it to any tune. Note that it's a proper dance, so you really need to either have short lines or call it a long time to get everyone active. At NEFFA they make short lines stacked end-to-end for a session of chestnuts, so everyone can be active. It used to be that everyone knew this dance, so much so that, at a weekend event in the mid '90s, we once played a joke on Steve Zakon-Anderson by dancing Chorus Jig rather than the dance he called. Another time, we got it as a no-walkthrough with the single call, "OUTSIDE!" and we knew what to do. I've been using a dance Seth Tepfer posted here, with the unlikely name "The Bodacious Babe and Her Fabulous Femmes". The reason I like it is that it does corners in an unusual way that I find easier to teach. The Robins turn corners around the Larks. This makes it a bit easier to teach and less confusing to dance, for some reason I can't really fathom. I make clear during the teaching that usually a couple is the runners, and they swing each other afterwards. https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=18132 One thing that has helped me in teaching corners successfully is that I spend almost equal time talking to the corners as the runners. I get them to identify the first runner coming at them and to signal that person by catching their eye and holding up their left hand/arm in allemande position, then do the same for their second runner. With both sides actively looking rather than the corners just waiting for someone to come at them, there's less confusion. --jh-- On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 12:42 AM Abbie Sorg via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: