In many square dance recordings of years past the caller would call something similar to "Sashay round your corner, Sashay round your own".  As I understand it, these were back to back Dosidos, sometimes alternating the right and left shoulder., similar to a Walk around your corner, See Saw round your Partner.  A full Sashay brought you back to your original starting place.  

In todays MWSD Half Sashay is both a call and an arrangement.  When a caller calls Half-Sashay, the active dancers change places with the right hand dancer moving forward and to the left as the left hand dancer moves right, to the now vacated spot.  Whenever the Robin/Lady is on the Left side of a dancing pair, and the Lark/Gent is on the right, the dancers are said to be half-sashayed.  For example, if the Head Couples in a square Pass Thru from a static square, and then Turn Alone, the Heads are now Half Sashayed.  Another example would be to have two normal (non-sashayed) facing couples, Box the Gnat.  The Box the Gnat also leaves them Half Sashayed.

The call Half Sashay is almost identical to a Half of a Mad Robin.  Half of a Mad Robin would cause the Right and Left Hand dancers to switch locations.

Rich Sbardella
Stafford, CT






On Fri, Sep 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM Jacob or Nancy Bloom via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
One person rolls away, while the other person chassees to take their place.  Only one person (half of the couple) is doing the chassee, hence "roll away with a half sashay."

Jacob

On Fri, Sep 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM Sivier, Jonathan E via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
There is a figure that is somewhat similar in some 4 facing 4 dances from the 1800s.  In this case the couples slip past one another and then back with the couple on one side, I think I've seen both right and left, going in front each time.

For example:

La Tempete
Hillgrove (1863)
4 Facing 4; Beginner-Intermediate
 
A1  Lines of four go forward and back (1-4),
      That again (5-8)
A2  All chassé across and back (1-8)

For the chassé in A2 keep hold of partner's hand.  The left-hand couple takes eight slip steps to the right, passing behind the other couple, while the right hand couple slips to the left.  Then slip back to place with the couple that went behind initially passing in front.

Perhaps the square dance figure was a variation on that.

Jonathan

From: Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Friday, September 5, 2025 12:54 PM
To: john@modernjive.com <john@modernjive.com>
Cc: Shared Weight Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] Re: Why is it a half-sashay?
 
Interesting, and thanks! Clearly the "sashay" is a mispronunciation of French, similar to dosido and a few others.

I always thought of sashay as what the couple in a Virginia Reel does, a linear sideways gallop, and I've heard it called, "sashay down/up the middle".   Does the circular sashay all the way around exist in other dances besides MWSD?

--jh--


On Fri, Sep 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Hi Joe,

             First, I have always believed that some American mispronounced Chassee and it stuck.  I recently saw this in the 1957 “History of Square Dancing”, page 18:

    *** "chassee" (always pronounced "sashay" today; it is actually spelled "sasha" in John Burbank's New Collection of Country dances, Brookfield, 1799) ***

 

So, it looks like I was right, and it happened a long time ago!

https://archive.org/details/historyofsquared00damo/page/18/mode/2up?view=theater

 

             Second, in Modern Western Square Dancing there was a move called “Full Sashay” or “Sashay All The Way Around” where you did it twice, the person on the right always going behind.  MWSD no longer uses these terms, but the move we know is still a “Half”.

 

            Happy dancing,

                   John

                                   

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent                                         

 

From: Joe Harrington via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: 05 September 2025 18:07
To: Shared Weight Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] Why is it a half-sashay?

 

Would someone please explain why moving your right foot out to your right and following it by moving your body and left foot is only half a sashay?  Seems like a full sashay to me.  Half a sashay would be like, taking a wide stance and stopping.  In ballet, a chasse' is walking by moving one foot out and following it up with the other, never crossing them. Based on some limited reading, I don't think it's counted (as in, chasse' three times), but rather refers to the style of walking, say as opposed to jogging.  I could be mistaken.

 

"Roll away with a half sashay!" sure rolls off the tongue nicely, though...

 

--jh--

 

_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net


--
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net