1 Aug
2024
1 Aug
'24
8:35 a.m.
Hi Colin,
The book does mention it. In my copy it is on the next page. Maybe you didn't turn
the page...
= = = = = = = = = =
GIVE-AND-TAKE: General definition adopted by some callers and composers: The
"swingers", a man and a woman facing across the set, meet, join free hands,
retreat to the designated side of the set, and prepare to swing. Unless otherwise
specified, the dancers retreat to the man's side.
Original implementation: I visualized a very crisp, four-count interpretation. The
previous twosomes (not the new twosomes) end the previous figure (perhaps a swing, a
promenade, or a courtesy turn) in half shoulder-waist position. The previous twosomes move
forward at the start of the phrase, and the swingers form new twosomes by joining free
hands (woman's right, man's left). The woman resists for a moment while they
establish firm but elastic connection, and they take only two more counts to position
themselves to swing a step cw around the entire set from where the man started. This puts
the set in SAWTOOTH FORMATION.
I was put on the defensive by a woman who let me know in no uncertain terms that she was
not about to be given or taken by any man. I felt much relieved, therefore, to find
"give-and-take", with the hyphens even, in the dictionary: "the practice of
compromise." Now that's my kind of attitude; I even invite you to compromise with
your swinger (and with me) by taking up to as many as eight counts for your
implementation.
= = = = = = = = = =
I really like the original implementation and am very disappointed when the caller
teaches it as: wander across the set, bring the other person back. I wish someone would
make up a new name for that move and keep the original move as well!
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
-----Original Message-----
From: Colin Hume via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: 01 August 2024 13:59
To: Shared Weight Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] Re: What are your favorite �style points?�
On Thu, 1 Aug 2024 08:06:03 -0400, Rick Mohr via Contra Callers wrote:
Give & Take can have more connection than most
dancers put in. In the
walkthrough I say for example (from Joseph
Pimentel) (and, I think, as its creator Larry Jennings envisioned it)
— "Walk forward, take your partner's free hand. Take a step back to
make some tension in those arms; robins, release that tension by zipping across the set
into a partner swing."
I seem to have learnt Give & Take differently from most people. I asked Sue Rosen,
who said:
You are correct that Larry's intention was that
the move follow a
swing which opens up facing across the set in what Larry told me was
"half shoulder-waist position": staying connected from the swing.
Couples advance to the opposite couple and extend free hands to the person across for the
tug and resist element, followed by a swing on the designated side.
But in the book "Give-and-Take it doesn't mention the half shoulder-waist
position or the resisting, and therefore people aren't doing it. They go forward in
lines, or just with inside hands joined, and the men draw the women back to their side of
the set with no resistance, just like part of a poussette.
Colin Hume
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