22 Jan
2025
22 Jan
'25
3:43 p.m.
Hi John,
I agree that hearing the 8-count is important, but when ending a swing in
the middle of the B1 you're telling the dancers to ignore their sense of
the 16-count. And contra isn't just 8s: it's good for people to hear all
of the 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1-count in different circumstances, and for
musicians to play in a way that supports that.
Jeff
On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 10:31 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi Jeff,
It was just the first dance that came to mind. I’m sure
there are lots of others. To me the eight-beat sections are the most
important, since most moves are based on eight beats. To get the dancers
to listen to the music and hear the eights seems an important skill to me.
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
*From:* Jeff Kaufman <jeff.t.kaufman(a)gmail.com>
*Sent:* 22 January 2025 15:07
*To:* John Sweeney <john(a)modernjive.com>
*Cc:* Contra Callers <contracallers(a)sharedweight.net>
*Subject:* Re: [Callers] Re: Identify another dance?
Hi John,
Hexitation is an unusual formation (a "square" with four head couples and
two side couples). While I haven't danced it, I'm guessing the caller
wouldn't drop out, in which case the issue with ending a swing halfway
through the B1 (or B2 in Hexitation's case) isn't a big concern. Lots of
squares have short swings that end in the middle of the phrase, or in some
traditions are danced unphrased (where, then, ending in the middle of a
phrase isn't a meaningful concept).
But I really disagree on this being a valuable thing to teach in a contra
dance context. Swinging until the music tells you to stop (by ending the
8-bar phrase) does much more to promote musicality.
Jeff
On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 4:21 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
There are some excellent dances that have a swing which ends in the middle
of a phrase (Hexitation springs to mind straight away for me). It is a
skill worth learning and helps teach the dancers about musicality.
(Actually I wrote one yesterday, before I saw this discussion!) :-)
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
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