[Callers] Re: What are your favorite “style points?”

How to Whirl a Butterfly The prep calls, annotated: Larks allemande left 1x or 1.5x (ok.) Pick up your partner for a star promenade halfway (yay! I'm with my partner!) When you reach the other side, release left hands for a butterfly whirl with your partner (internal groaning) The standard butterfly whirl: Robin walks forward, lark stumbles backward, using robin's stability to keep from falling over (because, apparently, we don't recall that we normally walk backward just fine whenever we need to). Internal monologuing by lark ensues about why the heck anyone ever thought that was fun, even though they should be just fine with it from how many well executed courtesy turns? The fun one, which I'm convinced must be how it was done when invented: Both give weight away from their mutual middle while holding on in cast-off style, inner arms around waists/sides, lark's arm on top. Both buzz-step, lark traveling backward, executing a side-by-side swing, but going counter-clockwise. No stumbling, as heels are off the ground. Spin TWICE in the normal time to turn once, if partner is up for it. The splufty exit: Lark raises right arm to release robin's left arm, which drops to robin's side, and TWIRLS alone one more turn. This quickly unwraps the robin's arm without dragging it across lark's back and under lark's right arm. Robin enjoys the unencumbered release. Lark has too much fun for snarky internal monologue. If the next move is a robins chain or other robin-only figure, robin has momentum for it. If it's long lines or the like, robin can counter-twirl the exit clockwise. People are sometimes skeptical from the description. Just try it a few times, giving yourself and your partner a chance to get the side-by-side swing right. I really look forward to butterflies, now. I used to hate them. --jh-- On Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 7:44 PM Abigail Sorg via Contra Callers < contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: