30 Apr
2022
30 Apr
'22
12:44 p.m.
I'm sensitive to that sort of thing. It's not been an issue at all that
I've experienced. ( I've danced it a few times). The circular motion gets
reversed a couple of times. I guess it could be an issue for some dancers
but ... Not in my experience and I've not gotten negative feedback. My two
cents. R
Ridge Kennedy
West Orange, NJ (Exit 145)
If you stumble, make it part of the dance.
On Sat, Apr 30, 2022, 1:37 PM Laur <lcpgr(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
Ragtime Sammy fun. And Works to the tempo That band
plays too however when
I walk it through it seems like it could be rather dizzying ?
Laurie
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
<https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/?.src=iOS>
On Friday, April 29, 2022, 12:25 AM, Amy Cann via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
HOW HAVE I NOT KNOWN THIS DANCE BEFORE THIS MOMENT??
On 4/28/22, Ridge Kennedy via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Balance the Star qualifies as a chestnut and
works well. The stars
encourage a little hand jive action that is a lot of fun.
Here's my go-to dance for raggy tune sets which stole a good bit from
Balance the Star -- and Beaumont would work just fine with it.
(And per what I think others said, tembo matters. It's no fun -- not even
very raggy at -- warp speed.)
Ragtime Sammy
Contra, Duple, Improper
Ridge Kennedy
20
A-1 Right Hands Across Star (8) Left Hands
Across
Star (8)
A-2 Gents Turn Back over right shoulder (peel off) make eye contact
and and swing Neighbor
(a short gypsy) (4-6) Long Swing
(12-10)
B-1 Circle Left Three Quarters (8) Partner
Swing (8)
B-2 Ladies Allemande Right 1 1/2 (8) Neighbor Allemande Left
1 1/2 (8)
Notes: The first version of this dance was made up in about 2013 for a
dance with Big Phat American K-Lee Band in Glen Echo. Early in the
program
– maybe first dance, the band was going to do a
set of rags. So we
wanted
a dance that would work well with rags and that
was pretty easy – a
starter
upper. The only tricky bit here is moving from
the allemande left with
neighbors to the next star. Just keep dancers mindful of which way they
will be going to progress, and it will work out fine.
The idea behind using the hands across stars was to encourage dancers to
use their free hands to do a little hand jive if the music so inspired
them. And so it did. The final ending sequence for the dance was
finally
locked in place during 2015, I think. For all
the time the dance was
evolving it was my “raggy, starry hand jive dance.” Recently though,
noting that bands frequently included Ragtime Annie in their raggy sets
and
since (little known secret here) my first name is
Samuel – well Ragtime
Sammy seems like a fitting title. Yeah, it’s a silly little dance, but
when
the music is right, dancers really do feel
encouraged to get into the
hand
jive and more.
Ridge Kennedy [Exit 145]
Hey -- I wrote a book! *Murder & Miss Austen's Ball. *
It's a novel with musical accompaniment. Now that's different.
Read all about it here! <https://www.hedgehoghousebooks.com>
On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 3:17 AM Colin Hume via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
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On Wed, 27 Apr 2022 16:46:36 -0400, Jacob or
Nancy Bloom via Contra
Callers wrote:
Balance The Star was written to go to Beaumont
Rag. It's a simple
dance, usually done as a Sicilian Circle, so it
may not be what you want for your crowd.
That's the one I was going to suggest. Here's how I explain it:
https://barndances.org.uk/detail.php?Title=Balance_the_Star
and the vital phrase is "turn your back on your partner" - if callers
can't get that across there is general confusion.
Also a contra by Susan Kevra where she actually specified "Beaumont Rag
and similar":
Country of Marriage
Longways Becket, single prog. 32 bar rags
A1: Circle left 3/4. Do-si-do neighbour to a wave.
A2: Balance right and left; ladies allemande left all the way
(rapidly). Swing neighbour, finish facing across.
B1: Right & left through. Men allemande right 3/4 to meet next man;
allemande left with him 3/4 while ladies move to
left.
B2: Balance and swing partner.
Dance: Susan Kevra -- English Dance & Song, Winter 1992.
Colin Hume
Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://colinhume.com
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