I believe the dance doesn't exist yet, Jeff.  I am curious about the 4x4 implementation as well, however; it might work just fine, or it might wear out the novelty quickly.  Chinese Fan would show spectacularly in a waltz quadrille.

You're close on your interpretation of the figure; that's the effect it has, but is not quite how it happens.  What actually occurs are a pair of mini-stars on the outside around the central star.

It isn't a hard move at all; in fact, it's probably easier to learn and execute correctly than a right and left thru.

1.  Star Promenade (men keep the star and never stop moving.)
2.  The first and third ladies (heads) step out AS IF to backtrack--but they don't want to go very wide or get to go very far.  It's more like a cast off than a backtrack, except they keep in close.
3.  The head ladies immediately hook elbows with the trailing side ladies to make two-person stars (elbow hook because an allemande makes the circumference a bit large for comfortably maintaining an even speed and tension).  They turn those mini-stars halfway so the heads can rejoin the star promenade, and then the side ladies fold in behind with the incoming gent.  That puts both ladies with their opposite.

If you call Chinese Fan such that the mini stars are longer, folks end up back with their partners.  With skilled dancers you can do that intentionally just by adding an extra four counts of patter in.  At speed, the ladies wind up turning 1 and 1/2 times, the men go all the way around, and that is perfectly legitimate for the caller to do.

What makes the timing tricky is that this is a traditional square dance move, and not a modern squares or contra dance move; squares aren't set to the phrase of a 16 bar tune, the calls themselves are constructed differently, the dancers don't know exactly what is coming when, and the figures have some give in them.  This thing technically takes 6 counts to complete--but absolutely no one is going to dance it that fast or count it that way unless they are hyped up on sugar or have drilled it like crazy for precision performance (that's how I learned it).  In reality, though, we wouldn't teach it with the counts.  The majority of dancers will naturally take 8 to 10 counts for each fan, plus some time between the two.    (Note: at 6 counts per plus a 4 count recovery, two renditions of the Chinese Fan comes to exactly 16 counts, and moves everyone 1/2 of the way around the circle!) 

For contra-type settings, things are a little different.  Because of the predictability of the dance and the musical structure, I'd say that with careful teaching it can reliably be an 8 count sequence per fan, plus time to recover between them.

Chinese Fan isn't actually a MWSD figure to the best of my knowledge.  Even if it were active, it would be considered a traditional or traditional-style move.  It very well may be a post-1950s creation, and could have been originally published by Sets in Order, but is very much in line with the older material found in Colorado and the inner-mountain West.  The things that have been generally shifted into contra are modern figures with linear structures and short, punctuated movement like box circulate, scoot back, swing thru, square thru, box the gnat, flutterwheel (in the form of star promenades), and cross trail thru (although that one makes me a little sad when I see it taught as a linear figure or in crowded halls; it deserves more movement and flow than it gets).

Neal Schlein

Youth Services Librarian, Mahomet Public Library

Currently reading: The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist

Currently learning: How to set up an automated email system.

On Mon, May 4, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Jeff Kaufman <jeff@jefftk.com> wrote:

What's the choreography of this 4x4?  I'm curious about how the timing of this figure works. It sounds like the timings you'd use for experienced dancers and newer dancers are dramatically different, which makes it hard to fit to the music with a general crowd in a way that works for the new dancers and feels satisfying for the experienced ones.

Some successful transplants like the MWSD "box circulate" have worked by breaking down the movements into standard contra calls, without having to introduce a new call.  Would that work here?

For example, teach by asking them to star promenade, and then saying that while the gents keep starring the ladies turn out and single file promenade back two.  During the dance you could just call "ladies turn out, go back two". (But I'm not confident I understand the figure, so this might not be close enough to what you want the dancers to do.)

On May 4, 2015 2:54 PM, "Claire Takemori via Callers" <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Hi Neal and All,

thank you for the replies and help.  I can see that it's not a simple choreography issue. 

I will give the floor pattern/teaching to my friend to see how choreography goes. 

I will ask an Advanced caller who knows how to teach Chinese Fan to see if they want to try the Contra 4x4, AFTER teaching a square with the Chinese Fan, so the crowd knows it already. 

Neal, I hear you on bringing a square move to Contra.  And I've experienced some new contras that are not so rigid or linear, so I thought it might work.  

Thanks everyone! 

claire

 

On May 4, 2015, at 9:46 AM, Neal Schlein <nschlein@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Claire,

I can help, but am not certain you asked for what you truly want.  Are you really looking for a set of calls for the square, or do you need directions for the floor pattern, teaching instructions, a working timing for the square-style calls, or the timing of the figure for a contra setting?

I'm asking because I suspect your friend doesn't actually need the calls.  This is going to open a can of worms on the list, but contras and mescalonzas (aka 4x4 dances) are prompted, not called.  Although most dancers and many callers don't make a distinction, the mechanics and timing of the two techniques are different.  If you move Chinese Fan into a contra-type setting, the calls (as a square dance caller would see them) are technically irrelevant because you wouldn't want to use them.  (And, with many figures, you can't use them without either changing the wording, changing the timing, or stepping outside of the contra-prompting technique.)  What I am betting he actually needs to know is the full floor pattern and the timing of that sequence.

The Call

For someone who knows the Chinese Fan figure is coming and how to do it, the only necessary words for prompting are some variation on:

Head (side) ladies turn back (lead, roll back, open out...) for a Chinese fan.  (After completion, repeat for either same ladies or other pair of ladies)

That would suffice for a New England style square or a quadrille, as everything else in the call is just filler.  A longer call with patter would be personalized to the caller and the region; in my calling tradition, there would be near-constant running patter throughout.  Both the phrasing and the timing of the above would port over to contras and your 4x4, although you wouldn't need to identify the leading parties because their identity would be pre-defined.

Floor pattern/teaching

Start in a Star Promenade; men keep the star and continue turning it moving throughout.  Identified ladies will turn out and away from their partner to face the other direction, and then hook free elbows with the lady behind them.  Ladies turn 1/2 while men turn the star 1/4; lead lady rejoins the star promenade with next man to arrive (original opposite).  Star turns another 1/4 and the following ladies rejoin star promenade with the next man behind (original opposite).  Repeat with either lady to return to partner.

Timing
If done precisely, each piece can be accomplished in 2 counts and it takes 6 counts to complete the figure:

1-2 Lead lady turns away from partner to face reverse direction; star moves forward 1/4.  (ending position: Ladies have met to hook elbows in the position the lead ladies were in.)

3-4 Men rotate star one position while ladies turn 1/2.  (Ending position: Lead lady has rejoined star with opposite man and released following lady.)

5-6 Star rotates 1/4; following ladies ladies loop toward center and rejoin star. (Ending formation: Star Promenade.  Ending location: All with opposite person from start.  Men have moved forward 3/4 around circle, and ladies have moved forward 1/4 from beginning position.)

That is a tight, performance-style timing.  In reality, it takes between 2 and 4 beats per part and a total of 8 to 12 counts to complete; also, if called square to the walls the action will actually happen on the corner diagonals and the set will have turned somewhat less than the full men 3/4 ladies 1/4.

Also...and this is an entirely personal opinion and something of a soapbox... I would caution against moving this figure out of its traditional environment, especially if you really love it.  I know lots of people on here will disagree with me, but figures that are lively, expansive, and joyously free in their original square-dance context (such as basket swings, the docey-do, Harlem Rosettes, or Texas Stars and the related figures) tend to be greatly diminished when shoehorned into the rigid 8 count phrase and linear, mechanical, progressive format of contra dancing.  Sometimes it is done successfully, but not very often.  (End of soap box.)

Good luck; if your friend does want a set of calls for the square dance version, I can write something up.

Neal Schlein

Neal Schlein

Youth Services Librarian, Mahomet Public Library

Currently reading: The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist

Currently learning: How to set up an automated email system.

On Sat, May 2, 2015 at 3:58 PM, Claire Takemori via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Hi.
I'm new to the list, not a caller yet, but wanting to learn more about Contra dance and maybe calling.

I've got a friend who is writing a 4x4 contra for me with a Chinese Fan in it.  He needs to know how to call the Fan as he can't figure it out from the one video I've found on youtube that has it in it (Three Arches)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8c6Xzn3AyE

Can you tell me how to call a Chinese Fan?

Thanks!
claire
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