Re: [Callers] Heys for new dancers

Richard makes a good point. When I wrote I ought to have more clearly indicated a "BUT" or "EXCEPT" at the point of the first semicolon. While I'm writing, here's a dance that I sometimes use for the first hey of an evening: Duple improper contra A1. Neighbors balance and swing A2. Women chain 1/2 hey (W start by R shoulder) B1. Partners balance and swing B2. Circle left 3/4 Balance the ring, partners California twirl I came up with this by swiping the first 3/4 of "Southern Swing" by Steve Zakon-Anderson and substituting a simpler B2 part, but never named it. Lisa Greenleaf apparently came up with the same sequence independently and named it "Hocus Pocus". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFEBaPqBXZM Don Flaherty's "Slapping the Wood" is nearly identical, the only difference being the do-si-do as couples in the first half of A1. The first 3/4 of the dance also occur in Chart Guthrie's "Hay in the Barn" The "1/2 hey" in A2 is really only a 3/8 hey (WR, NL, PR). The men never have to deal with getting to the end and turning around. The women do turn around, but then meet partners for a balance and swing instead of having to figure out which shoulder to pass. There's no partner pass (the most likely place for beginners dancing together to get disoriented over and over). Also it's easy to describe the ending position: "Meet your partner on the other side of the set for a balance and swing." All these things help make this hey particularly easy. It could be seen as a disadvantage that this dance doesn't teach dancers how to turn around and coming back into a hey. Or it could be seen as an advantage that it lets them learn and practice the weaving across part by itself and add in the turning around part in a later dance. --Jim On Feb 20, 2012, at 4:12 PM, Richard Fischer wrote: