I call lots of dances with Thread the Needle and it is never called by itself.  First you have to tell the dancers who is making the arch.  This is normally an end-of-line couple, so it is obvious that the other end of the line is doing the threading.

For a Dixie Twirl you would need to say, “Middles Arch, Ladies (or whoever is on the appropriate end of the line) Thread the Needle”.  But that still doesn’t tell the poor guy at the other end of the line where to go.

So I wouldn’t ever use “Thread the Needle” for this move.

Other similar moves such as Right Hand High and Left Hand Low, Rip ‘n’ Snort, Mountaineer’s Loop, etc. don’t quite fit either.

If I wanted to avoid giving it a name and adding more jargon, then I would teach the move during the walk-through without using any jargon then tell them it is a bit like a California Twirl for couples, so all I am going to call it “Twirl”!

Note: It is important to teach the timing during the walk-through.  Many dancers will go down the hall for eight before starting the twirl and wonder why they keep crashing into other lines.  The timing is:

Down the Hall (4)

Twirl (4)

Up the Hall (4)

Bend the Line (4)

Of course it is always helpful, if half of the dancers know the move before you teach it, to let them know what you are doing, so I might well say, “This next move used to be known as a Dixie Twirl; I am just going to call Twirl”.

            Happy dancing,                         

                   John                                  

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574                         

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