Jeff, you and the Free Raisins were playing for me when I did this at an hour+ medley at a dance weekend in the midwest. I started with a grand march, went into and out of La Bastrigue (as a mixer and then got them back to their original partners) and then from the floor (with wireless mic) got them into 4x4 formation. We went into the square midway through the 4x4 with a band change, and then came out of the square back into the 4x4, and then from the 4x4 into regular contra sets.

It was an incredibly complex piece to orchestrate (choreography, bands, sound, and expectations), and came close to breaking down multiple times.

I'll also add that some of the dancers found it incredibly frustrating (including one who told me to my face, while I was on the floor calling and directing the transition out of the grand march, to "fuck off and die"; that stuck with me). Sometimes dancers see the medley as their chance to do what they want to do (show-off, chaos sets, swap partners, etc.) and think they know what's happening. Deviating from their expectations on 'the big thing' that they've built up in their heads can ruffle some feathers. Folks seem to care about their medley more than just the sum of the dances.

So while I can see the appeal of surprising them with a square inside their medley, if you cross the streams and mix a chaos set with a non-chaos set, that might annoy some folks. It might be worth forgoing the surprise and prepping them for it. That's just one example, but I mention it to highlight that there's more to manage about the whole thing than just the choreographic elements.

On Wed, Apr 26, 2023 at 9:41 AM Alexandra Deis-Lauby via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Oops without the typos.

Can you just prime the dancers that at some point you will call from becket “LLFB, take hands 8 from the top” and then hash some basic things that help with visualizing the 8 (circle left, back to the right, into the middle, etc) until it gets passed down? Then square your sets and go.

Or you could do LLFB in becket over and over again until they pass hands 8 down and switch as they’re doing so to “into the middle“ in their circles.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 26, 2023, at 9:34 AM, Alexandra Deis-Lauby <adeislauby@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Can you just prime the dancers that AG some point you will call from becket “LLFB, take hands 8 from the top” and then hash some basic things that hep with visualizing the 8 (circle left, back to the right, into the middle, etc) until it gets passed down? Then square your sets and go.
>
> Or you could do LLFB in becket over and over again until they pass hands 8 down and switch as they’re doing so to into the middle in their circles.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Apr 25, 2023, at 6:01 PM, jim saxe via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>
>> Okay. It's time to tell an embarrassing story on myself.
>>
>> Another caller and I once concocted an unusual medley for use at the transition between our sets at an all-night dance: We would begin with one of those four-face-four dances in which the dancers briefly get into square formation, then medley into another four-face-four also featuring a temporary square, then keep the dancers in squares for a while, and finally turn each column of squares into a duple-minor contra set. We carefully worked out all the details, such as being sure that the square dance wouldn't have a promenade with an ambiguous ending position, and figuring out how to make the dancers have the same direction of progression in the final duple improper dance as they had had before the transition from four-face-four to squares.
>>
>> At the actual event, the other caller got the dancers lined up four facing four, making sure that there were an even number of foursomes in each set (so that nobody would be left out when we switched into the square dance) and that they were well spaced along the length of the hall (so that the eventual duple improper sets wouldn't be too crowded), walked them through the first dance, and cued the band to start playing.
>>
>> All went well as we medleyed into the second four-face-four dance and then into the square dance. As the time approached for the final transition from squares to duple improper contra lines, I was at the microphone.
>>
>> I maneuvered the dancers into lines at the sides and had them go forward and back. OK so far. Then I had them make ``long contra lines'' and go forward and back again. There were audible ``Oh''s from the floor as some of the dancers anticipated what was supposed to happen next. The final step of the transition was a fairly ordinary contemporary contradance ending, something like
>>
>> Women [the term then in use] chain [to original partner]
>> Circle left 3/4; pass through [along the set]
>>
>> that would leave the dancers ready to balance and swing the next in line as the band kicked into the final tune of their set.
>>
>> [Before you read the rest of this message, I invite you to guess what went wrong.]
>>
>> .
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>> .
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>> .
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>> .
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>> .
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>> .
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>> .
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>> Within two seconds after uttering the words "Circle left" I saw to my dismay that about half the dancers were in circles of four as I'd intended, but the other half were in circles of eight! It was beyond whatever presence of mind I could muster at that hour of the morning to find a way to recover, and I eventually just signaled the band to go out as the floor dissolved into chaos. (Sigh!)
>>
>> Addendum 1: At another event several years later, I did manage to call the same medley without having it dissolve into chaos, this time using timely and emphatic calls that left no doubt about which groups of FOUR dancers were to form the circles.
>>
>> Addendum 2: I've sometimes seen callers new to calling squares create some confusion with a much less spectacular build-up than in my story above, simply by calling a sequence like
>>
>> Head couples go forward and back.
>> Circle left.
>>
>> without being explicit about whether the call "Circle left" was directed to the heads or to all eight dancers.
>>
>> --Jim
>> Santa Clara, CA
>>
>>>> On Apr 25, 2023, at 10:20 AM, Dorcas Hand via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> I immediately think of the 4x4 dances that have a portion be in square formation. But yes, the transition would be interesting.
>>> Dorcas Hand
>>> Houston
>>>
>>> From: Jeff Kaufman via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 7:13 AM
>>> To: Contra Callers <contracallers@sharedweight.net>
>>> Subject: [Callers] Putting a square in a contra medley
>>>
>>> "if we had more time we'd throw in a square"
>>>
>>> The contra dance medley at NEFFA is normally six dances, each six times through (well, the last one is five or seven). I was thinking about what you'd need to do if you actually wanted to include a square...
>>>
>>> The main problem is that you need to switch the dancers from groups of four to groups of eight, and there isn't really a great way to do this. In computer science speak the issue is that it takes time linear in the number of dancers. But maybe you could have the top couple sashay down from the top, and everyone takes hands eight as they pass, which is fast enough even in a long hall that it's ok (~16 beats, and you adjust the time by figuring out how much intro to do on the square)? And then tell anyone left out at the bottom to square up?
>>>
>>> (Going back into contra lines from aligned squares should be easier: side couples circle left three quarters and twirl to swap, lines at the sides, etc)
>>>
>>> Would this work?
>>>
>>> Jeff
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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