12 Jun
2013
12 Jun
'13
5:43 p.m.
On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:07:05 -0700 (PDT), Michael Fuerst wrote:
In contra dancing, at least in the tradition on this
side of the
Atlantic, specialized names for figures should be avoided whenever
possible.
But "ladies chain", "hey", etc. are all specialised names for
figures. We use them because they are a shorthand which people
recognise.
A caller can teach a figure and designate name for
prompting during
the dance.
Are you saying that it's OK in the walkthrough to say "I'm going to
call this a tidal wave" and then call "New neighbour allemande left
all the way to tidal waves"? If so I agree with you. I do think a
caller needs to make a distinction between a wave of four across the
hall and a long wave up and down the hall, and the easiest way to do
this is to use the phrases "ocean wave" and "tidal wave". Agreed,
you might need to explain to some people what they mean, just as you
might have to explain how to dance a ladies chain or a hey.
Colin Hume
Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://www.colinhume.com