Hi Jeff,

              It was just the first dance that came to mind.  I’m sure there are lots of others.  To me the eight-beat sections are the most important, since most moves are based on eight beats.  To get the dancers to listen to the music and hear the eights seems an important skill to me.

            Happy dancing,

                   John                      

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

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

From: Jeff Kaufman <jeff.t.kaufman@gmail.com>
Sent: 22 January 2025 15:07
To: John Sweeney <john@modernjive.com>
Cc: Contra Callers <contracallers@sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Re: Identify another dance?

Hi John,

Hexitation is an unusual formation (a "square" with four head couples and two side couples).  While I haven't danced it, I'm guessing the caller wouldn't drop out, in which case the issue with ending a swing halfway through the B1 (or B2 in Hexitation's case) isn't a big concern.  Lots of squares have short swings that end in the middle of the phrase, or in some traditions are danced unphrased (where, then, ending in the middle of a phrase isn't a meaningful concept).

But I really disagree on this being a valuable thing to teach in a contra dance context.  Swinging until the music tells you to stop (by ending the 8-bar phrase) does much more to promote musicality.

Jeff

On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 4:21 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

There are some excellent dances that have a swing which ends in the middle of a phrase (Hexitation springs to mind straight away for me).  It is a skill worth learning and helps teach the dancers about musicality.

(Actually I wrote one yesterday, before I saw this discussion!) :-)

            Happy dancing,

                   John                      

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

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

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