20 Feb
2014
20 Feb
'14
2:15 a.m.
I love this dance and have called it with delightful success for a mostly experienced
group of contra dancers. It's a tricky to teach because of switches in orientation and
new neighbors, and can be tricky to dance if come of the dancers become disoriented by
those quick changes.
That little bit of distance at the end of A2/beginning of B1might best be described as
'arms length for both you and your partner' because you want to be able to
generate some 'weight' or 'springiness' to begin pulling together for the
first box the gnat, then successfully complete the next three moves in B1 in a timely way.
[Think of the old Jitterbug dancing.]
Karin Neils
On Feb 19, 2014, at 3:47 PM, Michael Dyck wrote:
"Disturbed by Insects" is published in Inga
Morton's book "Square Dance
Century", where it's accompanied by this note:
After each of the movements in B1, move
a little away from the other person.
This suggests to me that there's supposed to be a bit of a gap between the
inner and outer circles after each movement in B1. So each 4 count phrase
in B1 is supposed to be enough time to close the gap, do the box/swat, and
reopen the gap. From that point of view, it makes sense that B1 would
*start* with a bit of a gap too.
(Mind you, my guess is that, in practice, (at least in North America)
dancers wouldn't leave much of an inter-circle gap after each movement in
B1, so having a gap at the start of B1 is harder to justify on symmetry
grounds.)
In any event, I think the intended gap at the start of B1 is smaller that
you're imagining. I.e., A2's second push back isn't very far. Maybe you
could add texture by saying that A2's first push-back + return should be
big steps, and then the second should be small steps.
-Michael
On 14-02-19 10:48 AM, Jonathan Sivier wrote:
I'm planning to call the circle mixer
Disturbed By Insects on Friday
(in part in honor of the 31st annual Insect Fear Film Festival being held
this weekend here in Champaign-Urbana) and I've got a question about one of
the instructions. The instructions I have are
Disturbed by Insects
Inga Morton
mixer
Formation: circle of couples, all facing counterclockwise
A1 Promenade (with inside hands joined)
California twirl
Promenade back
California twirl (then join both hands)
A2 Ladies, push your partner to the center
Gents, push your partner back
Ladies, push your partner to the center
Ladies, go back
B1 With your partner box the gnat
With your opposite to the left swat the flea
With your opposite to the right box the gnat
With your opposite to the left swat the flea
B2 With your opposite to the right balance and swing
This all makes sense except at the end of A2. If the ladies go back,
and the gents stay put, then they will be separated by a gap and won't be
able to reach their partner for the "box the gnat" at the beginning of B2.
So it seems to me that it should say either "Ladies, go back and the gents
follow" or "Gents, push your partner back again" or something similar.
Does anyone have any advice on this? Thanks.
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