Whoops!
I confess I didn't know how the numbers were assigned in Beckett, or how to designate the couple who are progressing upwards...
Can you help me?
Do we just call them the upward bound and downward bound couple?

I did indeed mean the Lark who is progressing upwards.

And thank you for the dance below!
It's perfect as a first Hey dance and in fact i have something similar to that in my program (apologies I made a mistake when I sent my first email)

Now looking for a second Hey dance with no chains, where they go down the hall....

I appreciate everyone's feedback and suggested dances and will make good use of it all!

Kat k

May 28, 2025 10:09:31 PM Alexandra Deis-Lauby <alex@villagewestdesign.com>:

First question is who is "lark 1"?  Most choreographers call the number 1 couple the couple that progresses down the hall in a normal clockwise-progressing becket dance. It seems like in this case, you mean the opposite. If that is the case though, I don't think the dance progresses.  Lark #1 would end up on the non-home side to start and end the hey.

If you mean lark 1 as the normal lark 1 (the one the progress down the hall), then the circle would be once and a half+. Which is hard to do in 8 counts. 


If you need a dead simple dance to teach a hey, I would suggest something like: 

Becket, CW

A1 Slice left, LLFB 

A2 Larks allemand left once, Robins Allemand right once *** For teaching purposes, have robins stand back to back in the middle after the allemand.** 

B1 Hey!  Pass partner left on the ends, right in the middle 

B2 At home, partner balance and swing. 

Prompt them to end the swing early and point across so the lark is on the left and robin is on the right. 

This dance has lots of “recovery” time:
  • The slice and long lines each take 8 counts and the dancers don't have to travel far. 
  • The allemandes are only once around so if folks are slow to move, that’s ok. 
  • If they have ended the previous swing on the wrong side they can fix it with the one-role move in the middle 
  • The partner swing is long and has lots of time for them to end early and get ready. 
  • They spend a lot of time both on, and returning to their “home side."


Alexandra Deis-lauby
VILLAGEWESTDESIGN
646 283 3108



On May 28, 2025, at 3:40 PM, Don Veino via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

Hi,

It's fun and can be helpful to craft dances for specific purposes - you're getting some good input on your composition here.

Back to your original purpose featuring the hey with only simple figures around it and little fuss, a classic dance is The Carousel by Tom Hinds. If you want to only do Becket, rotate it to start with the B2. (Note that *new* Robins allemande in the A1.)


Tom's dance starts the hey in the same way as yours, with the first pass being on the side with your partner. For your training consideration, there's also the other hey start with the first pass being in the center, e.g. following from a chain. FWIW, here's an easier becket dance which features that start. It's at least the third generation of evolution on this sequence:

Purple Haze - Becket LT/CW - Don Veino
Riff off Purple Hays Variant (David Kaynor), riffing off Purple Heys (Peter Stix)

A1 Slice Left, Cir LT 1x
A2 LDY\RBN RH Chain, over and back
B1 Full Hey, LDY\RBN Pass RT Ctr
B2 PNR Bal Swing

The similarity of the chain and hey feel seems to help build understanding/success with newer dancers.

-Don
Near Concord MA, family formerly from Lunenburg, NS


On Wed, May 28, 2025, 11:57 AM Katherine Kitching via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Hi from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada!

As some of you know, I write a lot of my own dances because of the
specific needs of our crowd- I'm always working on contra dances that
are simpler than what most of you folks consider a "simple" dance :)

For my upcoming dance I am doing a Hey as a "feature figure" - meaning
it is the one more complex figure we will focus on that night.
Am trying to write a dance that introduces the Hey, builds on other
simple things we've done that night, without introducing anything else
new or confusing.

Other notes:
- we are dancing only in Becket
- swings are not necessary in each dance

I like the flow of what I've written - which ends with a full Hey--
But my issue is that the Lark will be following the Robin and I need the
Lark to get ahead at the end -- so everyone can progress in the correct
order.

I've experimentally written that at the end of the hey, the Robin should
look behind them and see their partner following them - and reach a hand
to give them a little tug, to pull them ahead of them, back to home
place and then seamlessly progress onwards to the next couple.
But it's hard to predict if this will work ok or be too confusing.

Would welcome your thoughts on this and any other aspect of the dance.
I think I borrowed the Larks left hand turn 1.5 into a Hey from another
dance on Contra DB, though my memory is foggy now...anyhow happy to give
credit to that, if any is due :)

Simple (maybe?) Hey Dance
Becket, CW (progressing by sliding left)

Star right
Circle right - the #1 Lark leads out the line - at some point dropping
hands with their partner who will end up at the opposite end of the line
(This figure I've done before without any issues)
Lines of 4 down the hall,
Turn *alone*, come back up, bend line

LLFB (you will be facing your partner for this figure, if I am not
mistaken!)
Larks: Allemande left 1.5x to face partner
All start fuly Hey - partners pass right on the ends, then Robins pass
left in the middle...
Once Robins get back to their home side, turn over their right shoulder
to see their partner right behind them - Robins reach with their right
hand, to their partner's left hand (i.e. partners briefly take inside
hands) - and Robins give a tug on the hand, to guide their Lark ahead of
them, to progress to the next group - Robins follow the Larks in single
file.

Thank you for your thoughts, if any!
Kat Kitching
Halifax Contra Dances

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