Halloween weekend, my partner and I attended the Fire Ant Frolic in Austin with Nils
Fredland calling and Elixer playing. Great dances, great music, nice people - what a
wonderful weekend!
Nils did something on several walkthroughs that I don't think I'd ever noticed
before and I thought it was very clever and effective. I asked him during a break if he
had thought it up or where he had learned it and he kind of avoided answering the question
directly... but I thought I'd share it here and see what people think.
On Becket dances that begin with a Circle Left 3/4, he did not have the sets
"becketize" themselves before the walk through... he'd say "hands 4,
ones cross over" and begin the walk through with a "Join Hands Circle Left All
the Way" (which is the same a becketizing by circling left 1/4 and then beginning the
walk through with a circle left 3/4).
I often notice that many dancers aren't listening when you ask them to
"becketize" by circling left 1/4, which leads to initial confusion down the
line, so Nils' solution avoids that common problem. It was obvious (at least to me)
that the dances were, in fact, Becket dances based on how they ended and his description
of the progression, and he'd actually have us begin to the music from the "backed
up" becket formation and Circle 3/4.
I just thought it was a really neat way to do walk throughs for those Becket dances that
start with a Circle Left 3/4. Note that it won't be correct to use for Becket dances
that begin with other moves.
Has anyone else ever seen or used this walk-through technique?
What do you think of it?
I tried it on one dance I called in Cocoa Beach on Saturday and it worked very well.
/Andy Shore
http://andyshore.com