Re: [Callers] Dances for 3s

On Jan 30, 2012, at 11:59 AM, barb kirchner wrote: So far as I know "Gleeful Threesome" is by Christy Keevil, not Kirston Koths (note correct spelling of the latter'e name, btw). A description appears in Larry Jennings' book _Give-and-Take_ (p. 163) under the title "Wild Waves"--a name invented "with apologies to the genuine composer" by Larry, who had not managed to identify title and composer by the time of publication. Here's a description of the dance. I've borrowed many of Larry's words but been somewhat more verbose, added numbers of beats for the figures, and made one change (see note below) to the ending. Start in large circle of trios in waves, center person facing cw, others ccw. 1. Balance waves (4), those with R hands joined almd R 1x (4). 2. Balance waves (4), those with L hands joined almd L 1x (4). 3&4. Hey for three (pair of phrase 1 starting by R shoulder) (12), balance waves (4). 5. All promenade individually in direction faced (i.e., center dancer of each wave goes cw around big circle while end dancers go ccw) and turn alone (8). 6. Promenade individually to meet original group (8). 7. Circle L (8) 8. Circle R 1/2 (4) and pop original center person cw under an arch made by the other two to form new waves of three (4). Note: Larry's description of the last 8 beats of the sequence reads "8. Cir three R & pop any ind cw ..." I learned the dance from Charlie Fenton, whose card for the dance (which he believes he got from Penn Fix over 25 years ago) reads "Circle R 1/2 (ends crossed - that's OK); pass thru to next." So [Charlie says] in the version I have, the center person always stays in the center and progresses CW, while the outside 2 people swap ends but stay together as they progress CCW. I'm guessing (though I don't have any other confirmation) that that's Christy's original version. Note that if dancers take turns popping through the arches, they will often find themselves reuniting with the people they danced with in previous rounds. Charlie also notes that he has sometimes noticed dancers who are unfamiliar with heys for three and may need a bit of extra teaching, even though they have no trouble with heys for four. During the walkthrough of another dance done in lines of three, I once heard the caller refer to the "center people" (meaning the person in the middle of each line of three) and observed some dancers who apparently thought he was referring to the people nearest the center of the hall. * * * * * * * * * * * * Here's a video of "Gleeful Threesome" as performed by several groups of costumed Italian children: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyztneh4N1o The groups aren't dancing identical versions of the choreography. Some circle to the right in phrase 7. The balance after the hey for three is generally omitted, and one group has simplified the dance further by eliminating the hey and simply having dancers step while turning around in place. --Jim