[Callers] Re: Mad Robin

David, Do you know whether the directions for "Manhattan Chowder", as originally published in the 1980s, suggested that the active dancers to maintain eye contact during the figure under discussion? I don't have a guess one way or the other and I wouldn't want to make assumptions based on evidenceE such as videos of the dance made after the current contra dance interpretation of the words "Mad Robin" became popular. By the way, I can recall learning to do the English country dance "Mad Robin" in a style where the "casting" dancers did briefly turn away from their partners, but where they looked over their shoulders to maintain eye contact until the last possible moment before turning away and then quickly re-established it. I can imagine someone describing such a styling with words about eye contact that might be easily be misinterpreted as suggesting that dancers face directly across the set towards their partners throughout the figure. Assuming Beverly Francis indeed intended the latter interpretation of the action, verbatim quotation of her original dance instructions would provide more compelling evidence than a modern paraphrasing. --Jim