20 Oct
2008
20 Oct
'08
4:38 p.m.
I've most commonly heard four different calls for
the four different
combinations of man's left/right and woman's left/right:
man woman figure
--- ----- ------
R L California twirl
L R Star through
R R Box the gnat
L L Swat the flea
This doesn't jibe with my understanding. California twirl is executed with the
dancers facing in the same direction, and leaves them facing the opposite direction. The
other three calls are executed with two facing dancers. Star thru also uses M's R and
W's L and leaves the dancers facing in the same direction. Box.. and Swat.. leaves the
dancers in each other's place, facing each other.
Regarding the Admission issue... When NEFFA took over the Thursday dance from Tod
Whittemore in 1990, we established the policy that non-dancers do not have to pay. In
fact, our policy allows dancers to do up to two dances (about 30 minutes worth) and leave
and they get their money back. These policies were from Larry Jennings, and I can
envision some rationale for each.
Certainly people who attend are getting something of value, even if they do not dance. I
think it is OK to sometimes give something away; it tends to pay itself back in the long
run what with increased goodwill. Very often, non-dancers will INSIST on paying a
donation to "support the dance".
The refund issue was to address situations where someone gives it a try and discovers
pretty quickly that it is not "their thing".