Seth, it took a few times walking/drawing this dance through before I made it work correctly. The key is making sure that everyone remembers that you make a 180-degree turn when you "pass through" the end. And when you're an inside couple headed out, itt becomes clumsy.. First move- angle left (4)... second: back up AND inward, AND turn 180, AND THEN start/finish angling left (4).. third: angle right to pass... fourth: angle left to face P (4).

So, to your timing question, the people dancing on the ends need 6-7 counts to get things done without hurrying... That can be fixed in B2 if you just go directly to a P swing with no balance.. Don't see any time for a P-round at the end... And the 2nd half of the half-hey might feel a little strange because you're out of sync with the tune's emphasis. Unless you just make the end move combination 8 counts.

It's a cool dance! Hope I get to call and/or dance it sometime.

Keith Tuxhorn

Springfield IL

On Thu, Jun 23, 2022 at 2:13 AM Winston, Alan P. via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

I think the coordination problems of a promenade hey will make it take more longer than do-si-do as couples. The exterior of the hey is extra-wide, if you pass in the hey you have to pass wide of two people - it's going to take longer than solo heys. (I can't tell you how much longer.). I'm mentally drawing lines for individual dancers in the pairs and I think each dancer has to cover significantly more ground than in a solo hey. I think you could do a different kind of tandem hey - couples as a unit, one in front with hands behind, one behind holding those hands in something closer to solo hey timing.;

But you've got 16 beats there, which is usually good enough for a whole hey for four, so it only has to fit in double the time a solo half hey takes. It might work!

The unhurried neighbor b&s seems like a good set up for the hey as couples; the "face partner" should orient everybody easily with the only landmark they're bringing with them, and the transition could be sweet.

I'm not sure you recomend getting into promenade position out of the swing but I'm having some trouble seeing how a right shoulder pass in the hey is inevitable and I think there might be a moment of hesitation there in the first few rounds.

-- Alan
________________________________________
From: Tepfer, Seth via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2022 11:32 PM
To: Caller's discussion list
Subject: [Callers] Timing on 1/2 hey as couples?

Hello knowledgeable and experienced folks

Do you have any sense of how long that ½ hey for four in couples in promenade position should take? I know in "Cranky Ingenuity" the couple DSD is to take 8 counts but it is always tight and really should take 10 and steals from the individual DSD.

Any ideas? Comments on this choreography?

Title: 4am
Formation: double contra; aka 4-face-4; aka Mescolanza
A1: Lines forward and back (8); neighbor (directly in front of you) DSD (8)
A2: Neighbor balance and swing; end swing in promenade position facing partner (16)
B1: As couples, ½ hey for four, start passing right shoulder (16). When you are at the end of the line of the hey, turn individually (a la Gay Gordons) rather than as a couple [if extra time, partner Right shoulder round]
B2: Partner balance and swing (16)

Notes: This dance is a riff on a 'lost' Ron Buchanan square called 2am; named after when he woke up in the middle of the night to write the square. However, my version of the dance was composed at 10pm immediately prior to going to sleep.

Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP
Pronouns: he, him, his

<https://app.oxford.emory.edu/WebApps/Directories/index.cfm?fuseaction=v.searchresults&searchname=tepfer>

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