For this dance it is *not* about progression direction. In this dance the confusion comes from an ambiguous allemande turn (orbit to allemande partner 1 + 1/4, but after the orbit, the start position of the allemande is "fluid"). In this case you and your partner need to work out who is going up and who is going down the line to a "shadow" and returning immediately to swing partner. I suspect that the particular confusion at the weekend was someone who realized that their shadow was the wrong gender role and thus something might not be right.
In my walk through for this move, I let the dancers discover with their partner, from where, how much, and to which direction that allemande works. Most will stick to this through the whole dance, but the playful and clever will realize that they can swap directions at will. Since you're coming back to your partner immediately, it really doesn't matter who's there for the shadow allemande. (But it's still confusing to some who wonder why they sometimes have one shadow and other times another.)
I think some dancers know which way they're expecting to progress as soon as they line up and it makes them think they've gotten something wrong during the walkthrough if they progress the "wrong" way.
I find it's helpful for dancers like that to be prepared, since they're often your first line of defense in helping guide confused dancers on the floor, so I'll usually throw in a quick "this dance is becket *right*, for those who know what that means" (or "for those who care" if I'm feeling cheekier).
Harris Lapiroff
Dance Caller and Organizer
Boston Intergenerational Dance Advocates Board (Cambridge MA)
Pinewoods Camp, Inc Board (Plymouth MA)
On Tue, Feb 20, 2024, at 5:14 PM, Ken Panton via Contra Callers wrote:
).
- There was some confusion about shadows, but it really doesn't matter
who that is, so I ignored/squashed questions about direction and just
let the dancers muddle into it.
Does "questions about direction" refer to the often quite "robust"
demand to know if a Becket dance progresses CW or CCW? It's always
puzzled me why that's so important to some people, perhaps because I've
never intuited any value, as a dancer, in knowing.
It's not a burning question, but does anyone have a good answer to
that? Even my understanding of end effects hasn't been enhanced, to my
recollection, knowing a priori the progression direction.
Cheers
Ken Panton
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