To Ron,
Personally, I find Dublin Bay in a contra dance an exercise of "why aren't we
just going down the hall?" It just feels gimmicky to me. But I enjoy the dance Dublin
Bay - so it's not a criticism on the figure, but its use.
I don’t feel this way at all about this figure. I called “Please Don’t Call Me
Surely” last weekend, after all the sharing of various Dublin Bay figures here got me
thinking about them, and because of lots of rain resulting in low turnout at the start, I
jumped in to dance. The transition from forward movement to continuing backward as you
turn towards your neighbor when done smoothly and with brio is a heck of a lot of fun. We
had a few beginners but they caught on quickly so no one was refusing to move and blocking
the rest of the lines, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I don’t think it’s just
gratuitous,it’s a good move in its own right.
Martha