Re: [Callers] Dances with Down-the-Halls

Hi Kalia, you said, " It's that turn in the middle of the line of 4's travel that I was comparing to Dublin Bay." Yes, I understand completely. This is not the first time I have seen the "down the hall, turn, go backwards" called Dublin Bay by contra dancers. I suspect that in England we would be much more likely to say, " as in The Gay Gordons" or " as in La Chapelloise" (http://www.webfeet.org/eceilidh/dances/la-chapelloise.html). Although those dances are in twos rather than in fours, the movement is: forwards, turn, backwards, forwards, turn, backwards. I.e identical to the contra version of "Dublin Bay". Whereas the original Dublin Bay move was: backwards, forwards, turn, backwards, forwards. As has happened so many times across so many dance styles, a nice move gets incorporated into a new dance, changes over time (or even initially), but still retains the reference to the old dance. I called a dance with an "original" Dublin Bay move last night to a group who are used to going down the hall; in the line of eight, one end went backwards, the other end went forwards and the ones in the middle looked confused. I was laughing so much I completely stopped calling, which didn't help! This is one of those little things that drives dance historians/researchers crazy - the words you are reading may not have the same meaning to you as they did to the author. And don't get me started on what a dosido is! :-) 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.' :-) Which is what calling is all about - making sure that the dancers know what we actually mean, regardless of how we say it. Happy dancing, John John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent