Hi Don,

              Alan said most of it already.

              You could potentially use any of Gate, Wheel, Wheel Around, Assisted Cast, Hand Cast, Hand Cast Off, Turn as a Couple!

              From Zesty Contras:

Hand Cast Off: Often shortened to “hand cast”, even though it is assisted.  Dancers, hand in hand and with strong connection, follow the same path as in any conventional cast off.

Cast Off: As described in B&S. Note that two couples always participate, usually with connection between them.  In CAST AROUND, by contrast, those casting do not have connection with another couple and any movement by another couple is usually stated explicitly.

From B&S (Balance and Swing by Ted Sannella):

CAST OFF: In a contra or triplet, a method of progression which can be danced in several ways. Most commonly, an active couple come up the center of the set until they are between the appropriate inactive couple and all four dancers face up. Each active dancer and the adjacent inactive dancer turn side by side three-quarters round, with the active dancer moving forward and the inactive dancer moving backward, until both dancers are in a line facing in, the active couple now below the inactives.  In an ARM-AROUND CAST OFF two dancers place their near arms around each other’s waists during the turn and in a HAND CAST OFF two dancers join near hands at shoulder height with elbows down. Either of these casts may also be referred to as an ASSISTED CAST OFF.

              We also have an Assisted Cast Off wherein the inactives put their hand on their hip and offer their elbow for the active to hook onto; this is more common in dances with a Gallop where there is a lot of momentum to redirect.

              You also could use “Wheel”, which B&S defines as “The same as TURN AS A COUPLE”.

TURN AS A COUPLE: A pair of dancers with nearest hands joined reverse direction by rotating as a unit, with the right hand person moving forward as the left hand person backs around. This movement is usually done in four counts of music. In a popular variation some dancers prefer to turn as a couple by having the lady go under their upraised joined hands as both dancers move forward.  <<That is, of course, now much more common and known as a California Twirl!>>

              We tend to say “Wheel Around” rather than just “Wheel” these days, and indeed Modern Western Square Dance defines:

Wheel Around

Dance action: The couple, working as a unit, turns around to the left (180 degrees). The left-side dancer backs up while the right-side dancer moves forward. The pivot point is the handhold between the two dancers.

              MWSD also has:

Cast Off 3/4

From a General Line, each half of the line works together: ... those in a Couple turn, as a unit, away from the center of the line for 3/4 of a circle (270 degrees).

              Historically, Wilson (1820) used Cast Off where we, today, would now just say Cast, to get the #1s to turn up and out and head down the outside of the set.

              But, ignoring Wilson, I would suggest that the key difference between a Gate and a (Hand) Cast (Off) is that in a Hand Cast one person has some significant momentum to redirect and the other starts stationary, while in a Gate both people start from similar (not necessarily identical) states.  A Wheel Around tends to be 180 degrees, a Hand Cast tends to be 270 degrees, and you are going for 360 degrees.

              So, I would say that, in your dance, Gate would be the best word to use; Hand Cast, while basically the same, is not quite the right term and is rarely used these days.

            Happy dancing,                         

                   John                                  

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574                         

http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive Events & DVDs                               

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

From: Callers <callers-bounces@lists.sharedweight.net> On Behalf Of Don Veino via Callers
Sent: 08 October 2018 06:21
To: Caller's discussion list <callers@sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] Gate vs Hand Cast

You may have seen my "Feeling Gravity's Pull" which I posted at the end of the recent Mad Robin teaching thread.

In that dance, there's a move where partners are facing in side by side on the outside of the set (where the Gents have forward momentum and the Ladies neutral to backward momentum) and my intent was for them to rotate around their inside hand connection with the Gents going forward and Ladies backing up once around. (As opposed to the Gent walks a circle around the Lady.) So the net effect would be like a courtesy turn, in going around a central point between the dancers, just a little "wider."

I believe the correct term for this would be "Hand Cast" but I had a dancer who was adamant about it being a "Gate" in ECD so when I posted the dance that's the term I used. I've again done some googling and found no ready reference to a "Hand Cast" in ECD and only the slightest in a contra context, yet the term sticks in my mind.

What say ye? Is "Hand Cast" a thing and correct in this context?

Thanks,

Don