[Callers] Slow M'Ocean

I haven't actually had a chance to road test this (and my thanks, by the way, to Bob Isaacs, who was his usual gracious and helpful self when I asked him to look at it before I posted it). James is correct that the opposite sex person one passes in stepping into the wave is the same person both times. If I'm L1, my current neighbor -- M2 -- passes me by the right shoulder and is facing the same direction as I face in the first wave. After the swing, M2 is still across from me (with his shadow on his right). He passes me again by the right shoulder and is facing the same direction in the second wave as well. (So it's a little like the progression up and down the line in Flapjack Express -- you travel away from your partner in parallel with your current opposite sex neighbor, come back in parallel with that neighbor, and each of you finds your respective partner for a swing.) I do think (from a safety standpoint) that it's a good idea to keep the couples out of the center of the set during the short swing -- we've all had the experience of the joined-hands-swing-bonk, I assume -- and my "make the ladies come to you" instruction really had that purpose in mind. If anybody else calls this, I would love to know how it went. I wrote it as a smooth "cool down" dance after something particularly vigorous -- hence the name. I think reels would suit, with an absolutely identical and slightly bouncy A1 and 2, and a very smooth B1-2? It would have a very different feel with jigs, I think, but I hope to try it both ways. April Blum In a message dated 2/22/2013 12:00:46 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, callers-request(a)sharedweight.net writes: Today's Topics: 1. Re: Does this dance already exist? (Michael Barraclough) 2. Re: Does this dance already exist? (James Saxe) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:42:41 -0500 From: Michael Barraclough &lt;michael(a)michaelbarraclough.com&gt; To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Callers] Does this dance already exist? Message-ID: <1361468561.2881.9.camel@The-Beast> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" I called this in Baltimore last night (? world premier). It is a good dance but it is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to ensure that the men do not move from where they are in the swings in A1/A2. I taught it emphasizing this and called it thus. However, as I reduced my calling, so the men started moving. The result is that the positions move and couples don't know who the opposite couple is with ultimate chaos as odd couples get left out in the middle of the dance. I stopped the dance, re-emphasized the need for the men to stay put and we were just fine when they heeded the advice! Michael Barraclough www.michaelbarraclough.com On Mon, 2013-02-18 at 17:10 -0500, Hgrastorf(a)aol.com wrote: next is hands) ladies ready to ----------------------------- Message: 2 Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:23:30 -0800 From: James Saxe &lt;jim.saxe(a)gmail.com&gt; To: Caller's discussion list &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Callers] Does this dance already exist? Message-ID: &lt;FE997E49-8469-4AF6-8B6E-C0056CD488A9(a)gmail.com&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes I've never called "Slow M'Ocean", but from diagramming it on paper it seems to me that the A1/A2 should work perfectly well (and leave dancers back in their original starting positions at the end of A2) if men and women advance EQUALLY to get into the swings. In this case, the "Pass thru to an Ocean Wave" actions in A2 will have everyone passing the same opposite-sex neighbor as in A1 (but the same-sex neighbors will be different for both men and women). In Michael's interpretation, if I understand it correctly, the Ocean Waves have the same pairs of men in A2 as in A1. I suspect very s trongly that my interpretation is the one the author (April Blum) intended, but I invite her to speak for herself on the matter. The progression in B2 where couples pass by W's R shoulder and loop R (relative to out-facing direction, i.e., clockwise around a big oval) is rather unusual and is the part that I'd expect to give the most difficulty. --Jim______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers End of Callers Digest, Vol 102, Issue 17 ****************************************