Re: [Callers] Teaching a Ricochet Hey

I teach a ricochet hey like a slice of pizza. You go in up the side of the slice, angle back out down the other side of the slice, and curve back to place along the crust. The other dancers dance the crust first then either cross, or in a double ricochet hey, go into the center and back out along the sides of the slice of pizza. Worked when I taught my dance, Mambo, to my skit cast for West Side Contra. I wrote a move which I believe is novel, which I called a Half Ricochet Allemande Hey. It actually returns all participants to their original places, which are already progressed, but gets them moving in the right direction. In it, the ladies travel the pizza slice as described above, but the gents, who are across the set from their partners, travel the crust first, and instead of passing by the right to cross over, continue the circle they began by allemande-ing back to place and on to meet their new neighbor. It has a beautiful flow, the circle folding in on itself like waves tumbling over one another in the ocean. Here is the dance, not as we danced it in the skit, which we had to do shifted forward a half phrase to accommodate the hits in the music, but as you would teach it to a hall of dancers, but probably not one full of newbies. :-) MAMBO! (Improper) A1 Partners face and Mad Robin Circle L 1x A2 Balance the ring, Spin R 1 place (Petronella) Partner Swing B1 R & L Through Ladies Chain B2 1/2 Ricochet Allemande Hey [OR California Roll] *See below New Nbr. Gypsy *In a 1/2 Ricochet Allemande Hey, the Ladies, who are coming out of the Courtesy Turn following the Ladies Chain, go into the center, ricochet (push one another back and to the left.) They arrive at their Nbr's place turn and curve out and towards their starting place, then beyond for the gypsy. The Gents curve back and to the right then into the center for an Allemande L (some would call it a 1/2, some 3/4, I say till they are back where they began the 'Hey'), and continue past the starting place to Gypsy a New Nbr. to Gypsy. It isn't exactly a Hey, though that's where I started with the move. It does have a nice folding quality to it and spits everyone out moving toward the New Nbr. I think of the Ladies as doing a slice of pizza, making the tasty point first, ending with the crust, while the Gents do a whole pie, starting with the same bit of crust the Ladies will later do. Tasty for all. To do the California Roll in this dance: when the Ladies come out of said Courtesy Turn, all free up their hands and face into their original hands four as they would if they circled, with Partners standing across the set. Partners take the handy hand, which is the Lady's R, the Gent's L, lift joined hands, the lady curls in toward her partner and walks under while he walks past, to swap, reverse direction, and face New Nbrs. Not yet proper, they immediately do a Roll Away with a Half Sashay to swap places but continue to face the New Neighbors, whom they might then Gypsy. I used the move to end the dance. It gives very elastic and satisfying connection with the partner for such a purpose, but could also function as a perfectly good progression. It is less good in that capacity for this dance because the first New Nbr. interaction is a forward moving one. It might be more properly termed a Nevada Roll due to the starting positions, but who can resist something as funny and catchy as a California Roll? On 12/7/2010 4:32 PM, Martha Edwards wrote: