18 Jan
2008
18 Jan
'08
8:47 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerome Grisanti" <jerome.grisanti(a)gmail.com>
Subject: [Callers] Triple Minors in the Midwest
I was considering calling a triplet or a duple minor
dance with contra
corners in the first half to make sure everyone was comfortable with that
figure, and then calling "Sackett's Harbor" in the second half, which
turns
the minor set 90 degrees (or 270 degrees, to be technical) so all the men
are all facing the stage and the women are facing down.
I find this a hoot!
Traditionally Sackett's Harbor is used as the way to
introduce folks to contra corners, because it is so much easier in a triple
minor than in a duple minor! Just goes to show that what ya know is always
easier than what you don't know.
I want to lay out the rules of [triple minors] very
succinctly: Ones
remain ones
all the way down the hall, while the twos become threes and then twos
again
as they progress up. Threes also alternate roles, becoming twos and then
threes again. At the top, the first couple out waits out two iterations of
the dance before becoming ones. At the bottom, the threes must trade
places
with the ones or they will remain out indefinitely.
I wan to agree with Alan that
too much discussion is problematic and saying
"waits out two iterations" is actually inaccurate. The couple progressing up
the set actually waits out three time, but (again as Alan so clearly pointed
out) since two of the waiting out times are together and the other is
earlier, most folks think it is only twice. I think he has the best wording
when he says "you cannot start until you have two couples ready to dance
with you" or something similar.
Are these rules accurate as stated?
Any suggestions from New England? Elsewhere in the Midwest? Points beyond?
Make sure your sets are not too long (nor too short, for that matter.) Pay
attention to when you call the band out. It is nice to do so just after a
new couple has come in at the top, and it isn't an every other kind of thing
as it is in a duple minor. (There's that wait out, in, out, out, in thing
again.)
hth,
Beth Parkes