Thanks so so much for all the really interesting and helpful responses! This conversation has been great!!!

(Apologies for my slow response.  Last week of school for our kiddo and then right into Canada Day long weekend meant that I haven't been on the computer as much as I sometimes might be.)

Thank you :) :) :) 
Emily in London ON this time :)

Virus-free.www.avg.com

On Sat, Jul 1, 2023 at 3:45 PM Bill Olson via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
FWIW, here's a dance from 2002 with a different take, I guess. Reports were that after the dance the women's/robin's arms were very tired. As it says in the notes, the dance DID work and satisfied the original objective (and sort of forced the balances to be forward and back). As I remember it was pretty cool hearing the three balances all in succession. Do Make Waves (billolsondance.com)

bill

From: Maia McCormick <maia.mcc@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 1, 2023 5:52 PM
To: Bill Olson <callbill@hotmail.com>
Cc: Emily Addison <emilyladdison@gmail.com>; contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>; Tony Parkes <tony@hands4.com>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Re: Dances with balancing waves forward and backward?
 
Big fan of box circulates, which imo are best served by balancing right+fwd and left+back, so you have momentum for the next move whether you're traveling forward or to the right. I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, but if so and you want my fave box circulate dances, I have lots 😅 and am happy to share.

As far as balance-and-walk-forward, I just went through my whole dang collection and pulled these; turns out a lot of dances I really like have this transition :D
  • Some easy/classic ones are You Can Get There From Here (Linda Leslie) and 20 Below (Bill Olson)
  • A Gift to the Grange (Steve Zakon-Anderson),  Robins on a Wire (Will Mentor), Ellie's Pumpkin Show (Bill Olson) all have neat "wavy line of <role> balance and walk forward, partner follow to cross and swing"
  • Winter in Summerland (James Hutson & Jeff Spero) - waves balance and walk fwd to hey. One of my all time fave dances!
  • Serendipity (Chris Page) - box circulate with an extra turn; includes walking forward from short waves. Also one of my fave dances.
  • Eleanor's Reel (Bill Olson; see also, Eleanor's Twisted Reel, the Luke Donforth var.) has MULTIPLE "walk forward to next wave" transitions, great for visiting lots of people in a crowded hall
  • In Cahoots (Rick Mohr) is this with shadows
  • The Black Lake Inlet of Dr. Joe Rush (Seth Tepfer) - main hook of this dance is a "right-left by" which is fun, but it also has balance fwd/walk fwd to new waves
  • Solstice '17 (Donna Hunt)
--
Maia McCormick (she/her)
917.279.8194


On Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 12:16 PM Bill Olson via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Ah Shadracks! Thanks for that one Tony!

Anyway, I agree with Tony and I myself find balancing "sideways" (not really sideways, more on right diagonal then left diagonal) more natural than forward and back. Maybe this is just because of the way one's arms are pointing when in the wave. When I wrote Eleanor's Reel a measly 20 years ago (hah hah), I used that to an advantage as the progressions between waves were on the right and left diagonal. 

Dance and notes here:   Eleanor's Reel (billolsondance.com)

bill
From: Tony Parkes via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2023 2:03 PM
To: Emily Addison <emilyladdison@gmail.com>; contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Callers] Re: Dances with balancing waves forward and backward?
 

When I wrote Shadrack’s Delight 51 years ago (one of the first all-moving contras to gain wide acceptance among trad callers), I envisioned the wave balances as forward and back. Both of the balances are followed by hand turns halfway around, and I dislike the feel of a hand turn following a sideways balance (starting in either direction relative to the following turn). In my experience, most dancers do sideways balances in Shadrack, perhaps because they’re used to balancing sideways in dozens of other dances. I find that even when I specify a forward and back balance, many dancers don’t try it.

 

Tony Parkes

Billerica, Mass.

www.hands4.com

New book! Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century

(available now)

 

 

From: Emily Addison via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2023 10:07 PM
To: contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Dances with balancing waves forward and backward?

 

Hi folks :) 

 

As a dancer, I remember loving the feel of waves lines that balance forward and back. However, I don't have any dances that specifically call for that.  

 

Might you have suggestions of dances that specifically call for Bal F&B or which often get modified for that feel of a balance?

 

Thank you!

:) Emily in Ottawa

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