31 Mar
2016
31 Mar
'16
1:58 p.m.
I really love this dance (though I mostly call the Double Boomerang variant
which includes a N Swing (below). I almost always ask for a tune with
continuous, steady motion (but not too fast, at least at first), and
potentially squishy phrasing within the B part so that the dancers don't
feel like they're fighting the phrase of the music on the B1. (Flying Home
to Shelly, Calliope House, If it's too fast, the dancers will definitely
have trouble with the timing and with getting to the Balance and Swing on
time. It's a dance I love to dance, and love to call (and haven't called
in way too long....).
Double Boomerang by Gene Hubert Contra Becket
A1 M Gents Alle L 1.5, N Sw
A2 L Diag Ladies Chain, LL F&B
B1 PT across, Turn alone, Cir L, (face shadow up & down), Pass thru
B2 P B&S
On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 12:12 PM Jonathan Sivier via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Laurie,
Jim makes good points. Think of the "pass through, circle left,
pass through" as one extended 16 beat figure rather than trying to break
it into 2 8 beat figures with the circle crossing the middle of the
phrase. When I'm calling this dance the 2nd half of the dance goes
something like this (as best I can recall sitting at my computer).
(starting on the last 2 beats of the previous phrase)
pass through, (pause for a beat), turn alone, circle left, (pause for a
few beats), pass through, (pause for a beat or so), balance and swing
The "turn alone, circle left" goes very quickly, taking maybe only 2
beats. The rest tends to be slower, one word per beat. Writing this
out may not be the best way to convey my meaning, but hopefully it gives
you some idea.
Jonathan
-----
Jonathan Sivier
Caller of Contra, Square, English and Early American Dances
jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html
-----
Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: It depends on what dance you call!
On 3/31/2016 12:34 AM, James Saxe via Callers wrote:
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Jack Mitchell
Durham, NC
On Mar 30, 2016, at 9:35 PM, Laur via Callers
<
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> I am not comfortable with the timing in Boomerang. Am I off or .. is
there
something I'm missing???
>
> I've tried (with my imaginary friends) several theories but - always
the
timing isn't quite there.
Laurie
West MI
Laurie,
You don't say what part of the dance you're uncomfortable with, but
I'm going to guess that it's the B1 part. The timing as given by
Gene Hubert in _Dizzy Dances, Volume II_ is:
Pass thru ACROSS the set and turn alone(4).
Circle left, go all the way around(8).
Pass thru ALONG the set to meet your partner(4).
The timing is a bit unusual in that the circle crosses the middle
of the phrase, but I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
Dancers who aren't used to circling all the way around in 8 beats
can make up time on the pass thru (or pull thru) along and on the
forward part of the subsequent balance. On the other hand, if the
dancers can easily circle once in 8 beats and if they think that 4
beats for pass thru along is a bit leisurely, they can try rearing
back at the end of the circle, or even add a spin during the pass
thru.
You can see a video of _Boomerang_ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj49YHAMGnk
(Thanks to Chris Page for supplying the title in a comment, so that
the video was easy to find.) If you study the video, you'll see
many examples of dancers managing to meet their partners just in
time for the balance at the start of the B2 music--and also a few
examples of dancers being either early or late. Beware that there
are a number of places where the video cuts to a different camera
angle and the new cut doesn't pick up at the same place in the tune
as the previous cut ended.
I hope some of this is helpful.
Cheers,
--Jim