As to two left circles in a dance, Roger Diggle’s Roll in the Hey has, at times, been called a modern Chestnut.

        A1 Circle Left x 1; Neighbor Swing

        A2 Circle Left x ¾; Partner Swing

        B1 Long Linges go Forward & Back; Robins Chain

        B2 Hey for Four, ending Progressing to the Next

 

Cheers,

Erik Hoffman

   ~Oakland, California, USA

 

From: Peter Foster via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 1, 2025 5:40 AM
To: contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Re: New (to me) choreography idea

 

 

I tried this tonight, and it went well, with the dancers really enjoying

themselves.

 

Lots of fun variations in the hey, not all of which were intended, but

the final circle

sorted people out nicely.

 

Te only negative is from an aesthetic point of view: it has 2 circle

lefts, and it

is not generally desireable to repeat a figure. Although in this case it

is all right,

as the 2 circles are very distinctive, and you will not be confused as

to where

in the dance you are.

 

As for a name, the original dance was named Butter. With all the mixing

up in the hey, perhaps name the dance Churning Butter.

 

Anyway, a definite thumbs up from the dancers.

 

Peter Foster

Canberra, Australia

 

 

On 30/06/2025 3:45 pm, Russell Frank via Contra Callers wrote:

> Watching dancers play around at a recent dance, I had the following idea for a “choose your own adventure” variation.

> 

> The idea is that you do a full hey, but any or all crossings can be replaced by ricochets, with no pattern or requirements (other than that both people have to agree on the choice made at each stage.)  They can then straighten things out by circling left until every body is on the side where they belong.

> 

> For example, here is the modification of Gene Hubert’s Butter along these lines

> 

> Becket

> A1    Progress left to the next couple, circle left 3/4,

>       Neighbor swing

> A2    Long lines

>       Robins chain

> B1    Robins start a full hey by the right, with ricochets permitted, but not required at each of the 4 crossings

> 

> B2    Circle left until everyone is on their original side with their partner

>       Partner swing

> 

> I don’t know whether the variable circle length and resulting shorter or longer swing will be a source of fun or an annoyance, but it looks worth trying.

> I think if everyone ends up where they started at the end of the hey, they probably should do a long swing, rather than requiring a circle left all the way, but that’s a detail.

> 

> At this point, I am calling dances only occasionally, so I won’t be trying it out any time soon.

> 

> Please let me know what you think, and how it goes if you try it out.

> 

> Thanks,

> Russell Frank

> Monterey, CA

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