I have led the “winding a ball of yarn,” for years at barn dances. Used to do it occasionally at a contra dance—though not since square and other form fell out of favor.

Then I think it was at a Quaker Yearly Meeting in Wisconsin when they asked a local Native American Tribe to share their culture. There their participatory part included “The Snake Shedding Its Skin.”  The same as Winding a Ball of Yarn.

Here’s a video of another Tribe doing a Snake dance ending with the leader saying, “The snake has to coil up.” I think the song for the dance is beautiful.

Cheers,

~Erik Hoffman

  Oakland, CA

From: Louise Siddons via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2023 9:54 AM
To: contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Re: The Spiral Dance

I’ve come to know this dance as the Farandole — a term that comes from trad French dance (as per here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb74ey_LVeg). For people in search of videos, the more specific term might help!

Louise

(Winchester, UK)

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