19 Dec
2022
19 Dec
'22
6:15 a.m.
All this grapevine chitchat got me thinking: Krikey, this is one of those
instances where you don't realize something changed until much later. Kind
of like trying to remember the last time you rolled down a grassy hill as a
kid.
We used to do the grapevine-ish step when circling when I started contra in
Ottawa about 25 years ago - kind of as a way of allowing one to look both
forward and back. I have no idea where or when that stopped. Weird!
Ken Panton
19 Dec
19 Dec
8:10 a.m.
New subject: the Yemenite dance step
We used to grapevine while circling in the Hudson Valley in the late
80's, but it was probably just us young'uns that thought we were extra
cool. :/
On 12/19/22, K P via Contra Callers
<contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
All this grapevine chitchat got me thinking: Krikey,
this is one of those
instances where you don't realize something changed until much later. Kind
of like trying to remember the last time you rolled down a grassy hill as a
kid.
We used to do the grapevine-ish step when circling when I started contra in
Ottawa about 25 years ago - kind of as a way of allowing one to look both
forward and back. I have no idea where or when that stopped. Weird!
Ken Panton
9:48 a.m.
New subject: the Yemenite dance step
The grapevine step while circling is very common in Modern Western Square
Dancing. It is even in the definition of Circle Left:
"Some regions dance 8-dancer circles with a walking step with no turning
motion of the body. Other regions dance 8-dancer circles with a grapevine
step, with the body and arms turning left and right, in synchrony with this
step, allowing the dancers to make eye contact with their Corners and
Partners successively."
Square dances and contra dances often used to be danced on the same evening.
I have no idea which style it started in, but it may well have been absorbed
from one into the other.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802
940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
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2 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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Amy Cann -
John Sweeney -
K P