Frannie, what a great use of the spiral!  I think of this move as an add on (as Lisa used it) vs a dance.  I will often use a spiral at a community dance and attach it to the end of a circle dance or a big Southern Circle Mixer... also great at weddings, private parties, etc. I start it by having everyone circle left and then I hop off the stage and lead the spiral as Frannie described.  The tricky part is at the end of unwinding the spiral you have to lead the group slowly in order to leave enough time for the end of the spiral to unwind before you get them back into a big circle left.  Once they are circling left again at the end I have them go into the middle twice with big shouts.  Sometimes I'll also have the whole circle rip and snort before the spiral.  It's always a hit! Casey Carr On 2/14/2023 7:54 AM, frannie via Contra Callers wrote:

We have done this for decades and called it winding up the ball of yarn Bob On Feb 14, 2023, at 07:18, Jerome Grisanti via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:  I would add this it's important for the dancers to know to keep holding on during the spiral. Also, I often quip as the ball is nearing its tightest that "planning ahead wasn't always my strongest skill." Adds a bit of drama as people wonder, "how's this going to end?" Jerome On Tue, Feb 14, 2023, 9:04 AM Jessica Atkinson via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote: I’ve done this often as part of the Grand March, I do it as the first “dance” of the evening. The only people who really need to know what will happen is the first few people - I typically lead the group, and either prompt the next couple of people as necessary or give them a heads up before the dance. I don’t often do it as a partner dance just so that everyone of all ages can join in, and let everyone know it’s a “follow the leader” dance. I turn on the music, start walking around and have people join onto the end of the line as I weave around room. Once everyone interested has joined, I lead the line in a circle around the edge of the room. Gradually I tighten the circle in a spiral formation until there’s just a small space in the middle - you do have to slow down as the spiral tightens to avoid too much pulling on arms. Once there’s just a bit of space in the middle, it’s a sharp u-turn for the leader, then spiral out. It is everyone’s favorite moment when it happens, especially if they didn’t realize it was coming! From there, as the spiral unwinds I lead around in a circle again until the next set of figures. I will weave in and out of the line without dropping hands as one move. Another is making arches - the first two make an arch, the line travels under and the next two make an arch and so on everyone has travelled under the arches and then formed one. At the point the arches “collapse” - the lead two people drop their arch and then travel under the arch themselves. Once out on the other side, can either transition to a move with everyone paired up or form up the line/ring of joined hands. When done with live music, once I’ve completed all the figures I drop hands and everyone gathers around where the band is and claps along until the music stops. Hopefully that makes sense! I can’t remember which book, but either Sashay the Donut or Listen to the Mockingbird describes some of the different possible moves. Google may bring up some different ideas and videos as well. 🙂 -Jessica _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net> _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net

Can anyone suggest a video where the caller does lead the line under another part of the line?  And then plays around with arches? I was once lucky to dance it this way with Sue Hulsether (thanks Sue!) but didn't feel confident enough to replicate it, even after reading written descriptions. We *love* doing the spiral at the start of our dances since learning it from Sue, but I haven't been brave enough to do anything fancier than the basic wind-unwind, for fear of messing up with a large group of ppl on the very first dance of the evening :) Kat K

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 &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2023 9:54 AM To: contracallers(a)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 t External (contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>) Report This Email<https://protection.inkyphishfence.com/report?id=bmV0b3JnZnQxNTA4MD… FAQ<https://www.godaddy.com/help/report-email-with-advanced-email-securi… GoDaddy Advanced Email Security, Powered by INKY<https://www.inky.com/protection-by-inky> 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<https://shared.outlook.inky.…)jcRLE>). For people in search of videos, the more specific term might help! Louise (Winchester, UK) _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:contracallers-leave@lists.sharedweight.net>

I led a dance for visually impaired students a few years back. We started with a large circle and then I let go of the person in my left had and led the snake around the hall. At one point we went out a door to an outside deck and went back in another door. Back in the hall, I led the Spiral. The kids loved it! After doing a couple of other traditional dances, the kids wanted to do the Spiral again before we ended for the night. Helle On Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 03:08:34 PM MST, Jacob or Nancy Bloom via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: I wonder how many hundreds of times I've led this! I also usually add this on to the last dance of the evening. Call for everyone to promenade into one big circle, then tell them to join hands and circle left. That's your last call for a few minutes. (You will want to warn the band before the last dance that they will be playing for longer than usual!) Join the circle, drop your left hand, and start spiraling in. Turn back over your left shoulder and spiral out again, passing face to face with everyone else in the line. Lead the line out to a big circle, join the line into a circle again, and (three minutes after you called "circle left") you call, "And back to the right!" I could tell you a few more variations that can be done of this, but you have already gotten lots of good advice about how to do it. It sounds like you need reassurance that you can do it. You can. Just remember that the point is for everyone to see each other and enjoy being together, and you'll do fine. Jacob On Tue, Feb 14, 2023, 2:03 PM Rich Goss via Contra Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: I called one of these once at a school.   About 20 people back, a little boy’s pants kept falling down.  The spiral stopped each time so he could pull them back up, then started back up.  Everyone had a good laugh over that, including the band. Rich _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net _______________________________________________ Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net

Way too late to help with the original request I realize, but perhaps generally of interest: A piece of this dance that I particularly like is that everyone in the line will pass face to face with everyone else in the line—but it’s worth pointing that out explicitly, or people won’t notice that it’s true. (The leader has to turn toward, not away, at some point for that to happen.) (My association with calling it “The Spiral Dance” is with certain varieties of paganism, where that looking-at-everyone-else is a central reason for doing it.) —Read Weaver