New subject: Looking for input on this dance I wrote

29 May 2025

Whoops!
I confess I didn't know how the numbers were assigned in Beckett, or how to designate
the couple who are progressing upwards...
Can you help me?
Do we just call them the upward bound and downward bound couple?

I did indeed mean the Lark who is progressing upwards.

And thank you for the dance below!
It's perfect as a first Hey dance and in fact i have something similar to that in my
program (apologies I made a mistake when I sent my first email)

Now looking for a second Hey dance with no chains, where they go down the hall....

I appreciate everyone's feedback and suggested dances and will make good use of it
all!

Kat k

May 28, 2025 10:09:31 PM Alexandra Deis-Lauby &lt;alex(a)villagewestdesign.com&gt;om>:

...
  First question is who is "lark 1"?  Most
choreographers call the number 1 couple the couple that progresses down the hall in a
normal clockwise-progressing becket dance. It seems like in this case, you mean the
opposite. If that is the case though, I don't think the dance progresses.  Lark #1
would end up on the non-home side to start and end the hey.

 If you mean lark 1 as the normal lark 1 (the one the progress down the hall), then the
circle would be once and a half+. Which is hard to do in 8 counts. 

 If you need a dead simple dance to teach a hey, I would suggest something like: 

 Becket, CW

 A1 Slice left, LLFB 

 A2 Larks allemand left once, Robins Allemand right once *** For teaching
purposes, have robins stand back to back in the middle after the allemand.** 

 B1 Hey!  Pass partner left on the ends, right in the middle 

 B2 At home, partner balance and swing. 

 Prompt them to end the swing early and /point /across so the lark is on the left and
robin is on the right. 

 This dance has lots of “recovery” time:
 * The slice and long lines each take 8 counts and the dancers don't have to travel
far. 
 * The allemandes are only once around so if folks are slow to move, that’s ok. 
 * If they have ended the previous swing on the wrong side they can fix it with the
one-role move in the middle 
 * The partner swing is long and has lots of time for them to end early and get ready. 
 * They spend a lot of time both on, and returning to their “home side."

 Alexandra Deis-lauby
 *VILLAGE**WEST**DESIGN*
 646 283 3108
 villagewestdesign.com[http://villagewestdesign.com/]

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  On May 28, 2025, at 3:40 PM, Don Veino via Contra
Callers &lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

 Hi,

 It's fun and can be helpful to craft dances for specific purposes - you're
getting some good input on your composition here.

 Back to your original purpose featuring the hey with only simple figures around it and
little fuss, a classic dance is The Carousel by Tom Hinds. If you want to only do Becket,
rotate it to start with the B2. (Note that *new* Robins allemande in the A1.)

 https://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=10324

 Tom's dance starts the hey in the same way as yours, with the first pass being on the
side with your partner. For your training consideration, there's also the other hey
start with the first pass being in the center, e.g. following from a chain. FWIW,
here's an easier becket dance which features that start. It's at least the third
generation of evolution on this sequence:

 Purple Haze - Becket LT/CW - Don Veino
 Riff off Purple Hays Variant (David Kaynor), riffing off Purple Heys (Peter Stix)

 A1 Slice Left, Cir LT 1x
 A2 LDY\RBN RH Chain, over and back
 B1 Full Hey, LDY\RBN Pass RT Ctr
 B2 PNR Bal Swing

 The similarity of the chain and hey feel seems to help build understanding/success with
newer dancers.

 -Don
 Near Concord MA, family formerly from Lunenburg, NS

 On Wed, May 28, 2025, 11:57 AM Katherine Kitching via Contra Callers
&lt;contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:
  Hi from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada!

 As some of you know, I write a lot of my own dances because of the
 specific needs of our crowd- I'm always working on contra dances that
 are simpler than what most of you folks consider a "simple" dance :)

 For my upcoming dance I am doing a Hey as a "feature figure" - meaning
 it is the one more complex figure we will focus on that night.
 Am trying to write a dance that introduces the Hey, builds on other
 simple things we've done that night, without introducing anything else
 new or confusing.

 Other notes:
 - we are dancing only in Becket
 - swings are not necessary in each dance

 I like the flow of what I've written - which ends with a full Hey--
 But my issue is that the Lark will be following the Robin and I need the
 Lark to get ahead at the end -- so everyone can progress in the correct
 order.

 I've experimentally written that at the end of the hey, the Robin should
 look behind them and see their partner following them - and reach a hand
 to give them a little tug, to pull them ahead of them, back to home
 place and then seamlessly progress onwards to the next couple.
 But it's hard to predict if this will work ok or be too confusing.

 Would welcome your thoughts on this and any other aspect of the dance.
 I think I borrowed the Larks left hand turn 1.5 into a Hey from another
 dance on Contra DB, though my memory is foggy now...anyhow happy to give
 credit to that, if any is due :)

 Simple (maybe?) Hey Dance
 Becket, CW (progressing by sliding left)

 Star right
 Circle right - the #1 Lark leads out the line - at some point dropping
 hands with their partner who will end up at the opposite end of the line
 (This figure I've done before without any issues)
 Lines of 4 down the hall,
 Turn *alone*, come back up, bend line

 LLFB (you will be facing your partner for this figure, if I am not
 mistaken!)
 Larks: Allemande left 1.5x to face partner
 All start fuly Hey - partners pass right on the ends, then Robins pass
 left in the middle...
 Once Robins get back to their home side, turn over their right shoulder
 to see their partner right behind them - Robins reach with their right
 hand, to their partner's left hand (i.e. partners briefly take inside
 hands) - and Robins give a tug on the hand, to guide their Lark ahead of
 them, to progress to the next group - Robins follow the Larks in single
 file.

 Thank you for your thoughts, if any!
 Kat Kitching
 Halifax Contra Dances

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Re: Looking for input on this dance I wrote