The mystery mixer.... - Contra Callers

1 May 2008

Hi All,
The dance in question is Sunday on the Green, written by Jim Kitch. I've
called it lots of times and it's a great dance. I agree with Alan's notation
of the timing below, and his comment to NOT drop the balances. They make the
dance. I've added some comments that help me teach and call it as well as a
bit about the B2, that might help the rest of you.  So here's my take on it:

(starts in an Alamo ring, ladies face out/gents in)
A1 1-2 Balance the wave R/L
   3-4 Partners allemande R half way and reform the wavy circle
   5-6 Balance the wave L/R
   7-8 With #1, allemande L half way and reform the wavy circle

A2 1-2 Balance the wave R/L
   3-4 With #2, allemande R 1x
   5-8 With #1, allemande L 1 1/2 times
B1 1-8 Partners balance and swing
B2 1-6 Promenade around the circle
   7-8 Partners drop R hands, keep holding L hand, ladies loop L to the
inside of the circle and around current partner, and gives R to new partner
to reform the wavy circle.  
       (Old partner is in left hand, new partner in right)

I typically tell dancers that they'll move away from their partner by 2
people and then come back to balance and swing them. I think it helps to
give them the markers. Also, I particularly like the transition from the
promenade back to the wavy circle because you keep the connection with the
partner the whole time.
Hope that helps,
Bev

...
 Message: 7
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:59:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing
	&lt;winston(a)slac.stanford.edu&gt;
Subject: Re: [Callers] 2 questions
To: "Caller's discussion list" &lt;callers(a)sharedweight.net&gt;
Message-ID: &lt;01MU8J6EYIMM8XO7P3(a)SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU&gt;
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Parker wrote:

  1. I have run into the following mixer dance and
I'm not sure how best to
call it.  I don't know the name and author or I'd ask him/her.  The
problem is
that no beat counts or A1-A2-B1-B2 divisions were given. 
  The formation is a wavy circle with gents facing
in, ladies facing out,
partners by the right.  The moves are: 
(I have modified this with measure counts, assuming 2 beats to a measure)

A1 1-2 Balance the wave R/L
   3-4 Allemande R half way and reform the wavy circle
   5-6 Balance the wave L/R
   7-8 Allemande L half way and reform the wavy circle

A2 1-2 Balance the wave R/L
   3-4 Allemande R 1x
   5-8 Allemande L 1 1/2 times
B1 1-8 Partners balance and swing
B2 1-6 Promenade around the circle
   7-8 Partners drop R hands and reform the circle.  
       Old partner is in left hand, new partner in right.

  The problem is I can't make the timing look
right.  The first five moves
look
to all be four beat moves, but then there are 12 beats left for the
allemande R
1x and allemande L 1 1/2.  If not, moves are falling across the phrase. 
I don't actually know this dance either, but can see this working.  The
allemande R 1x works up some momentum which you don't have to damp to get
into
the allemande L, and you _can_ get all the way around an allemande in four
steps.  If you like you can encourage the dancers to try to do that.  (What
will really happen is that the two allemandes  will blur into one figure
(which
will feel a little bit like a do pas o), and the timing will vary a bit
from
person to person.  But everybody's motivated to be on time for the balance
(which is definitely at the top of B1), so it will work, and if anybody's
late
they can just get a shorter swing with their partner, so it won't break
down.

  Has anyone tried this dance or know anything
about it?  I'm thinking that
drop the third balancing of the wave would work best, but that means a
half
allemande, full allemande, and 1 1/2 allemande consecutively. 
Don't drop the balance.  You'll only confuse their muscle memory.  And 12
beats
is enough time to do the allemande figures.

-- Alan 