1 Sep
2007
1 Sep
'07
6:28 p.m.
Hello All!
This is my first attempt at writing a contra dance. I
feel it might be too complicated to be fun (mainly
because couples out on the ends have to do something
at a specific time). If I had to edit the dance I
would want to keep B1 and B2 (possibly making them A1
and A2) because I feel like that sequence is uniquely
mine. I would happily take comments and suggestions.
Especially on what music (maybe specific songs by
bands) would work best with that sequence because it
feels like it would go by fast.
Thanks!
Andrew
Dizzy In The Hizzy
by Andrew Sumerel
Line up improper.
Becket one place to the right.
A1 Balance the ring 4 counts
Guy rolls girl away to his left 2 counts
Girl rolls guy away to her left 2 counts
Promenade across the set 8 counts
A2 Pass through across (no courtesy turn) 4
counts
Right shoulder gypsy and swing (short gypsy, long
swing) 14 counts
B1 Balance the ring 4 counts
Petranella Twirl 4 counts
Balance the ring 4 counts
Carolina Twirl* 4 counts
B2 Handy hand alemande once and a half (guys by left,
girls by right) 8 counts
Ladies drop hands to fall into a hands across star
left once and a quarter 8 counts
(ladies will drop hands and fall into a star away
from their partner)
IMPORTANT: Couples out on the ends are still somewhat
active. The lady will participate in the alemande
right. After this, it is the guys job to make sure
that he trades places (during the star left) with the
new neighbor that he gets.
*The Carolina Twirl is slightly different from the
California Twirl in the following way. Recall that
for a California Twirl, the leader lifts his right
hand behind him and turns to step behind the follower
so that both people trade places and change
directions.
For a Carolina Twirl, the leader will lift his right
hand in front of him, without turning, and he will
step to the right in front of the follower as she
turns so that both people trade places but only the
follower will change directions.
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2 Sep
2 Sep
3:55 p.m.
The first thing I would suggest is that if you have a complicated
section that is the core of your dance, make the rest of the dance
simple. This week at pinewoods I finally tested out a dance I wrote
about a year ago and unfortunately, there was a flaw in the A1 that I
fixed by adding a roll away, but this was too complicated and so the
dancers weren't in the right place to start my figure. This made it
vaguely impossible for them to do the complicated figure. I replaced
the whole A1 with circle left three places, pass through and swing the
next. This worked much better. On the other hand, my core section
was more complicated than yours, so maybe it's not such a big deal.
In your case, I would actually move your B1 and B2 to be A2 and B1 and
have B2 be Partner Balance and Swing. It may just be me, but I really
like shadow actions that resolve by having you balance and swing your
partner. Actually, gypsy and swing might be even better. That would
make the B part smooth and the A part balancy which could be
accommodated well by a tune that does the same. In that case, I would
have A1 be a simple figure that leaves the dancers where they started.
To keep with the feel, I'd want it to be something balancy. A cool
figure might be to balance the ring, circle left two places, balance
again, men trade places, women trade places, reform the ring. That's
a bit complicated, but would probably flow into the Petronella well.
I'm not sure what would go best here.
For what it's worth, I really like the first half of A1. I would love
to see that moved into another dance. Maybe moved into A2, followed
up by a ladies chain into a full hey, balance & swing your partner.
Add a progression as the new A1.
Maybe Petronella, turning an extra half to form a new circle and then
balance and men roll their partner away without the half sashay. I
think that feels like too many roll aways though and thus too many
changes of momentum.
Maybe circle left three places, pass through, ladies allamande left
once and a half, backing out of the allamande to form a circle. Not
quite a good enough flow for me. I think I'll keep working on that.
Chris
On 9/1/07, Andrew Sumerel <andrewdroid(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
Hello All!
This is my first attempt at writing a contra dance. I
feel it might be too complicated to be fun (mainly
because couples out on the ends have to do something
at a specific time). If I had to edit the dance I
would want to keep B1 and B2 (possibly making them A1
and A2) because I feel like that sequence is uniquely
mine. I would happily take comments and suggestions.
Especially on what music (maybe specific songs by
bands) would work best with that sequence because it
feels like it would go by fast.
Thanks!
Andrew
Dizzy In The Hizzy
by Andrew Sumerel
Line up improper.
Becket one place to the right.
A1 Balance the ring 4 counts
Guy rolls girl away to his left 2 counts
Girl rolls guy away to her left 2 counts
Promenade across the set 8 counts
A2 Pass through across (no courtesy turn) 4
counts
Right shoulder gypsy and swing (short gypsy, long
swing) 14 counts
B1 Balance the ring 4 counts
Petranella Twirl 4 counts
Balance the ring 4 counts
Carolina Twirl* 4 counts
B2 Handy hand alemande once and a half (guys by left,
girls by right) 8 counts
Ladies drop hands to fall into a hands across star
left once and a quarter 8 counts
(ladies will drop hands and fall into a star away
from their partner)
IMPORTANT: Couples out on the ends are still somewhat
active. The lady will participate in the alemande
right. After this, it is the guy's job to make sure
that he trades places (during the star left) with the
new neighbor that he gets.
*The Carolina Twirl is slightly different from the
California Twirl in the following way. Recall that
for a California Twirl, the leader lifts his right
hand behind him and turns to step behind the follower
so that both people trade places and change
directions.
For a Carolina Twirl, the leader will lift his right
hand in front of him, without turning, and he will
step to the right in front of the follower as she
turns so that both people trade places but only the
follower will change directions.
4 Sep
4 Sep
12:22 a.m.
As a general comment, better notation helps get across
your dance. Cary Ravitz's web page shows some very
good explanation of sometimes very tricky dances.
In "Dizzy in the Hizzy," for instance,
Line up improper.
Becket one place to the right.
is confusing because it hints that the dance is
both formations. Writing "Becket" or "Becket, Counterclockwise"
helps a lot.
Also, stating who things are done with helps a lot. Mentioning
the moves in the A are done with partner. In the B2, it
took a while to realize the allemandes were done with the
same-sex neighbor on the diagonal, in an Eggbeater-like
figure. Where are the shadows in the B2 stars? (The B2
sequence, by the way, looks like the inverse of Bill Olson's
"Eggbeater." And the B2/A1 transition should be noted.
Finally, the "Carolina twirl" details are cryptic, though
at least the end position is clear. (Is the "Carolina Twirl"
something you came up with?)
As for the dance itself, Chris Lahey's comments are good.
Some other things:
The B2 is _very_ tight. 18 beats of moves in 16 beats, plus
disorientation time, which then cascades into a fair rapid A1.
(The B2 will also need lots of space in the set, to keep
dancers from smacking into each other.)
The roll-aways in A1 are very quick. Does the built-up
momentum lead well into the promenade?
Keep plugging away at it,
-Chris Page
San Diego
6632
days inactive
6635
days old
contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net
2 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
Andrew Sumerel -
Chris Lahey -
Chris Page