17 Dec
2022
17 Dec
'22
12:06 p.m.
dear callers and dance writers,
has anyone out there come across/written a contra dance that incorporates
the dance move, Yemenite (as in “Yemenite right; Yemenite left”), from
Israeli folk dance?
thanks much !!
--
* Elizabeth Bloom Albert *
17 Dec
17 Dec
5:30 p.m.
Ralph Page once joked that some dance writer who was overly interested in
novelty would probably write a dance with the call, "Down the center with a
mixed pickles step." A contra dance with a Yemenite step seems just as
improbable.
Jacob
On Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 12:06 PM Elizabeth Bloom Albert via Contra Callers <
contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
dear callers and dance writers,
has anyone out there come across/written a contra dance that incorporates
the dance move, Yemenite (as in “Yemenite right; Yemenite left”), from
Israeli folk dance?
thanks much !!
--
* Elizabeth Bloom Albert *
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
6:03 p.m.
Not that I've run across.
There's a few traditional ones that are sometimes done with a
step-swing balance. (Some interpretations of "The Young Widow" or
occasionally "Money Musk".)
I've also run across a few obscure contras in print that use the
grapevine step, though I've never encountered those on the dance
floor.
Cheers,
-Chris Page
Los Angeles, CA
On Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 9:06 AM Elizabeth Bloom Albert via Contra
Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
dear callers and dance writers,
has anyone out there come across/written a contra dance that incorporates the dance move,
Yemenite (as in “Yemenite right; Yemenite left”), from Israeli folk dance?
thanks much !!
--
Elizabeth Bloom Albert
_______________________________________________
Contra Callers mailing list -- contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
6:26 p.m.
David Smukler wrote a waltz-time circle mixer with a Yemenite Balance, that you might
conceivably call at a contra dance evening. It is called Banjo's Mistress.
I regularly call Don Armstrong's Grapevine Jig, or my variation of it.
A step-swing balance is just one of 50 ways to do a Balance; see
https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=north… page
13.
American contra dancers used to use lots of those and pride themselves on doing a
different balance each time through the dance. Sadly, that is an embellishment that seems
to have disappeared over time. We still do lots of step-swing balances in England, I
encourage them in some contra dances where they fit well.
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
6:33 p.m.
Here in the SF Bay Area, when I started contra dancing in the mid-1980s it was pretty
common for people to use a grapevine step in any circle in any contra dance. I guess that
fell into the category of "common variation" rather than choreography that used
it. I think by 2000 it had become rare.
(Initially because it was done so frequently I didn't realize it was borrowed from IFD
and thought it was just part of the tradition.)
-- Alan
________________________________________
From: Chris Page via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2022 3:03 PM
To: Elizabeth Bloom Albert
Cc: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Re: the Yemenite dance step
Not that I've run across.
There's a few traditional ones that are sometimes done with a
step-swing balance. (Some interpretations of "The Young Widow" or
occasionally "Money Musk".)
I've also run across a few obscure contras in print that use the
grapevine step, though I've never encountered those on the dance
floor.
Cheers,
-Chris Page
Los Angeles, CA
On Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 9:06 AM Elizabeth Bloom Albert via Contra
Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
dear callers and dance writers,
has anyone out there come across/written a contra dance that incorporates the dance move,
Yemenite (as in “Yemenite right; Yemenite left”), from Israeli folk dance?
thanks much !!
--
Elizabeth Bloom Albert
_______________________________________________
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
6:49 p.m.
Alan suggested that the Grapevine was borrowed from IFD. It could also have
come from a number of ballroom styles of dance, or from early Line Dancing.
It is such a basic piece of footwork that it occurs in many genres and may
have arisen in multiple ones.
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
18 Dec
18 Dec
5:15 a.m.
John is of course corrrect that grapevine exists in other contexts than IFD.
However, I'm pretty sure I'm right about the source of the grapevine step in
contra dancing in the SF Bay Area in the mid-1980s because I know some of the people who
were doing it were involved in IFD.
-- Alan
________________________________________
From: John Sweeney via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2022 3:49 PM
To: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Re: the Yemenite dance step
Alan suggested that the Grapevine was borrowed from IFD. It could also have
come from a number of ballroom styles of dance, or from early Line Dancing.
It is such a basic piece of footwork that it occurs in many genres and may
have arisen in multiple ones.
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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6 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
Chris Page -
Elizabeth Bloom Albert -
Jacob or Nancy Bloom -
John Sweeney -
Winston, Alan P.