Three people is pretty challenging. I sometimes use this (which you can also certainly do with bigger crowds at ONS kinds of things): -------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BUTTERFLY (From "Step Lively 2"; Marion Rose calls it the Canadian National Dance). 3 dancers, arms linked. No progression. Music: Slow waltz alternating with fast something else. Waltz part: Walk leisurely in time with the music, using step-swing or step-hop-hop. Other part: Middle and one end right elbow swing, with other end left elbow swing, back and forth until the music changes or your arms fall off. -------------------------------------------------------------------- This works really well with, eg, solo accordion, so the player can switch it up (not necessarily on a phrase boundary) and mess with the dancers with tempo changes, etc. That's harder for multiple pieces until they're used to it, although with a little confab they could have some of them play the slow part and others posed ready to go for the fast part. (I'm hesitant in general to post other people's dances without their express position, but Marion is all about the sharing, and she didn't write the dance anyway.) Throughout the British Isles, reels of three (and four) are traditional. Three people in line, ends face in, middle person faces one end. A1: WHole hey for three A2: Whole hey for three minus 1 change, leaving a new person in the middle. B1: Middle person and the one they're facing to do setting steps (clogging, Scottish or Irish setting, rant steps, make something up); at the end, middle person flips to face the other end. B2: Middle person and the other end set or balance. Trad approach is to repeat indefinitely, possibly swapping new people in off the sidelines. (If you're dancing in the kitchen and this is all there's room for, people take turns dancing while the musicians keep going.) If you want to give it more shape, you could adopt the hey progression from "Dorset Four Hand Reel": First time walking Second time walking with hands Third time skipping (or flying rant step) Fourth time " with hands, where you can really fly. 4-Hand reel typically finishes with a swing; you could finish off with a basket swing for three. You can do that to jigs or reels. On the four-person front, there's a flock of two-couple English dances; I like "Rufty-Tufty" for ONS kinds of gigs, but "Hit and Miss" is fine too. These are "own tune" dances, so not much help if your band doesn't know the tunes and isn't comfortable playing for dots, this won't help.] RUFTY TUFTY Two couple set, Playford, 1651 A: 1-8 Standard Figures (U - S - A) B: 1-8 Partners set and turn single 9-16 That again C1:1-4 Partners lead away from set, change hands and lead back 5-6 Turn single C2:1-4 Opposites lead away from set, change hands and lead back 5-6 Turn single ============================================ HIT AND MISS (PB, Playford, Sharp) 2 couple facing, AA BB C AA: Forward a double and back; repeat. B1: 1-2 Couples come in to meet; 3-4 lead opposite away. B2: 1-2 Changing hands, lead back 3-4 Opposites face, take right hands with partner and fall back a double. C: 1-6 Partners face, four changes of a circular hey, skipping. AA: Siding etc AA: Arming etc ============================================ And I also developed this variation on the old English dance "Sellenger's Round" for 3 or more, no partners needed. SELLENGER'S WHEEL Alan Winston, 11/16/2003 cut-down version of Sellenger's Round for 3-7 people, no partners needed. Formation: circle of people facing in Tune in Barnes, 5x. I: A: Slipping circle (*really* slipping) left and back to the right. B: Chorus (same each time). Set forward right and left fall back straight still facing in, set right and left turn single Repeat II: A: Lead into the center and back Repeat B: As above III: A: right hand star (contra style wrist grip keeps you from having a mess) left hands back B: As above IV: A: Basket left and _keep going_, not back to the right. B: As above (Finish with slipping circle again, but if you're repeating don't do slipping circle twice in a row - it's lame). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- As for four-person contra-like objects, Antony Heywood's "X Marks the Spot" is the only one I know. I'm not going to post it here without permission; if there's interest I'll write Antony and ask for permission. -- Alan -- =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON(a)SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025 ===============================================================================

Well... A) Many simple contra dances can be done repeatedly by four people, by shifting the orientation 90 degrees each time, and making your partner your next neighbor each time. For example, if a dance starts with Balance and swing your neighbor, and ends with Pass thru to a new neighbor, just pass thru after the first time thru, face your partner (your new neighbor) and repeat! B) About two years ago two sixth graders, one from Princeton, NJ, one from Berea, KY, made up a nice dance for *one couple*: A1 Lead up a double and back; lead up a double and cast down to face each other A2 Set to partner and turn single; dosido B1 Balance and swing partner (end facing up) It's a 24 measure dance and we had fun dancing it to Money Musk on the Contra Chestnuts cd. (I'm not neglecting the author's names. I'm sure they'd like the dance shared, but I need to check with parents before sending out their names.) Richard On Aug 12, 2008, at 3:09 PM, <gtwood(a)worldpath.net> <gtwood(a)worldpath.net> wrote: