Tina wrote:
Hi o esteemed community of callers -
I'm going to call a big father-daughter dance for
the Girl Scouts next month.
(It's called "Me and My Cowboy; how cute is that?!) In preparing, I realize
that
most of the supremely easy dances I know are mixers. While this is usually
great, these girls are likely not going to want to partner up with other girls'
dads, but instead keep their own dad. They'll also enjoy partnering with each
other, especially for the goofier dances.
But I still seek delightful and very easy ONS dances
wherein the dancers keep
their partners.
I already have a lot of galloping longways set dances
like Galopede, Weaver's
Galopede, Four Around Four, & White Mountain Reel. I also have Do-Si-Three
(thanks, Linda Leslie!) and Jefferson & Liberty. I mostly seek a variety of
calmer (but still fun) ones so the dads can rest up a bit while still dancing,
and a couple of circle dances that aren't mixers, if they exist. A few more easy
Sicilians would also be welcome.
Do your repertoires include these? What are your
favorites? Will you share?
My go-to Sicilians - which you may well already have -
Haste to the Wedding
[Sicilian Circle)
[Greatly benefits from the name tune]
A1: Circle left, Circle right
A2: RH *, LH *
B1: Neighbors back-to-back, clap, clap, turn 2 hands once round.
B2: Partners back-to-back, clap, clap, pass through.
Spanish Waltz
(Any waltz with nice 4-bar phrases)
[Sicilian Circle]
Note: In A1&A2, men use only right hand; women use only left hand
A1: 1-2: Holding *that* hand with partner, waltz-balance fwd&back to
neighbor
3-4: Givin that hand to neighbor, woman turns under to change
places; both finish facing partner.
5-8: Repeat above with partner
A2: 1-8: Repeat to home place.
B1: 1-4: RH*
5-8: LH*
B2: (this can depend greatly on the group. I like coming out of the LH star
with partners holding left hands and gents stepping up to partner's right
hand behind, then waltz-promenading (men's left shoulders closest to
each other) 1.5 to meet a new couple.
A group that can all waltz can waltz around; a group that can't manage
the promenade can do forward two waltz steps, back two waltz steps,
pass thorough and bow to a new couple.
---
SOLDIER'S JOY.
Sicilian Circle ("As for Spanish Dance")
32-bar reel.
My reconstruction (which is pretty much everybody else's reconstruction)
A1: 1-4: Forward and back
5-8: Opposites turn two hands (no progression)
A2: 1-4: Partners balance
5-8: Partners turn (could swing if wanted)
B1: 1-8: Ladies chain over and back
B2: 1-8: Forward and back, forward and pass through.
Original text:
All forward and back, swing the opposite-all balance to partners and
turn-ladies chain-forward and back, forward and cross to face the next couple.
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Non-gallopy whole set longways:
UP THE SIDES AND DOWN THE MIDDLE (CDM, own tune or any bright jig)
Long set for four to six couples.
A1: Step-swing balance in lines twice; cross over with polka step.
A2: Repeat to places
B1: (Reel time) 1s down the middle (walking, 8 bars) while 2s lead a single
cast (polka step) down, then up through the 1s moving arch.
B2: Swing partners.
(Repeat until 1s at top again).
[Also the own tune has a jig part and a reel part, you really don't have to
worry about that. Experiment shows this works fine with old-timey reels. If
you're tired, you can just do the whole thing walking and it still works.]
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Let us know how it goes!
-- Alan
--
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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
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