One thing you can do for variety is simple dances as no-walkthroughs. Line
'em up and getting them dancing. Even when they say they want advanced
dances, they still want the joy of successfully dancing to music.
It's easier to write a challenging dance than it is to write a good simple
dance; and I've written many challenging dances. If you're looking for
variety, a 6 facing 6 might be up your alley:
http://www.madrobincallers.org/2014/02/26/6-facing-6-contra-dances/
"2 out of 3 ain't bad" is the only one I've actually run with dancers
There are loads more complex ones on my site (anyone remember the
Greenfield formation contest?), but I'd stick to the ones that have been
field tested.
I hope you have a tight group of dancers to practice on before hand; as
these types of dances benefit even more from testing and discussion in
small groups so you can pick apart where the trouble spots lie. It's hard
to get enough folks though to test larger formations, or end effects.
Have fun.
On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 2:31 PM, Bradley Smith via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hello all! I'll be calling a session of challenging contras at a dance
> weekend next month, and find myself lacking in the aforementioned
> challenging contras. I want to keep the session balanced, with a mix of
> dances that are mind-bending or heavily technical as well as some dances
> that are a step or so below that but that still have something interesting
> or unique. Would any of you be so kind as to share some of your favorite
> challenging dances? Thank you in advance!
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>
>
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
You might like to try this one!
Pink Pigtails by John Meechan
Longways improper double progression 48 bar jigs (has own tune which I
can send if you would like it)
A1 Circle left (8); swing nbr (8).
A2 Mad Robin men front of women (8); men start half hey passing RSh
while women start the hey but ricochet back to place (8).
B1 Balance and swing ptnr.
B2 Take hands and balance the ring and Petronella a place (8); balance
the ring again and California twirl ptnr to face new nbr (8).
C1 Do si do new nbr once and a bit to form a wave (8); balance the
wave and trade the wave (8).
C2 Balance the wave again and trade the wave (8); balance the wave
again and move on to a new nbr (8).
Trade the wave is a MWSD move. In the wave you are facing the same
direction as your partner. All walk forward to trade places with partner (
women on the inside), i.e a sort of U shape.
Hope this suitable for you. The challenge is not only that it is a 48 bar
dance but has the trade the wave move.
The dance was written for Maureen Knight (my wife) on her 60th birthday.
Graham
I don’t recall dancing this with Ted back in the 70’s, but I do remember a dance at the Concord Scout House where I was in a square right in front of the stage. After the walk through we all switched gender roles and danced the entire dance that way. Ted quickly found another square to watch.
Bob
Some of my favorites are ones that have end effects, but they are fun to
dance once people know to expect that. Often they have dancing on the
diagonals and progressions in the middle of the dance. Here are some:
Are You Most Done? by Russell Owen
You Married My Daughter by Jacob Bloom
Bases Loaded by Lydee King, Tom Thoreau and Jim Saxe
Our House by Dean Snipes
Dulcimer Lady by Jim Kitch
Bev Young
One of my favorites, but it not easy to teach is *There is No Way To Peace;
Peace is the Way* by Erik Hoffman:
http://www.erikhoffman.com/peace.html
And, although *I* don't think it's hard, this dance has two new moves:
*Gold Star Wednesday **by Dale Wilson, (2012)*
*...because good days deserve gold stars, and Wednesday was a great
Day!**Contra
improper*
*A1 * Neighbor Balance & Swing
*A2* Right hand star 3 places; Invert the star(see the note below)
Left hand star
*B1 *Gents loop right around neighbor (behind) then cross. Meet partner
Ladies follow gent’s path around the loop but don’t cross. Meet
Partner.
Partner Swing
*B2 *Circle left 3 places; Circle Balance; California Twirl
*Notes * Identify Gent's Home place before start of dance.
Both stars end with the gent in his home place.
Invert the star means:
Gents reach across their body (over the old star) with their free
(left) hand
to their neighbor who is behind them. Ladies take gent's hand with
their free (left) hand.
Let go of the original star. Make an arch.
Gents step back slightly to allow ladies to step thru the arch.
Joined left hands come down into LH Star.
On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 1:31 PM, Bradley Smith via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hello all! I'll be calling a session of challenging contras at a dance
> weekend next month, and find myself lacking in the aforementioned
> challenging contras. I want to keep the session balanced, with a mix of
> dances that are mind-bending or heavily technical as well as some dances
> that are a step or so below that but that still have something interesting
> or unique. Would any of you be so kind as to share some of your favorite
> challenging dances? Thank you in advance!
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
>
>
--
Turn Observation into Data. Turn Data into Information
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Information>. Turn Information into
Knowledge. Turn Knowledge into Wisdom. Turn Wisdom into Beauty. Turn Beauty
into Love .
On Apr 8, 2016, at 9:49 AM, Erik Hoffman wrote:
> Don’t know if you call squares, but Ted Sanella
[Sannella --js]
> called this square—a number of times when I was lucky enough to dance to his calling.
> ...
[remainder of Erik's message w/ full dance description copied
below]
Erik,
Do you remember anything about the break figures Ted used with
this dance?
If the breaks included allemande left (with corners) and right
and left grand, dancers would have to cope with looking in what
could feel like the "wrong" direction to find corners and with
going in what could feel like the "wrong" direction for the
right and left grand. If the allemande left came after a partner
swing, that might have been particularly challenging for dancers
unused to that sort of thing. [Side note: Using an Alamo Ring
type chorus could meet Lindsay Dono's original request for
"dances with balances and waves," but, just as with a regular
right and left grand, some dancers could find that the action
felt disconcertingly different when they changed gender roles.]
Breaks included things like "head couples right and left through"
or "side 'ladies' chain" or "all four 'men' left hand star" might
similarly have required dancers to keep their wits about them (or
drawn upon their capacity to remain cheerful in the face their
own and each other's goofs).
The sort of stuff I'm talking about strikes me as more suited
for a challenging session at a dance camp/weekend than for a
regular evening dance--and even more so now than at the time of
Ted's visits to California 25-30 years ago, on account of the
generally lower average familiarity of contras dancers with
squares. Indeed, if someone were calling at the kind of dance
camp/weekend where the acceptable number of squares to call is
quite limited, I'd hope they'd lean towards squares that they
were confident they could put across without stressing the
dancers' readiness to remain cheerful in the face of confusion.
--Jim
>
> Sex Change Dance
> Mixer
> from Ted Sanella
[Sannella]
>
> Couple One Swing at Home and Promenade the outside of the Ring
> All the way, Man One stop at home, Woman One keep going to the left side of Gent Three
> Those Three go Forward to the middle and Stand There Pat
> Side Couples R&L Thru—Around the Line of Three
> Lonely Gent “Do Si Do” around the Threesome then
> Lonely Gent: Right Hand Round with Partner, Left Hand Round with Woman Three
> Left Elbow Round with Gent Three,
[Is Left Hand Round followed by Left Elbow Round really what
you (Erik) meant? --js]
> and Take Him Home!
[I presume that at this point Gent 3 takes on the role of
Lady 1 and vice versa. Right? --js]
>
> Everybody Home with Partner Swing
>
> —Four times around and all have changed sex roles. Four more times, and all are back “home”
[As I understand it, the second round would be led by Couple 2,
and would swap Lady 2 with Gent 4. Then the next round would
be led by "Couple 3" but with the role of "Gent 3" being danced
by the original Lady 1. And so on. --js]
On 4/8/2016 1:31 PM, Bradley Smith via Callers wrote:
> Hello all! I'll be calling a session of challenging contras at a dance
> weekend next month, and find myself lacking in the aforementioned
> challenging contras. I want to keep the session balanced, with a mix of
> dances that are mind-bending or heavily technical as well as some dances
> that are a step or so below that but that still have something
> interesting or unique. Would any of you be so kind as to share some of
> your favorite challenging dances? Thank you in advance!
Here is one I wrote that can be done as double or triple progression.
Stars and Stripes
Jonathan Sivier (1994, 1995)
duple improper, double progression; intermediate
1 - long lines forward and back
2 - left hand star 1 time
3 - right hand star 1/2, allemande left 3/4 with next
neighbor to a wavy line across the set, men in the
center
4 - balance the line, men allemande right 1/2
5-6 balance and swing partner on the side of the set
7 - circle left 3/4
8 - swing neighbor on the side of the set, end facing
in
Stars and Stripes
Jonathan Sivier (1994, 1995)
duple improper, triple progression; advanced
1 - long lines forward and back
2 - left hand star 1 time
3 - right hand star 1/2, allemande left 3/4 with next
neighbor to a wavy line across the set, men in the
center
4 - balance the line, men allemande right 1/2
5-6 balance and swing partner on the side of the set
7 - circle left 3/4 and pass through along the set
8 - swing new neighbor, end facing in
Notes
3 - timing is tight, must move quickly, end in a wavy
line with actives facing up, inactives facing
down, men holding right hands in the center, 1st
progression
5-6 balance and swing on man's original side
7 - 2nd progression for triple progression version
8 - 3rd progression (2nd progression for double
progression version)
Jonathan
-----
Jonathan Sivier
Caller of Contra, Square, English and Early American Dances
jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html
-----
Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: It depends on what dance you call!
You might like to try this one!
Pink Pigtails by John Meechan
Longways improper double progression 48 bar jigs (has own tune which I can send if you would like it)
A1 Circle left (8); swing nbr (8).
A2 Mad Robin men front of women (8); men start half hey passing RSh while women start the hey but ricochet back to place (8).
B1 Balance and swing ptnr.
B2 Take hands and balance the ring and Petronella a place (8); balance the ring again and California twirl ptnr to face new nbr (8).
C1 Do si do new nbr once and a bit to form a wave (8); balance the wave and trade the wave (8).
C2 Balance the wave again and trade the wave (8); balance the wave again and move on to a new nbr (8).
Trade the wave is a MWSD move. In the wave you are facing the same direction as your partner. All walk forward to trade places with partner ( women on the inside), i.e a sort of U shape.
Hope this suitable for you. The challenge is not only that it is a 48 bar dance but has the trade the wave move.
The dance was written for Maureen Knight (my wife) on her 60th birthday.
Graham
Sent from my iPad
> On 8 Apr 2016, at 19:31, Bradley Smith via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> Hello all! I'll be calling a session of challenging contras at a dance weekend next month, and find myself lacking in the aforementioned challenging contras. I want to keep the session balanced, with a mix of dances that are mind-bending or heavily technical as well as some dances that are a step or so below that but that still have something interesting or unique. Would any of you be so kind as to share some of your favorite challenging dances? Thank you in advance!
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
