Hi All,
I'm playing around with choreographing triplets, and I've got a sequence
that I think would flow well; but I'm not sure how to teach it short of a
demo.
The idea is that couples 2 & 3 do a star. Out of that star, they move out,
up, and back in; leaving space in the middle for couple 1 to move to the
bottom.
I put together an animation of it:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/292197780/
Is that already a defined move? What would you call it? How would you teach
it?
Thanks for your thoughts!
--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com>
I have enjoyed Indigo Silk by Lynn Ackerson and High Voltage Gypsy by John Combs as taught by Nils Fredland. And you could always do Rory O’ More! :-)
> On Mar 4, 2019, at 1:50 PM, Don Veino via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I've been assigned the opening slot at this year's 2019 New England Folk Festival (NEFFA) for my session:
>
> "Keepin' It Proper Contras - It's not all about improper contras! Dances from times past to the present set in a proper form."
>
> Soooo... what proper dances have you found to be particular favorites with dancers and amenable in a large hall "some experience" (non-advanced dancer) setting? I'd appreciate your suggestions.
>
> Thanks,
> Don
> _______________________________________________
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I danced Mike Richardson's Star Trek
<https://www.cambridgefolk.org.uk/contra/dances/mike_richardson/star_trek.ht…>
recently and was super into the "star and single file promenade to the next
star" progression (and also the right-shoulder hey straight into a swing
niggled me just a bit). So, I re-jiggered it. I welcome thoughts, and if it
strikes your fancy, definitely call it and let me know how it goes!
Star Trek: the Next Generation
<http://contra.maiamccormick.com/dances.html#startrekthenextgeneration> (becket
R)
A1: hands-across left-hand star 1x
larks LH chain (to N)
A2: full hey (larks pass L) and ravens ricochet
B1: P walk-around and swing
B2: promenade across
left-hand star 1x and walk along the set (ravens in the lead) to progress
Before the B2 star, note direction of progression (i.e. to the RIGHT);
dancers walk along the set single file in this direction, with larks
following their partner.
Neat dance! Would you consider swapping the order of the B2, so it was long
lines and then gents chain? Reasons being:
- lines, chain is more idiomatic than chain, lines
- long lines give dancers a sec to thing before the gents chain
- you get lovely momentum from the chain into the circle L
Good stuff!
Cheers,
Maia
On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 10:09 PM Jack Mitchell via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Looks like a nice flow, but it sure does have a lot of clockwise
> motion.....
> On Mon, Mar 4, 2019 at 3:17 PM Donna Hunt via Callers <
> callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi All:
>> I wrote a dance to honor my BFF and his long time service to the Swingin'
>> Tern Dance in NJ, writing the puns for their fliers for 35 years and doing
>> publicity (and to honor his upcoming birthday). Many of you know him, Doug
>> Heacock (pronounced Heycock). If you don't know him as a dance organizer,
>> perhaps you've seen one of his many dance videos on his youtube channel?
>>
>> Feel free to call the dance and let me know how it works for you. The
>> dancers at Swingin' Tern this past Saturday enjoyed it.
>>
>> Proud as a Heacock IMP by Donna Hunt
>> A1 Circle Left 1x
>> 1/2 Pousette with Partner CW
>>
>> A2 Balance ring (with original neighbors)
>> with Partner: Ladies roll away and Gents sashay
>> Swing Neighbor
>>
>> B1Star Right 3/4, Swing Partner
>>
>> B2 Gents Chain (left hand pull by)
>> Long Lines forward and back
>>
>>
>> Donna
>> Web Site: donnahuntcaller.com
>> Email: dhuntdancer(a)aol.com
>> Cell: 215-565-6050
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> List Name: Callers mailing list
>> List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
>> Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
>>
> --
> Jack Mitchell
> Durham, NC
> _______________________________________________
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>
Hi All:
I wrote a dance to honor my BFF and his long time service to the Swingin' Tern Dance in NJ, writing the puns for their fliers for 35 years and doing publicity (and to honor his upcoming birthday). Many of you know him, Doug Heacock (pronounced Heycock). If you don't know him as a dance organizer, perhaps you've seen one of his many dance videos on his youtube channel?
Feel free to call the dance and let me know how it works for you. The dancers at Swingin' Tern this past Saturday enjoyed it.
Proud as a Heacock IMP by Donna HuntA1 Circle Left 1x 1/2 Pousette with Partner CW
A2 Balance ring (with original neighbors) with Partner: Ladies roll away and Gents sashay Swing Neighbor
B1Star Right 3/4, Swing Partner
B2 Gents Chain (left hand pull by)
Long Lines forward and back
Donna
Web Site: donnahuntcaller.com
Email: dhuntdancer(a)aol.com
Cell: 215-565-6050
Hi, Luke (and others)!
Jeremy Korr called this on Saturday night and I danced it as a Lady/Raven with a partner who was not a switcher so I can comment on it as a Lady dancer but not from the Gents/Larks perspective.
I generally liked the dance. The flow was good and it was nice to have different types of transitions. The promenade=>see saw=>1/2 was a very fun series. From the time that Jeremy described that series to me during the break until the time that he called it in the 2nd half, I was very much looking forward to trying it out, and it was great! The A1 N Rt Sh Round to a swing worked well coming out of the ladies’ allemande because we had to walk a couple of steps to get to our next N. It was good to have fuzzy timing there rather than a B&Sw, otherwise we would have had to take big steps or run a bit.
Some areas for improvement are that it felt to me like the ladies were doing a lot of the work with the DSD and the allemande, which are both unassisted figures where you’re fighting against rotational pull as opposed to a chain which is all forward movement with an assist from the courtesy turn. I couldn’t switch roles to test it but a N lady (who knew this was a test dance) independently said to me “the ladies are doing a lot of work”. Also, both times the ladies approach each other (in the A2 and the B2), they are effectively coming out of a swing (if we can agree that LLF&B is neutral) and walking towards each other with the left shoulder leading so you had to think “Is this the DSD? Or is this the left allemande?"
Just brainstorming here but maybe replace the ladies allem with a ladies chain in the B2? I know this takes away from the “new transitions” idea that you had but I think the “gem” of this dance is the A2 & B1 and the rest is gravy to support it.
Jacqui Grennan
> On Mar 1, 2019, at 7:50 AM, Gregory Frock via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Luke,
>
> I think this is a great accessible dance. Flow is fine, and I actually feel that getting too much "rightward" muscle memory is not a good thing. Symmetry is better for our bodies in the long run. So FWIW, thumbs up for me. And I will try it out at one of my next two gigs 3/8 or 3/13.
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg
>
> On Fri, Mar 1, 2019 at 10:00 AM Luke Donforth via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I was thinking about standard transitions; and how similar flows could possibly be created while still adding variation to our dance diet.
>
> Chain-> (1x or 1/2) hey -> balance and swing works well; but gyre & swing doesn't work well there, because you've set up left shoulder at the end of the hey.
>
> allemande left -> (1x or 1/2) hey -> (gyre &) swing works reasonably, because you've set up the other shoulder in the hey.
>
> What about coming into the hey from a Sea-Saw? For instance:
>
> Contra/Improper
>
> A1 -----------
> (16) Neighbor gyre and swing
> A2 -----------
> (8) Promenade across the Set
> (8) Ladies Sea-Saw 1.5x
> B1 -----------
> (8) 1/2 Hey, ladies passing partner right shoulders
> (8) Partner swing
> B2 -----------
> (8) Long lines, forward and back
> (8) Ladies allemande Left 1-1/2
>
> I think that flows well, but I don't have dancers to play with at the moment. If anyone more used to dancing the traditional ladies roll wants to talk about muscle memory and flow, I'd appreciate it. Would the sea saw and left allemande just be too outside the realm of familiar to be fun?
>
> Assuming this is a new composition that works, I'll call it Sinister Ravens.
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
>
>
> --
> Luke Donforth
> Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <mailto:Luke.Donev@gmail.com>
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Something new perhaps? I wrote this recently, trying to avoid the
ubiquitous half figure 8 figure:
It's Good to be Number Two
Duple, Proper
A1: Second corners balance LH and swat the flea (8), and allemande left
once or twice (8);
A2: Partners meltdown swing (16), end facing across;
B1: Balance the ring and petronella (8), neighbors swing (8), end facing
across;
B2: Balance the ring (4), gents roll their neighbors away with a half
sashay (4), twos (ONLY!) swing (8), end facing new ones.
Title is a little sardonic. If you want, you could call it Composition 156.
I also second QuiAnn2's endorsement of Indigo Silk.
Greg
On Mon, Mar 4, 2019 at 4:51 PM Don Veino via Callers <
callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been assigned the opening slot at this year's 2019 New England Folk
> Festival (NEFFA) for my session:
>
> "Keepin' It Proper Contras - It's not all about improper contras! Dances
> from times past to the present set in a proper form."
>
> Soooo... what proper dances have you found to be particular favorites with
> dancers and amenable in a large hall "some experience" (non-advanced
> dancer) setting? I'd appreciate your suggestions.
>
> Thanks,
> Don
> _______________________________________________
> List Name: Callers mailing list
> List Address: Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/callers@lists.sharedweight.net/
>
Hi,
I've been assigned the opening slot at this year's 2019 New England Folk
Festival (NEFFA) for my session:
"Keepin' It Proper Contras - It's not all about improper contras! Dances
from times past to the present set in a proper form."
Soooo... what proper dances have you found to be particular favorites with
dancers and amenable in a large hall "some experience" (non-advanced
dancer) setting? I'd appreciate your suggestions.
Thanks,
Don
Hi, back to close the loop on this one. Thanks for the helpful replies here
- I also posted this to the "Rising Callers..." group on Facebook and got
several suggestions there as well:
Alan Prince Winston's HEYLOFT and HEY, HEY IN THE HAYLOFT
Flashy Sorrell Mare by Rich Goss
Blackbirds of Spring by Al Olson
Pat Shaw's Walpole Cottage
and several ECD dances.
I ended up using Proofreader's Triplet (I wanted to avoid the risk of
people getting lost beyond the minor set in a dance with the Heys on the
side). One group in the hall had difficulty with that dance but I now know
what to stress to help avoid how they got confused. It set the stage well
for what I wanted to try later, which was this:
DREAMING OF DOLPHINS – DI – DON VEINO 20190123
A1 Neighbor Balance & Swing
A2 LLF&B, 1s Swing
[face NEW 2s below] [NOTE this NBR!]
#progression
B1 Dolphin Hey, Centers/1s as couple passing solo LDY/RVN 2 by LEFT
[end with Centers facing down, Outsides facing UP]
B2
1s in Center DTH, Turn as CPL /*WHILE*/ 2s Outside UTH, Turn Alone
As Return, 1s Cross Trail back to “Hey” NBR &…
Full details, video link, etc. at http://veino.com/blog/?p=2260
If nils called the first one it might be “have I danced this before?” He wrote it. I know if has a two hand turn.
Sent from my iPhone
> On Feb 23, 2019, at 12:50 PM, frannie via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> The second dance is one I called: Kindred Spirits version 2 by Chris Page. Becket starts slide circle do si do to wave. The original dance Kindred Spirits is a petronella version with a N swing. See Chris' website.
>
> Twirls,
> Frannie
>
>> On Sat, Feb 23, 2019, 9:40 AM Maia McCormick via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>> Trying to track down name + author for two deliiightful dances I had at Dance Flurry, can anyone help?
>>
>> Dance the first, improper:
>> A1: circle L 1x
>> N two-hand turn 1.5
>> A2: larks alle. L 1.5
>> half hey (P by R)
>> B1: P balance and swing
>> B2: long lines, lark roll partner away
>> circle R 3/4
>>
>> Dance the second, improper, starts in short waves:
>> A1: bal. wave, spin R
>> N pull by L, ravens chain
>> A2: full hey (ravens by R)
>> B1: P balance and swing
>> B2 ...? (circle L 3, pass thru and dosido I think?)
>>
>> Thanks all!
>> - Maia
>> _______________________________________________
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