Hi, Hannah!

I very much second Alex Deis-Lauby's recommendations.  The difficulty in a contra corners figure in contra formation is two-fold: the out-of-minor-set interaction and the short allemandes.  If you can get the dancers to do short allemandes earlier in the evening and use a dance without interaction outside the minor set (as in, a triplet or 3-face-3), then you've prepared them for one point of difficulty and removed the other.

My favorite triplet for contra corners is "Microcasmic Triplet" by Ann Fallon and my favorite in 3-face-3 formation is "Down by the Riverside" by Melanie Axel-Lute.  The choreography for both are in others' responses.

If you determined to call contra corners in contra formation, I recommend "Labor of Love" by Kathy Anderson (choreography here: http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/contra/contra-modern/196-labor-of-love) because it uses a box-the-gnat to get actives to trade places before the contra corners figure, rather than a half-figure-eight, which is much more difficult for newer dancers.  "Labor of Love" also allows ones and twos to trade off being active.

Good luck!

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2019 16:37:54 -0500
From: Hannah Chamb <hannahchamb@gmail.com>
To: callers@lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: [Callers] Building to Contra Corners

Hi all, first time posting here!

I'm new-ish to calling and I've yet to call contra corners. I think I'm up
for the challenge and could teach the figure itself, but I still think it's
a tricky one for dancers in all but the most experienced crowds. A few
callers I know have advised me to build up to a challenging figure like
contra corners over the course of an evening by calling dances that echo
the skills the dancers will need later.

With that in mind, what dances would you call early in the evening in a
mixed-level group that would help "teach" dancers the skills they need to
be successful at contra corners?

I've been thinking I should include an easy proper-ish dance, and maybe a
dance with allemandes outside the minor set... anything else come to mind?

Thanks in advance,
Hannah Chamberlain
Westbrook, ME