Re: [Callers] Dolphin Heys in contra dances

On 6/12/16 10:42 PM, Liz and Bill via Callers wrote: I was going to say more about this myself. Yes, the dolphin hey name refers to "Pelorus Jack", although at about the same time (early-mid 1990s). Incidentally, "Pelorus Jack" was just one dance in a book by Barry Skelton which had multiple dances, including "Dancing Dolphins", which used the figure, which he seems to have called "tandem reels", although some people who publish cribs call them "alternating tandem reels." Skelton got the figure from Barry Priddey's dance "The Flight of the Falcon". Here's a nice rendition of "Flight of the Falcon". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdkMrxy4SHM (Ignore the part where the guy is claiming that contra derives from Scottish dancing.) In the Scottish content,the heys happen on the diagonal in a three-couple minor set, and it happens on one diagonal, then the other, so there are two heys. The active couple go round all four corners (like flying around pylons). It's huge fun. By 1997 the move had been imported into English country dancing with Mary Devlin's dance "Halsway Manners" (after a dance camp at Halsway Manor in England), where the move is simplified somewhat by having it in the men's line and then in the women's line, rather than on the diagonal. Since then it has appeared in various modern 'English' dances, including the Friendly/Sackett "Potter's Wheel" (who may have gotten it from the Scottish source, since they are also Scottish dancers/leaders), my own "Movement Afoot", and Christine Robb's "Sapphire Sea", and in all those cases it's a single hey and goes across the set. ("Sapphire Sea" has a really clean entry into the hey and a great tune; it became the flavor of the month on ball programs in 2015 and 2016.) WIthin the last few months I danced a dolphin hey in a contra dance to Yoyo Zhou's calling; I think it was his dance but I didn't write it down. I wrote "Movement Afoot" at BACDS American Week in 2013; it's set to Steciak's Waltz, which I heard Larry Unger play there several times that week. Contra dancers can readily do it and have enjoyed it when I've called it at "Trash English" night at that camp, but it probably wouldn't fit right into a contra dance program. Here it is anyway. (The tune is a very ethnic-sounding driving not-very-waltzy waltz): MOVEMENT AFOOT Alan Winston - thought of it at AmWeek, Jul 3, 2013 longways duple minor Tune: "Steciaks" in waltz book II, by Larry Unger A1: 1-2: Men set forward to women (boureeish, stamping optional) 3-4: Men fall back as women come forward 5-6: All turn single R 7-8: All RH turn halfway A2: As above, with women leading. Keep right hands ... B1: 1-4: ... take left hands as well for Clockwise half poussette (progressed) 5-8: contra-style Mad Robin (W1 and M2 through the middle first) B2: 1-8: 1s acting as a unit, dolphin hey for three (M1 turns round coming out of the mad robin to give Left shoulder to M2, W1 takes the lead, giving right to M2 on the other side, M1 takes the lead to arrive progressed and proper.) NOTE: Alan is agreeable to couple-dance style variations in the half-poussette, and in general hopes for a spirit of flirtatious play. Here's a version of the dance; I prefer it played much less politely and a bit faster, and I want the A1-2 to have the people who aren't going forward to hold their ground while their partners get right up in their faces, but this nonetheless gives some of the flavor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLdxiy9k4y8 -- Alan