Thanks all! I have a video uploading to YouTube now of the dance's debut from last night, I'll post it here when it's done. You'll see that the dancers are using up the music for both the poussette and the star, at least in this crowd. Maybe it would be different for other (more advanced?) crowds, but I encouraged everyone to take their time, and it seemed to work out pretty well!
While I like the dance of Ryan's, Maia, a big part of why I wrote this dance was because I was struggling to find a contra dance that included a pousette and *didn't* included any challenging figures (mad robins, ricochet hey, etc). I thought about including a walk-around before the partner swing, but the connection is already there, so I decided to just go old-school and let the dancers swing their partners for the full 16 beats.
Angela
While I like the dance of Ryan's, Maia, a big part of why I wrote this dance was because I was struggling to find a contra dance that included a pousette and *didn't* included any challenging figures (mad robins, ricochet hey, etc). I thought about including a walk-around before the partner swing, but the connection is already there, so I decided to just go old-school and let the dancers swing their partners for the full 16 beats.
Angela
On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 5:36 PM, Maia McCormick via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Your dance doesn't look familiar to me (for whatever that's worth)--though I agree with Dugan's point that experienced dancers will take fewer that 8 counts to do that pousette and fewer than 8 counts to turn the star 3/4 (probably a lot fewer!), so it will potentially be a very, very long swing. If you care, you could potentially get around that by doing a walk-around and swing to eat up that extra time. Or just leave it and let the dancers sort it out!Agreeing with Dugan yet again, I've been calling that figure a "facing star", which seems to work well and be descriptive.And if you're itching for a dance with pousettes and facing stars, I premiered this one of Ryan Carollo's at YDW this weekend and folks seemed to dig it:Trip to Saratoga by Ryan Carollo || improper
A1: half pousette w/ P (gents pull)
facing star 1¼ (gents fwd)A2: P walk-around & swing
B1: half hey (gents by L), ladies ricochet
N swingB2: long lines & gents roll N
half pousette w/ P (ladies lead)Ladies be proactive to catch P's hand in B2. B2 pousette should be leisurely or ppl arrive at A1 early.
On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 5:09 PM, Bill Olson via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net > wrote:Mac, Well "Gypsy Star" and "Gypsy Waves" are two other Ravitz dances that have the interwoven long wavy lines and the "Gypsy Star", not sure if there are more. Probably.. But as long as you brought it up, the problem I found that most dancers had with the figures was NOT the Gypsy Star but rather the woven waves which, to many, were a little too "intimate" for comfort.. Just my observation from admittedly a pretty small sample..
bill
From: Callers <callers-bounces@lists.sharedweight.net > on behalf of Mac Mckeever via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net >
Sent: Monday, October 2, 2017 8:53 PM
To: Dugan Murphy; callers
Subject: Re: [Callers] New Dance?Cary's dance is Woven Waves. I really liked it and called it several times - and I hav also danced it on several occasions
I stopped calling it because I was not getting good feedback on the star figure from the dancers.
Mac McKeever
St Louis
On Monday, October 2, 2017, 3:30:07 PM CDT, Bill Olson via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net > wrote:
Dugan and all, I don't know if Cary Ravitz actually "invented" the Gypsy Star but he wrote a dance entitled that and a lot of others that include it. Dugan, you're sort of Cary's protégé, right?, so you must know the dance. This is the same figure, correct??
bill
From: Callers <callers-bounces@lists.sharedweight.net > on behalf of Dugan Murphy via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net >
Sent: Monday, October 2, 2017 8:16 PM
To: callers@lists.sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] New Dance?Hi, Angela,
I've been calling the figure a "facing star," when I bother naming it at all while teaching or prompting it.
Also, nice dance, though I suspect that since experienced dancers tend to take fewer than eight beats to do half poussettes and 3/4 stars, I suspect that dancers may end up swinging for as many as 20 beats.Dugan Murphy
Portland, Maine
dugan at duganmurphy.com
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2017 14:03:37 -0400
From: Angela DeCarlis <aedecarlis@gmail.com>
To: callers <callers@lists.sharedweight. net>
Subject: [Callers] New Dance?
Message-ID:
<CA+h6_BYyybaF3qCeyDrJO1p=DLn9 x+CyJ75xEgGWiut3+4R+YA@mail. gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Hey y'all!
After a lovely weekend of both Contra and English at Youth Dance Weekend, I
had an itch for programming some English-inspired choreography at BIDA last
night. Since I didn't have a dance with the figures I wanted, I whipped one
together on the drive home, tested it in the driveway, and debuted it last
night. Success!
Now the question, of course, is whether or not someone already wrote it!
-===-
Amble On East
Becket CCW
A1: Long Lines Forward & Back
Ladies Chain Across (to Neighbor)
A2: Ladies Dosido 1x
Neighbor Swing
B1: Give & Take, Gents draw Partner into 1/2 Poussette CCW
With NEXT, Gypsy Star* 3/4 (Ladies backing up)
B2: Partner (Long) Swing
-===-
*Do we have a new name for this figure yet? I called it Gypsy Star in the
walkthrough once or twice before realizing I should maybe figure something
else out, and the phrase "Special Star" actually escaped my mouth, to the
absolute delight of some of the dancers. During the dance itself, I just
called "Star."_______________________________________________
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