Note that the Scottish “Gay Gordons” dance, which has been a standard there for I don’t know how long, features a promenade where couples walk forward then turn and continue backward, then come back forward and turn and continue backing up again. Doing four instead of two in line would seem a likely evolution. Martha > On Jan 16, 2017, at 2:20 PM, Tavi Merrill via Callers > &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net > <mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote: > > > Dance genealogy question: The figure first appearing in "Dublin Bay" > (aka "We'll Wed and We'll Bed," its title in Playford) morphed in > contra into a modified "lines of four down the hall." > > I know a version of it from Sue Rosen's dance "Handsome Young Maids," > where dancers facing down take four steps forwards, turn alone, and > continue down the hall with four backward steps, then repeat the > figure to return up the hall. > > I'm curious how many other contras this figure, or a version of it, > appears in. Does anyone know of other dances? And any astute dance > historians out there know what the first contra to use this figure is? > > Tavi