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BULL & MORE BULL, a beautifully produced 136 page perfectly bound collection of poems by Dudley Laufman about his experiences working on dairy farms, has just been published by Longhouse. Some of the pieces are set at the agricultural school where he learned to call square dances back in the day.
To order, send $18 to Longhouse
PO Box 2454, West Brattleboro, Vermont 05053
.
Dudley & Jacqueline Laufman
PO Box 61, 322 Shaker Rd
Canterbury, NH 03224
www.laufman.org
603-783-4719
jdlaufman(a)comcast.net
Education book & CD at www.humankinetics.com
Performance Calendar at www.laufman.org
Hi, I'm going to be calling at a contra dance in memory of one of our
regular dancers who loved both contra and English country dance. I want to
include several contra dances that have moves borrowed from the English
tradition. I have many in my collection (especially if you count all the
dances with heys), but I thought I would ask folks on the list for a few of
your favorites, especially since I have not traveled much in the last
decade and thus have not seen a lot of dances composed more recently.
David
St. Paul, MN
Picked up this very easy dance several years ago, but never got to talk to the caller from Chicago to get the name. Anybody recognize it?
Longways for as many as will
Shake right hands with your partner and shake, shake, shake-shake-shake-shake, then lines fall back
Top 2,3 or 4 couples go down the inside; turn alone and come back
Same couples separate, peel off and go down the outside followed by the rest of the lines
Same 2, 3 or couples Arch at bottom and the rest file through to progressed positions
If only 10 or so couples dancing, only the top 2 couples, but if 20 couples long, use top 3 or 4 couples to move the dance along faster.
Thanks!
Jim Saxe answered most of Ralph's questions, but I'm happy to post the
moves for Fast Living:
Fast Living, by David Kirchner
4-facing-4 or 'Portland Fancy' formation
A1
Fwd and back in lines of 4
Ladies grand chain to diagonally opposite gent
A2
Hey for four along the lines of four
B1
Balance and swing one you courtesy turned in A1
B2
Gents left hand star 1/2
Swing partner, face original direction
Hey in A2 is across the hall, i.e. perpendicular to direction of
progression. I've also seen it folk-processed into an up and down the hall
hey. Watch for gents to have trouble orienting to find the star in B2.
David
1b. Re: Contras with English moves
> Posted by: Ralphsweet(a)aol.com
> Date: Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:40 pm ((PDT))
>
> David asked about dances with an English accent. Following is one I think
> meets his criteria, mentions David and his great dance Fast Living, and
> remembers wonderful person and English Dancer and Dance leader, Mary Kay
> Friday. Here's the info on a dance. Title is explained in notes.
>
> "Following is one - - - " and "Here's the info " leads me to think that
> directions for a dance will actually follow "here".
>
> But they were not "there"! How about posting the dance ? Also the
> dance for " Fast Living"? I also danced with Mary Kay Friday (not to be
> confused with Mary Cay Brass! )
> Thanks, Ralph Sweet
>
David asked about dances with an English accent. Following is one I think
meets his criteria, mentions David and his great dance Fast Living, and
remembers wonderful person and English Dancer and Dance leader, Mary Kay
Friday. Here's the info on a dance. Title is explained in notes.
"Following is one - - - " and "Here's the info " leads me to think that
directions for a dance will actually follow "here".
But they were not "there"! How about posting the dance ? Also the
dance for " Fast Living"? I also danced with Mary Kay Friday (not to be
confused with Mary Cay Brass! )
Thanks, Ralph Sweet
In a message dated 3/30/2016 11:14:29 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com writes:
Gosh, Ridge, what a response to my request! Of course, I'm thrilled and
touched that my dance has such a meaningful connection for you. And though I
didn't know her well, I do fondly remember dancing with Mary Kay when I
lived in DC in the early 90s.
David
2b. Re: Contras with English moves
Posted by: "Ridge Kennedy" _srk3nn3dy(a)gmail.com_
(mailto:srk3nn3dy@gmail.com) srkennedy99
Date: Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:47 pm ((PDT))
David asked about dances with an English accent. Following is one I think
meets his criteria, mentions David and his great dance Fast Living, and
remembers wonderful person and English Dancer and Dance leader, Mary Kay
Friday. Here's the info on a dance. Title is explained in notes.
Gosh, Ridge, what a response to my request! Of course, I'm thrilled and
touched that my dance has such a meaningful connection for you. And though
I didn't know her well, I do fondly remember dancing with Mary Kay when I
lived in DC in the early 90s.
David
2b. Re: Contras with English moves
> Posted by: "Ridge Kennedy" srk3nn3dy(a)gmail.com srkennedy99
> Date: Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:47 pm ((PDT))
>
> David asked about dances with an English accent. Following is one I think
> meets his criteria, mentions David and his great dance Fast Living, and
> remembers wonderful person and English Dancer and Dance leader, Mary Kay
> Friday. Here's the info on a dance. Title is explained in notes.
>
>
>
Dear All,
I just deleted a "psychology teacher" message that appeared on the
list -- the result I fear of someone being hacked.
I work in IT in my day job and we spend a lot of time reminding people
DO NOT OPEN any message that is in any way suspicious and NEVER,
NEVER, NEVER click on links in messages that you have any doubt might
not be legit.
And despite that, we have had two users get infected with
Crypto-Locker type viruses that have propagated to servers that we had
to delete and replace with backups.
The crypto lock stuff is especially concerning -- it's not just
malicious -- it's a business. And so the bad guys have an incentive
to keep refining and flooding the internet with this stuff.
I recently purchased a backup drive and have backed up all my
computers and keep the drive off-line. That way, if my systems should
get hit, the virus can't propagate to the backups. this included my
files in the cloud -- google drive and the like. I'm not sure a
crypto locker today can get there, but by tomorrow, it probably will.
Like the old sergeant Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues used to day:
"Hey, let's be careful out there."
Sincerely,
Ridge
--
Ridge Kennedy [Exit 145]
When you stumble, make it part of the dance. - Anonymous
And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at
least once. And we should call every truth false which was not
accompanied by at least one laugh. - Friedrich Nietzsche
Thank you for the helpful comments when I shared this dance a few weeks
ago. I called the dance as written on 3/18/2016 at the Memorial Dance
for Charlie Fellows. It went ok but, as forecast, it was hard work to
ensure that the B2/A1 transition went smoothly. I have therefore changed
the dance slightly which I hope makes it a better dance. The original
B1and B2 have been swapped and the two 'trades' have been changed for a
'turn single' and a 'California Twirl'.
The final dance is as follows:
FOR HE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW
Michael Barraclough (2016)
Longways improper
A1 Balance the ring, Petronella, Balance the ring, Turn Single
A2 Give & take (men take, neighbor swing)
B1 Give & take (men take, partner swing)
B2 Balance the ring, Petronella, Balance the ring, California Twirl
This keeps most of the symmetry/simplicity from the original but
improves the B2/A1 transition. Dancers seemed to like the double Give &
Take.
The full dance is available at
http://www.michaelbarraclough.com/24-dances-i-have-written/1090-for-he-s-a-…
--
Michael Barraclough
michael(a)michaelbarraclough.com
www.michaelbarraclough.com
Here I am with another question. I learn so much from these threads.
What are some easy, but good, novelty, or gimmick contras. To elaborate, I
mean contras that have unusual moves, or contras that use basic moves in
unusual ways.
Maybe Ovals, Wholeset Promenades, Old-Timey square dance moves?
Two of my favorites are "Hot Buttered Rolls" and "Roll Over Johannes"
Rich Sbardella
Stafford, CT
