Folks,
I have a question about the square dance "Push Pa, Shove Ma" (or
"Push Ol' Pa", "Push Your Pa", "Ma and Pa", etc.).
I've recently looked at various videos and text descriptions of the
routine, including these:
https://squaredancehistory.org/items/show/454
(also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4BHoCfdqE0
and note correction to choreography starting at 1:15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmOlw5YOxPUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLPG0FCavGo
(Starts with a break; "Push Pa" figure begins about 1:20)
http://o25.squaredancehistory.org/items/show/966
(taken from _75 More Square Dances_ by Wes McVicar)
http://blog.d4bp.com/wp/push-old-ma-push-old-pa-square/http://www.library.unh.edu/find/digital/object/squares%3A195207
(_American Squares_, July, 1952, with earliest description
of the routine I know of on page 14)
In the videos and descriptions listed above, when "Pa" and "Ma"
get pushed into the middle, they swing each other, moving into the
empty spot in the ring, while the other six dancers simply stand in
place.
I seem to recall doing a version with more swinging thirty years
ago or so. Specifically, IIRC, on the call "Push Pa, shove Ma,
swing the gal from Arkansas" the dancers who did the pushing would
swing the "gal (or guy) from Arkansas"--that is, Pa's (or Ma's)
erstwhile partner.
*** Have any of you encountered the version just described--with
six dancers swinging instead of just two? If so, can you tell me
anything about where/when you learned it?
I don't recall the dance being in the repertoire of any of the
regular trad square callers in Pittsburgh when I lived and danced
there in the early to mid 1980s. I think I must have danced it
to some visiting caller during those days, but I can't say for
sure which one.
It's possible that the extra swinging was an embellishment that
I made up (and that others could easily have discovered as well),
but the words "swing the gal from Arkansas" seem to be addressed
to the dancers who just did the pushing, and not to "Pa" and "Ma".
The "gal (or 'girl' or 'one') from Arkansas" also shows up in the
patter for the visiting couple figure "Swing (your) Ma." See, for
example, page 17 of Patrick Napier's _Kentucky Mountain Square
Dancing_, linked from
https://www.cdss.org/programs/cdss-news-publications/cdss-online-library
Lest anyone presume that my own faulty memory has taken a bit of
patter from that figure and erroneously attached it "Push Pa",
note I've found several instances of other callers using the
"Arkansas" line in patter for "Push Pa":
1. Michael Ismerio's notes at
http://www.daretobesquare.org/?page_id=235
include the line
Push Pa, Shove Ma, Swing that girl from Arkansas,
but don't supply a description of the intended action.
2. Chelle Terwilliger's patter in this videa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lKhu-dHZw8
includes the words "Swing that gal from Arkansas". The editing
of the video makes it hard for me to track the action, but just
after she gives that call, I see an awful lot of people who are
not swinging.
3, Zach Hudson also uses the "Arkansas" patter in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEyNIt7HhFc
The camera is aimed at the caller and band, with only a few
dancers partially visible at the far right. However, as best
I can make out, the man who pushes "Pa" into the center at
0:21 does not swing with "Pa"'s erstwhile partner (in what I
take to be the #1 place), whereas the woman who pushes "Ma"
into the center at 0:34 *does* swing in (what I take to be)
the #2 spot. Note, however, that the latter point is when all
dancers have their original partners back.
The "gal from Arkansas" also occurs in some versions of patter
for "Sally Goodin" (see
https://squaredancehistory.org/items/show/1658
for examples), but that routine seems otherwise unconnected
with "Push Pa".
I've found a couple sources for "Push Pa" that have more swinging
than the versions cited near the top of this message, in that the
ctive gent swings each of three ladies before leading them through
the opposite couple. _Alex Mulligan's Collection of Square Dance
Calls_ gives the patter
...
Stand behing Ma and Pa
Push them into the centre of the ring
When they meet they'll take a little swing
Same old gent with a brand new girl
First you bow, then give her a whirl
Down the center, divide the ring.
...
and _On the Beat with Ralph Sweet_ has a version with similar
choreography. Note that these version don't have the "swing
the gal from Aerkansas" patter. The call for the active gent
and his current partner to swing is separated from the call for
"Ma" and "Pa" to swing in the center.
I have not so far discovered any source for "Push Pa" that
gives the "gal from Arkansas" patter line and that explicitly
says the dancers who do the "pushing" are then to swing the
partners of the dancers they pushed. Do any of you know of
one (besides this message)?
Thanks.
--Jim
Thank you for all your suggestions. I used Chuck the Budge, a dance I
had in my box but for some reason had never called in the USA before.
Michael Barraclough
http://michaelbarraclough.com
Hi
I know we've discussed wireless mics before, but I'm not sure how to search through the archives.
I love my shure pg wireless headset system, but am wondering what other makes models folks prefer. Thanks.
Donna Hunt
Anyone have a dance that they would like to share which has both short
wavy lines (across) and long wavy lines (along)?
--
Photo of Michael Barraclough
Michael Barraclough
http://michaelbarraclough.com
Seth Tepfer wrote:
>> Anyone have any 'introduce yourself' dances? A dance way of meeting everyone in the class?
Can you be more specific, Seth? Are you talking about you, the caller, introducing yourself? Or (more likely in my mind) asking each dancer to introduce themself to the others? (Sounds like a plain old mixer to me.)
And I'm not sure what kind of class you mean. A pre-dance lesson? A workshop at a dance camp? A classroom of students at a school residency?
I want to help, but I'm having trouble visualizing what you have in mind.
Tony Parkes
Billerica, Mass.
www.hands4.com<http://www.hands4.com/>
New book! Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century
(to be published real soon)
