Re: "taw" (was Re: History of "Walk Around")

I may be the only person I know who uses this term, but sometimes at a MWSD dance, I'll refer to the spouse of the caller as the "Caller Taw," a title which implies a certain role and responsibilities. A vanishing breed these days, perhaps, the Caller Taw (who can be, by the way, either male or female), used to busy him/herself with refreshments and such, and if someone was needed to fill in for a tired or otherwise unavailable dancer of either dance gender, the Taw would willingly do so. (Otherwise, they mostly would NOT get to dance, not being part of a dancing couple.) I know a handful of caller-spouses still active in that role. Regarding the back-to-back vs. "gypsy" action of "All Around/Walk Around Your Left Hand Lady": I was surprised to read that it was ever a do-sa-do type action. You can take my observations with a grain of salt, since my personal dance history, starting in 1975, is FAR much more recent than the Pappy Shaw era, but I remember getting the very specific message that "Walk Around" meant exactly that... not even so much a nose-to-nose thing as just a "keep right shoulders adjacent" thing, and likewise with the left shoulder with partner. In MWSD usage, the next thing to follow is usually an Allemande Left with corner, so it makes sense that one should end the move looking away from partner, ready to interact with corner again. Chip Prince