27 Jan
2016
27 Jan
'16
1:30 p.m.
Using just one circle of 4, use basic moves from a Big Mountain "square"
dance. (With a normal-sized crowd, a Big Mountain "square" dance has
circles of 4, in a big circle, one couple faces in, one couple faces
out, both couples slide left to progress to new neighbors. I use a
short "menu" of options -- circle left, circle right, star left, star
right, DSD N., DSD P, basket swing,
duck-for-the-oyster-dive-for-the-clam, etc. The fun is not knowing in
what order the calls will come). So, with 4 of 6 dancers, you could
have a circle of 4, doing various orders of basic moves, and each time
you finish with swing your partner, and then the "odd-folks-out" swap in
to get a chance to dance, and someone else stands out once through the tune.
Also, I once had a contra dance where only 4 people showed up at the
beginning, so I did an impromptu beginning clogging workshop (suitable
for kids or adults). We learned a few basic steps for free-style
flatfooting, and the band played great music. More folks drifted in
little by little and eventually we had enough folks for a short contra line.
Also,
With 6 dancers you can do triplets.
With 8 dancers you can do a square.
With more than 8 you can do the whole repertoire of long-ways sets --
gallopede, strip the willow, etc.
On 1/27/2016 4:42 AM, trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com wrote:
My nightmare is there's only 5 people that show,
say: a toddler, a
teen, 2 parents and a grandparent. I have a few things we could do
with that small number of inexperienced folks, but not enough to fill
2 (fun) hours.