[Callers] Chinese Fan from Square dance

[Neal Schlein via Callers]

> --snip--
>
> Just thinking about the elbow hold as a mini star will confuse some
> dancers. It certainly confused me. Having this duo hang out (or
> migrate rotationally) while the center star rotates all the way around
> sounds to me like a disaster. I'd have difficulty doing it. I can keep
> oriented while swinging, and I have good timing. I'm not sure what
> you'd gain by doing the long girl's spin.


Just to clarify--calling them mini-stars isn't how I'd ever teach it, nor
how I think of the figure.  Jeff was asking about breaking it down into
established contra figures and how it differed from a simple backtrack; I
wanted to make sure that the triple-star aspect came across.  The dance is
just so simple to actually do and teach in real time!

I also agree that the 1 and 1/2 trick is not something with wide utility.
That was more an example of how the figure can be adjusted on the fly, or
for performance effect.  Our caller once used it during a show to help us
reset after something went wrong; as I recall, two of the ladies were
swapped, so they slowed down to one time around while the other pair did
the full once and a half.  Other than that, though, you're right: there is
very little call to use it (pun intended).  Half-sashayed, reverse stars,
and mixed gender Fans are an easier way to keep it interesting.



And Chris is right, too--the fuzziness of the start and ending points on
this kind of figure is what makes them poorly suited to contras in general,
although it CAN be done crisply and in exact positions. Maybe it would help
if the promenade or swing or other recovery figure ends in each couple's
starting position, not the progressed one.  Which pretty much restricts the
Fan to happening in the A part of the music, or very top of the B.

Neal
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