[Callers] Contras which feature a "Dublin Bay" figure

[Tavi Merrill via Callers]

Thanks to Linda, Mac, and Jonathan for their responses. So far for dances
featuring "Dublin Bay" variants, i have:

contra variants of the figure, in best-guess chronological order:
Leaving Home - Al Olson
Jim's Reel - Steve Schnur
Handsome Young Maids - Sue Rosen
Please Don't Call Me Surely - Lynn Ackerson (Lynn says this is very similar
to Olson's dance)
Crossing the Streams - Nicholas Rockstroh

figure exactly as it appears in Dublin Bay:
Doublin' Back - Erna-Lynne Bogue

The reason for my question around the move's history is that i've written a
new dance featuring it, and was curious who first imported it from ECD to
contra. So far i've gotten works-on-paper nods from a couple fellow
choreographers, and a previous version of this dance was successfully
tested. Might as well put it out there, as i'm pretty sure it hasn't been
written before.

Here 'tis:

Belfast Bay (becket R)

from improper: circle left three and swing partner to end facing UP the
hall:

A1. in lines of four, reverse "Dublin Bay" variant:

       take four steps backwards, turn toward partner to face down, take
four steps forward;

       repeat, returning up the hall, and bend the line to a ring

A2. Ring balance, ladies draw gents over to

       N1 neighbor swing

B1. Long lines forward & back

       N2 neighbor swing

B2. Ring balance, ladies draw gents over to

       Partner swing

Here, the "Dublin Bay" figure (as it’s more commonly seen in contra, a
modified “down the hall”) has been inverted to make the starting formation
a line of four facing up - intended for those times a caller wants all
dancers facing the stage. The sequence’s overall design was driven by the
intention to facilitate band introductions before a break or goodbyes
before a final waltz, with dancers beside their partner. As a last dance
before the break, the A1 figure can be walked without “bend to a ring,” and
voila! Dancers are in lines of four facing up ready for announcements; the
rest is simple enough to run no-walk-through.

Compact variation! Start instead with dancers facing DOWN the hall and make
A1 the original “Dublin Bay” figure: lines of four facing down take four
steps backwards (toward the stage), four steps forwards; turn alone to face
up, and repeat. Voila! Lines of four facing up.

Dancers waiting out at the ends should join in the long lines.
In honor of Chrissy Fowler and the Belfast Flying Shoes dance in Belfast,
Maine.

On Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 3:46 PM, Linda Leslie <laleslierjg at comcast.net>
wrote:

> Al Olson used the move in his dance “Leaving Home”. It was published in *Give
> & Take* by Larry Jennings in 2004. Larry spent a number of years putting
> this book together, so the dance was written well before this. I did not
> find the dance in *Zesty Contras*, Larry’s fist book, published in 1988;
> but this might mean that Larry did not have space to include it, rather
> than it had not been written yet.  If I were of a betting nature…..I would
> bet that the dance was from the 1980’s, maybe 1990’s.
> Linda
>
> On Jan 16, 2017, at 5:20 PM, Tavi Merrill via Callers <
> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
>
> Dance genealogy question: The figure first appearing in "Dublin Bay" (aka
> "We'll Wed and We'll Bed," its title in Playford) morphed in contra into a
> modified "lines of four down the hall."
>
> I know a version of it from Sue Rosen's dance "Handsome Young Maids,"
> where dancers facing down take four steps forwards, turn alone, and
> continue down the hall with four backward steps, then repeat the figure to
> return up the hall.
>
> I'm curious how many other contras this figure, or a version of it,
> appears in. Does anyone know of other dances? And any astute dance
> historians out there know what the first contra to use this figure is?
>
> Tavi
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