Rickey, I was reminded the other day of a good tool. Since I often use a whole-set longways dance like Virginia Reel or something like that, I have already covered "cast down the outside" and it's just a matter of changing it to "cast down one place." This is appropriate for teaching dances with an unassisted cast.
--jerome Hi Callers, > > I call a regular contra dance, once a month that is attended by many > beginners. Yes they really are beginning something as we encourage them > to > come back. Often I do a lot of dances that are not contras as this is > appropriate. Recently I decided to do an evening mostly of easy contras. > I > had problems I have had before, so, I have two requests today: > > (1) Many of the dances I do would now be called ?unequal? dances as the > actives do a lot more than the inactives. We often do ?Actives down the > center, turn alone, back and cast off?, figures that used to be among the > most basic, but are not often done at today?s dances. Are any of you still > doing dances that use these calls? Are any of you who do use these figures > calling to a room made up mostly of beginners? Here is what I have been > saying (roughly), or at least trying to say: > > * Actives identify who you are and notice who your neighbors are. > > * You are going to end up changing places with your neighbor, so > that you are one place down from where you are now, and you will again be > facing your partner as you are now. > > * Here is how you get there > > * Actives only, go down the center with your partner 5 or 6 steps > (the meaning of ?actives?, ?down?, ?center?, and ?Partner? have all been > previously established) > > * Turn alone in place. > > * Come back up the hall until you are standing between your > neighbors. > > * Inactives put your arm around your active neighbor?s waists. > > * Actives you are going to separate from your partner > > * Inactives pivot your neighbor around, actives continuing > forward, > inactives backing up about ? of the way around until > > * The actives are one place down, below their neighbors, and all > are > facing their partners across the set as I showed you earlier. > > OK, I probably do not say all of this, all of the time, but I come close > (I > have recorded myself so I can check). There cannot be anything left to > say > can there? Do you think that there is something else to say or something > to > say differently? A demonstration preceded this. What do you do to teach > these figures? > > (2) I also need more ?equal? beginner and ?very beginner? contras. My > favorite is ?Family Contra?. Do you have other equal contras for > beginners > and very beginners. I have several set dances and a few Sicilian circles > for such folks, and I normally do them first so that dancers can get the > idea of progressing to new neighbors, before we try contras. What I seem > to > need more of are ?equal? contras for beginners and ?very beginners?. What > do you have that you can send me? > > Thanks, > > Rickey Holt > > Fremont, NH > > -- Jerome Grisanti 660-528-0858 660-528-0714 http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
