On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 5:41 PM, Donald Primrose <[email protected]> wrote: > The prompt "hands four from the top" should always be said, I would > never assume, nor do the dances I call on a regular basis make that > assumption. The instruction.. Cross over when at the foot of the set.. > I leave out of my walkthroughs.. and they have always figured it out. > > On occasion when calling in a new venue and I see dancers > automatically lining up improper.. I call hand six, it keeps them > focused. I call many proper dances (chestnuts) in any given night > keeping the dancers connected to the music the dance and our shared > history. >
I dunno. I'm happy to encourage them to automatically take hands four -- it saves me the hardest part of my job if they can organize without my prompting. When I do call triple minors I just remember to start announcing hands six early in the line-up phase. Interestingly enough in San Diego, the dancer default is to line up proper, even though it's unusual for a proper dance to be called. As for the original question, adding "ones cross over" while they take hands four isn't time you could be saying anything else, as people are still getting organized and aren't in place for the first move of the dance. I tend to talk about crossing over at the ends during the beginner's session, rather than the first dance. Though if they've heard it, they have some context as experienced dancers are waving to them to trade sides. -Chris Page San Diego
