Chrissy mentioned that among other things, she was curious about Petronella twirls in dances. When David Smukler and I were writing the articles that ended up as "Cracking Chestnuts," the earliest dance we could find that drew on the Petronella figure was one composed by Dudley Laufman's daughter Heidi. Ted Sannella, a choreographer ahead of his times in so many ways, used the twirl in his great composition Fiddleheads, written nearly 30 years ago. David S. has a list of dances with Petronella twirls on his website, here:
http://www.davidsmukler.syracusecountrydancers.org/petronella_spinoffs.htm At this point, the number is well over 100. David Millstone Lebanon, NH
