Tina wrote:
> Hi o esteemed community of callers -
> I'm going to call a big father-daughter dance for the Girl Scouts next month.
> (It's called "Me and My Cowboy; how cute is that?!) In preparing, I realize
> that
> most of the supremely easy dances I know are mixers. While this is usually
> great, these girls are likely not going to want to partner up with other
> girls'
> dads, but instead keep their own dad. They'll also enjoy partnering with each
> other, especially for the goofier dances.
> But I still seek delightful and very easy ONS dances wherein the dancers keep
> their partners.
> I already have a lot of galloping longways set dances like Galopede, Weaver's
> Galopede, Four Around Four, & White Mountain Reel. I also have Do-Si-Three
> (thanks, Linda Leslie!) and Jefferson & Liberty. I mostly seek a variety of
> calmer (but still fun) ones so the dads can rest up a bit while still dancing,
> and a couple of circle dances that aren't mixers, if they exist. A few more
> easy
> Sicilians would also be welcome.
> Do your repertoires include these? What are your favorites? Will you share?
My go-to Sicilians - which you may well already have -
Haste to the Wedding
[Sicilian Circle)
[Greatly benefits from the name tune]
A1: Circle left, Circle right
A2: RH *, LH *
B1: Neighbors back-to-back, clap, clap, turn 2 hands once round.
B2: Partners back-to-back, clap, clap, pass through.
Spanish Waltz
(Any waltz with nice 4-bar phrases)
[Sicilian Circle]
Note: In A1&A2, men use only right hand; women use only left hand
A1: 1-2: Holding *that* hand with partner, waltz-balance fwd&back to
neighbor
3-4: Givin that hand to neighbor, woman turns under to change
places; both finish facing partner.
5-8: Repeat above with partner
A2: 1-8: Repeat to home place.
B1: 1-4: RH*
5-8: LH*
B2: (this can depend greatly on the group. I like coming out of the LH star
with partners holding left hands and gents stepping up to partner's right
hand behind, then waltz-promenading (men's left shoulders closest to
each other) 1.5 to meet a new couple.
A group that can all waltz can waltz around; a group that can't manage
the promenade can do forward two waltz steps, back two waltz steps,
pass thorough and bow to a new couple.
---
SOLDIER'S JOY.
Sicilian Circle ("As for Spanish Dance")
32-bar reel.
My reconstruction (which is pretty much everybody else's reconstruction)
A1: 1-4: Forward and back
5-8: Opposites turn two hands (no progression)
A2: 1-4: Partners balance
5-8: Partners turn (could swing if wanted)
B1: 1-8: Ladies chain over and back
B2: 1-8: Forward and back, forward and pass through.
Original text:
All forward and back, swing the opposite-all balance to partners and
turn-ladies chain-forward and back, forward and cross to face the next couple.
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Non-gallopy whole set longways:
UP THE SIDES AND DOWN THE MIDDLE (CDM, own tune or any bright jig)
Long set for four to six couples.
A1: Step-swing balance in lines twice; cross over with polka step.
A2: Repeat to places
B1: (Reel time) 1s down the middle (walking, 8 bars) while 2s lead a single
cast (polka step) down, then up through the 1s moving arch.
B2: Swing partners.
(Repeat until 1s at top again).
[Also the own tune has a jig part and a reel part, you really don't have to
worry about that. Experiment shows this works fine with old-timey reels. If
you're tired, you can just do the whole thing walking and it still works.]
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Let us know how it goes!
-- Alan
--
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Alan Winston --- [email protected]
Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056
Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025
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