Hmmm. I agree with everything below except for: >As to the star promenade/butterfly whirl, the non-allemander* should be moving before the person he/she is going to promenade with gets there. *
This may be true in some cases, but I think the caller needs to be careful here - I would choose "be ready to be swept up" instead. I have very clear memories of dancing the inside part of a star promenade and having a VERY unsatisfying time of it, just like in the original post. The main problem? The outsides kept "helping" me by starting to walk round the star before I got there and really latched on. It didn't feel like a mini, gentle, star-shaped game of crack-the-whip, it felt like a bunch of outsides promenading around a little track while the insides trotted to catch up, their inner hands hooked together in a tangle that had no functional purpose. Bleh. The ones that felt the best were the ones that waited until my arm was truly around their waist, and then *hung back a little* . When dancing the outside, it felt to me that "giving weight behind myself" made it work best. Just my two cents. Oh, and BTW: >calling Amy Cann's "Sweet Music" (*great* dance), Nope. :) I mean, yep, it is a great dance, but -- Amy Kahn, rhymes with "John", lives in western NY and wrote the dance "Sweet Music". Amy Cann, rhymes with "Dan", lives in Vermont and wrote the tune "Catharsis" and the dance "High Five." Cheers, Amy
