Richard makes a good point. When I wrote
> ... in terms that
> apply to heys generally ("pass alternating shoulders";
> "when you run out of people to pass, and turn around, pass
> by whichever shoulder the person coming toward tries to
> offer"; ...) ...
I ought to have more clearly indicated a "BUT" or "EXCEPT"
at the point of the first semicolon.
While I'm writing, here's a dance that I sometimes use
for the first hey of an evening:
Duple improper contra
A1. Neighbors balance and swing
A2. Women chain
1/2 hey (W start by R shoulder)
B1. Partners balance and swing
B2. Circle left 3/4
Balance the ring, partners California twirl
I came up with this by swiping the first 3/4 of "Southern Swing"
by Steve Zakon-Anderson and substituting a simpler B2 part, but
never named it. Lisa Greenleaf apparently came up with the same
sequence independently and named it "Hocus Pocus".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFEBaPqBXZM
Don Flaherty's "Slapping the Wood" is nearly identical, the only
difference being the do-si-do as couples in the first half of A1.
The first 3/4 of the dance also occur in Chart Guthrie's "Hay in
the Barn"
The "1/2 hey" in A2 is really only a 3/8 hey (WR, NL, PR). The
men never have to deal with getting to the end and turning around.
The women do turn around, but then meet partners for a balance
and swing instead of having to figure out which shoulder to pass.
There's no partner pass (the most likely place for beginners
dancing together to get disoriented over and over). Also it's
easy to describe the ending position: "Meet your partner on the
other side of the set for a balance and swing." All these things
help make this hey particularly easy.
It could be seen as a disadvantage that this dance doesn't
teach dancers how to turn around and coming back into a hey.
Or it could be seen as an advantage that it lets them learn
and practice the weaving across part by itself and add in the
turning around part in a later dance.
--Jim
On Feb 20, 2012, at 4:12 PM, Richard Fischer wrote:
James, I very much agree with your main point. However I have seen
attentive beginners confused by the "alternating shoulders"
instruction, when, for example, they pass right in the center, left
on the outside, turn and try to pass *right* as they re-enter the hey.
Richard
On Feb 20, 2012, at 6:50 PM, James Saxe wrote:
So I think we callers should try to help dancers--or help
them to help each other--to think about heys in terms that
apply to heys generally ("pass alternating shoulders";
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