To pick up on John's point from this side of the pond, there are plenty of duple improper dances that end with a partner swing for the active couples.
There are quite a few dances which could be started in either becket formation or duple improper, allowing further scope in the pairing of dance and music: i recently had the challenge of trying to pair a dance with "Staten Island Hornpipe", which has very assertive balances in measures 3 and 4 of the b-part. One of the few satisfying moves there would be "walk in to wavy lines", but off the cuff i couldn't think of any dances with those "trip to" wavy lines in the B part (I'm sure they're out there, though....). Becket variations of existing dances provided some options. I guess what i'm [being overly abstract about] here is the idea that saying a dance requires certain moves to be a "becket dance" - or that a certain formation precludes certain moves - unnecessarily confines the form. Associating a dance with the composer's intended "starting formation" allows us to not only focus on the choreographic flow that starting formation provides, but to create variations when it's advantageous. Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:05:20 -0000 > From: "John Sweeney" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Callers] What is a Becket > Message-ID: <6E7516378A0B4D8CADD73426CE5E3BD1@study> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Becky Nankivell said: > "A duple improper can't have a partner swing as the last move." > > Lots of old duple improper dances do - the swing is just across the set > instead of along the side. And some modern dances do the same, perhaps > more on this side of the Atlantic. > > Of course you have to careful calling one like that if the hall is too > crowded lengthwise. > > Happy dancing, > John > > John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected] 01233 625 362 & > 07802 940 574 > http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive Events & DVDs > http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent > > > >
