Hull's Victory was the first dance that I called after break at the Palo Alto contra dance this past Saturday night, in homage to both the 200th anniversary and to Charlie Fenton's tradition of starting the second half of the evening at the San Francisco contra dance with a chestnut back when I started dancing and calling. More than a little bit of grumbling from one or two of the hot-shot types that didn't like standing around, but that was more than made up for by the two young ladies (I guessed college age, one of my compatriots thinks they may be younger than that) who told me at the end of the evening, "You called a chestnut! That was so awesome!"
It was interesting to see the various ways that the inactives occupied their time while the actives took their trip. It was even more interesting to hear almost no clapping by the inactives in a crowd that loves clapping on Petronella (and, increasingly, Rory O'More) figures. --Nick
