Borrowdale Exchange can be found here:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/greenery/BarnDances/WholeSet.html
It's fun, especially when called to fast-tempo old-time southern Appalachian tunes.
This one has you moving all over the floor.
You'll find a video of a similar three-couple mixer called by Phil Jamison:
http://squaredancehistory.vidcaster.com/44TM/pull-the-lady-thru-mixer/
In this one, though you mix up partners, you stay with the same threesome.
I've had a lot of fun recently with this mixer figures from the southern Appalachian
tradition:
http://squaredancehistory.vidcaster.com/DbJm/harlem-rosette-big-set-square-dance/
You'll see that at the start of the video, people are staying with their partner
but partway through the caller changes the pattern slightly. (You'll see the change
around 1:25 into the video.)
Here's a fun dance from caller/musician Brian DeMarcus, now living in Anchorage
but with a long time in North Carolina:
3x3 Bow Knot Mixer (Brian DeMarcus)
Lines of 3 like Spokes of a Wheel Facing ccw
A1 Lines of 3 Walk Forward (8)
RH High, LH Low, Reverse Direction of Line (8)
A2 Lines of 3 Walk Forward (8)
RH High, LH Low, Reverse Direction of Line (8)
B1 LH High, Rt person duck under to center of set (8)
and Circle Left with others. Two that made arch swing on
the outside of set. (8)
B2 Outside Two Promenade, while insides Circle Rt
Inside join up with any Twosome to reform Lines of 3
The transition from A2 to B1 is a continuous motion.
There are a gazillion circle mixers. Here's one from a Danish choreographer that
will work if the circle can fit nicely onto the floor and if your dancers are
familiar with box the gnat / swat the flea:
Disturbed by Insects (Inga Morton)
mixer
Formation: circle of couples, all facing counterclockwise
A1 Promenade (with inside hands joined)
California twirl
Promenade back
California twirl (then join both hands)
A2 Ladies, push your partner to the center
Gents, push your partner back
Ladies, push your partner to the center
Ladies, go back
B1 With your partner box the gnat
With your opposite to the left swat the flea
With your opposite to the right box the gnat
With your opposite to the left swat the flea
B2 With your opposite to the right balance and swing
Note: After each of the movements in B1, move a little away from the other
person.
You can find lots more on the syllabi from the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend:
http://www.library.unh.edu/special/index.php/ralph-page-dance-legacy-weekend
Download the Master Index-- it's a spreadsheet in Excel format-- and then go to
the particular year for instructions to the dances you want. You'll find some
under scatter prom, circ mixer, Sicilian mixer, and then there's always one of
several versions of Ninepin, a square with an extra person in the middle.
You can find one version of Ninepin here:
http://squaredancehistory.vidcaster.com/FmJ4d/the-ninepin/
In this version, when the call "all the Ninepins to the center" comes, the Ninepin
is joined by all the others of the same sex as the Ninepin.
David Millstone
