On Jun 6, 2013, at 3:03 PM, I (Jim Saxe) quoted a 1996 posting
to rec.folk-dancing by Caroline Fahrney about choreography that
encourages good timing, and I then remarked
..., I agree with the person (Caroline guesses it may have
been Dan Pearl, but for all I know it could have been myself)
who suggested encouraging dancers to complete "circle L 3/4 and
pass through" in eight beats by having the next action be a
balance.I think there's little to be gained by pressing
dancers to circle briskly if the sequence is something like
Circle left 3/4 and pass through
New neighbors gypsy and swing
...
The part about "little to be gained" seemed vaguely familiar
as I was writing it.
I now find that in article 5 of _The Contra Connection_, "Zesty
Circles" (originally published in _CDSS News_, Issue 88, May/June
1988), Dan Pearl indeed mentions the sequence "circle left 3/4,
pass through along, balance and swing." And in the same article,
Larry Jennings writes:
... little is gained by taking a stand on the sequence
"Circle left (8); left hand star (8)." Everything is
gained by insisting on *either* "circle left 3/4 in a
compact group (6); pass through (2); start the next figure
on the strong beat" *or* "circle left 3/4 relatively
spaciously (8); give a satisfying tug to start a pass
through on the strong beat and continue the next figure."
However, all is lost if the caller fails to be very clear
about which interpretation prevails.
[The words "either" and "or", which I've emphasized using
asterisks, are underlining in the original. --js]
--Jim
