I agree with Michael -- that dancers really don't care if a becket
progresses CW or CCW. Actually, IMO using a term to describe the
direction of progression one more piece of information that takes away
from our attempt to use as few carefully-chosen words as possible. I
just teach the dance, and the dancers move accordingly.
The term "indecent' -- which I have seen more and more when the twos
cross over -- is not one I prefer. Aside from the giggle factor, it
really doesn't describe anything. It's just a code word. If I use
anything at all to describe this type of formation, I prefer to use the
phrase "reverse improper."
I believe that Carey Ravitz uses this reverse improper terminology in
his book on dances.
Woody
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Woody Lane
Caller, Percussive Dancer
Roseburg, Oregon
http://www.woodylanecaller.com
home: 541-440-1926 cell: 541-556-0054
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On 9/19/2013 4:33 PM, Michael Fuerst wrote:
For dancers, Becket means line up with your partner on the side of the set.
They do not care if it is clockwise or counterclockwise--the walk through
should send them in the correct direction.
A few Becket dances are ambiguous to dancers as to where to go when the
progression occurs. For such dances the caller should, at the start of the
walk-through, have dancers note who their next neighbors will be.
The designation of a Becket dance as CW or CCW is only useful to someone trying
to visualize a dnaceby reading the dance's transcription.
Using terms such as indecent is not helpful (because the fewer terms we have,
the better).
Best to to describe such dances as "2's rather than 1's crossed"
One of my dances has the "1's crossed, but starting below the 2's," which is
how my transcription of it reads.
Dancers are asked to have the 1's cross, and then exchange places with their
neighbor. .
Michael Fuerst 802 N Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217-239-5844
Links to photos of many of my drawings and paintings are at
www.ArtComesFuerst.com
________________________________
From: tavi merrill <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2013 3:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Callers] backwards becket (was end effects)
A quick thought on "backwards becket", which is the starting formation of
one of my dances as well - i tend to think of it as "becket indecent"
since that regularizes the term with other formation terms, implying lady
on the gent's left. The basic list of course - proper, improper, indecent,
improper-progressed, becket, becket-right (or CCW)... and then our friendly
distant outlier, the backwards becket.
