On Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 5:13 AM, Don Heinold via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: > Hi SharedWeight callers & friends > > I'm a caller from RI and am fairly new to this site. I have been enjoying > the informational posts on the many different issues that involve present > day and past contra dancing. > > In April I have been asked to call at what is being billed as an "Irish > Contra Dance". Contra dancing as I know has its roots in New England and > before that in English Country Dancing and French Court Dances. > Unfortunately I only know one Irish contra Dance that is used at some > beginner contra dances - "The Sweets of May". Are there others that have > been tailored to the set style of contra dancing? Your suggestions will be > gratefully received.
And the Sweets of May is done in a square formation, if I recall. You should definitely find out what the organizers are expecting, and given what you've been told already, it sounds like they don't have a fully formed idea, so you may need to have some back-and-forth about what they want and what you can offer. If by some strange circumstance you are expected to present ceili dances in contra formation, you probably want to find a local group that does such dances first, but you can also take a look at Terry O'Neal's _Syllabus of Irish Dances_ here, which has an index by formation, among other things: http://ceili.stanford.edu/ourDances.html If on the other hand, they just want contra dancing to Irish music, as Alan says, that is something more understandable. If the band hasn't played for contras before then you'll want to talk with them about expectations. Yoyo Zhou _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers@lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net
