Thanks for your input. See comments below.

-Don

On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 7:10 PM, Yoyo Zhou <[email protected]> wrote:

> Don, it sounds like your zig-zag into 5/8 hey is a lot like a dance I
> wrote last year with Lindsey Dono.
>

Nice to hear there's more that one dance appreciating this move. :)


> However, your notes are insufficiently clear on this - until I saw
> Aahz's email I did not realize yours has just about the same setup,
> because it has a zig-zag-zig (because you didn't write the last zig
> left to face N#3 into it).


I'm not sure how much more clear I could have been, should you look back to
the original:

[A2]:
(4,4) CIRCLE LEFT 1/2, Ladies lead P ZIG LEFT [past CURRENT Ns]
(4) ZAG RIGHT [passing NEXT Ns, to face 3rd Ns] and SEPARATE from P

"to face 3rd N(eighbor)s"



> I think it's conventional for a zig to
> refer to motion in one direction and zag to motion in the other, so
> you need a zigzag to pass one neighbor. For example, see Rick Mohr's
> notes on his dance Leave the Wine:
> http://rickmohr.net/Contra/Dances.asp#LeaveTheWine
>

As mentioned in a prior post, I assert it appears there is no "convention"
as regards Zig-Zags (I'd link to the prior thread on this, but the archives
appear to have gone poof again). Reasonable people will apparently have
different interpretations/language (does it always start with a "zig"? is
the following move always a "zag"? is a zig always leftwards? how many
beats?). This is an area to then be cautious of and provide sufficient
detail so folks can clearly understand the intent.

[snip]

>
> Ok, the actual question you posed: how do you teach this entry into
> the hey? You face N3 and make sure they are the focus of attention.
> Then, for teaching purposes, ladies take a step left, out of the set.
> (Now everyone is in a clear position, though you might add, gents take
> a step forward between your neighbors.) These gents pass left to start
> a hey across, pass partner right, ladies pass left, etc. When you meet
> your partner again, swing.
>
>
Thanks. This looks much like the temporary wave approach but without the
complication of taking and dropping hands - nice.


>
> Finally, some meta-commentary. The more new and unfamiliar pieces you
> have in a dance, the harder it is for dancers to learn each one of
> them, because they have more stuff to try to remember, and they are
> more likely to end up confused and unconfident that they're doing the
> right thing. End effects don't help matters. I believe you're correct
> that you come in in A2 on the zig zag with ladies on the left, but
> also you want to be crossed-over when you come in for A1. This is just
> to say that this new transition would be easier for dancers to learn
> in a simpler context, so if I were going to teach this hey, I would
> teach it in a different dance.
>

Agree, I think. To be clear, I'd never consider having this be the first
hey in a program at any regular dance - my question was more about how to
teach this particular hey's entry, presumably following having set a firm
foundation through another dance (something more like Centrifugal Hey,
etc.).


>
> By the way, here's the dance I mentioned:
>
> Life Is Short; Dance Often
> Lindsey Dono, Yoyo Zhou
> November 11, 2014
> becket left
>
> A1: circle left 1; ladies chain to N1
> A2: mad robin around N1; circle right 1
> B1: (~4) with P, zag right, zig left to face N2; (~12) ~3/4 hey, gents
> pass left
> B2: P balance, swing
>
> (You come in from the ends in B1 with the lady on the left.
> I was concerned about the timing of B1, of course, with the balance at
> B2, but it worked really well in practice.)
>
> (P.S. In a Becket dance that ends this way, you get the benefit of
> being able to start the teaching with a swing at home to identify
> where to swing your partner.)
>
> Yoyo Zhou
>
>
Thanks for sharing this!
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