Jacqui, I have called proper longways dances (without diagonals or out-of-minor-set interactions) for two couples, switching active couples with every other iteration but maintaining the same orientation in the room. Works well with many English dances -- for example Softly Good Tummas -- because they are proper. Improper is tougher. The idea is similar to Dale's calling party orientation, but the mechanics are a bit different, and the one he describes is better for improper dances.
My group (Maryville MO) is accustomed to smaller attendance, and thus ready to switch to three-couple longways English when another couple shows up, then into old-time squares when a fourth couple shows up. A fifth couple or more puts us into longways duple minors. And always ready to mix it up with a circle mixer. --Jerome Jerome Grisanti 660-528-0858 http://www.jeromegrisanti.com "Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe On Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 2:09 PM, QuiAnn2 via Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > I recently called at a contra dance where we had exactly 6 dancers for > almost the entire evening (one joined us later but only occasionally > danced). This was unexpected as they usually have attendance in the 12-20 > range. I was able to piece together a night of mixers, triplets, and > oddball dances to make it work and the dancers were game for anything so it > ended up being a fun night. But it got me thinking about what to do if only > 4 dancers came to a dance (meaning even if I jumped in, we would only have > 5 total dancers). In order to be better prepared for next time, I have a > couple of questions. > > 1) Do you have any dances you can share that would work for 4 or 5 > dancers? Or also dances for 6 dancers that are not triplets (have plenty of > triplets). I have already collected Do-Si-3 and Haste to the Divorce, both > of which I modified so that they would not progress. > 2) Could a whole evening (3 hours) of dance be put together for just 4-5 > dancers? > 3) What preparation can be done by me in advance to help with this > situation? It’s possible to talk with the organizer in advance about > canceling the dance if only 4 or 5 dancers show up, however, this > particular dance is a 75 minute drive one-way and I’d prefer to avoid the > round trip if there won’t be enough dancers. For various reasons, any dance > promoting that I do myself would be largely ineffective for this particular > dance. > > Would love to hear about any ideas you can share. Thanks! > > Jacqui Grennan > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net >
