Jim Saxe wrote:
<quote>
*** My question is, have any of you ever seen something like this happen?
The caller (whether you or someone else, and using whatever
words) instructs, say, the head dancers to swing their
opposites, face the nearest side couple, and circle with
that side couple. In some square, one of the following
misinterpretations occurs:
1. Instead of swinging in a spot directly in front
of one of the side couples, a pair of head dancers
swing either very near the gent's home place or
very near the lady's home place. (And you believe
that they aren't intentionally dancing offset from
their theoretical position to avoid crowding but
that they actually don't understand where they are
supposed to be.)
OR
2. Head dancers swing opposites, then fall back to
home places. Then they go together with their
*partners* to circle with whichever side couple
they consider "nearest".
OR
3. Somehow (whether or not you see exactly how it
happens) dancers end up in a circle of five and
a circle of three.
<end quote>
I have seen #3 happen several times when I was calling Ted's "Do-si-do and Face
the Sides." I now teach it more carefully. Granted, it has a do-si-do rather
than a swing, but I think I could now teach a similar dance with a swing and
still keep the circles of four where they belong.
Jim again:
<< My point is that even bits of choreography that aren't really difficult can
take more care to teach efficiently and effectively when they are unfamiliar to
many of the dancers present than when they are familiar to almost all. >>
Yes. This is why squares are such a challenge to present effectively at a
mostly-contra evening. The caller needs to think about what contra dancers know
in terms of basic movements and transitions between them. Then s/he can focus
on the potential trouble spots in a square and think about various ways of
teaching them.
I just finished vetting the square "Head for Home" for a new caller who was
thinking of using it. It has two stars, each of which leads the dancers to
someone they haven't just been working with. I suggested freezing the action
just before each star and having the dancers locate the person they'll be going
to from the star.
I find that freezing the action is important in walking through a lot of the
squares in my repertoire. Sometimes it helps to say "When you're done with the
next move, you'll have switched places with [person or couple]" or "you'll be
right back where you are now, facing the same way" or to have them take a
shortcut to the next place they'll be, to get their bodies familiar with it,
then back up and get them there the real way. (It could be argued that this
last device is like showing how a magic trick is done, but in traditional
calling we're not giving the dancers puzzles to solve, we're letting them take
the scenic route even if there may be a more direct path to where they're
going. Sandy Bradley used to say "When we're all done you'll be right back
where you started, so the only thing that matters is that you had fun along the
way.")
Tony Parkes
Billerica, Mass.
www.hands4.com
