Hi Tony,
In my notation I assumed the trapping. The original version
doesn’t specify it.
It is from Community Dances Manual 5, copyright 1957, so it
precedes the American versions. But… it says, “taking a hint from the American
“Eternal Triangle””, Any idea what that dance was?
Here is the text from CDM 5 (1957):
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
21. TRIPLE PROMENADE OR SILLY THREESOME
Devised by Kenneth and Sybil Clark, taking a hint from the American “Eternal
Triangle”.
Music: Any Reel or Jig
Form: 3 behind 3, each man with 2 partners, ballroom direction around the room.
Spare men may hover in the centre until B.2. when they join in the tunnelling
and compete for partners.
A.1. Forward in threes.
A.2. Arm right twice with right partner and left with left.
B.1. As A.1.
B.2. Girls form stationary arches for the men to tunnel under till, the music
unexpectedly stopping, all form new lines of three.
Repeat after minimum break.
In A.2. the M.C. may decide to call any other figure – reel of 3, basket,
double arching, etc. – or, if the men have sufficient initiative, he may leave
it to them to indicate their choice to the partners of the moment.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Note: this is not the language that we would use today. Remember
this was 1957!
Note: It was an M.C., not a caller!
If I am calling it in a gender-free environment then I tell them
that they can put a different person in the middle after the Basket. For
beginners I use an Inside Basket.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected] 01233 625 362 & 07802 940
574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
From: Tony Parkes <[email protected]>
Sent: 10 February 2023 14:34
To: John Sweeney <[email protected]>; 'Caller's discussion list'
<[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [Callers] Re: Mousetrap?
John, do you know when the Clarks wrote or published this? I learned it from
Ted Sannella under the name of Triple Promenade, probably in the late 1970s or
early 1980s. The sequence is identical, except that I’m pretty sure Ted had the
ladies “trap” the gents when the music stopped (maybe assumed but not specified
in the notation below). I can still hear Ted’s voice chanting “And the ladies
arch and the gentlemen march” in time with French-Canadian reels. I’d always
thought it was Ted’s version of a dance that must have been traditional
somewhere; now I’m wondering whether the Clarks made it up out of whole cloth
or adapted some older routine.
Tony Parkes
Billerica, Mass.
www.hands4.com <http://www.hands4.com/>
New book! Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century
(available now)
From: John Sweeney via Contra Callers <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2023 4:36 AM
To: 'Caller's discussion list' <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: [Callers] Re: Mousetrap?
<<Resent to everyone>>
Hi Luke,
Here is one:
https://squaredancehistory.org/exhibits/show/dare-to-be-square-weekend-2011/item/730
Here is my notation:
Silly Threesome (by Kenneth & Sibyl Clark)
Trios (LML) plus spare men
A1: Promenade (16) – Spare Men in the Middle
A2: On the Right: Arm Right Twice; On the Left: Arm Left Twice
B1: Promenade (16)
B2: Ladies make a Tunnel; All Men go through Tunnel until the music
stops – Form new Trios
Alt A2s: Hey, Basket, Right Hand High Left Hand Low, etc.
Larry Edelman (the one in the video):
A1: Promenade (16) – Spares in the Middle
A2: On the Right: Allemande Right; On the Left: Allemande Left
On the Right: Dosido
B1: Ladies make a Tunnel; All REVERSE and go through Tunnel until the
music stops – Form new Trios
B2: Basket Swing – open to a line with someone new in the middle
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
From: Luke Donforth via Contra Callers <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Sent: 09 February 2023 22:33
To: Caller's discussion list <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> >
Subject: [Callers] Mousetrap?
Hello all,
I've been asked back to a family dance I did at a camp last summer. When I was
there last year, one of the kids said "are we going to do Mousetrap?!", a dance
they remembered from a previous year with the prior caller.
I've tried to find it, but am having no luck. The previous caller said:
Oh, it's been years... Its a singing game, but I can't resurrect the
words/melody at the moment - don't have it written down or recorded. Kind of
like Ninepin square dance, where the band needs to stop playing on cue.
Everyone's in a circle single file walking under arches - 2 to start, then
doubled each time, those who are caught (i.e. the 'mousetrap') when the music
stops make the arches, and the music resumes, until there's more arches than
people on the line.
But that's all they've got. Anyone know this one, possibly under another name?
Thanks!
Luke
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