And a happy Feast of All Fools to you, too, Michael! On Sat, Apr 1, 2023 at 11:26 AM Michael Fuerst via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote:
> In 1810, and for some years before and after, Sudbury MA (incorporated in > 1639) was the site of a monthly barn dance. One of the local dance masters, > Allen Ortep, composed a contra dance, where four dancers would balance in a > circle, left foot then right foot, followed by shift/spin left one place. > Allen and another local dance master both had interest in the same lady. To > shorten a long story, Allen did not get the lady, and eventually stopped > attending the Sudbury dances. His successful rival then composed a dance > where four dancers balanced in a circle, right foot hen left foot, followed > by a shift/spin right one place, and named it petronella (spell petronella > backwards to find out why). To honor these events, Sudbury MA was given the > zipcode 01776. (Thanks to Don Veino for pointing out Sudbury's zipcode.) > > Today, many contra callers and composers have promoted the word petronella > to both a verb and noun for a circle balance followed by everyone > shifting/spinning right one place. But if the spin/shift is instead to the > left, the figure is better designated "Allen Ortep," or for brevity, "Ortep" > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > -- www.huntandallison.net [email protected] www.centralhallcommons.org
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