One of my go-to dances for beginning contra dancers has everyone swinging their partner in the center of the set at the same time. It works fine. Before I start teaching the dance, I make sure that the dancers spread out up and down the set so that they have enough room. (If the hall were too crowded for them to spread out that much, then of course I wouldn't do that dance.)
Jacob On Fri, Apr 14, 2023, 9:31 PM Allison Jonjak via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > In my experience, two hand turns can (by dancers with their wits about > them) have dynamic radii--as in, you can have your arms fully spread when > you have room, or you can tighten in your elbows when you don't. With > experienced dancers you keep 'weight' the same in both of these > configurations: (I say both but of course it can be anywhere along this > spectrum.) > [image: image.png] > red stars = dancers, green = their arms, with green dot = the held hands > > So in ECD all couples can two-hand turn in the middle with a tight radius, > and no collisions. > > (anyone who dances ECD more than me should definitely correct me here!) > > On Fri, Apr 14, 2023 at 5:58 PM Winston, Alan P. via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi, John. >> >> I do think it's interesting that (North American) contra rules are that >> both couples swinging in the middle at once is too crowded, but (North >> American) ECD is totally fine with everybody doing two-hand turns (which >> have a bigger radius) at once, and a Community Dances Manual dance like "Up >> the Sides and Down the Middle" is fine with having five couples swinging in >> the middle at once. ECD typically uses up more space than contra (my rule >> of thumb is 30sqft per dancer for ECD, 24 for contra, partly because ECD >> does fall back, come forward and contra does forward and back) but how >> different in size can sets formed by hands four, sometimes by the same >> dancers, be? >> >> -- Alan >> >> >> >> ________________________________________ >> From: John Sweeney via Contra Callers < >> [email protected]> >> Sent: Friday, April 14, 2023 3:48 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: [Callers] Re: Does P swings (across set) work for you? >> >> Hi Emily, >> You say, “Can get away with in in longways dances but contras are a bit >> tighter”. Hmm… contras ARE longways dances! How much space you need >> depends on the dance, not the genre. A dance like Bases Loaded is a >> contra, but definitely needs a bit more space up and down the room. >> >> Happy dancing, >> John >> >> John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected] 01233 625 362 & >> 07802 940 574 >> http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent >> _______________________________________________ >> Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to >> [email protected] >> > > > -- > Allison Jonjak > [email protected] > allisonjonjak.com > > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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