The earliest use I know of in a contra dance of the _action_ of dancing the
track of a do-si-do around one person while maintaining eye contact with
another person was in "Saint Paddy's Day" by Kirston Koths, written in 1982:
http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=3998
http://www.quiteapair.us/calling/acdol/dance/acd_137.html
Kirston, however, did not use the words "Mad Robin" to describe the figure, but
referred to it as a "full sashay".
I believe the first use of the words "Mad Robin" to describe such a figure in a
contra dance was in connection with "One Hundred Years of Mischief" by Susan
Kevra.
http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=3156
The description of the dance in _Give-and-Take_ says "Written for Mary Lea and
Earl Gaddis' 50th birthday in March 1995."
As I'm sure you (Brooke) are well aware, though some other readers may not be,
the English country dance "Mad Robin"
https://playforddances.com/dances/mad-robin/
does not actually include the contra dance action to which the name is now
attached. However I've sometime seen playful dancers maintain eye contact with
partners throughout the figures in the first four bars of the B parts (instead
of turning away as the word "cast" would suggest), and I presume that whoever
first used the name "Mad Robin" in connection with the contra figure (I'm
guessing Susan Kevra herself, but I don't know for sure) had also seen this
improvisation.
--Jim
> On Jun 28, 2023, at 2:47 PM, Brooke Friendly via Contra Callers
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Anyone know the date / 1st contra dance to use the Mad Robin figure?
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