FWIW, here's a dance from 2002 with a different take, I guess. Reports were 
that after the dance the women's/robin's arms were very tired. As it says in 
the notes, the dance DID work and satisfied the original objective (and sort of 
forced the balances to be forward and back). As I remember it was pretty cool 
hearing the three balances all in succession. Do Make Waves 
(billolsondance.com)<https://www.billolsondance.com/domakewaves.html>

bill

________________________________
From: Maia McCormick <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, July 1, 2023 5:52 PM
To: Bill Olson <[email protected]>
Cc: Emily Addison <[email protected]>; 
[email protected] <[email protected]>; 
Tony Parkes <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Re: Dances with balancing waves forward and backward?

Big fan of box circulates, which imo are best served by balancing right+fwd and 
left+back, so you have momentum for the next move whether you're traveling 
forward or to the right. I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking 
for, but if so and you want my fave box circulate dances, I have lots 😅 and am 
happy to share.

As far as balance-and-walk-forward, I just went through my whole dang 
collection and pulled these; turns out a lot of dances I really like have this 
transition :D

  *   Some easy/classic ones are You Can Get There From Here (Linda Leslie) and 
20 Below (Bill Olson)
  *   A Gift to the Grange (Steve Zakon-Anderson),  Robins on a Wire (Will 
Mentor), Ellie's Pumpkin Show (Bill Olson) all have neat "wavy line of <role> 
balance and walk forward, partner follow to cross and swing"
  *   Winter in Summerland (James Hutson & Jeff Spero) - waves balance and walk 
fwd to hey. One of my all time fave dances!
  *   Serendipity (Chris Page) - box circulate with an extra turn; includes 
walking forward from short waves. Also one of my fave dances.
  *   Eleanor's Reel (Bill Olson; see also, Eleanor's Twisted Reel, the Luke 
Donforth var.) has MULTIPLE "walk forward to next wave" transitions, great for 
visiting lots of people in a crowded hall
  *   In Cahoots (Rick Mohr) is this with shadows
  *   The Black Lake Inlet of Dr. Joe Rush (Seth Tepfer) - main hook of this 
dance is a "right-left by" which is fun, but it also has balance fwd/walk fwd 
to new waves
  *   Solstice '17 (Donna Hunt)

--
Maia McCormick (she/her)
917.279.8194


On Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 12:16 PM Bill Olson via Contra Callers 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
 wrote:
Ah Shadracks! Thanks for that one Tony!

Anyway, I agree with Tony and I myself find balancing "sideways" (not really 
sideways, more on right diagonal then left diagonal) more natural than forward 
and back. Maybe this is just because of the way one's arms are pointing when in 
the wave. When I wrote Eleanor's Reel a measly 20 years ago (hah hah), I used 
that to an advantage as the progressions between waves were on the right and 
left diagonal.

Dance and notes here:   Eleanor's Reel 
(billolsondance.com)<https://www.billolsondance.com/eleanorsreel.html>

bill
________________________________
From: Tony Parkes via Contra Callers 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2023 2:03 PM
To: Emily Addison <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>; 
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Subject: [Callers] Re: Dances with balancing waves forward and backward?


When I wrote Shadrack’s Delight 51 years ago (one of the first all-moving 
contras to gain wide acceptance among trad callers), I envisioned the wave 
balances as forward and back. Both of the balances are followed by hand turns 
halfway around, and I dislike the feel of a hand turn following a sideways 
balance (starting in either direction relative to the following turn). In my 
experience, most dancers do sideways balances in Shadrack, perhaps because 
they’re used to balancing sideways in dozens of other dances. I find that even 
when I specify a forward and back balance, many dancers don’t try it.



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: Emily Addison via Contra Callers 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2023 10:07 PM
To: 
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
Subject: [Callers] Dances with balancing waves forward and backward?



Hi folks :)



As a dancer, I remember loving the feel of waves lines that balance forward and 
back. However, I don't have any dances that specifically call for that.



Might you have suggestions of dances that specifically call for Bal F&B or 
which often get modified for that feel of a balance?



Thank you!

:) Emily in Ottawa

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