Hi John, I agree that hearing the 8-count is important, but when ending a swing in the middle of the B1 you're telling the dancers to ignore their sense of the 16-count. And contra isn't just 8s: it's good for people to hear all of the 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1-count in different circumstances, and for musicians to play in a way that supports that.
Jeff On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 10:31 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi Jeff, > > It was just the first dance that came to mind. I’m sure > there are lots of others. To me the eight-beat sections are the most > important, since most moves are based on eight beats. To get the dancers > to listen to the music and hear the eights seems an important skill to me. > > > > 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:* Jeff Kaufman <[email protected]> > *Sent:* 22 January 2025 15:07 > *To:* John Sweeney <[email protected]> > *Cc:* Contra Callers <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [Callers] Re: Identify another dance? > > > > Hi John, > > > > Hexitation is an unusual formation (a "square" with four head couples and > two side couples). While I haven't danced it, I'm guessing the caller > wouldn't drop out, in which case the issue with ending a swing halfway > through the B1 (or B2 in Hexitation's case) isn't a big concern. Lots of > squares have short swings that end in the middle of the phrase, or in some > traditions are danced unphrased (where, then, ending in the middle of a > phrase isn't a meaningful concept). > > > > But I really disagree on this being a valuable thing to teach in a contra > dance context. Swinging until the music tells you to stop (by ending the > 8-bar phrase) does much more to promote musicality. > > > > Jeff > > > > > > On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 4:21 AM John Sweeney via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > > There are some excellent dances that have a swing which ends in the middle > of a phrase (Hexitation springs to mind straight away for me). It is a > skill worth learning and helps teach the dancers about musicality. > > > > (Actually I wrote one yesterday, before I saw this discussion!) :-) > > > > 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] > > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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