One more dance with left and right chains -- four in a row. I was once asked
what moves I like in contra (diagonals, rollaways and disappearing partners) --
this is the response. Evil Diane works really well for this one.
Chain BridgeBecket
A1 (8) Robins chain on the right diagonal (8) Robins chain on the left
diagonal (to shadow) (let go of joined left hands in courtesy turn early)
A2 (8) Larks chain straight across (shadows are facing each other across for
a nanosecond) (8) Larks chain on the left diagonal (yes really)
B1 With the one you just courtesy turned (4) Balance the ring (4) Petronella;
(4) Balance ring (4) Petronella; turn around (you should be facing your
Partner on the wrong side of the set)
B2 (4) Balance THIS ring, (4) Larks roll your Neighbor Robin across
(8) Swing your Partner on your original side (no time for a balance)
April Blum
On Monday, March 24, 2025 at 01:55:12 PM EDT, Michael Fuerst via Contra
Callers <[email protected]> wrote:
Here is a dance with both a left and right chain....
The Balter Dance
Becket Left Beg-Int by Michael Fuerst May 2021
Recent video 2025 Cabin Fever weekend in Knoxville TN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtTO2Jrsv4A
*A1* Robins chain to neighbor
Left hand star once around
*A2*Larks chain to partner.Right hand star once around.
*B1* With neighbor, right hand balance pull by across.
Partners swing on side they started the dance, end facing across.
*B2*
Long lines forward and roll away with 1/2 sashay.
(Larks slide right to robin's place while robins roll in front of lark
to take larks place)
Partner balance towards each other and away (4)
With robins holding their place, larks roll from right side
to left side of partner, all finishing facing new neighbors (4).
(Partners' joined hands at end of roll can guide robins into A1's chain.)
Notes:
(1) Balter - to dance artlessly, without particular grace or skill, but usually
with enjoyment.
(2) Although neither expected nor intended, this dance is suitable for a crowd
with a high proportion of beginners, as one caller reported to me:"I called a
couple of your dances tonight. There were totally brand new dancers in the
mix--folks with not even other dance experience--so even basic stuff required
like 3 walk-thrus. We did Dave Found The Missing Coffee Cup, and Balter Dance.
Balter Dance was particularly well received for its chains for both ladies and
gents, which is rare, and works beautifully with the alternating stars. One
person commented that it was great for helping new dancers, since you're in
physical contact with either a partner or neighbor almost all the time, so you
don't get lost or wander in the wrong direction."So by accident, this dance was
aptly named.
On Mon, Mar 24, 2025 at 11:52 AM jim saxe via Contra Callers
<[email protected]> wrote:
The second part of "Parson's Farewell", published in Playford's _The English
Dancing Master_ (1651), includes an action that (at least under some
interpretations, such as the ones shown here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X4wpEIOZIM&t=40s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQhvmA0UJYg&t=45s
) is recognizably ancestral to gents' and ladies' chains, a connection that, if
I recall correctly, I first heard of from Colin Hume. First the men travel
across and back, passing by left hands with each other (but with some sort of
variously-interpreted feint with right hands); then the women do the same, but
with contrary hands. The turns with opposite and partner are commonly
interpreted as one-hand turns. (The so-called "courtesy turn" didn't become a
standard styling until some time in the 20th century.)
Several of the quadrilles in J. A. French's _The Prompter's Hand Book_
(undated, but Library of Congress suggests circa 1893) include the figure
"gents grand chain". French doesn't give definitions of the figures, but my
guess would be that gents begin by crossing the set by left hands with opposite
gent, as in a left-hands-across star halfway around.
--Jim
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