I usually teach it from the mic as: "at the end of this move, you will have swapped places with your [neighbor, partner etc.]; point to where you're going to end up. Cool. Now, shake right hands with your [neighbor, partner etc.]. Lift your joined arms; robins go under the arch, larks walk forward to their left, and you end up in each other's place!"
Pointing out the no-gripping rule is excellent, and I find it often helps cement things to do/teach the move twice; once for positions and who ends up where, and once for the finer points of stuff like that. So if I were to do this without a demo, I might say: "Okay, now reset yourselves, because I want to show you one more thing about this move. Can everyone curl their fingers, with your thumb attached at the side (show on stage), sort of like a lego figurine's hand? This is the hand position we want during a move like this, so no one's hand gets pinched and everyone has free movement. Try that box the gnat to swap again, and think about having Lego hands; you can hook hands with your [neighbor, partner etc.] to make that arch and send the robin under it without gripping or restricting movement." I don't tend to specify grip stuff when teaching from the mic with a sufficient volume of experienced dancers in the room, but that's how I might do it--and of course, zero shame in a demo, that might get your point across better! Cheers, Maia -- Maia McCormick (she/her) 917.279.8194 On Fri, Oct 17, 2025 at 3:31 PM Tepfer, Seth via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > Here are the words from the fabulous Becky Hill from the late 1990s. > Box the Gnat (4) > A couple takes right hands, making an arch. The woman walks underneath the > arch, while the man walks around the woman, exchanging places to face the > opposite direction from where they started. > > > Seth Tepfer (he, him, his) > Software Engineering, Emory Primate Center > ------------------------------ > *From:* Emily Addison via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Friday, October 17, 2025 3:11 PM > *To:* Sivier, Jonathan E <[email protected]> > *Cc:* Shared Weight Contra Callers <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [External] [Callers] Re: Teaching Box the Gnat / Swat the Flea > > Totally agreed. I love demos and I think that BtheG is a perfect place for > it. > I'm just wondering if I could get away without doing a demo in a large > room of all beginners with the right verbal instructions. Orrrrr.... is > BtheG just too weird??? ;) > > I'm also generally wondering if folks feel they have better language to > help dancers move their bodies through BtheG :) > > Emily > > On Fri, Oct 17, 2025 at 2:51 PM Sivier, Jonathan E via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> wrote: > > I don't have a good set of words for teaching this sort of move, but I'd > like to encourage you to include a demo. You don't necessarily have to be > the one doing it. Get a couple of dancers who can do the move, or teach it > to them in advance, and have them do the demo. They say a picture is worth > a thousand words and I think the same is true of a demo. Given that > different people learn in different ways some will respond to your verbal > instructions just fine, others won't and will be better served by seeing > the move in action. > > Jonathan > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Emily Addison via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Friday, October 17, 2025 1:44 PM > *To:* Shared Weight Contra Callers <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [Callers] Teaching Box the Gnat / Swat the Flea > > Hi Folks! > > I'm wondering if you have tricks to teach Box the Gnat and Swat the Flea > to a whole room of dancers who have not done it before. (In this case, > it's happening in an otherwise very simple scatter mixer but I can imagine > almost no one will know the figure.) > > The wording I've figured out is below. > I feel like it's wordy but it's also a hard move to pick up because it's > kind of weird what's actually happening. :) > > Ideally, I'd love to be able to teach this without a demo but I feel like > I'm stuck with the demo. (If you have talk BtheG to a big room of > non-dancers without a demo, I'd love to hear your strategies). > > Anyway - open to any and all feedback. > > Thanks! > Emily in Ottawa > > DEMO BoxTGnat from a hands 4 > > With your P - join R hands in loose handshake hold – no thumbs! > > Goal is to trad places with your P so you end up in the spot there are > right now. > > BUT Lark/Robin will be doing different things to get there! > > But little tug to start & raise joined hands. > > Larks: you walk past your P into your P place. (could feel like > behind/outside of the circle) > > Robins: you WALK under your joined hands, turning in to face ctr of circle > & keep turning until face P . You have stepped into THEIR place. Have > them drill StF and BtG over and over before starting the rest of the dance. > _______________________________________________ > 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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