[Callers] 4 person do-si-do

In southern-style square dancing, there are several variations on a figure which is often called “dosido” for two couples, and they are nothing like what Luke is imagining. They go by names like Georgia Rangtang, Georgy-Alabam, Do-si, Dosido and (I think) in MWSD a version of it is called Do Pa

[Callers] 24th of June

FWIW: June 24 is the feast day of St John the Baptist, patron saint of Quebec. So June 24 is Quebec's national holiday, bigger there than Canada Day a week later. (Camped last night in a state park in the Adirondacks, full of Québécois enjoying a long weekend). Richard Hopkins Sent from

[Callers] Contra Friendly Squares -- people left over.

Over the past several years, we have had several ‘extra’ dances here in Tallahassee that are advertised to the contra dance listserv and elsewhere as old-time or square dances, or old time square dances, with live music. We have had anywhere from 8 to 30 dancers come. One of the things we heard

[Callers] Does this dance exist?

What is ‘slice’? And is it different from ‘yearn’? Richard `` Richard Hopkins 850-544-7614 hopkin...@comcast.net

[Callers] Name and author for circle mixer?

Dear colleagues, I have had this circle mixer in my box since before 1990, and have long ago lost its name or origin. Could any of you help? It has served me well many many times. Formation: Circle of couples A1Forward and Back Forward again, just the gents come back (ladies tu

Re: [Callers] Politically Correct

I am an example of someone who gradually left a dance community partly because of what I saw as offensive lyrics in singing calls….. When my wife and I were dancing modern western squares in the late 1980s, in Ohio, many callers were using contemporary pop and country songs for their singing ca

[Callers] What is a contra?

The name of my local dance community, chosen >30 years ago, is Tallahassee Community Friends of Old-time Dance. Many dancers now prefer evenings made up entirely of contras, narrowly defined, but some still prefer our traditional mix of formations. When I advertise our dances on Facebook, I sub

[Callers] Prompting, circa 1890

In Otter Creek Books, in Middlebury VT, the other day I picked up a little book called “Prompting: How to do it”, by John M. Schell, “One of Boston’s leading prompters”. It “Contains the figures of all modern dances in common use, and how to call them”. It was published by Carl Fisher Inc (who

[Callers] Fuel-efficient dancing

I share the concern about driving a lot to get to dance events. FWIW: The Concord Scout House is 0.6 miles from the Concord commuter rail station, which has approximately hourly service (more frequent in rush hour) to and from North Station in Boston and intermediate stops (including Porter Sq