On Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 5:13 AM, Don Heinold via Callers
wrote:
> Hi SharedWeight callers & friends
>
> I'm a caller from RI and am fairly new to this site. I have been enjoying
> the informational posts on the many different issues that involve present
> day and past contra dancing.
>
> In April I
Don, it sounds like your zig-zag into 5/8 hey is a lot like a dance I
wrote last year with Lindsey Dono. In that one, the zag-zig is to the
right, then left; similarly, the weaving the line is with your partner
with the lady on the left and gent on the right, and gents begin the
hey passing left sh
The timing on zigzags is indeed squishy. That means the choreography can
fit it one way or another, but dancers will be prone to get there early or
late if it doesn't fit well.
Here's something to compare with: allemandes. I think it's well-established
that allemande 1+1/2 takes 8 counts.
How abo
Taking you at face value: if you have a systemic problem, you need a
policy. If you have a problem with one person, you need to come to
terms with that person. I'm not sure if it's just the board, or if
other dancers also have issues with her. But if you seek mediation,
take notes on your interacti
HI Maia,
When doing a ladies chain for the first time, I prefer to call a chain
to neighbor, rather than partner, so that new dancers get an
opportunity to practice courtesy turns with lots of different people
(we've all seen the new couples who can't remember which are the
counterclockwise vs. cl
Lindsey's response is so good I almost didn't have anything to add. I'll
say though that the most important thing is communication. Ideally you'd
arrange things beforehand, but I can only speak about the surprise
situation, where the band can't put down their instruments, which has
happened to me.
Since when I'm prompting, I sometimes just say "right shoulder" (or "left
shoulder" for a left shoulder gypsy), I'm going to try using that as the
name the next time I call. The teaching would look like:
"Point your right shoulder at your neighbor and look them in the eyes. Walk
around them. Swing
Hi folks. I was so ready to be done with this discussion, but.
Regardless of your views on the matter at hand, the goal of this discussion
list is to be a place for respectful exchange of ideas. After all, we
welcome even the most naive questions from the most novice callers, because
we are here t
On Nov 24, 2015 5:22 AM, "Rich Sbardella richsbarde...@gmail.com
[trad-dance-callers]" wrote:
> I am looking for a few good contras with a R & L Thru that do not contain
a Ladies chain. Any suggestions?
Here are some of my favorites:
Sarah's Journey by Gene Hubert
The Turning Point by Gene Hube
Do you like half heys? My suggestions there for nice forgiving dances are
Hocus Pocus by Lisa Greenleaf and The Social Butterfly by John Coffman.
Star promenade into hey is also great. You might enjoy Heart of Glass by
Cary Ravitz.
Yoyo Zhou
On Dec 10, 2015 11:45 AM, "Rich Sbardella via Callers" <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> One visiting couple, who had been waiting eagerly for the last dance ,
put on their jackets and left disappointed, stating that they do not like
Beckets.
This is unusual behavior. More on
On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 7:17 PM, David Harding via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> So, which flows more smoothly onto the swing? Ladies by the left as Roger
> describes or ladies by the right as Frannie describes?
>
The original revolving door figure, with ladies by the right (
On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 11:19 PM, Lindsey Dono via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi Callers,
>
> I'm working on a themed contra workshop called "Role Scramblers," and just
> realized that all of the dances I've shortlisted are very smooth. I'm
> looking for dances with elements
I was trying to come up with a dance last night that fit different
parameters (full hey, no chain, and more balances), but it ends up fitting
Luke's parameters too. I ended up not using this one, but has Bob (or
another choreographer) written it already?
Becket
A1: (slide left to progress,) circle
Hi Luke,
I also love dolphin heys!
Earlier this year I made a substitution of a dolphin hey for an ordinary
hey for 3 (with the 1s acting as a unit). That appears as a figure in
several contra dances (e.g. Kittyhawk Hornpipe by Don Armstrong or Nils's
Maggot by Martha Wild, where you end up back
On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 8:42 AM, Luke Donforth via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Looks like I'm late to the party. Glad to hear other folks are having fun
> with it :-)
>
> I didn't know it came via Scottish, but that makes sense. It's called
> tandem or alternating tandem ree
Oh, Hi Turtle! by Emily Rush has some Rory O'More followed by some grand
right and left (right, left, allemande right, left):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hmanTMdXRM
P.S. it's not obvious that you wanted to also grand right and left the
other way back, because e.g. in a square dance you often
On Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 2:46 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi All,
> I collected a dance from Lisa Greenleaf. Neither she nor the person
> from whom she collected it knows the author. I'm hoping you can help
> me. Here it is:
>
> Holiday Daze
> Becket
> A1 C
On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 1:54 PM, via Callers
wrote:
> Not sure if this has already been written, but it fits a particular spot in
> an upcoming program:
>
> A1 LL FB
> Circle L 1.25 to face P on side
>
> A2 DSD P, Swing P
> (or Balance and Swing P)
>
> B1 LL FB
> Circle L .75 to face N on side
>
Swings are fun. I like neighbor swings. So do many dancers. It's more
interaction with your neighbors, which is half the fun. If I have two
dances that are very similar, but one has a neighbor swing and one
doesn't, I would enjoy dancing the one with the neighbor swing more.
However, I also don't
On Mon, Aug 22, 2016 at 8:18 AM, Luke Donforth via Callers
wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I've been thinking about glossary dances, and building vocabulary for new
> dancers. I'm curious what your favorite dance is for teaching a ladies chain
> for a crowd of mostly new dancers? Or if you don't have a sp
On Sat, Sep 24, 2016 at 4:34 PM, Alan Winston via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> If you call it tonight, I suspect some dancers will have some trouble with
> the circle left all the way around the second and subsequent times
> through.
>
> But let us know how it goes!
>
I think
On Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 12:19 PM, Dale Wilson via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> We have something we call the "calling party progression" because we
> sometimes try out new dances with only four people present (or four + a
> caller).
>
> We form one set with "Up" being "North"
On Thu, Oct 6, 2016 at 11:44 AM, Rich Sbardella via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> While we are at this, here is another untitled dance. I am not sure where
> I collected it.
>
> Can anyone name it?
>
> a1 N B&S
> a2 LL, Ladies Alle R 1 1/2
> b1 P B&S
> b2 CL 3/4, Veer Lef
Here are a few:
Amy Asked for a Gypsy (Charley Harvey)
Balance to my Lou (Becky Hill)
Maliza's Magical Mystery Motion (Cary Ravitz)
Square Thru to You (Bob Isaacs)
The Wise People of Chicago (Bradley Smith)
BTW, in a medley, you can change directions (becket-L to becket-R) if you
also flip which
On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 11:12 AM, Dugan Murphy via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Question two: are there other 3-33-inspired dances out there you know
> about?
>
Tom Hinds has written Four, Forty-Four, Forty-Four (similar to, but not
identical to, your name) and Five, Fifty-F
Hi callers,
I improvised this dance inspired by James Hutson's Treasure of the Sierra
Madre last night, but it seems like it could have been written before. Does
anyone have a title and author for it?
NB. The B2->A1 transition has slightly awkward hands for the gents, but it
seemed to go fine.
A
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 10:26 AM, Mark Hillegonds via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> So...what happens if all of the attempts to shepherd and coach and "angel"
> the difficult dancer do not work and their skills and abilities continue to
> be a significant negative impact when t
Hi Ron,
Maybe instead of "good flow" you could think about "dancers love it" and
instead of "bad flow" you could think about "dancers hate it". Of course
this is a gross false equivalence (dancers love things that aren't flow
too), and it ignores that dancers are all different, but it reminds us t
On Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 2:58 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm re-vamping my list of simple contra dances for new callers, and am in
> search of a very particular sort of becket dance. The list is one of my
> hand-outs for callers' classes at
For flow, it depends what comes after the balance. If it's followed by an
allemande left, you'd be better balancing left. Allemande right: balance
right. Walk forward: balance forward and back. Box circulate: right and
back.
But getting dancers to balance left - except as the second half of a Rory
Synchronized Swimming by Rona Wiener has a star to dolphin hey transition -
I haven't tried it, but it seems like it should work - and a lot of
teaching notes on her website:
http://www.sundragonrising.com/contra.html#Synchronized_Swimming
Yoyo Zhou
On Sat, Dec 23, 2017 at 3:43 PM, Jeffrey Spero
On Thu, Feb 1, 2018 at 7:26 AM, Rick Mohr via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Some dances require skill to make the timing work — like starting a figure
> with dispatch so a later balance will be on time, or doing a figure
> leisurely to avoid being early for the next one. But w
On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 5:41 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Dance logs, a cumulative record for a series of which dances have been
> called on any given evening, are very common in the English dance community
> but vanishingly rare in the contra community.
On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 1:07 PM, Martha Wild via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> I don’t think right shoulder round is going to make the grade. It’s
> descriptive, certainly, but it is long and unwieldy and can’t be easily
> shortened to anything recognizable as you eliminate ca
It looks like this is the version Rich is referring to:
http://www.ceder.net/recorddb/viewsingle.php?RecordId=1891
More background on the English folk song / sea shanty this American folk
song is based on:
https://mainlynorfolk.info/martin.carthy/songs/billyboy.html
In traditional songs things do
On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 2:29 PM, Tom Hinds via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Here was my issue, briefly : I was told to use "walk around" when calling
> at glen echo. It also happens that I'm a western square caller and have
> used "walk around your corner, see saw your taw"
On Fri, Apr 6, 2018 at 2:52 PM, K Panton via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Warning: rabbit hole ahead.
>
> Colin: I read your text for your workshop. All useful stuff and you do say
> more than "treat your partner as a neighbour".
>
> Re Michael Fuerst's quote, I agree that en
On Sun, Apr 15, 2018 at 8:43 AM, Read Weaver via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> I don’t understand this—since you can’t comfortably give weight in the
> mill-grip (and you can in hands-across), why does it get you around faster?
> Just because people are more used to it?
>
In
Luke,
A couple of concerns about your dance:
- Second version: Your dance appears to be reverse progression, if you
begin the left hand stars with the neighbor you just swung. It's not
entirely clear though (that neighbor isn't numbered).
- First version: If instead you force the progression to
On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 6:08 PM, Maia McCormick via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>
> Had a busload of beginners at my dance last night and realized I have a
> hole in my program -- I don't have any good glossary/beginner-friendly
> dances with a promenade but no chain or RL thro
For me, the obvious problem with the do-si-do analogy is that mad robins
can go in either direction, and if it's counterclockwise, it's the path of
a see-saw instead of a do-si-do (and I don't teach see-saw if I can help
it).
My experience is that the important parts are:
- It's a sideways sliding
This looks like a variation (perhaps accidental?) on Dogleaf Reel by Lisa
Greenleaf, itself a variation on Dog Branch Reel by Bob Dalsemer.
The original Dogleaf Reel starts proper (rather than improper) and B2 has
the 1s half figure 8 through the 2s instead of long lines forward and back.
This wor
Apart from Indigo Silk, my favorites are Dogleaf Reel by Lisa Greenleaf and
Best of Friends by Martha Wild.
Yoyo Zhou
On Mon, Mar 4, 2019 at 1:51 PM Don Veino via Callers <
callers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been assigned the opening slot at this year's 2019 New England Folk
Hi Maia,
Mostly I agree with Bob. I find that dance length isn't much different in
practice. No-walkthroughs should be fine under the same circumstances as
regular contras.
There are many reasons to choose easier dances for techno contras. The
music and lighting tend to push the balance of how da
Hi callers,
I've been looking for a funky dance, a variation on Chorus Jig for 4
couples, alternating, everybody turns contra corners. Does anyone know who
to thank for it?
(I remember dancing it at one of the Monte Toyon camps (Spring Fever or
Queer Contra Camp) but I can't remember which! For b
46 matches
Mail list logo