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 | | From: | Mean Green Dancing Machine | | Subject: | Two beginner contras | | Date: | 25 Dec 2004 11:10:54 -0800 |
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 | I'm going to a gathering of a group of people I know from the Net next
month, and suddenly the idea of running a contra during the gathering was
brought up. We'll probably have about 8-16 people dancing. Some of the
people who want to join in have never done contra before; I've never
taught or called contra myself, but because of my experience teaching
folk dancing (including things like Levi Jackson Rag), I'm elected. I'm
not too worried about the teaching/calling, but I'd like some help
selecting dances.
(One of the people attending sent me zir CDs of contra music; I hope
I'll be able to match dance to music.)
My goal is to give the newbies enough experience to go to a contra on
their own, plus enough fun for the experienced dancers to enjoy the
lesson. I'll probably have 1-1.5 hours. What would be ideal is two
duple improper dances that between them cover the following calls (only
one form of a right/left call needs to be covered):
Circle left/right
Star left/right
Allemande left/right
Ladies chain
Right-and-left thru
Lines of four down/up set
Balance and swing
Square through (not sure about this one)
(Did I miss any important ones? I figure people can pick up things like
do-si-do and gypsy easily enough.)
Other calls are optional (I can handle all the standard ones). However,
I do NOT want a dance with a hey (though I'll probably do a run through
to make sure people get right shoulder / left shoulder trick). Would
probably be a good idea for one of the dances to not have a swing so I
can run that one first.
--
--- Aahz <*> (Copyright 2004 by aahz@pobox.com)
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/
Androgynous poly kinky vanilla queer het Pythonista
"First one back from the bathroom gets to be the bottom."
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| | From: | Jonathan Sivier | | Subject: | Re: Two beginner contras | | Date: | Sun, 26 Dec 2004 12:17:13 -0600 |
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| On 25 Dec 2004 11:10:54 -0800, aahz@pobox.com (Mean Green Dancing Machine)
wrote:
>I'm going to a gathering of a group of people I know from the Net next
>month, and suddenly the idea of running a contra during the gathering was
>brought up. We'll probably have about 8-16 people dancing. Some of the
>people who want to join in have never done contra before; I've never
>taught or called contra myself, but because of my experience teaching
>folk dancing (including things like Levi Jackson Rag), I'm elected. I'm
>not too worried about the teaching/calling, but I'd like some help
>selecting dances.
Here are a couple of easy contra's you might be able to use.
Jefferson's Reel
Dudley Briggs; adapted from Jefferson and Liberty
duple proper or improper; beginner
1 - circle left
2 - circle right
3 - star right
4 - star left
5 - actives down the outside
6 - return to place
7 - down the hall 4 in line, actives in the center
8 - actives arch and back up, while pulling the
inactives through
This works fine as a proper dance, thus eliminating the crossing-over at the
end confusion for inexperienced dancers. It also works well with kids who may
wish to dance with friend as a partner rather than a member of the opposite .
Broken Sixpence
Don Armstrong
duple improper; beginner
1 - do-si-do your neighbor
2 - men do-si-do in the center
3 - women do-si-do in the center
4 - actives swing in the center
5 - down the hall 4 in line, actives in the middle,
turn alone
6 - come back to place, bend the line to a circle
7 - circle left
8 - star left back, look for next neighbor
You also might consider starting with what I call "Moving To Music". Have
everyone get a partner and get in a circle, then do an assortment of figures to
music to get them used to moving with the music and listening to the caller.
Here is a typical example.
1 - in to the center and back
2 - do that again
3 - circle left
4 - back to the right
5 - allemand left your neighbor/corner
6 - do-si-do your partner
7-8 promenade your partner
It doesn't progress, but you only do it a few time through. It's pretty
boring for experienced dancers, but is good for giving new dancers some idea of
what to expect.
I also like to use a Sicilian circle to illustrate progression without the
problems of standing out at the ends or crossing over.
Sanita Hill Circle
Ed Durlacher
Sicilian circle; beginner
1 - circle left
2 - circle right
3 - do-si-do neighbor
4 - do-si-do partner
5 - star right
6 - star left
7 - forward and back
8 - pass through to next couple
Good luck.
Jonathan
-----
Jonathan Sivier
Beckman Institute Flight Simulation Lab
jsivier AT uiuc DOT edu
Home Page: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jsivier/www/
-----
Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: It depends on what dance you call.
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| | From: | redbelly98 at yahoo.com | | Subject: | Re: Two beginner contras | | Date: | 29 Dec 2004 13:26:17 -0800 |
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| I would recommend not doing a square-through in your situation. Also,
you might add promenade-across to your list, or substitute it for the
right-and-left through. Don't know how many beginners are in your
group, but if there's very many then the right-and-left can be more
confusing than the simpler promenade.
Regards,
Mark Widmer
Mean Green wrote:
What would be ideal is two
duple improper dances that between them cover the following calls (only
one form of a right/left call needs to be covered):
Circle left/right
Star left/right
Allemande left/right
Ladies chain
Right-and-left thru
Lines of four down/up set
Balance and swing
Square through (not sure about this one)
(Did I miss any important ones? I figure people can pick up things like
do-si-do and gypsy easily enough.)
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| | From: | Mean Green Dancing Machine | | Subject: | Re: Two beginner contras | | Date: | 29 Dec 2004 13:46:10 -0800 |
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| In article <1104355577.862729.73220@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
wrote:
>
>I would recommend not doing a square-through in your situation. Also,
>you might add promenade-across to your list, or substitute it for the
>right-and-left through. Don't know how many beginners are in your
>group, but if there's very many then the right-and-left can be more
>confusing than the simpler promenade.
Thing is, more dances IME have the right-and-left than promenade, so
that's something they need to learn.
--
--- Aahz <*> (Copyright 2004 by aahz@pobox.com)
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/
Androgynous poly kinky vanilla queer het Pythonista
Thirteenth Virtual Anniversary: 2 days and counting
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| | From: | Bruce | | Subject: | Re: Two beginner contras | | Date: | 25 Dec 2004 20:31:33 -0800 |
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| Mean Green Dancing Machine wrote:
> (snip) I'd like some help selecting dances. (snip)
Here's one of the best ones:
Bluemont Reel By Warren Hofstra (improper contra )
A1 Circle left half way swing neighbour on the far side
A2 Circle left three quarters (ish) swing partner on ladies original
side
B1 lead down in a line of four, turn as couples, lead back, bend the
line
B2 half ladies chain across half right and left through
(Never been a caller but I love kissing people on New Years Eve.)
B, etc.
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| | From: | redbelly98 at yahoo.com | | Subject: | Re: Two beginner contras | | Date: | 29 Dec 2004 14:12:14 -0800 |
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| Mean Green wrote:
> Thing is, more dances IME have the right-and-left than promenade, so
that's something they need to learn.
It's definately your choice, and if they are pretty much getting things
then it shouldn't be a problem either way.
As for me, I'm pretty shameless about calling a promenade even when a
dance is written as having a right-and-left, just so the moves are more
or less balanced when I'm calling a program.
Good luck and have fun!
Mark Widmer
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