Chrissy Fowler wrote:
>> Seems most people most of the time balance the ring toward the center and back. Was it formerly more of a balance right then left?
Colin Hume wrote:
> In the original (Scottish) dance it was a "set" rather than a "balance", and that would be to the right and left.
Current SCD styling has setting being pretty much on the spot (even for balance-in-line), though I'm not sure how much that is a C20th invention of Miss Milligan's. Both the Petronella turn and the set are done with the setting step. The contra style balance-the-ring-and-Petronella occurs a couple of SCDs e.g. Back to the Fireside.
Beth Parkes wrote:
> One of the contra dance traditions has been a small set of named moves and, for the most part, directional names for any new moves. So, for example, we say, "Pass through to an ocean wave," instead of "Pass the ocean." Please, please fight any tendency to give obscure names for moves. If it is not descriptive, it is not appropriate.
Named figures are a shorthand that lets the caller concisely call a figure that they've already described. Unless you're going to call every movement every time, there's no particular harm in using a name that's not descriptive, as long as it's been explained. Pass the Ocean is actually a good example of this, as describing the movements would be more like "pass through, ladies catching LH and turning a quarter, men taking partner's RH at the far end of the line", though I'd avoid putting too many such figures on a programme unless I knew the dancers were familiar with them. Contra already includes many jargon terms it would be impractical to do without - gypsy, balance, cast &c. Petronella is far from obscure, and is the word I would use to call the movement once I'd walked it through. But I come from an SCD background where we have many more long figures that have extremely non-descriptive names (Espagnole, Tourbillon, Schiehallion Reel &c.).
and:
> And I was doing the two's variation in Petronella which uses a left turn back in the early 80s.
Can you describe this in more detail? If you spin to the left, don't you crash into the 1s spinning to the right?
Edmund Croft,
Cambridge, UK
When teaching a Petronella I often talk about "look right, spin right,
move right" and use some or all of the words the first time through the
calling, especially with beginners.
Emphasising the "look right and follow your head" can help a lot as it
is then even harder to turn the wrong way.
For experienced dancers I just call "Petronella (Turn)".
I agree that "twirl" can be confusing as the term is usually associated
with a swap with the hands connected over the head of one person.
If I go into a room full of experienced contra dancers and use the term
"Balance the Ring and Petronella Turn" then they will all just do it.
Why then would I want to use other words?
Yes, the meaning has changed from the original move in the dance
Petronella. But lots of other words have had their meaning changed over
the years. "billion" used to mean a thousand million; but now (mainly
due to American influence!) it means a million million. "Acronym" used
to mean abbreviations that you could pronounce as a word, eg. radar,
laser, UNICEF; but now people just use it when they mean abbreviation.
Swing used to mean two-hand turn. Does that mean we shouldn't use it to
mean a close-hold buzz-step?
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk <http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/> for
Dancing in Kent
Read the name backwards. Some years ago I wrote a dance in honor of
International Lefthanders Day (August 24th, I think) -- called "Not Always
Right" and it contained a "backward" Petronella, which Bob Isaacs and I agreed
should be called an Allen Ortep.
April Blum
Greetings to all:
Beth wrote: "Seeing it in the dance below implies to me that he thinks
quite highly of himself,....."
Yes, I do think highly of myself.
Mark wrote: " Should you spell Allen's name backwards, you'll get petrO
nellA."
No. Should you spell Petronella backwards, you get Allen Ortep.
Only after the dance "Allen Ortep's First Contra" had been popular for some
years, and had become well established as a "walnut" of the dance form, did
someone think to reverse both the move and it's spelling
Regards
Allen
Oh, come on, folks. One of the contra dance traditions has been a small set of named moves and, for the most part, directional names for any new moves. So, for example, we say, "Pass through to an ocean wave," instead of "Pass the ocean." Please, please fight any tendency to give obscure names for moves. If it is not descriptive, it is not appropriate. And since I have never met Allen Ortep, I am quite sure that an "Allen Ortep turn" would say absolutely NOTHING to me as a dancer. (Even if I did know him, I suspect it would not tell me much. Seeing it in the dance below implies to me that he thinks quite highly of himself, but it does not tell me how to dance. And I was doing the two's variation in Petronella which uses a left turn back in the early 80s. Nothing new there.)
Part of what caused a huge problem in the evolution of Modern Western Squares was the introduction of many newly named figures in the early 60s. Every caller wanted to invent the next great move. It moved the activity into a realm where you must take all those lessons and keep dancing regularly to remember all the fancy names.
Keep it simple, keep it folk, keep it welcoming.
Beth Parkes
-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: [Callers] How to Call a Petronella Turn?
Things change slightly with this dance by Allen Ortep......
Allen Ortep's First Contra Becket Counter Clockwise
A1 Star left
Right and left through on right diagonal
A2 Long lines forward, on the way back, partners roll away with a 1/2 sashe
Circle right 3/4, pass through along set by left shoulder
to meet couple passed during the right and left of A1
B1 Balance and swing this neighbor.
B2 Allen Ortep turn (balance in a circle, then move as an individual
to the left one place in the circle while twirling counterclockwise)
Partners swing.
Things change slightly with this dance by Allen Ortep......
Allen Ortep's First Contra
Becket Counter Clockwise
A1 Star left
Right and left through on right diagonal
A2 Long lines forward, on the way back, partners roll away with a 1/2 sashe
Circle right 3/4, pass through along set by left shoulder
to meet couple passed during the right and left of A1
B1 Balance and swing this neighbor.
B2 Allen Ortep turn (balance in a circle, then move as an individual
to the left one place in the circle while twirling counterclockwise)
Partners swing.
Michael Fuerst 802 N Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217-239-5844
Thinking of petronella and ring balances, curious about historical changes.
Seems most people most of the time balance the ring toward the center and back. Was it formerly more of a balance right then left?
Was thinking about the physics of it all and where the momentum is... Curious re recollections/insights.
Chrissy
Belfast
I call regularly for dances with large proportions of first/second-time dancers.
When I'm teaching the figure, I usually say something like "as in petronella" or "figure that comes from the chestnut/old dance petronella". In your foursome, take hands in a ring, and all together, balance the ring. Then I tell them they are going to 'move' to the right one place. They can do this by stepping or by spinning. If they spin, they do it over their right shoulder. Usually demonstrate this, either myself from the stage or with a foursome on the floor.
When I'm prompting during the dance, I tend to use variations of 'move' to the right. Sometimes 'spin,' depending on the crowd.
I got this idea of using the word 'move' from some other caller. No idea now who it was. (Please speak up if it was you!)
I like it because it explicitly gives people the option to avoid/skip the potentially-disorienting spin. (For newbies, it can be confusing enough just remembering their destination.)
I find it is a very popular figure. Of all the requests I have ever fielded, a large proportion are "Can you call a dance tonight that has petronellas/petronella balance & spin?" (Clap clap!)
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, ME
