OMG, Wendy, I *love* your hip-hop contra!! How fun is that? This new fusion of the old dances with new tunes & moves has a lot of juice, and potential to keep the dance alive by intriguing the young folks in particular.
Have you seen the video of Youth Dance Week's late night dancing to Tensta's My Cool? http://vimeo.com/groups/danceoncamera/videos/1786406 Also, once I danced contra to a medley of Beatles tunes at Folklife, which had everyone, of all ages, whooping it up.
Sometimes it seems there's quite a tension between the love of oldest traditions, a holding to familiar forms that are neither old nor new, and the desire to experiment with/create new fusion forms like this, gender-neutral calls, the inclusion of swing moves and tunes, etc. I'd love to help our dance communities foster and hold both poles. Have you folks struggled with this tension in your communities? How do you deal with it?
Tina
I hope it's "toot your own horn day" because i'm about to do so
(shamelessly)...
Please check out my original "paper plate" contras for the emerging artists
evening: http://www.folkmads.org/wendy_dances.html
They might be a fit (and a hit!) during an emerging artist-themed evening.
Note: At CDNY's Synergy dance weekend (http://www.cdny.org/Synergy.html) next
month, I'll be exploring these, and other playful dances, that are
influenced by non-"native" dance and music traditions, such as Disco, The
Rockettes, Johnny Cash, Latin, and more.(cross-over contras?)
Good luck with what sounds like a fun evening!
Sincerely,
Wendy Graham
970-903-9402
www.folkmads.org/wendy.htmlwww.facebook.com/perkypants
"feels like some kind of ride but it's turning out just to be life going
absolutely perfect." - StoryPeople
Hi Janet,
That's a neat dance that I'd like to try. I would think the way it's written
(swinging your *next* neighbor) works best since the CA Twirl makes you
change the direction your facing. But since dancers have turned to face back
in the opposite directiona fter the previous two CA Twirls, it may be tough
to "switch modes" and do a regular CA Twirl. I'd have to dance it to see
what that feels like...
Anyway, if you changed the dance to "swing your current neighbor", you'd
lose a progression. You could then swap in the "2x progression" B2 option
you suggested (no roll away) and it would make a regular single progression
dance. Hmm...now I want to try it!
Thanks for sharing!
-Sargon
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 07:24:31 -0400
From: Janet Levatin <jlevatin(a)massmed.org>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] California Twirlin' author
Message-ID: <E5186D70-4924-49AC-85ED-757AE9A86AD5(a)massmed.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Bill,
Thanks for letting me know the square dancing terminology. When I
wrote the dance I was trying to think of a move (or a variation on a
move) that I didn't see used in contra dancing, at least not in dances
I had done.
I think the swing in A2 is fine as the dancers are facing a new
neighbor and have plenty of time for the swing. Someone, like Seth,
who has called the dance a lot may have more feedback on that. If I
remember correctly, I think when he first called it he had the dancers
swing their current neighbor instead of their new neighbors. I'm not
sure how that would work.
Janet
On Sep 1, 2009, at 6:06 AM, Liz and Bill wrote:
> Hi Janet,
>
> An interesting use of California twirl. Looks like a neat dance.
> I'm getting a lot of square dancers
> at my contra dances in New Zealand. In MWSD terminology "California
> twirl and face back in" is
> "California twirl and roll". How do women find the swing coming out
> of the California twirl in A2?
>
> Cheers, Bill
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
It's a great dance, and I've generally not seen problems with the "face
back in" and "face the next" california twirls (though I have a couple
of times had people try to balance before the swing, only to discover
that they didn't have time for the swing. The balance, roll away,
balance, california twirl sequence feels really good, so I would,
personally, hesitate to take it out. If you do try different versions,
though, let us know how it goes. Whenever I've called it, I've had
people come up and comment about what a great dance it is (and callers
asking for a copy).
Jack
At 12:19 PM 9/1/2009, you wrote:
Hi Janet,
That's a neat dance that I'd like to try. I would think the way it's
written
(swinging your *next* neighbor) works best since the CA Twirl makes
you
change the direction your facing. But since dancers have turned to
face back
in the opposite directiona fter the previous two CA Twirls, it may
be tough
to "switch modes" and do a regular CA Twirl. I'd have to dance it to
see
what that feels like...
Anyway, if you changed the dance to "swing your current neighbor",
you'd
lose a progression. You could then swap in the "2x progression" B2
option
you suggested (no roll away) and it would make a regular single
progression
dance. Hmm...now I want to try it!
Thanks for sharing!
-Sargon
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 07:24:31 -0400
From: Janet Levatin <jlevatin(a)massmed.org>
To: Caller's discussion list <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] California Twirlin' author
Message-ID: <E5186D70-4924-49AC-85ED-757AE9A86AD5(a)massmed.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Bill,
Thanks for letting me know the square dancing terminology. When I
wrote the dance I was trying to think of a move (or a variation on a
move) that I didn't see used in contra dancing, at least not in
dances
I had done.
I think the swing in A2 is fine as the dancers are facing a new
neighbor and have plenty of time for the swing. Someone, like Seth,
who has called the dance a lot may have more feedback on that. If I
remember correctly, I think when he first called it he had the
dancers
swing their current neighbor instead of their new neighbors. I'm not
sure how that would work.
Janet
On Sep 1, 2009, at 6:06 AM, Liz and Bill wrote:
> Hi Janet,
>
> An interesting use of California twirl. Looks like a neat
dance.
> I'm getting a lot of square dancers
> at my contra dances in New Zealand. In MWSD terminology
"California
> twirl and face back in" is
> "California twirl and roll". How do women find the swing coming
out
> of the California twirl in A2?
>
> Cheers, Bill
>
> _______________________________________________
> Callers mailing list
> Callers(a)sharedweight.net
> [1]http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
>
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
Callers(a)sharedweight.net
[2]http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
References
1. http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
2. http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
The dance "California Twirlin'" has been travelling all over the country. I've seen multiple versions of the B2, and I've seen the author's name spelled multiple ways. It's something like Janet Leviton or Levinson. Does anyone know Janet? I'd love to get the correct spelling of her name, and her version of the dance.
Thanks,
Lynn
Hi all -- been lurking for awhile, but posting for the first time now. Sorry for any formatting issues I create.
Jo, I like this new dance. I'd been toying with the idea of a reverse-progression improper dance, but never quite got around to implementing it. Your dance seems different, but still accessible. I'm writing it down.
Laila Lewis
>This is a fairly new dance, just written in June. I've called it twice,
and people like it very much. Callers ask me for it afterwards.
It has two quirks, which need to be explained at the beginning. One is
that it is a reverse progression dance. The ones progress up the hall,
the twos progress down.
The other is that when you and your partner progress out of the line,
during A2, you will naturally swing each other at the end of the line.
After you swing, while you are waiting to get back into the dance, the
lady needs to be on the gent's LEFT.
Galena
Duple Improper
Jo Mortland, 2009
Begin in wavy lines of four, ones facing down, twos facing up,
women holding left hands, everyone's neighbor is in their right hand
A1 Balance right and left, slide right
Balance left and right, slide left (as in Rory O'Moore)
A2 with neighbor, allemande right half way and walk forward to the
next neighbor (progression is here)
Swing
B1 Circle left 3 places
Partner swing on the side of the set
B2 Circle left 3 places
With neighbor (the one you swung) do si do to wavy lines of four
________________________________
From: "callers-request(a)sharedweight.net" <callers-request(a)sharedweight.net>
To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 9:00:28 AM
Subject: Callers Digest, Vol 60, Issue 17
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: which hand (Tina Fields)
2. Re: emerging artists (Mortland, Jo)
3. Re: Help with a contra for newbies (Gillian Carney)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:01:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tina Fields <tfields8(a)yahoo.com>
To: callers(a)sharedweight.net
Subject: Re: [Callers] which hand
Message-ID: <215767.71503.qm(a)web180107.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Re: diagramming dances, Jerome suggested some terrific web flash, then wrote,
> And of course, there's always salt and pepper shakers....
then Alan responded,
> I like coins.? (Different denominations for different numbers - pennies,
nickels, dimes, quarters tells you who's who in a square, face-up or face-down
for? gender, and you can have them face one way or the other.)
Me, I like Extreme Visual, No-Tech style. My dirty secret is this: Smurfs. I borrowed a bunch of figurines from a friend, each of which sports a different-colored hat. I have male and female red, blue, and yellow hat couples. The fourth couple is a pair of green toy soldiers, with the one holding his gun up higher in the air designated as male. I walk them around through the dance, noting when each is facing her/his neighbor, etc., when the progression happens, and potential weird effects. It's goofy but it really works.
Tina
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:07:35 -0500
From: "Mortland, Jo" <j-mortland(a)neiu.edu>
To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] emerging artists
Message-ID:
<9B0B0B8FF2328E48930D4B6273C1B261132CEBC6(a)EXNODE2.univ.neiu.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
This is a fairly new dance, just written in June. I've called it twice,
and people like it very much. Callers ask me for it afterwards.
It has two quirks, which need to be explained at the beginning. One is
that it is a reverse progression dance. The ones progress up the hall,
the twos progress down.
The other is that when you and your partner progress out of the line,
during A2, you will naturally swing each other at the end of the line.
After you swing, while you are waiting to get back into the dance, the
lady needs to be on the gent's LEFT.
Galena
Duple Improper
Jo Mortland, 2009
Begin in wavy lines of four, ones facing down, twos facing up,
women holding left hands, everyone's neighbor is in their right hand
A1 Balance right and left, slide right
Balance left and right, slide left (as in Rory O'Moore)
A2 with neighbor, allemande right half way and walk forward to the
next neighbor (progression is here)
Swing
B1 Circle left 3 places
Partner swing on the side of the set
B2 Circle left 3 places
With neighbor (the one you swung) do si do to wavy lines of four
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:08:32 -0400
From: Gillian Carney <gillcarney(a)hotmail.com>
To: <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] Help with a contra for newbies
Message-ID: <COL114-W9CBB61C48C46ECBB239B5C3F50(a)phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Thanks Alan and Lark for the wonderful and positive feedback.
Incidentally, amused to see Cary Ravitz's name in the message following mine - his mother is one of my infrequent dancers who provided me with the loveliest quote. To paraphrase; three hours after the dance I was aching, but found it was my face that was aching because I was still smiling. This is the experience I am used to with my dance group, and the experience I want to bring to the estates contra.
In refering to "real contra", I meant keeping away from set dance or ceili/ceilidh type barn dances which I also call. Nothing against them, but want to emphasize contra. I will be repeating the first session as the second session, and think I can build up to a (one) longways duple improper. But, Alan, thank you so very much for the dances you included.You gave me a lot to consider.
A band member gave me a copy of Good Morning last night, and the estates are working on getting me copies of programmes from dances Ford would have attended. But, I didn't like feeling pushed for time in getting a programme like this together, which is why I asked for help from the list - and I'm glad I did. Thanks, and wish me luck!
Gillian Carney
fortmyersdancers(a)hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________
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End of Callers Digest, Vol 60, Issue 17
***************************************
Re: diagramming dances, Jerome suggested some terrific web flash, then wrote,
> And of course, there's always salt and pepper shakers....
then Alan responded,
> I like coins. (Different denominations for different numbers - pennies,
nickels, dimes, quarters tells you who's who in a square, face-up or face-down
for gender, and you can have them face one way or the other.)
Me, I like Extreme Visual, No-Tech style. My dirty secret is this: Smurfs. I borrowed a bunch of figurines from a friend, each of which sports a different-colored hat. I have male and female red, blue, and yellow hat couples. The fourth couple is a pair of green toy soldiers, with the one holding his gun up higher in the air designated as male. I walk them around through the dance, noting when each is facing her/his neighbor, etc., when the progression happens, and potential weird effects. It's goofy but it really works.
Tina
Lisa Greenleaf is going to give a fantastic callers workshop in Chicago in
October! It's cheap, there are still spaces available!
The music is going to be amazing!
Email me with questions, and let me know to expect your mail! (applications
due soon, but we can be flexible)
Website at: http://fac.uchicago.edu/leadership.html<http://fac.uchicago.edu/leadership.html>
Just wanted to add my 2 cents on Luke's (Lisa's?) dance
I would hesitate to have the last 3 moves in the dance be a partner swing, ladies half-chain, star left, since it seems that more modern contras end with those moves than with any other 3-move combination (eg. The Nice Combination, The Baby Rose to name two) This makes it tough to fit such a dance into a program, if you would like to have other callers call your dance from time to time
If I were trying to finish a dance that had a partner swing (on the gent's original side) in B1, I'd rather go with the slightly less common long lines, ladies half-chain in B2
Mark Widmer
ps I seem to be the only one who thinks the women should do a left allemande in the dance Luke posted -- mainly because of the balance that follows it
Bronwyn made the point that the neighbor can better assist leading into a right-hand allemande, but since the preceeding move is a long-lines-fwd-&-back, I'm not sure that is as important here
That being said, I just don't get to dance the ladies role very often these days, so will defer to a woman's opinion about the best flow for this dance
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:17:39 -0400
From: Bronwyn Woods <woods.bronwyn(a)googlemail.com>
To: "Caller's discussion list" <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
Subject: Re: [Callers] question about flow and feel
Message-ID:
<a8bd02ee0908251417m12d7e671vbb42d90aa5988d9(a)mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I would find a left allemande awkward. For me, the issue comes before the
allemande rather than after. When the ladies are on the right, their
neighbors can assist them into a right allemande. The neighbor cannot
assist into a left allemande, so the ladies have to break the connection to
their neighbor before beginning the figure. This connection is more
important to me than which hand begins a balance.
-Bronwyn
On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 4:59 PM, Luke Donev <luke.donev(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I'm sitting at home writing a contra (they get in my head and won't
> leave me alone till I write them down). I unfortunately don't have a
> closet full of dancers to pull out and test things on, but I've got a
> question about flow.
>
> When the ladies are standing to the right of their neighbor on the
> side of the set, facing their partner, and are going to allemande
> over to their partner for a balance and swing, should it be an
> allemande Right or Left? I feel like the R is more traditional for
> ladies, but an allemande L would leave their R hand free for a
> smoother transition to a balance and swing (I feel lead's L, follow's
> R is a better 1 hand balance to go into a swing with than lead's R,
> follow's L).
>
> To put it in context, consider the following dance:
> Sample dance 1, Improper
> A1: N bal & swg
> A2: long lines, fwd & back
> Ladies Allmnd L 1+ to partner
> B1: ptr bal & swg
> B2: ladies 1/2 chain
> star L 1x, on to next
>
> I think the ladies should allemande L there, but I'd be curious what
> other people think of the flow.
>
> If it was something like going to a R hand R hand balance for a box
> the gnat, it would seem to force the issue, but it seems more open
> when it's just going into a swing. Preferences? Thoughts?
>
> --
> Luke Donev
> http://www.lukedonev.com
> Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
Thanks Alan and Lark for the wonderful and positive feedback.
Incidentally, amused to see Cary Ravitz's name in the message following mine - his mother is one of my infrequent dancers who provided me with the loveliest quote. To paraphrase; three hours after the dance I was aching, but found it was my face that was aching because I was still smiling. This is the experience I am used to with my dance group, and the experience I want to bring to the estates contra.
In refering to "real contra", I meant keeping away from set dance or ceili/ceilidh type barn dances which I also call. Nothing against them, but want to emphasize contra. I will be repeating the first session as the second session, and think I can build up to a (one) longways duple improper. But, Alan, thank you so very much for the dances you included.You gave me a lot to consider.
A band member gave me a copy of Good Morning last night, and the estates are working on getting me copies of programmes from dances Ford would have attended. But, I didn't like feeling pushed for time in getting a programme like this together, which is why I asked for help from the list - and I'm glad I did. Thanks, and wish me luck!
Gillian Carney
fortmyersdancers(a)hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail® is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast.
http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=PID23391::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:…
