--- Alison wrote:
Is a cloverleaf turn single always ladies over left and gents over right
--- end of quote ---
Not necessarily. In English country dancing, unless otherwise specified, a "set
and turn single" call will have dancers turning to the right. But the cloverlead
turn single depends on where you are when you start the move. Some background,
first....
In Handsome Young Maids, as has been mentioned earlier in this thread by others,
Sue Rosen incorporated several moves from English country dancing. The opening
figure is similar to movements found the English dance Dublin Bay, and the "turn
single" is a common figure that appears in numerous English dances, with the
"cloverleaf turn single" appearing more commonly in recent choreography.
"Set and turn single" is perhaps one of the most common basic figures in the
English country dance (ECD) repertoire, but there are many classic English
dances with the turn single by itself. Thus, at the end of the A2 part of Jack's
Health, as pairs of dancers come toward each other, there's a cloverleaf turn
single with men turning left and women turning right.
In Handsome Young Maids, at the end of A2, everyone is back in their starting
position, with hands joined in a ring. Instead of setting, we have a balance the
circle for the same number of beats, followed by the turn single. In this case,
the men loop over their right shoulder and women over their left shoulder. The
Ones are facing down and as they draw back with their inside shoulder toward the
outside to start the turn single, they're rotating to face each other before
moving to the outside. The Twos, who are facing up at the start, are doing
something similar as they turn down and away from each other. So, for both
couples, there's a nice moment of partner interaction before meeting your
neighbor at the end of the turns. (There are also great opportunities for eye
contact with dancers in adjacent sets who are turnout out of their set at the
same time as you are. Note-- the turn in this dance is slight less than a full
turn, which means dancers need to take even smaller steps or, if there's room in
the hall, even wider loops. I like the dance, but for that reason rarely call it
if it's a crowded hall.
David
P.S. Alison, maybe you can locate some English country dancing in the Memphis
area, or make arrangements to get to a weekend or weeklong camp at John C.
Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, or to Berea, KY, for Christmas Country
Dance School. You'll have a great opportunity at either place to learn ECD, and
then a whole wonderful world awaits. I often say that our best dancing comes
when we're doing contras and squares with skilled English country dancers, or
English with strong contra dancers!
We danced this at Memfest this year with George Marshall and Wild Asparagus. (Not sure how many other dances there could be with the backing up in lines of 4 and the turn single, surely it's this one?) I'm glad to know now what this move is called as I really enjoyed it, and this dance.
But, I'm not remembering it taking up an entire 4 counts in this dance. The music, calling, and space all played into that. Nobody minds getting into a neighbor balance and swing a bit early; lines were cramped. I know my partner and I had fun rolling off each others shoulders and into the arms of a neighbor. But that was just my point of view. Maybe some others we danced with were frustrated by the lack of space.
At the end of A1 you are backing up (beep. beep. beep.) and there is a bit of a pause with the dancers as they remember to back up and then bend the line in a slightly different formation. Maybe if you called the last 8 counts of A1 as, "up the hall, turn alone, BACK-UP the hall into a ring" you would have the 4 counts in A2 for a statelier cloverleaf single.
JMHO
Alison in Memphis
-- Nancy Turner <nancyturner(a)madriver.com> wrote:
Hi All,
Two questions.
First, I'm looking at Sue Rosen's Handsome Young Maids and it
includes a Clover-leaf turn single (Ladies turn over left shoulder,
Gents Rt). In this move, it appears that both the ladies and the
gents spin around themselves, with the ladies going around their left
shoulders while the gents go around the right shoulders... they then
meet for a balance and swing. Is this right? Here's the dance, so
you can see it in context:
A1: Lines of 4:
Down 4 steps, turn alone
Rejoin line, 4 steps down (going backwards)
Up 4 steps, turn alone
Up 4 steps (backwards)
A2: Bend the line, cirlce left 1x, balance the ring
Clover-leaf turn single
B1: Neighbor B&Swing
B2: LLFB, One's only Partner Swing
(end facing down between new Neighbors)
Second question: I'm looking for a copy of Sa-Sa-La-Do. Does anyone
know it?
Thanks very much,
Nancy Turner
Vermont
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David,
Is a cloverleaf turn single always ladies over left and gents over right- because I am remembering that in this dance the turning is- inside shoulders towards the outside of the set- which would be ladies over their right and gents over their left.
Alison confused in Memphis
-- Nancy Turner <nancyturner(a)madriver.com> wrote:
Hi All,
Two questions.
First, I'm looking at Sue Rosen's Handsome Young Maids and it
includes a Clover-leaf turn single (Ladies turn over left shoulder,
Gents Rt). In this move, it appears that both the ladies and the
gents spin around themselves, with the ladies going around their left
shoulders while the gents go around the right shoulders... they then
meet for a balance and swing. Is this right?
I learned "Handsome Young Maids" from Lisa Ornstein, who called the move
"flirt and twirl." The descriptions by other callers addressed the steps,
but I believe this name addresses the attitude. Not that I'm a flirt.
--
Jerome Grisanti
660-528-0858
660-528-0714
http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
--- Alison wrote:
Nobody minds getting into a neighbor balance and swing a bit early
--- end of quote ---
Well, actually, some of us DO mind. ;-)
-----
A2: Bend the line, cirlce left 1x, balance the ring
Clover-leaf turn single
B1: Neighbor B&Swing
-----
That's 8 counts for the circle left, 4 to balance the ring, 4 to turn single,
arriving just in time for the neighbor balance right at the start of the B
music.
David "Okay, Call Me a Curmudgeon" Millstone
Chris provided a thoughtful and thorough answer to Nancy's questions. I'd just
add that for this particular dance, you'll want to have plenty of space along
the lines to do the cloverleaf turn single. Each dancer is making a loop, and if
the neighboring sets along the line are too close to each other it's hard for
dancers to make those loops large enough to use up the four beats allotted for
the figure.
David Millstone
Hi All,
Two questions.
First, I'm looking at Sue Rosen's Handsome Young Maids and it
includes a Clover-leaf turn single (Ladies turn over left shoulder,
Gents Rt). In this move, it appears that both the ladies and the
gents spin around themselves, with the ladies going around their left
shoulders while the gents go around the right shoulders... they then
meet for a balance and swing. Is this right? Here's the dance, so
you can see it in context:
A1: Lines of 4:
Down 4 steps, turn alone
Rejoin line, 4 steps down (going backwards)
Up 4 steps, turn alone
Up 4 steps (backwards)
A2: Bend the line, cirlce left 1x, balance the ring
Clover-leaf turn single
B1: Neighbor B&Swing
B2: LLFB, One's only Partner Swing
(end facing down between new Neighbors)
Second question: I'm looking for a copy of Sa-Sa-La-Do. Does anyone
know it?
Thanks very much,
Nancy Turner
Vermont
>From a left-hand balance, a man can lift his left hand over his head and
lead the woman's left hand onto his right shoulder. Ron Buchanan taught this
styling at the (lamentably late) Celebration Dance weekend in Indianapolis
in July 2003.
Mange Tak
*By Ron Buchanan*
Improper Contra
A1:
Neighbors balance by Left hand & swing
A2:
Face across, pass thru to an ocean wave (ladies in middle, *neighbor* in
other hand),
Balance, Allemande Right neighbor ½, men pull by Left, allemande Right
partner ¾
B1:
Allemande Left shadow 1x
Swing partner
B2:
Face across, pass thru to an ocean wave (ladies in middle, *Partner* in
other hand),
Balance, Allemande Right partner ½, men pull by Left, allemande Right
neighbor ¾ to new neighbor.
(Shadow is on your left diagonal at start of the dance)
***
And returning to the original idea of figures that use a balance in a
(hands-across) star, here's one of my favorite dances:
Catch a Falling Star *By Melanie Axel-Lute*
Contra - Improper easy-med
A1
(16) Neighbors balance and swing
A2
(8) Circle left 3/4
(8) Partners swing
B1
(8) Long lines go forward and back
(8) Hands across right-hand star
B2
(4) Balance the star
(4) Ladies trade places with a half gypsy,
while the gents turn single left
(8) Hands across left-hand star
*Editor's Notes:*
Turn single left: walk a loop over your left shoulder, ending up where you
started. The term is from English Country dancing.
--Jerome
--
Jerome Grisanti
660-528-0858
660-528-0714
http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
Jerome Grisanti's use of the "hands-across grip in several dances where
there is a
'balance the star' move before or after turning the star" immediately
brought to mind Michael McKernan's "Daybreak Reel" (which was often called
just before breakfast at the dawn dances that used to take place at the
beautiful old hall on Number 10 pond in Calais, Vermont).
Daybreak Reel, by Michael McKernan
(Duple Improper)
A1: Allemand L below 1-1/2; women dosido
A2: Men balance, dosido, allemand R 1-1/4 to form wave by joining L hands
with partners
B1: Balance wave, swing partners
B2: Women chain 1/2 to R-hands across star position; turn star 1/2 and
look for next neighbor
Following David Millstone's suggestion, went to David Smukler's discussion
of Dandy's Hornpipe at
http://www.davidsmukler.syracusecountrydancers.org/dandies.htm which was
so intriguing that it was hard to resist trying yet another tweaked
version. This is a totally spur-of-the moment conception with no time
spent researching, so if it's already been done, my apologies for
reinventing someone else's wheel. Comments and suggestions would be
extremely welcome.
Handy Dandy
(Duple Proper)
A1: Long lines forward and back; actives turn by R hand 1/2, allemand L
neighbor (till women are facing in again--will be less than a full turn in
men's line)
A2: Ladies chain over and back
B1: Star L; star R with NEXT couple down
B2: Actives swing; end facing up and cast off with original neighbor
If A1 is too rushed, what about
A1: Actives turn by R 1-1/2; allemand L neighbor, etc?
Don't know whether you'd want to direct beginning callers to this, but folks on
this list might also enjoy the articles by Richard Powers, including this one on
teaching dances:
http://socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/teaching_tips.htm
His particular field of expertise is teaching vintage social dances, not
particularly aimed at contras, and much of what he says here is aimed at people
who will be teaching in a class setting, not at a public dance. Nonetheless, he
is an experienced dance teacher and has much of value to offer.
David Millstone
