The "lady round two and the gent cut through" figure appears in Appalachian
square dancing. Ted Sannella was the first choreographer, to my knowledge, to
bring that figure into a contra dance with his New Friendship Reel, published in
his "Swing the Next" collection, which I highly recommend, along with his
"Balance and Swing," to anyone interested in developing their repertoire of
dances. Both were published by and available from Country Dance and Song
Society.
David Millstone
Lebanon, NH
Re: "Chasing Fire"
Searching
http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/index/index.html
gives a web source of
http://www.grantgoodyear.org/dance/dances.html
I have yet to dance/call this one, so any recommendation
is conditional.
I'm thinking of changing the order of men and women
crossing in the A2, as men are going forward out
of the swing, but haven't made up my mind yet.
-Chris Page
San Diego
I think the confusion here is understanding the "lady around two and the
gent cuts through." The net effect of this sequence is the ones trade
places with their partner. Since it's done twice, they go nowheresville.
And since it ends with a balance and swing, even if they get lost in
the B1, you just need to remind them to end where they started --
with their partner.
(The lady around two and the gent cuts through means woman #1
goes outside around man #2, around woman #2, and into where
her partner started. Man #1 follows his partner to her starting spot,
around man #2, and then goes between the twos into his partner's
staring spot. Think of the whole B1 as a chase sequence, where you
trade off roles between the chaser and the chasee.)
Also, the gypsy in A2 is with your original neighbor.
It's a fun dance to ham up with a strong storyline. Either this
or "Chasing Fire" by Grant Goodyear's on my program for next week.
Cheers,
-Chris Page
San Diego
Hi!
I'm a fledgling caller in Memphis, Tennessee, and I'm looking for
dances to add to my repertoire. I found this one online- "Caught in
the Act" by Donna McAllister/Calhoun, but I'm not sure of the
progression.
http://www.io.com/contradance/sequences/caught-in-the-act.html
The webmaster's email and the link to the author's email are defunct,
I found a couple other sources for the dance, but no contact
information.
A1:
Circle left
Allemande right neighbor 1-1/2
A2:
Allemande left next neighbor once or 2x
Gypsy 1x
Ending gypsy below original neighbor, women facing out and men facing
in
B1:
Chase "lady round two and the gent cut through; gent around two and
the lady cut through"
Active woman walks in a clockwise direction around the inactive
couple above while the active man follows her until he can (and
does!) cut through the inactive couple.
The man now walks clockwise around the couple above, while the woman
follows until she can and does cut through the couple.
B2
Actives balance & swing, end facing down
I tried diagramming it and it seems like a backward progression? At
the end of A2 it has progressed, but during the chase it goes
backwards 2x so you end up with 1's/actives out at the top and
2's/inactives out at the bottom.
Has anyone danced and or called this dance- is it supposed to be a
backward progression?
If I change it minutely, having the #1/active man in the chase
sequence go around the same couple he just split- in other words
moving him around the couple below rather than the next couple above-
then it seems to work out as a single progression. If I called it
with this change, does etiquette demand that I announce the change?
So grateful to have found this list- I was looking at another dance
http://blake.prohosting.com/austinbd/dances/chocolate_swirls.shtml
wondering how to do a "come back cozy" into a cloverleaf and had
given up finding the info- until I found this list with the Squeaking
Wheel thread! Thanks!
Thanks in advance!
Alison Murphy
Memphis TN
Hi Seth,
If the magic number of 20 has not been hit, I'd like to add my name to the list. I can also offer a dancer in Bob if you would like more dancers. Thanks. I have wanted to learn how to call squares!
Andrea
>From: "Tepfer, Seth" <LABST(a)emory.edu>
>Date: 2006/11/27 Mon PM 04:33:13 CST
>To: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com, ChattahoocheeCountryDancers(a)egroups.com,
callers(a)sharedweight.net
>Cc: "<Steve Pike" <swpike(a)facstaff.wisc.edu>,
Duncan Cottrell <duncancottrell(a)yahoo.com>, diane(a)diane-silver.com,
Rob Harper <rah(a)mindspring.com>, barry(a)afn.org, trravelbug(a)yahoo.com,
carole.bennett(a)isye.gatech.edu, joeyboey007(a)yahoo.com,
cwharvey1(a)yahoo.com, "Shepherd, Janet" <Janet.Shepherd(a)galileo.com>,
sprince2(a)tampabay.rr.com, mekirk(a)emory.edu, seth.tepfer(a)emory.edu,
SStanczyk@EssilorUSA.comcontrasue@juno.com, carissa.craven(a)gmail.com,
bmolaro(a)earthlink.net, maureen.kilroy(a)grad.gatech.edu,
Larry & Maureen <le_mk(a)yahoo.com>, clau(a)olin.com,
leslybowers(a)hotmail.com, bobbiejo44(a)earthlink.net,
"Goldring, Marti (USAGAN)" <Marti.Goldring(a)usdoj.gov>,
chinkle(a)mindspring.com, surudder1(a)earthlink.net, mebanec(a)gao.gov,
kimberly.hagen(a)emory.edu,
Christin Whittington <cwhittington(a)mindspring.com>
>Subject: [Callers] Hot Squares weekend
>Save the date: 5th Hot Squares weekend!
>
>
>
>When: July 6-8, 2007
>
>Where: Private home; Atlanta, GA
>
>Who: Dan Sahlstrom, calller
>
>Cost: TBD
>
>Limited to 20 people
>
>What:
>
>
>
>This weekend is devoted to exploring Modern Western (Club) squares in an
>intensive but fun environment. Unlike previous years we will not focus
>on completing Plus or Mainstream levels (though we will probably do most
>of Mainstream). Instead, Dan will pick fun and interesting calls from
>all lists (Basic - Challenge). Also unlike previous years, we will have
>more than the exact number of people, so not all will be required to
>dance every tip.
>
>
>
>2007 will mark the 5th Hot Squares event. We are holding Hot Squares
>2007 in a homey atmosphere with room for two squares. Genders will not
>be balanced. Meals will be home cooked. Fellowship and Camaraderie will
>be plentiful.
>
>
>
>Official registration is not open, but email now to hold your space.
>
>_______________________________________________
>Callers mailing list
>Callers(a)sharedweight.net
>http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
Thank you to everyone who sent thoughtful responses to my one-question
survey, "Under what circumstances is it appropriate for a band to put
out a hat (case, jar, etc. for tips) at a contra dance?"
My reason for asking was to gather information from the greater contra
community that our local
committee may find useful in coming to a policy decision about this issue.
Besides putting the question out to this list, I emailed individual
organizers, callers and musicians from my current dance community in
Gainesville, FL and from my original one in Princeton, NJ. I only
specifically asked those who had been involved in the contra dance scene
longer than the ten years that I have.
I've had 28 serious replies all together; here are the results:
I rated people's answers 1-4, with 1 being never or almost never, 2
being only if they are not being paid otherwise or have some
extraordinary circumstance like being robbed on the way to the dance, 3
being it is or could be okay at a regular dance, and 4 being it's a fine
idea. There was also the reply "Only if they're the ones playing", which
I suspect is actually a 3. There were eleven 1s, ten 2s, six 3s, and one 4.
There's really not enough info to be sure, but it does appear that the
closer one is to either dancing 25 years ago or to dancing in the
northeast the less likely to reply with a 3-rated answer.
My own opinion would rate a 2.
Thanks again,
Tara
>From: Tara Bolker <tara(a)p2c2e.net>
> Under what circumstances is it appropriate for a band to put out a
> hat (case, jar, etc., for tips) at a contra dance?
>
Here in southern California, the gas prices are exceptionally high, the pay
for musicians and callers is usually low, and driving distances can be far.
When the band comes in from outside the local dance community, the series
producer or band sometimes puts out a hat for tips to help cover the travel
expenses. Dancers often contribute appreciatively.
Jeremy Korr, east of Los Angeles
_________________________________________________________________
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The following is somewhat off-topic, but the people on this list
represent such range of contra experience that I thought it should be
worth a try...
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: contra dance related question
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2006 11:05:32 -0500
From: Tara Bolker <tara(a)p2c2e.net>
Hello musicians, callers and organizers,
I'm taking a one-question survey from people who have been around the
contra scene for a while--I hope you can take a moment to give me your
opinion.
Under what circumstances is it appropriate for a band to put out a
hat (case, jar, etc., for tips) at a contra dance?
Thanks,
Tara
I have never seen this.
Some dances have a fiddle case open collecting admissions, and sometimes as informal as "$X dollars in cash or barter". Some dances are "bought out" by sponsors, and an optional donation is solicited to help defray expenses.
I have seen optional collections for the "Floor refinishing fund" or whatever.
But (happily) I have never, ever, seen a collection for tips.
Dan
____________________________________________________________________________________
Cheap talk?
Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates.
http://voice.yahoo.com
> Tara asked:
> Under what circumstances is it appropriate for a band to put out a
> hat (case, jar, etc., for tips) at a contra dance?
>
In Louisville, where I used to live, the weekly (Monday night) pick-up
band is paid from a tip jar, which sits on the table where admission
is paid. The organizer and main player of that group gets a guaranteed
amount (separate from the jar) while all others are willing
volunteers. I'm not suggesting this is ideal, but it does seem to work
on some level. The musicians are definitely there for the love of the
activity. The level of musicianship among the individual players is
variable, ranging from "very fine" to "needs practice."
The monthly Saturday night dance ("name" bands) pays a guaranteed
amount to the band out of the admission proceeds and no tip jar is
used.
In Brasstown NC, I've seen a jar on the stage and dancers paid their
admission fee on an honor system. I don't know if that was for that
night only or standard routine.
--
Jerome Grisanti
660-528-0858
660-528-0714
http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
