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Some of my better dances. With time and testing, I'll add more -- see the what's new page. Or read my other dance sequences.
The virtues of this page rests upon many thanks. (The flaws are all mine.) Thanks go to all the previous composers who helped create our tradition, and upon whose shoulders I stand. Also to Bob Isaacs, a friend and mentor with whom to discuss choreography and check my most bizarre sequences. And to the dance communities of San Diego and Philadelphia and elsewhere that have graciously endured being research subjects. And all the other callers who have helped shape my understanding of contra dance, as well as Mary Dart, who organized a lot of said discussion in her thesis.
I would also very much like to thank Lynn Ackerson and John Nance, for going over the original versions of these pages in detail, and catching many mistakes and unclear bits.
For a list of my notational peculiarities, see here.
Scatter mixers are a fairly unexplored area of choreographic space. They're worth investigating as they can't accidentally break down, because they intentionally and repeatedly do so. Individual scatter mixers have a bonus bonus -- you don't need a partner in case of gender imbalance. If you're left out one time through the dance, you just jump in again. The matching weakness is that bored couples can conveniently leave mid-dance.
Their lack of structure may make it harder for dancers to keep to the phrase. In a contra dance, the actual framework / lattice of the formation helps regulate when moves start. If it takes 8 counts to circle left, most people will know when to start the next move. The late people will see the visual clue of neighboring circles out of the side of their eyes. Any offsets in timing are quickly noticed when it's time to progress.
But in a scatter mixer, the only references for starting a move are the music and the caller. So you may find yourself single-word prompting for a much longer period of time. Or you could treat it more like a western square, prompting throughout the dance and being flexible with the phrasing and when moves begin.
One last warning. Unless you're on the safety of a raised stage, there's a good chance some assertive dancer will sweep you into the mixer melee. So watch out.
Accretion ReelA1 Balance ring [1] Turn away individually [2] Scatter promenade individually A2 Gypsy someone [3] [4] Swing same B1 Scatter promenade as couples [5] B2 In groups of couples, circle left [6] Circle right
The dance I consider my best. Usable both for non-dancing crowds, and with regular contra groups.
I wrote it after attending a contra dance with a number of beginners that kept breaking down over and over and over. On the way back, I thought what would have worked (a dance that intentionally broke down each time), and came up with a dance that I kept refining and simplifying down to this. It was partly also inspired by Ted Sannella's "Ted's Solo Mixer" and the scatter mixer "Set a' Crochet."
The dance's name came from ideas of planetary system formation, where larger and larger chunks of matter spiral inwards from gravity, accreting to form planetisemals, and then planets. The analogy goes bad where everybody separates every thirty seconds, but you could just consider that a periodic supernova event.
After having danced this, the A1/A2 feels sort of like the rush of looking for a partner, though here the commitment's only for 20 seconds. Kind of reminiscent of the cabeceo of tango.
Videos: (#1)
These are dances that would not exist without another's particular dance sequence to tweak. While they're more than just replacing "Nice Combination's" balance-and-swing with do-si-do-and-swing, they still rest squarely on specific earlier compositions.
A1 Neighbor do-si-do Neighbor swing A2 Long lines forward and back Ladies chain B1 Balance ring Men roll away neighbor (across) Partner swing (on other side) B2 Partner promenade Circle left 3/4 Pass through
Obviously, an adaptation of "Roll Eleven" by Sue Rosen and Larry Jennings. I saw "Roll Eleven" as a schizophrenic dance -- the A2 and B1 sequence was a gentle and forgiving entry into the distinctive roll-away to swing transition. But the B2 and A1 sequence had a very tight timing, making the dance not work well with beginners. After seeing one too many beginner couples crash on the circle left 3/4 -- California twirl -- circle left 1/2 transition, I ripped out the B2 and A1 and replaced them with something more forgiving.
(There's an interesting bit of folk process in the name. "Roll Eleven" was based on an earlier dance, "Number 11" by Mike Richardson. To create "Roll Eleven", the authors kept the pieces they really liked (B2 and A1), and replaced the original A2 and B1, which included a down-the-hall and a third circle left. Then I came around and destroyed the B2 and A1, removing any bit of the original "Number 11." Yet remnants of the title still live on.)
Sanders' Swing
1A1 Shift left
Circle left 3/4 with next neighbors
Neighbor swing
1A2 Ladies chain
Star left
1B1 Star right
Swinging star [1]
1B2 Women swing, men drop out on original side [2]
Partner swing
2A1 Shift left [3]
Circle left 3/4 with next neighbors
Neighbor swing
2A2 Ladies chain
Star left
2B1 Star right
Swinging star
2B2 Men swing, women drop out on original side
Partner swing
I was really impressed with a dance written by Jeff Kaufman, "Good Morning Mr. Sanders," but kept tweaking and poking at it. The most significant change was making the same-gender swings alternate, but there are a few other bits and pieces.
This is a fairly non-threatening same-gender swing for the men, as the choreography forces it to be a cross-armed swing at arm's length.
A1 (new) Men allemande left 1 & 1/2 [1] Partner star promenade Counterclockwise (normal) butterfly whirl A2 Women gypsy right 1 Partner swing B1 Right and left through Women allemande right 1 & 1/2 B2 Neighbor star promenade [2] Clockwise butterfly whirl [3] [4] Neighbor swing
My first popular dance, and one of my co-authored dances.
Chinese New YearA1 Balance long waves Rotate the wave/box circulate [2] Balance long waves Rotate the wave/box circulate [3] A2 Balance long waves Rotate the wave/box circulate [2] Partner swing B1 Circle left 3/4 Neighbor swing B2 Long lines forward and back Square through (right-hand balance partner, pull right by partner, left by neighbor) to long waves [4]
Written for Joyce Fortune of the Bay Area, won at the auction of the 2010 Spring Fever dance camp at Monte Toyon, CA. She requested a dance with long lines, some balances, and a swing/circle/swing transition. (A surprisingly tough set of requirements to fulfill.) This sequence was the option she liked best.
Double Cat BounceA1 Neighbor balance Neighbor swing A2 Half ricochet hey (ML, PR, W push-back) [1] Partner swing [2] B1 Ladies chain Half ricochet hey (WR, PL, M push-back) [3] B2 Circle right 3/4 Neighbor allemande left 1 & 1/2
While inspired by the signature transition of Nathaniel Jack's "Dead Cat Bounce," it felt more like a starting point than a simple re-editing.
The starting figure for the A1 is a bit problematic. I stole the mirror image of B2 from "Delphiniums and Daisies," assuming the timing would work out fine. The trouble is that in "Delphiniums and Daisies," the B2 is proceeded by a swing, so it'll start a bit late. In "Double Cat Bounce," the B2 is preceeded by a 3-pass ricochet hey, so it'll start a bit early. The upshot is that dancers will likely finish the B2 about one or two beats early. You can either let them add a free spin at the end of the dance to use up time, or convert the A1 into a neighbor gypsy and swing, allowing a blurrier transition. In the end it depends upon the music.
And speaking of music, I've noticed that slower tempos tend to exacerbate this problem, leaving dancers with more idle time at the end of the B2.
Here and ThereA1 Neighbor balance Neighbor swing A2 Down the hall in a line of four, face across Ladies chain B1 Women allemande right 1 [1] Partner swing B2 Up the hall in a line of four, face across Circle left 3/4 Pass through to next
The first dance I ever wrote on request. One of our local callers, JoAnn Koppany, was planning on calling an all-California-callers program of dance for her Shepherdstown, WV gig. And she was looking to fill a second-slot hole that included a down-the-hall, didn't start with a neighbor balance or do-si-do, was improper, symmetric, didn't have a circle left, couldn't have a full ladies chain, included a neighbor and partner swing, was simple, and also original from all other dances. After two bad attempts, I wrote the above, except starting with a neighbor gypsy, and ending with a partner promenade three-quarters around, facing the next. (That version is called "Shepherdstown Special.") But I think the above version is cleaner.
This dance requires more room below than a standard down-the-hall dance, because after going down the hall you need room to do contra figures. You can't just have the lines pile up in a sandwich against the back wall.
Jess's ReelA1 Circle left 1 Neighbor swing A2 Long lines forward and back Ones gypsy right 1, woman one faces out [1] B1 Ones: Lady around two and the gent cuts through [2] Ones: Gent around two and the lady cuts through B2 Ones balance Ones swing, face next neighbors
Typically I alternate this between the ones and the twos, like Jim Kitch's "Alternating Corners."
This was written after watching dancers really enjoy a more complicated dance with the chase figure. So I looked for the simplest expression I could of the figure. It's similar to Melanie Axel-Lute's "Thieves Without Honor" by virtue of convergent evolution.
Named for a cousin who's done some contra dancing in her past.
Path to the PastA1 Down the hall in a line of four Centers (twos) turn as a couple, ends turn alone Up the hall in a line of four, face across A2 Same-sex right and left through with N1 [2] Same-sex right and left through with N2 [3] B1 Balance ring Petronella turn Partner swing B2 Balance ring Petronella turn Neighbor N2 swing, face down
This is the more elegant but complex version of "Another for the Money." It teaches dancers both positions of a same-sex right and left through while still fitting modern sensibilities. (Two swings, all-active.)
PatienceA1 Long lines forward and back [1] [2] Men allemande left 1 & 1/2 A2 Partner something and swing [3] B1 Partner promenade Women allemande right 1 & 1/2 B2 Neighbor whatever and swing [3]
I'd learned about the partner choice/neighbor choice swing concept from Bob Isaacs, which is when the caller leaves it up to the dancers on how to negotiate a 16-count swing. For a neighbor choice swing, it helps to have significant pre-swing neighbor interaction to size each other up. This dance lacks that, though you do spend 24 seconds in the same minor set before swinging. The optional roll-away gives more neighbor interaction.
This particular sequence was written for an April Fool's dance, where I wanted a double choice swing dance simple enough to fit in the first slot. This sequence may already exist, but I haven't run across it during a casual literature check. And most long-swing beginner dances follow the form of:
A1 Neighbor swing A2 Someone cross the set B1 Partner swing B2 ProgressPinball Petronellas
A1 Men allemande left 1 & 1/2 [1] Neighbor right-hand balance Two-person petronella turn 1 & 1/2, face N2 [2] A2 Neighbor N2 right-hand balance [3] Two-person petronella turn [4] Half hey (N2 pull by L, WR, PL, MR) B1 Neighbor N2 balance Neighbor N2 swing B2 Circle left 3/4 Partner swing
I've been interested in the two-person Petronella figure as first used in modern contras in "Country Doctor's Reel." It's inspired a few others -- I'm aware of "What's Up Doc?" by Ron Buchanan, and "Fiona Storming Across Asia" by Susan Kevra. This is my contribution -- adding the "Fiddleheads" effect of petronella turns into another minor set.
Square Deal
A1 Circle left 3/4
Neighbor N1 swing
A2 Right diagonal ladies chain to shadow [1]
Star left 1
B1 Square through (right-hand balance partner, pull
right by partner, left by neighbor N2, repeat all that)
B2 Partner balance
Partner swing
This is the end result of thinking about a number of other partner square-through on the side dances. The original, "The Third Time's the Charm" by Roger Diggle, had some parts where I wasn't happy with the timing or the crowding in the center. Then I found a very nice fix-up, "Free the French Four", also by Roger Diggle.
It's a great dance, but I kept thinking about ways to include a neighbor swing. Erik Weberg wrote one called "Stir Crazy." "Square Deal" is my attempt at the same theme.
I prefer simpler dances to more complex dances, as contra is about being in the moment, not about a mental exercise. But sometimes I come up with a complex idea that can't be expressed simply yet still might deserve treatment. Hence, this section.
A1 Circle left 3/4 [2]
Neighbor swing
A2 Balance ring
Petronella turn
Balance ring
Petronella turn
B1 Hands-across star left 3/4
Men walk forward to next star while
women allemande left 1/4 [3] [4]
Hands-across star left 1
B2 Partner balance
Partner swing
The star-to-star transition is like "Susie's Reel" by David Kaynor, but unlike "Susie's Reel," you don't go into the multi-set interlocking action directly out of a swing. This makes it much more forgiving.
Note the co-authorship of this dance.
SerendipityA1 Women allemande right 1 & 1/2 Neighbor swing A2 Circle left 3/4 Partner allemande right 1 & 1/2 to long waves (men face in) B1 Balance long waves (4) Rotate the wave/box circulate (3) [1] Neighbor allemande right 1/4 to short waves of four (women in center) (1) Balance short waves (4) All drop hands, walk forward to next wave (3) New neighbor allemande right 1/4 to long waves (men face in) (1) B2 Balance long waves Rotate the wave/box circulate [2] Partner swing
Named because this sequence started life as a four-face four, turned into a square, mutated into a keeper square, and briefly flirted with becoming a grid square, until I realized I had a "simple" contra.
While this dance has gotten good feedback, be warned it is rather clockwise. I'm working on a rewrite of the A1/A2 to fix this problem. Check back in a month or so.
Videos: (#1)
SwingCatcher
A1 (new) Men allemande left 1 & 1/2
Half hey (PR,WL,NR,ML) [1]
A2 Partner balance
Partner swing
B1 Ladies chain
Long lines forward
and back, while women roll away N1
B2 Neighbor N0 swing
Neighbor N1 swing
This started as a test dance for a shadow-to-partner swing dance I needed for a medley. It turned out a better one already existed. ("Ten Strings Attached") But I kept the original test dance.
In writing this sequence I was influenced by Bob Isaacs's discussions on neighbor sequences. In this dance you size up your neighbor via standard interactions (hey, chain) before navigating the B2 transitions, which are challenging to do well.
When teaching this dance, I first have everyone turn around and introduce themselves to N0 behind them.
I've since bumped this up to the complex dance section, as while intermediate dancers can get through it fine, it only really shines with dancers who have a good sense of timing and connection, to bring out the most of the roll-swing-swing transitions.
There's a lot of unexplored choreographic space with four-face-fours, as you've got twice as many people to work with. You can put in just about any 32-beat-or-less square dance figure in it. And that's just a subset of what you can do.
---First couples--- [1] ---Second couples---
A1 Forward and back Partner swing continues
Partner promenade halfway [2] Forward and back
A2 Give+take to man's side [3] Partner promenade halfway
Neighbor swing Give+take to man's side
B1 Ladies chain Neighbor swing
Ladies chain Ladies chain [4]
B2 Women allemande right 1/2 (4) Ladies chain (8) [5]
Partner swing (4)
Partner swing continues (8) Women allemande right 1/2 (4)
Partner swing (4)
A canon is when everyone is doing the same thing, just not simultaneously. "Contra Canon" is an eight-beat canon, where half the dancers are eight beats behind the other half. It's metaphorically similar to singing a song in rounds.
Pat Shaw wrote several amazing dance canons. "John Tallis's Canon" demonstrated how it could work. "Nibs Goes West" (a partial canon) showed how to get partner interaction. These inspired a 4-beat canon of my own, and then the above 8-beat canon.
In this dance, I call half the dancers "first couples" and the other half "second couples." These labels are arbitrary -- I could have instead used "head couples" and "side couples." If you think up better nomenclature, I'd love to hear from you.
In any starting line of four, one of the couples is "first couple" and the other is the "second couple." They essentially do not interact with each other. (There's some subtle stuff, like joining in the star.) All the action is done with the other same-numbered couple in the other line of four.
At the ends, couples should just turn around and face back in. They should not trade places. That way they do not change roles.
Teaching: This dance introduces some very unfamiliar concepts. It definitely needs walkthroughs with two sets of neighbors, to get through the concept that roles do not change, though locations do. Right now, I'm also first walking it through for just the first couples, as the second couples stand still. Then the same for the second couples, though that part I hope to eventually drop. That's a minimum of three walkthroughs, a very worrying number.
Prompting: It's not easy. Calling this was the first time I'd had to read from a card in years. You need to call two dances in the timespace of one. I use beats three through eight of the previous phrase, like "Second couples promenade, first couples give and take." I also recommend calling the second couples' actions before the first. This way you repeat the same instruction twice in a row, which makes memorization less painful.
The roughest patch of prompting is the first half of the B2. Right now my solution is to call "Women star right halfway" in the last four beats of the B1. Then on beats 1-4 of the B2 immediately say "firsts swing, seconds (courtesy) turn," followed by "second women allemande right half" in beats 5-8.
The Dancer's Duty
A1 Lines of four forward and back
Opposite (person across from you) allemande right 1 & 3/4
to position of a wave of eight
A2 Half hey for eight, start by pulling past that person by right
B1 Original opposite swing [1] [2]
B2 Circle left 1/2 in groups of four [3]
Partner swing, face next
I really liked the idea of Erik Hoffman's "Major Hey," but wasn't happy with its extra 16-count piece. I then ran across "The Devil's Duty" by Al Olson in the back of Zesty Contras, and realized it was exactly what I was looking for. Except both swings end in the middle of the phrase. The above is a simple fix-up. I also changed the entry into the hey -- in the original dance, you turned away from the neighbor you allemanded in order to start the hey, as in "The Astonished Archaeologist." (ECD dance by Phillipe Callens.) But that requires extra teaching to tell people at the ends which way to loop.
The name has no intended meaning, even though I could pretend it did and people would think deeply while trying to come with a better answer than I could ever imagine. But the truth is I was trying to tweak the original name of "Devil's Duty," narrowed the choices to Angel or Dancer, flipped a coin, and Nevada it was.
Another similar fix for this dance is "Devil's Dervish," written by Linda Leslie.
Piston PousettesA1 Forward and back Right and left through [1] A2 Star left Circle left [2] B1 Half pousette hey (centers, ends, centers, ends) [3] B2 Balance ring of four [4] Partner swing
It's possible to patch in a neighbor swing, at the cost of making this significantly less forgiving:
Piston Pousettes Plus by Chris Page Four-face-four A1 Men pull by left Neighbor (opposite) swing A2 Ladies chain to partner Circle left [2] B1 & B2 as above
A forgotten dance form with many difficulties, most significantly that modern dancers have no experience with them. It's something I'm poking around with. For progressions and technical notes, see this link. Those notes only describe single-progression triple minors, however.
TLC Tempest
A1 Partner balance
Partner swing
A2 Down the hall in a line of six, turn as couples
Up the hall. Sides face across. Ones (centers) face right [4]
B1 Three ladies chain: [5]
Women 1 and Woman 2 chain (4)
Woman 2 and Woman 3 chain (4)
Woman 3 and Woman 1 chain (4)
Woman 1 and Woman 2 chain (4)
B2 Three ladies chain continues:
Woman 2 and Woman 3 chain (4)
Woman 3 and Woman 1 chain (4 or 8)
Partner gypsy left (8 or 4)
Ones lead down to next side couples (4) [6]
while twos and threes partner gypsy left (4 or 8) [7]
The three-ladies chain figure is a traditional western square dance figure from the first half of the 20th century. (Now watchable on Youtube.) In that context, the number one couple would lead out to the right, and interact with both side couples simultaneously.
For a triple minor, this dance is rather forgiving. It has a piece count of four, a forgiving progression, and a long partner swing. And it's all-active, except for waiting out once or twice at the top/bottom.
For the teaching, you never need give the numbers of the side couples. Just call them "side couples."
(This dance was revised in December 2011 to clean up the progression. The original version had the progression in the middle of the down-the-hall.)
Wagon ReelA1 Twos and threes (side couples) balance ring [3] Man two and man three trade places [4] Ones swing twos, face across [5] A2 Lines of three forward and back [6] Wagon wheel clockwise 3/4 [7] B1 Partner gypsy Partner swing B2 Down the hall in a line of six [8] Ends turn as couples, centers (ones) turn alone Up the hall Bend the line and face across [9]
There's a number of square dance figures called "Wagon Wheel." This particular one I got from a "Forward Up Six and Six Fall Back" variant called "Wagon Wheel." (See "On the Beat With Ralph Sweet" for details.) It could be thought of as a kind of gypsy star for six.
As I've started learning to call squares in a region pretty well unfamiliar with them, I'm looking hard for very simple breaks that a) require almost no teaching time, and b) cover any swing deficit in the main figure of the square. I really doubt any of these are original, but I'm including them in hopes that others might find them useful in their own crusades.
Petronella Swing Break
A1 Balance the ring (all 8)
Petronella turn
Corner swing
A2 Balance the ring (all 8)
Petronella turn
Next corner swing ("someone new")
B1 Balance the ring (all 8)
Petronella turn
Next corner swing
B2 Balance the ring (all 8)
Petronella turn
Partner swing
As long as they know petronella turns and who their corner is, they're set to go. If they're aware of the concept that a corner is a place rather than a face, then there's no need to walk through any of this.
This is a quick way to swing everyone. Men go nowhere, women go around the square.