San Diego, CA

June 20, 2014

Band: Old Twine String Band

(Jeff Bratt, Drew Leavens, JoAnn Koppany, Martha Wild)

Theme night: Stars


  Dance Name Author Variants/comments
1 Spring Fever Tony Parkes  
2 Back-Up Plan Justin Kauker and Bob Isaacs  
3 Rod's Grits Bill Olson  
4 T.A.G. Roger Whynot 4-couple set
5 The Fair Maid Cary Ravitz  
6 Texas Star Traditional Square
Circle/swing break
7 Stellar Evolution Me  
Break
8 Something Borrowed Me Triple minor
9 Binary Shift Me/Bob Isaacs  
10 Fiddling With the Stars Al Olson  
11 Propeller Promenade Rick Mohr  
12 Sanders' Swing Me  

A theme night, of different ways stars are used in contra dances. All told there were twenty stars, two gypsy stars, one swinging star, one star through, one star promenade, and zero heys.

  1. Spring Fever: A nice beginner dance, where I talked about the star to promenade transition.
  2. Back-Up Plan: The only dance without a star. But it's a simple dance with a gypsy star with a star through thrown in for good luck. It still was challenging for the crowd at that point in the night.
  3. Rod's Grits: Easier filler, which does have the star to pull by transition.
  4. T.A.G.: I had to do Venus&Mars stars. This was the most feasible way. I did the version where at the end of the dance, the top couple or two could sneak in a swing.
  5. The Fair Maid (revised): The "For Nancy Hanssen" figure, where a pair of dancers casts out of the star, only to re-enter it.
  6. Texas Star: Star promenade, in a situation where "star promenade" actually includes the star.
  7. Stellar Evolution: Written to fill a program hole, this is my take on the star to gypsy star transition.
  8. Something Borrowed: I wanted to do the scatter mixer "Borrowdale Exchange/Kentucky Circle", with the pulling people under stars, but I had too many non-contras. So instead I did a perfectly ordinary triple minor.
  9. Binary Shift: The twin dance to "Hopscotch Reel". Here women walk forward from one star to the next.
  10. Fiddling With the Stars: After a neighbor swing, the ones split and go to different stars, then allemande over to the other star.
  11. Propeller Promenade: A very nice (but rarely done) Rick Mohr dance, going from star to promenade the set, back into a star.
  12. Sanders' Swing: And a swinging star to end the evening.

Some dances that sadly didn't fit: "Al's Safeway Produce," "Bill Bailey (Melanie Axel-Lute)," "Bootleg Three alternate," "Catch a Falling Star," "Coray's Silver Jubilee," "Double Mud Pig," "Double Trouble (Bob Isaacs)," "Four on the Floor," "Hula La (Martha Wild)," "Judah Jig," "Lights at Dawn," "My Hungarian Gypsy Star," "Mad Scatter," "Rod's Quad #2," "Spinout," "Star Chase," "Starburst," "Tollway Trio (Diane Burton)," "Voyager (Luke Donforth)," "Yearning for Peace," and too many squares to count, especially an allemande thar break.

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