Joyride

This is one of the most flowing dances I’ve written (2007…?) and dancers have expressed appreciation for the connectedness and satisfying feel. After the half pousette with partner, the ladles should let go and take a step back and to the left in order to leave room in the middle for the gentlespoons to begin the hey. The timing of this dance has been described as “squishy”, which is ok. Encourage dancers to stretch out the Mad Robin, the Pousette and the Hey and use all the music provided.

*I’ve recently been teaching this dance the way I initially intended it; with the fifth change of the hey and then the swing in the B1 part of the dance. I’ve found that as I get better at teaching it, it has become easier to convince dancers to suspend their hurry in getting to the next figure during the A parts. As dancers relax into the flow they seem to enjoy it more, and saving that last crossing by the gentlespoons until the B1 seems to enhance the joy.

Ryan Smith notes in a facebook thread: One of my favorite dances of all time is Joyride. It starts with a face-to-face, transitions into a mad robin, then to a half pousette, then to a hey (or at least 7/8ths of one) and then into a swing. Then the ladles chain across and you star to the next neighbor. With the right hall and the right partner, you can lock eyes halfway through A1 and not look away until the end of B1. Because the vast majority of the moves are not moves where you are connected to the other dancers physically, it requires extra effort for the caller. Because the first move needs to take up 8 counts of music, but that most dancers will try to do it in 6 means that there's some more extra work for the caller.

Original at http://www.erikweberg.com/joyride/