Dances to save

http://www.dance.ravitz.us/#pp3

Note the similarity to Maliza's Magical Mystery Motion. The chain is to the diagonal left here, so at the end of B1 you must face a new set of four to find your partner.

YouTube, 2, 3

Rick Mohr notes: A fresh all-moving dance offering a weaving reunion with partner and a nice reverse progression.

The figures are straightforward. The end effects are numerous, but intuitive when dancers orient themselves to prepare for the next figure. If out after the A2 right and left through, stand across from partner to prepare for the zig-zag. If out during the B1 zig-zag, California Twirl to face the set. If out during the B2 half promenade, cross the set to prepare for the right and left through. No problem!

Firefly pedicabs brought fanciful pedal-powered magic to Philadelphia's Ben Franklin Parkway at twilight. Somehow this dance reminds me of that merry experience.

Note that the mad robin in B2 is with old neighbors, then the next mad robin in A1 is with new neighbors. Over the two mad robins, everyone's individual footpaths will describe a figure 8.
Found elsewhere:
http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/contra/contra-modern/486-sharon-of-the-green-contra
(different B1) http://squash.1gainesville.com/contradance.dances-composers.html#n

Pull bys should retain grip for a moment after passing and use the torque to turn back to the direction of travel up or down the set.

Dan Pearl notes

I always loved this zig-zag gimmick when I danced it in Cor Hogendijk's "Pat's Tradition", done by English country dancers. A dance by Steve Schnur that featured it motiviated me to try my own. The dance was written for and first performed at the Dance Musician's Development Fund annual benefit dance. The Fund sprung out of a one-time benefit dance to help Susan Worland, a fine fiddler in Boston, replace her stolen instruments. From that, the Fund formed as a subcommittee of the Folk Arts Center of New England. At the annual DMDF dance (12 hours of varied dancing) funds are raised to benefit research and special projects for Boston-area dance musicians. The title gives a nod to "Pat's Tradition" and the beneficial tradition of the DMDF.

Little did I know that when the dance started getting around, people would start yelping, hooting, etc. during B2. I think this started in Philadelphia. They have my blessing! Certainly, the "pulls" in B2 should be done with strength, tension, and other good contra-type connection. Foot-stompers have my blessing, too! ;-)

Transcriptions

• Kirin Wagle
• childgrove.org
• cambridgefolk.uk.org

Videos

• Ryan Smistopher @ Sugar Hill 2011
• Brian Hamshar @ LEAF 2012

Related Dances

• XYZ by Bob Green

G Campbell Kaynor notes: For a simple proper dance I do one called Jefferson and Liberty to the tune of the same name (Thos Jefferson's campaign song, a.k.a the Gobby O, an American Irish Jig)

It doesn't matter if people get on the wrong side of the set so I often start the night with this if there are lots of newcomers

http://www.dancingthread.ca/condance.htm#line

In this mixer dancers form scattered groups with any number of couples. That makes for fun chaos, less transition panic (compared with 2-couple scatter mixers), and more flavors to enjoy as circle sizes vary.

The A2 allemande ends with ladles in the center facing counterclockwise and gentlespoons on the outside facing clockwise. If there are two ladles they allemande left for 8 beats; if there are more than two they star left for 8 beats. Either way, the gentlespoons orbit clockwise around the ladles. Then all balance and swing a new partner and promenade to a new group.

I tell the dancers it's a zero-stress dance. "If a couple wants to join your circle, let them in!" And no problem if you happen to keep the same partner now and then.

David notes: At the top of A2, the circle on the caller’s left should circle left halfway, but the other one can circle right halfway (ccw). It creates an eddying effect, and the flow is slightly improved for that active couple. This small change was suggested by Nils Fredland, and I like it a lot. Since the circles go halfway around, the dance will work either way.

#2s must slide up while #1s go down the hall
#2s when out at the top must slide together and become new #1s facing down; #1s when out at bottom must separate and face in along
side
Making sure the #1s circle with the correct #2s can sometimes be problematic
http://davidsmukler.syracusecountrydancers.org

• gyre for all four: people can keep eyes on their diagonal opposite as they gyre around. One and one quarter puts the gentlespoons above the ladles in the set, and the gaze shifts to partner. Teaching may be easier if it is taught initially with a hands across star, then have people leave the hands out.

Martha Wild notes: I was concerned that it would seem like too much clockwise motion, but people did not find that an issue, perhaps because the second half has little.

https://sites.google.com/site/marthawildscallsofthewild/

If you finish dancing before the music is done, let each couple in turn just sashay down until the music is ready to end.

Source: http://www.dance.ravitz.us/#an

A less dizzy start of B2 - gentlespoons start a hands across star left and ladles fall in behind your partner, from initial positions, turn the star 1 for gentlespoons and 1/2 for ladles.

Source: http://www.dance.ravitz.us/#anb

A less dizzy start of B2 - gentlespoons start a hands across star left and ladles fall in behind your partner, from initial positions, turn the star 1 for gentlespoons and 1/2 for ladles.

This is a four face four with a pair of active couples. The active couples are the couples on the left side of each line of four at the start of the dance and those couples remain active until they get to the end of the line and come back in. Do NOT switch sides with your shadows while waiting out; everyone should simply swap with their partner and face back into the set. When this happens, the previously inactive couple becomes the active couple. The center four and end four people will always be four people of the same role. Thus, the swings in the A1 will be with people of the same roles. Avoid having to alternate between saying gentlespoons/ladles star by referring to the center four and outside four. Written at 5:30 AM in response to a challenge issued by Dave Morse for a dance where you swing your shadow’s partner. This is impossible in a standard duple minor Contra dance, but it’s doable in a four face four. The title is an appropriate reaction to both the request and to the time of day at which the dance was written considering that I hadn’t gone to bed for the night at the time that I wrote it.

the revolving door into the allemande/orbit is (as far as I know) a new creation and requires a demo. Ladles drop N off across the set and keep going 1/2... as this happen Gentlespoons keep turning - all slide nose to nose past partner so Gentlespoons can put Left hands into center for the Allemande and Ladles slide out to continue the clockwise orbit another 1/2

Demo the Rip and Snort. 1's need to mind their shoulders when they turn under their joined hand.

Teaching suggestion

Before teaching B1, advise dancers there will be two 1/2 heys, each having gentlespoons passing shoulders, then partners passing, then ladles passing, before stepping to face a next neighbor

End Effects

Dancers reaching the end of the set must face back in with the gentlespoons on the right, ladles on the left!!
(Actually, dancers reaching the end of the set after the first 1/2 hey of B1, should turn alone, wait during left shoulder gyre, and then face back into the set, with the gentlespoons on the right. But this nuance is more confusing than helpful, and its neglect only results in those out the end gyre-ing a person of the same role.)

Source

http://aptsg.org/Dance/dances.html#Wheres

Background

This dance borrows the two half-hey idea from Dan Pearl's "Eye of the Storm", and the roll away before a hey from "A Proper Potpourri."

Dancers gave this a lengthy ovation after its debut on Saturday night at the 1996 Breaking Up Thanksgiving dance weekend outside Chicago.

Martha Edwards of St. Louis would regularly bring her then teenage son Alex to many contra dance weekends. In a surprisingly short time, Alex became a most skilled dancer, and a favorite partner for all the ladles. Alex, Martha and I maintained a running joke about the impossible task of my writing a dance which everyone in the hall except Alex could do. On Saturday afternoon during the above weekend, I advised Alex and Martha that I'd call such a dance that evening. Alas, Alex was missing from the dance floor at the critical moment, so hence the dance now had a name. As of January 2015, Alex had never danced this.

To start the walkthru, have gents walk forward into a long wave.

In this mixer dancers form scattered groups with any number of couples. That makes for fun chaos, less transition panic (compared with 2-couple scatter mixers), and more flavors to enjoy as circle sizes vary.

The A2 allemande ends with ladles in the center facing counterclockwise and gentlespoons on the outside facing clockwise. If there are two ladles they allemande left for 8 beats; if there are more than two they star left for 8 beats. Either way, the gentlespoons orbit clockwise around the ladles. Then all balance and swing a new partner and promenade to a new group.

I tell the dancers it's a zero-stress dance. "If a couple wants to join your circle, let them in!" And no problem if you happen to keep the same partner now and then.

This chain-free version from Rebecca Lay. Rebecca notes Note from Rebecca: If I'm asked to teach a pre-dance "Beginners Workshop" at a contra dance, I often teach participants Broken Sixpence at the end of the workshop, and then do it as the first dance of the evening.

https://www.cdss.org/resources/how-to/contra-dance-resources#callers

A version with chains in the B2 is https://contradb.com/dances/358/

Notice that the two twirls to swap are done with different hands. This is intentional. The California twirl and reach back to a cloverleaf is inspired, primarily, by several Rick Mohr dances which do the same thing.

The name is a result of a remarkable confluence of events. A friend of mine from Wisconsin, Ceara Herndon, was visiting her sister in Vermont. She sent me a picture of a firepit captioned with the title, which seemed like a good name for a dance. As it turns out, the state flower of Vermont is the Red Clover, which I only learned AFTER writing the dance. On top of all this, there's an old, hitherto unpublished dance of mine called "Fire Flower," which also contains a California twirl and reach back to a cloverleaf.

Written for the Wise family.

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/

Chris Page notes:
[1] While looking at your neighbor. Gentlespoons backing up across the set (carefully), ladles follow them to the other side.
[2] A little different from the normal ladle's allemande, as here dancers don't adjust. Gentlespoons should stay put, and stay on the slight diagonal, rather than adjusting to be across from each other. Ladles allemande right 1 & 1/2, then ease out to the sidelines, having traded places, and now facing their partner on the side of the set.
[3] While looking at your partner. Ladles backing up across the set (carefully), gentlespoons follow them to the other side.

An auction dance written for Heather Visscher. She really liked the A2 move from "A Rare Bird" by Bob Isaacs.

Original at http://chrispagecontra.awardspace.us/dances/#heart-of-joy

Called by Andy Shore on tour with Polaris in 2018.

Written in 1985 for the 20th anniversary of her parents' wedding, these being their wedding flowers.

The California twirls can be facilitated by the gentlespoons taking the ladle's other hand at the end of the twirl to face back in, inside hands joined