user: Nicholas Rockstroh
BREAK
Alt for Nutella if crowd is small
by: Cary Ravitz
introduces moves: do si do, swing, long lines, allemande, circle, pull by dancers
formation: improper
| A1 | 8 | neighbors do si do once
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| 8 | neighbors swing
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| A2 | 8 | long lines forward & back
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| 8 | ladles allemande right 1½
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| B1 | 16 | partners balance & swing
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| B2 | 8 | circle left 3 places
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| 6 | neighbors allemande right once
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| 2 | neighbors pull by right to next neighbors ⁋
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https://www.dance.ravitz.us/#re :
To change from a Becket dance to Reel Easy in a medley, change Reel Easy's first figure to circle left 3/4. From a counter-clockwise Becket dance, change it to
menallemande left 1+1/2.The second half of B2 can be danced as neighbors allemande right 1+1/4, walk straight forward to (A1) do-si-do the next. But I think it is more fun to allemande right 1, lean back a bit, and pull by.
by: Bob Isaacs, Robert Cromartie, Isaac Banner
introduces moves: star, revolving door
formation: improper
| A1 | 8 | star right 4 places
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| 8 | neighbors allemande right 1½
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| A2 | 8 | gentlespoons allemande left 1½
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| 8 | partners swing
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| B1 | 8 | revolving door - ladles take right hands and drop off partners on other side
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| 8 | neighbors swing
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| B2 | 8 | long lines forward & back
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| 8 | star left 4 places ⁋
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introduces moves: down the hall, petronella, up the hall
formation: Becket ccw
| A1 | 16 | partners balance & swing
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| A2 | 8 | down the hall and bend into a ring
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| 8 | balance & petronella to face next neighbors ⁋
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| B1 | 16 | neighbors balance & swing
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| B2 | 8 | up the hall and bend into a ring
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| 8 | balance & petronella
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Original dance by John Coffman written for Allison Jonjak. I wondered what would happen if, instead of circling and passing through, there was a second (well, first) Petronella turn which carried you to the neighbors behind you for the balance and swing. Turns out it reverses the progression but everything else works out fine.
by: Sarah Kaiser
introduces moves: mad robin, chain
formation: improper
| A1 | 8 | long lines forward & back
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| 8 | neighbors swing
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| A2 | 8 | mad robin, gentlespoons in front
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| 8 | circle left 3 places
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| B1 | 16 | partners balance & swing
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| B2 | 8 | mad robin, ladles in front
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| 8 | ladles chain and take hands with next neighbors in long lines ⁋
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by: Linda Leslie
introduces moves: form an ocean wave, hey
formation: Becket
| A1 | 8 | circle left 3 places
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| 8 | neighbors do si do 1¼ to
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| A2 | 4 | form an ocean wave & balance - ladles by left hands and neighbors by right hands and walk forward to ⁋
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| 12 | next neighbors swing
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| B1 | 8 | gentlespoons allemande left 1½ to face partner
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| 8 | partners start a half hey - rights on ends, lefts in center
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| B2 | 16 | partners balance & swing
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Couples wait out improper to come in for neighbor swing after wave balance.
BREAK
by: Bradley Smith
introduces moves: custom, balance the ring, pass through
formation: four face four
| A1 | 8 | lines of four forward and back
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| 8 | opposites do si do once
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| A2 | 0 | Ends balance and swing to change places while centers...
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| 8 | balance & petronella
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| 8 | balance & petronella, centers note partners and then...
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| B1 | 4 | balance the ring
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| 4 | pass through to partners
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| 8 | partners swing and face shadows in Contra lines
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| B2 | 8 | gentlespoons start a half hey - lefts in center, rights on ends - with shadows ⁋
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| 8 | partners swing and face next neighbors
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Alt for Nutella if crowd is small
introduces moves: custom
formation: Triplet, 1s and 2s improper
| A1 | 8 | Ones and twos balance and petronella 1½ places, 1st ladle face threes below
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| 8 | In groups of three, balance and petronella 1 place, 3rd ladle face up
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| A2 | 8 | Top four balance and petronella 1 ½ places to a ring of four
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| 4 | Same four balance the ring
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| 4 | pass through to partners ⁋
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| B1 | 16 | partners balance & swing
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| B2 | 8 | Ones and threes circle left ¾
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| 8 | neighbors do si do once and threes face up
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The action in phrases 1 - 3 ends up switching the 1st ladle and 3rd gentlespoon from top to bottom while also flipping the sides that the 1s and 3s are on. The 2s, as it turns out, go nowhere. The name comes from one of the fundamental properties of Euclidian geometry which says that the sum of the lengths of two sides of a triangle are greater than or equal to the length of the third side. It also generalizes to various other mathematical spaces. In this case, it seemed appropriate because of the triangles and the fact that the 2s end up doing somewhat less than the 1s and 3s.
by: Rick Mohr
introduces moves: slide along set
formation: Becket
| A1 | 2 | slide left along set ⁋
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| 6 | circle left 3 places
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| 8 | neighbors swing
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| A2 | 8 | long lines forward & back
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| 4 | star left 2 places - gentlespoons drop out
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| 4 | ladles allemande left ¾
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| B1 | 4 | form an ocean wave & balance - ladles by right hands and neighbors by left hands
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| 4 | neighbors allemande right ½ and a little bit more
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| 4 | form a right diagonal ocean wave & balance - gentlespoons by left hands and neighbors by right hands
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| 4 | gentlespoons allemande left ¾
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| B2 | 4 | form a left diagonal ocean wave & balance - gentlespoons by right hands and partners by left hands catch left hands with partners to form left diagonal wavy line
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| 12 | partners swing
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from: http://rickmohr.net/contra/dances.asp#DrBluhmsDelight
video available at: Lisa Greenleaf & Didgeridoo at Fiddling Frog 2010, Pasadena
Rick Mohr notes: Diagonal action makes this dance fun and different while staying accessible.
The neighbors allemande right in B1 is slightly more than half way round — gentlespoons go just past the opposite gentlespoon to join left hands with the next gentlespoons, forming a wave on the right diagonal. Then left allemande 3/4 easily forms the left diagonal wave with partners for the balance in B2. Of course the gentlespoons would never forget to complete the balance by looking left at each other before diving into the partner swing ... but it couldn't hurt to remind them!
Usually after the swing in B2 dancers are almost across from their new neighbors and don't need to shift left very far to start the circle left in A1.
For my buddy Carey Bluhm of Keene NH, who delights in playing fiddle tunes.
introduces moves: meltdown swing, roll away
formation: indecent
| A1 | 8 | mad robin, ladles in front
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| 8 | ladles allemande right 1½
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| A2 | 16 | partners meltdown swing
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| B1 | 8 | revolving door - gentlespoons take left hands and drop off partners on other side
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| 8 | neighbors swing
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| B2 | 4 | long lines forward
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| 4 | ladles roll away neighbors with a half sashay on the way back
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| 8 | mad robin, ladles in front, continue with next neighbors ⁋
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A revision of the dance written at Summer CDH 2018 for the band Wake Up Robin. The original suffered from a kitchen sink mentality and I think this dance is nicely tightened up comparatively. I'm leaving the original up because it might still be enjoyable in the right circumstances, however I expect this dance will be much friendlier to typical Contra dance circumstances without sacrificing the core of what made the original interesting.