Louisville, KY 2022-05-09

The A1 neighbor swing is a new neighbor each time after the first through the dance.

Mac McKeever note on balances before Rory O'More: first balance is in the direction you will be going

Rick's notes:

"While this is technically a Becket dance with the progression in A1 it's simpler to teach it as duple improper starting with the neighbor swing, and to call it that way the first time through.

After the ladles chain in A2 everyone is next to their shadow. Introducing shadows at this point in the walk-through will help them find each other in the B2.

The progression is like 1/4 of a hey, but don't tell the dancers. Instead, have the gentlespoons cross and stop in the center facing neighbors. All look right to identify the next neighbor, then gypsy the current neighbor 1/2 and progress to swing the next.

In honor of fine times with my friends Joseph Pimentel and Fred Todt of Columbus Ohio, warm talented fun lads, at whose dining room table this dance was written. I was preparing for a session billed to lure the local gentlespoons with fabulous dances and then help them to be less rough with the ladles. I had no fabulous dance with both neighbor and partner courtesy turns, and this was my attempt to provide one. So a secondary nod is to all the lads of Ohio, on their path to becoming everyone's favorite dance partner. (A spot firmly held by Joseph and Fred, I might add.)"

Based on my other dance Crossroads Contra. That dance had a lot of action for the ladles and almost none for the gentlespoons, so I decided to fix that. Now with a new title.

A variation of the dance Old Time Elixir by Mike Boerschig. The same dance was also written by Dean Snipes, and is called "Tica Tica Timing".

Notes: Written to medley with Steve Zakon-Anderson and Louis Cromartie’s dance Salmonella Evening. Preserves the progression from that dance while doing some different stuff beforehand. Perfectly enjoyable on its own, but the name only makes sense in the context of the medley. Inspired by a conversation I had with Josiah Roberts.

Make sure to emphasize that the partner swing ends across from the neighbors you swung. When walking the hey, make sure the dancers are solidly aware of whom they're dancing the hey with and where they need to end up.

An easier setting for the half hey with shadow to a partner swing sequence that I used in The Birds are the Words. Written around the same time, but finally named on the day after I moved to Cincinnati, OH. Revised slightly as of 2019-10-29, changed the shadow allemande to a direct entry into the hey. Treat the first pass as a half right gyre with your shadow followed by the two gentlespoons passing left in the center.

Rick Mohr notes: While enjoying Mike Boerschig's Happy as a Cold Pig in Warm Mud I wondered, could you enjoy flying stars with both shadows instead of just one?

This dance is the result. It's more accessible than you might expect for a dance where you leave the minor set twice, because finding your partner rights the set in both B1 and B2. In B1, watch for your partner in the other star and meet with an allemande; in B2, watch for your partner in the other star and meet with a swing.

I'm not usually a fan of "shadow / partner / other shadow / partner" sequences because you keep repeating the same longish sequence with the same people, and so don't mix enough. But because the stars in this dance involve a changing cast of neighbors, you get the thrill of flying to your partner twice without the tarnish of identical setups

Inspired by Cheat Lake Twirl by Perry Shafran

http://dancevideos.childgrove.org/contra/contra-modern/437-butter-by-gene-hubert-becket