WS 12/2/25

Bob Isaacs notes: Tony Parkes of Massachusetts has long been one of America’s best callers of contras and squares, and this glossary dance is a fine way to start an evening.

Written for the Towse song with the same name, used in the official music video: https://youtu.be/apQDSGmJbKY?si=2QEtCduLwyMRoh9h

Music video has the hands swapped in the square thru 2, but left then right is correct for which hands the dancers have free after the chain.

B2 Circle L 3/4 (8), Balance the ring (4), Calif Twir
Bill Olson notes: The A part of this dance came from Vermont fiddler, Amy Cann. The rest kind of came together before a Concord (MA) Scouthouse gig on Feb 23, 2004. I used this easy dance to start off the evening that night. It is dedicated to my good friends from the venerable Boston area band, Yankee Ingenuity: Peter Barnes (who always enjoys a good pun), Mary Lea, Jack O'Conner and Cal Howard.

Rick notes, "A straightforward dance with good symmetry and timing."

Sometimes, that's all you have to say.

Can be called without role terms (but still requires that the neighbor swing ends in the progressed position).

Rick Mohr notes: This is a very fun dance, especially with fast reels.

It helps to alert the gentlespoons to pull by at the end of the phrase in A1. Otherwise some will delay until the beginning of A2, making them late for the balance in B1. This can be reinforced during the dance by calling "gentlespoons right hand pull by" early by a beat or two.

The "Zig-Zag" in B2 is most satisfying if dancers emphasize the sideways left/right motion rather than the forward motion which gets them past their neighbors. There's plenty of time, so encourage them to go a good distance out of the set in the Zig. The idea is to let the momentum from the circle left propel into the Zig left, and then let the momentum from the Zag right lead directly into the circle right with the next couple.

For Robin Kynoch, a fine tinwhistle player from Framingham, Massachusetts. You might not think it possible to "rock" on the whistle, but Robin does.

Originally posted to: http://rickmohr.net/contra/dances.asp#RockinRobin

IGNORE THE A1 COUNTS AS LISTED HERE: timing in the A is mushy and moves bleed across phrases. Both the mad ladle and the poussette take about 6 counts, so the mad ladle starts a little before A2, and the 5/8 hey finishes just about at the end of the A2. Encourage dancers to follow the movement rather than trying to fit it into the music (i.e. DON'T do the English dance thing of trying to make the moves fill the phrase), and use B1 to get everyone back together.

This dance allows for almost constant eye contact with partner. (If you do the hey facing your P, you do in fact get basically constant eye contact, but please don't teach this, or you'll have everyone doing it and ppl will all run into each other. The sufficiently experienced dancers will figure it out on their own!) Inspired by Will Mentor's "Lavender Snow", premiered at LCFD Spring Dance Camp 2018. The two-hand turn in B2 was a later addition, suggested by Shoshana Silverman (fall 2022).

The title is a play on words. Robin + Orbit = Orbin

written December 21,1989 I have always like this dance
One of the earliest balance square thru dances with a Dixe twirls

In the second half of B1, pull by R at the start of the do-si-do for some extra momentum.

Written on a stuck train to Princeton, NJ, late 2014, and first called March 2015 in Silver Spring, MD.