Warmup

Welcoming Session (Marlene) for Beginning Dancers

Midland Traditional Dancers

May, 2010

Big circle

  • Experienced dancers partner with new people.

  • Form a big circle with your partner with men or leaders on the left and women or followers on the right. Men, your neighbor is on your left. Women, your neighbor is on your right.

· Hold hands with men offering palms up and women palms down, elbows bent in a wing hold, and a little muscle tension in the arms which we call giving weight. Feel the connection with everyone in the circle.

· Contra dancing is walking to music, a little like marching with each step on the beat of the music and each figure usually taking the 8 counts of a phrase of music. The calls come just ahead of the time to do the figure.

  • Circle left for 8 counts, turning on 7 & 8, and circle back to the right for 8 counts. (Call and count at contra dance tempo.) “Circle left, 1, 2, 3, 4. Circle right the other way back. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, circle left.” (Repeat to build confidence.)

With Partner in Big Circle (Repeat with neighbor.) Demonstrate in center of circle.

  • Right and left Allemande, right hands joined without locking thumbs, elbows bent, giving weight with a little muscle tension to help each other get around. 8 counts

· Do Sa Do – Pass right shoulder, back-to-back, pass left shoulders back to place. 8 counts

· Balance & Swing: Explain and demonstrate position of hands and arms with man’s right hand on woman’s upper back and woman’s left arm lifted and her left hand on man’s upper back. Give each other support without leaning back, carry your own weight, stand to the right of your partner, look at your partner to reduce dizziness, both walk forward in time to the music, and end the swing by opening the “pointy” hands so the woman is on the right, and both are facing toward the center of the group. Partners Balance forward on right foot and back on left. (Or step forward on right foot R,L,R and back on left L,R,L) Balance + Swing = 16 counts. A swing without balancing is usually 8 counts.) Repeat Balance & Swing with neighbor and if time the next in line. Experienced dancers can give coaching and feedback.

· Right Shoulder Gypsy: Look at partner in right eye, smile, and walk around each other. (8 counts) Usually a Gypsy will “melt down” into an 8 count swing.

· Turn as a Couple (California Twirl or Frontier Twirl): Couple holds inside hands (man’s right, woman’s left). Man raises his right hand and turns to his right, as the woman turns to her left and walks under their joined hands. Both have changed places and face the opposite direction. 4 counts

Couple Facing Couple in a Big Circle (If numbers and space permit; otherwise, use contra line formation.)

· With your partner (man on left and woman on right), face another couple in a big circle of pairs of couples, one couple facing clockwise and the other facing counterclockwise.

· Stars: Take right hands across (hand-shake hold) with the diagonally opposite person to form a Right Hand Star. Giving weight, turn that Star one full turn for 8 counts. “Star Right” Count to 4, then on 5, 6, 7, 8 say, “Left hands across the other way back.”

Repeat with wrist hold: With your right hand, hold the right wrist of the person in front of you. “Star Right all the way around” (8 counts) Repeat for Star Left: With your left hand, hold the left wrist of the person in front of you. “Star Left” (8 counts)

· Circles: Join hands in a Circle of four people (men palms up, women palms down, wing hold (elbows down, hands up), giving weight (a little muscle tension in your arms) and turn the Circle to the left all the way around for 8 counts. “Circle left” Count to 4, then on 5,6,7,8 say, “Circle right, the other way back.”

· If teaching in a contra line, use a Becket Formation for the following moves. Turn your Circle a quarter turn to the left (1 place) so you are next to your partner on the side of the set.

· Right and Left Through: Experienced dancers will assist their partners with the courtesy turns. Men travel with their partners. With the man on the left and the woman on the right, everyone take right hands with their opposite person. Pull By your opposite and face outside the set, looking at your partner. (4 counts) Courtesy Turn: Standing side by side, partners join left hands in front. Woman places her right hand on the small of her back and the man places his right hand over hers. The man backs up as the woman walks forward turning to face back in the contra line. (4 counts) Repeat as many times as needed.

  • Promenade back: With the woman on man’s right, partners join right hands and then join left hands underneath. Men pass left shoulders to return to the other side (8 counts back).

· Ladies Chain: Women take right hands and Pull By each other. Men step to the right to receive the other woman for a Courtesy Turn to face back in the contra line. (8 counts) Chain back (8 counts). Repeat until they are chaining over and back smoothly.

Contra Line Formation

· Men place their partners on their right and promenade in a circle until the teacher directs one couple to walk toward the stage with the rest of the couples following in a line. Explain that they have formed a Contra Line, starting at the head of the hall (where the caller and music are). Couples join the line at the end as it is forming.

· All face their partners across the set, forming a long line of women across from a long line of men. “Proper formation”

· Take hands along your long lines and walk forward toward the opposite line for 4 counts and then back for 4 counts. “Long lines forward and back”. Count to 8 in contra dance tempo.

· Take hands in circles of 4 people, starting at the top and working down to the bottom of the contra line.

· In your circles, the couple with their backs to the music is the #1 (or Active) couple, and the couple facing the music is the #2 (or Inactive). (Raise joined hands to identify.)

· All #1 (Active) couples change places with each other to become an “improper formation” with men and women alternating and the woman on her partner’s right as they face the other couple in their circle of four.

Progression

· Join hands with the couple you are facing and Circle Left one time around. (8 counts)

· Balance the Circle. (4 counts).

· Pass Through: Moving forward with your partner, let go of all hands and pass right shoulders with the other couple, to Progress to the next couple. (4 counts)

· When you pass through to the head or foot of the set and you don’t have another couple to dance with, turn as a couple so you can face back into the dance with the man on the left and the woman on the right. Wait out one turn of the dance, and another couple will progress to dance with you. If you were a #1 couple traveling to the bottom of the set, you will now become #2’s. If you were a #2 couple traveling to the top of the set, you will now become #1’s. While you are waiting, watch the person dancing your role in the set in front of you to help you learn your new role when you re-enter the dance.

Dance Customs

· We are all here to enjoy ourselves and have fun, and we don’t take the dancing too seriously. Watch the experienced dancers around you for a friendly hand to help you find your place. We know it feels like a maze when you first do this, but you will soon be grinning, and even enjoying the music.

· The joy of contra dancing is the connections we make with each dancer we encounter, the music which inspires us, and the flow of one move into the next.

· The dancing is great aerobic exercise, so pace yourself. But plan to join right in at the beginning. The first dances of the evening are the easiest.

· Our group is friendly and the custom is to change partners after every dance so we can all enjoy dancing with everyone here.

· Our experienced dancers will be inviting you to dance, and that will help you to learn more quickly.

· We encourage women to ask men to dance as well as men asking the women.

· When we have more women dancing than men, women will take the lead role, and we have green yarn sashes to make it easier to identify them as leaders.

Hey Teach only if there is time. Recruit more experienced dancers. Demonstrate. Describe as weaving across the set and back to place. Some like to start teaching the women’s role first with the men standing still behind their partner.

Women pass each other by right shoulders in center and then pass the opposite man by the left shoulder, looping widely for 4 counts to the left to pass him again by the left shoulder.

Women pass again by their right shoulders in the middle, and then loop around their partners by the left shoulders to return to place.

With the women standing still, men step behind their partners and then pass them by the man’s left shoulder.

Men pass by right shoulders in the middle.

Pass the opposite woman by the man’s left shoulder, looping widely behind her to the left for 4 counts to pass her again by the man’s left shoulder.

Men pass again by their right shoulders in the middle, and then step back in place next to their partners.

Walk pattern for everyone. Women walk forward to pass right shoulders while the men step back and to the right for 2 counts until they can pass the opposite woman by the left shoulder. (Right shoulders in the center, left shoulders twice on the outside) 16 counts over and back. Repeat until done smoothly. If time, teach Half Hey and other starting positions.