Dancers are Steven Roth & Ryan Holman.
Happy Friday,
CS
Contra Syncretist |
|
This flourish is adapted from a flourish in on of Frank Hsieh's Scout House (MA) videos. It's a blind twirl into a swing which can be really neat once you've got the muscle memory. A few caveats, however: 1) make sure you have enough room; since there's a blind twirl for both of you, you need to be extra sure you have enough room (we are not aiming for giving folks black eyes -- it's so not worth it); 2) make sure your follow does not have arm/shoulder issues; this one is likely better done with a partner you know well; and 3) with all that said, it's still a fun flourish in the right conditions. You, too, can have your flourishes featured -- drop us a line!
Dancers are Steven Roth & Ryan Holman. Happy Friday, CS This week's flourish is a neat one we spotted in a recent Scout House video. It's a neat way to get into a swing. A couple of quick caveats: 1) the "stir the pot" part is a slightly tricky lead because it's a push on the follow's hands to get her around, but it is NOT a crank; and 2) if you come out of this one and your hands are mixed up, it is totally and utterly fixable -- just adjust the last turn-under so that the hands are follow's-left-in-lead's-right by the end. You, too, can have your flourishes featured! Drop us a line!
Carry on Dancing, CS This is another flourish from the Contradancers' Delight Holiday videos from 2012. It's a neat flourish that involves both dancers moving and looks really elegant, and has the added benefit of having a couple of spots where the connection is strengthened through eye contact. You, too, can have your flourishes featured! Drop us a line!
Coming up on Sunday, there is an installation of Club Contras in Greenwood, VA! Check it out if you're in the area, and stay tuned for more syncretism next week! Happy Friday! CS This flourish came from a video of Contradancers' Delight Holiday 2012. Valerie Helbert (dancer and caller extraordinaire from Virginia) led this flourish and it looked really cool. The key motion for the lead ends up being similar to that of controlling a giant steering wheel (or a giant wheel of cheese)...just be careful not to wrench anyone while doing this, as being cranked can REALLY hurt the person being twirled. You, too, can have your flourishes featured! Drop us a line!
Today's video comes a little early -- I've got an early start tomorrow so we can go straight from work up to Glenside, PA for the Holiday Afterglow Techno Contra; hope to see some of you there! Happy Friday, CS This week's flourish is borrowed from waltz, and is better suited for smoother contras rather than fast ones. It's a move where your arms end up being in a picture frame through which you can look at your partner. Be careful, though -- if your partner has wrist/arm/shoulder issues, this could be painful as your points of contact are mostly your wrists and arms. Dancers, as usual, are Ryan Holman & Steven Roth.
You, too, can have your flourishes featured! Drop us a line! Happy Friday, CS A while ago, one of the contra links that I recommended to you folks was South Carolina contra dancer Elyse Marder's documentary on the folk dance scenes Stateside and across the pond in England. (If we're going to go mixing the tradition with other things, it's helpful to know what exactly it is we're mixing with those other things...and it's also helpful to remember that what actually comprises "tradition" may not be as set-in-stone as it may originally appear and may be subject to the whims of the historians whose records survive to the present day.) I think Elyse created something very cool, and I'm very pleased that she posted the final product on YouTube. Enjoy! (It is highly likely that I will have further comments later in the coming year -- there are lots of things here that seem like excellent blog inspiration.)
Happy 2013 to all! This week's flourish is one we picked up from another Glen Echo dancer and was pointed out to us by Kevin Mabon from one of the videos he takes of the Glen Echo dances. It's a neat transition for those dances that call for a swing and then a promenade. The two things to be careful of are 1) keep your footprint small and when you pull the follow by, be sure to step in the other direction; and 2) make sure you don't trap your follow's hand under your elbow when (s)he's going behind your back. Dancers are Steven Roth & Ryan Holman. Special thanks to Ryan's parents for lending us their foyer...(yes, that is Ryan's Christmas stocking in the lower right of the shot). You, too, can have flourishes featured! Drop us a line!
Also, I'm getting late-breaking word of a techno contra coming up this Sunday in Santa Barbara, CA's Carillo Ballroom on Sunday, December 30, 2012, from 6:30 to 10:00 PM featuring Perpetual e-Motion's playing and Susan Petrick's calling. Happy Friday! Carry on Dancing, CS This week's flourish is a way to transition from a circle into a high ceilidh swing. The flourish is fairly simple -- passing your partner's hand behind your back and then pulling up into a swing, using the momentum of the circle moving -- but rather elegant when done well and can be done with limited space involved. Dancers, as usual, are Ryan Holman & Steven Roth. You, too, can have your flourishes featured! Drop us a line!
To those of you celebrating with family and friends in the next couple of weeks, happy holidays! To everybody (including the holiday-celebrants), we wish you light, luck and love in the new year! We'll be back on Wednesday with more syncretistic goodness (for real this time -- I'm telecommuting all next week and hopefully I will be over whatever miserable flu-like thing I appear to have caught this week...)! Carry on Dancing, CS This is a flourish borrowed from morris dance and that comes in really handy when the floor is crowded...just be aware that this flourish puts you into your swinging partner's personal space, which is fine as long as they consent (and partner consent is really important). This flourish originated in a video from the Scout House that was indicated by our friend Kevin Mabon. The trick here is that the lead puts him- (or her-) self into the chicken wing and thus controls the position (just like anyone whose hand is behind their back). |
This project has concluded as of mid-2013 (with an epilogue posted mid-2016) but we hope to see you soon on a contra dance floor! Meanwhile, head over to our Facebook page for upcoming techno contra events and other items of interest.
The 100+ Friday Flourish videos can still be found on YouTube. AuthorI dance with abandon. I play with glowsticks. I look for music that is conducive to one or both. I play behind cameras. I write about all of the above. I'm based in Glen Echo's contra dance community outside of Washington, D.C., but I'm happy to go dance afield when I can. Lather, rinse, repeat. Always repeat. Archives
June 2016
Categories
All
Comments are welcome; spam-bots and disrespectful behaviors are not. Please do (nicely) point out errors if they are found.
|