Through most of our flourish videos, we've made a point of flagging points where you, or your partner, should be careful to make sure that everyone enjoys the flourish. Some of the warnings fall into broad categories, so we figured we should reiterate them here; flourishing is both an art and a science, and the science bit has some pretty clear guidelines in place.

Here are some of the times when you really ought to consider whether or not big flourishes are such a good idea, even when your partner is willing:

I was reading Slate the other day and found this in their "Vault" column. The reason I'm including it here is because this 1817 dance tip sheet is actually a forerunner to the idea behind the Friday Flourishes, where dancers could have easy reference to bringing their fancy steps onto the dance floor, and a way to refresh their memories before an event.

(I suppose a true analog would be if someone streamed the YouTube series on their smartphone mid-dance, but that also might violate our "don't be a jerk" principle.)

In any case, it seems to show that even as technology evolves, some functions remain very similar even as the media change.

I was talking to another contra dancer early this week and they mentioned that there seemed to be some moves that were easier to finesse with flourishes than others. In particular, the dancer referred to this flourish on a square-through (that is, taking hands with your partner next to you on the side of the set and forming an arch for the person across from you to duck under). Another dancer remarked that frequently the dancers are concentrating on their own steps through it and sometimes don't respond to the offer of a hand to make an arch (or don't duck under the arch for similar reasons).

I certainly advocate dancers paying attention to the basics before they add the flourishes, but I'm still curious: to other flourishy dancers -- what makes a flourish easier or harder for you to lead? Is it the partner you attempt to pull the flourish on? Is it the other folks in the minor set? Is it the frequency of the call you're trying to pull a flourish on (e.g., most modern dances have partner swings; some have square-throughs, but I know at Glen Echo they're not done as often)? Is it something else? A combination? 

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Found this flow chart by Ron T. Blechner on Facebook. He is a "pro-twirl" contra dancer from New Jersey. I think this sums up the whole "don't be a jerk" mantra rather nicely:

I think this is brilliant (although I quibble somewhat with the idea that it's only a gents' dilemma, as I face it too when I dance the role that ends up on the left after a swing, and I'm most definitely not a "gent" even when I am dancing that role). 

And I especially love that he mentions the facts that 1) having an offer of a flourish refused is not the end of the world, and 2) if you do flourish, be careful and be on time. Some people love flourishes; some don't; and some normally love them but don't right that second (for whatever reason -- tired, dizzy, cranky because of other stuff, just plain don't want to) and ALL of those stances should be respected.

Last week when I posted this flow chart, I got a response from a reader that I thought was interesting and so got permission to share with the group for comment:

"Maybe another branch of the flow chart should incorporate the concept of:  do the people you lead in the flourishes LIKE it when you do it?  i.e., not just about safety or whether it works -- referring to the young men with more energy than finesse who horse around a lot, and it works out ok, but it's still too wild and uncontrolled, and gets really old after a while.... Same young men when dancing in pairs (i.e., one is lead and one is follow) are really wild and uncontrolled and while it works out fine for them to do their thing together, the rest of us feel like we need to give them a wide berth -- so it works, but the rest of us don't really like it.  Maybe that's an artifact of the fact that they are part of a younger demographic and it would be totally acceptable in a group with a different (i.e., younger) demographic.  Is that the same as or different that any of your branches?  Seems different to me but maybe it's just a subcategory."


I'm not sure either whether that counts as its own thing or not. I tend to subscribe to the "don't be a jerk" school, which says that you shouldn't go dampening the fun of others. However, this goes both ways. In the example, the dancers who are horsing around need to be conscious of the space they're taking and where they are in relation to the rest of their set/line/whatever. At the same time, other dancers who are unaffected directly by it really need to consider whether their concern is warranted.

I know a dancer who gets jittery whenever any other dancer -- even if they're in another line -- gets dipped or lifted. I am more than willing to curtail things in my repertoire in the interest of safety or in the interest of staying in my own allotted dance space; I am not, however, going to take a move out of my repertoire -- when I'm all the way across the hall, have enough room, and can perform the move safely for me and my partner -- just because someone, somewhere might have an issue with it.

(It reminds me a bit, tangentially, of my philosophy on improv lines -- horsing around is a choice, and that's fine, but you do not get to make that choice for others without their consent. I should be able to dance a dance in a well-done improv line as written and keep my partner and role while the dancers and roles change around us if I choose.)

That's my thought in response to the comment; I welcome others.

A couple of conversations I've had recently, both in the comments of this blog and offline, have made me think about what an actual definition of a "contra dance flourish" might be. Sure, we know one when we see it, but what might be a functional, vaguely-objective definition? My take on it follows (inspired by someone I know doing an "Is It a Date?" flow chart):

This doesn't account for regional variants -- as Steve (rightly) pointed out to me, this does leave the question, "If everyone is doing it, is it still a flourish?" out. (This question was also asked, in a different context, by a reader.)

Both Steve and the reader have a point, although I suspect that norms vary enough between communities (dips are more usual in some communities than others, for instance) that one person's flourish is another's "dancing it as written" (e.g., if the norm for the community is to complete do-si-dos without twirls, and I go and spin like a top through mine, that might count as a flourish there, whereas it's a fairly normal thing at Glen Echo even if it's not explicitly in the choreography). 

I'm not sure how to incorporate that in the infographic, but I'm open to suggestions.

Thoughts? Opinions? Something I completely missed? Does a mostly-objective definition exist that doesn't implicitly or explicitly say that all flourishers are jerks by definition (a viewpoint that I will -- unsurprisingly -- contest)? 

Comment or drop us a line! 

Update, 7/25/12: The conversation on the flow chart continues in part 2!

I'm rather fond of saying that "half of contra is improv." I've said that in a couple of different contexts, and I very much believe it in both: improvisation can be helpful to  fix things when they go awry, and it can generate new experiences to enhance your dancing.

For me, the mark of a great dancer isn't actually the number of flourishes they pull out or whether they're on time for every single figure (although I do think it's important that people at least make a valiant attempt on the latter); for me it's how they react when things go awry, and how well they are able to fix mistakes with as little disruption to the dance as possible.

Sometimes this means finding a way to tell new dancers "go swing over there" if they're completely flummoxed by a hey. Sometimes it's using nonverbal communication to tell your partner where they need to be or remind them of a move that's no longer being called but does come next (e.g., motioning them over if they're supposed to chain to you). Sometimes it's doing a switch flourish to put you and your partner back into the spots for the roles you're intending on dancing. And sometimes it means drawing on another form of dance to get yourselves where you need to be in an interesting way.

Incidentally, this is why I find intentional, good chaos/shenanigans/whatever sets to be fun and valuable things when they crop up. By intentionally subverting the expectation that you'll keep your neighbor/shadow/partner, you can see how to fix it if you've accidentally lost them, while still keeping the flow of the dance, instead of generating a train wreck.

Being able to think on your feet and improvise also can help recover you when you've completely and utterly botched a flourish. (It happens; you put your wrong hand on top, you turn your partner under the wrong side, you realize halfway through a swing that you accidentally traveled and continuing the swing will slam your partner smack into someone else who traveled...). And if you improvise your way out of a flub really well, you can come up with a variant on the flourish you were trying to do...and, uh, you meant to do that. 

What are some of your favorite improvised moments on the dance floor?

As we've gone through our Friday Flourishes, we've been trying to make a point of indicating potential trouble spots and safety precautions. It occurs to me that a concentrated version of these might be useful to dancers who are just starting to explore flourishes, or who have been embellishing their contra dancing for a while now as a refresher (I know I've committed my share of dance floor sins). There's room for everybody.

If you're not going to read this entry any further, commit this phrase to memory and use it as your mantra. Cranking arms, twirling people who have said they'd really rather not, sending your neighbor on to their next neighbor really late, or pulling out flourishes in crowded rooms where it could endanger yourself, your partner, or someone in the next set is just plain not cool. This is part of how flourishers get a bad name; let's rise above the rep, shall we?

This is partly a reiteration of #1, but there are some specific points I think we should all remember:

• Be situationally aware. Some dancers really get annoyed when other dancers twirl their neighbor in a circle left and thus break the connection between the partner pairs; some dancers are probably going to twirl your partner, too, and so you can create a really neat symmetry in the minor set if you do it too.  Some people love the drama of dips; other people find the idea unthinkable. Some people have a deep respect for the dance as written, and only as written; other people like to embellish. A lot of being a good flourisher is being able to adjust your dancing depending on who is coming at you. As you dance, you get to know the room. Use that information to enhance everyone's experience, not just yours, and respect it when someone's idea of fun may be different from yours. We wouldn't be dancing if we didn't love it.
• Be temporally aware. Know where you are in the music. If you get an 8-beat swing, don't try to squish in a 12-beat swing flourish. If you've got a crazily long swing, you have more time to experiment and still be on time for the next figure.
• Be spatially aware. This plays into dancing in crowded rooms as well as pulling off some of the more dramatic flourishes. Frequently when someone is twirling particularly fast or is getting inverted into a dramatic dip, they are putting all their trust into their guide (i.e., the lead) that they will have enough room to participate in the flourish safely. To those who are looking into dips: for most of them, bear in mind that you do not get to control the dipee's lower body beyond shifting its center of gravity; if they want to kick their legs up, they can't see the space behind the dipper, and neither can the dipper. Physics tells us that two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Experience tells us that bruises (or worse) can result in the attempt.

'Nuff. Said.

It happens to all of us, flourisher and non-flourisher alike; somehow you miscount a beat and you realize that your minor set is two beats behind the room, or you have to make a really big step in to balance for a set of Petronella twirls because you and your partner drifted further afield than you thought. No one will ever think less of you for the occasional oops. If you are constantly too busy playing with that cute new dancer to get back in time for the all lines forward and back, or if you're constantly progressing your neighbor on to the next person three beats late for an eight-beat swing, people will (rightfully) get a little annoyed. If your partner didn't start twirling as quickly as you thought into a chain flourish, don't guide all six twirls that she usually does. For many contra dancers,  the dance has become a lead/follow dance form; that said, you're both still dancing with the rest of the room. See #1.

Even for flourishers, it doesn't have to be all about the fanciest steps. You end up in a line packed with new dancers. For some reason you have completely flubbed a lead you thought you had down cold. It happens. You started dancing, presumably, because it was fun; and as long as you're not harming anyone else, the practical side of the anti-flourish argument loses water. (The theoretical side will likely always be there, and the best thing flourishers can do is acknowledge other dancers' feelings and respect their existence, even if we disagree.)

Sound off in the comments!