Carry on Dancing,
CS
Contra Syncretist |
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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 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). I picked this week's flourish up from a dancer in the Atlanta, Georgia dance community (his first name is Joseph, I'm afraid I didn't catch his last name -- sorry!). It's a neat variant on a partnered weave-the-line (often called in my neck of the woods as "Zig to the left and zag to the right..."). Couple of caveats: 1) these tugs on your partner's hands are GENTLE -- we are not forcing our partners anywhere, we are guiding them; and 2) these go "one-two-three and TURN," so if you are running really short on room where stopping on a dime unexpectedly might be a problem, or you're in a really tightly-packed hall, proceed with caution or risk being a speed bump for the couple behind you (not fun) Dancers, as usual, are Ryan Holman & Steven Roth.
You, too, can have your flourishes featured! Drop us a line! Happy Friday, CS This week's flourish is an embellishment on a square-through, where you keep connection with the person traveling with you the entire time. As with any trick involving twisting your own arm behind your back, realize that THE PERSON WHOSE HAND & BACK IT IS controls that move -- the other person's grip should be loose enough that the person with their hand behind their back can find where is comfortable as some people are more flexible than others, and they know where they fall on that spectrum. We do not want wrenched shoulders! |
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
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