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Crowd-Sourcing a Glossary of Contra Esoterica

11/16/2011

 
While I was at a contra event recently, it came to my attention that a few terms that some contra dancers know and drop offhand really aren't that common (when I mentioned that I'd danced a dance in a "two-headed monster," for instance, someone looked at me like I was one).

Most contra dancers are familiar with common contra figures like a ladies' chain, or a hey, or even a cloverleaf, but what about the fun things that don't usually get called, but are done if you have a few adventurous dancers on the floor? I could think of a few, but I open it up to you all; I think we need a glossary that I would eventually put up on this site as its own page.

Some of the ones I thought of were:

dancing switch: at least when I use it, NOT the same as just dancing the other role (i.e., dancing lead as a woman, or dancing follow as a man); this is when you and your partner intentionally trade roles as you progress up or down the set; usually the trades happen mid-figure.

two-headed monster: when you and a friend dance as one person; usually it's done where someone is the right hand and someone is the left. The inactive arms are usually around your buddy's waist so you move as one unit. (If you get really good, you can do the lady's part of a ladies' chain, with twirls.) N.B.: Potentially useful when you've double-booked yourself. ;-)

four-headed monster: when two two-headed monsters dance as a pair, with one two-headed monster as the lead and the other as the follow (a four-headed monster can also dance switch or trade who makes up each "monster," but that's more challenging).

Thoughts? Others? Share in the comments!

Update, 11/17/2011, 11:30 P.M.: I've made a Forum topic under the "Choreography" section for this. Feel free to add entries either place, as the mood strikes you, so I can add them to the ongoing list when it goes live!
Yona
11/15/2011 02:44:57 pm

I really really really want to do a "four headed monster" now... ^.^

A term I can think of is "chaos:" when a group of adventurous folk before a dance agree to partake in a partner switching extravaganza

ex: Bob and Barb, Sally and Sam, and Nick and Nora agree to chaos this dance (I think it's used as a verb, not totally sure). Then the boys (or girls) all run to another chaos-er and tactfully/not so tactfully pull the dancing-the-same-gender-roll person out of a swing---very opportune time to do this--- and tell them where to find their former dance partner

Alex
11/15/2011 03:27:49 pm

What you are calling a "two-headed monster" I have historically called a gemini, which is a term I learned from a friend who does square dancing.

Is there a term for an eye-contact hey? The hey where you and your partner keep eyes locked, so one of you has to do the hey backwards?

Perry
11/15/2011 07:50:22 pm

Alex - that is caled a "gypsy hey". There actually is a dance written by Ron Buchanan that callsfor a gypsy hey.

dest/jess(ie)/etc. Purvis
11/16/2011 02:06:51 am

I've also heard chaos used to refer to the specific act of role or partner switching within a chaos set - "Yeah, she was dancing with john a moment ago, but then i chaosed her into the next couple down so now he's my partner."

Also, a few that occur to me...

Sharing a partner: When you and another person agree to trade off dancing, say, the follow(but if could be either role), while your partner dances the lead. One of you looks for a good moment within the dance when one follow can step into the set and the other step out. At that figure, *every time that figure rolls around in the dance*, you switch which follow is in the set and which is standing by the set watching and waiting for his/her turn. This results in each follow dancing every other repetition of the dance. Like the gemini/two headed monster, this is a good option if you double-book by accident, or if you really just want to mess with people's heads a little.

Sleazing: Also known as sleaze swinging or blues swinging. It's the act of substituting a slower, close-contact, more consciously flirtatious swing, a la blues dance, for a standard swing.

Cheating: Most commonly, the act of grabbing a quick swing with your partner, your neighbor, your shadow, someone from another set--anyone really--anytime when the dance isn't to have one. Substituting a swing for a courtesy turn is cheating, for instance; so is the twos grabbing a swing while the ones promenade down the hall.

End effects: any special maneuvers you do at the end of a contra set, especially if you're supposed to be out, to make the dance continue a little more smoothly for the other couples dancing.

Side effects: any flourishes or other maneuvers you do with someone from the next set over. If the men are alemanding in the center and the women reach out to alemande each other between the sets, for instance, or when you back extra far out of a wavy line in the center to form wavy lines in between the sets, it's a side effect.

I sort of feel like there should be a term for when you're out but you find ways to step back into certain moves in the hands four nearest you, like following someone to create a hey for five, or joining in on a circle left/star right--but i don't know if there is a word for it.

A few of the regular figures i've occasionally heard given special names in some areas but not others, such as the gypsy meltdown and the pass-the-ocean.

A couple other useful ones that aren't actual dance moves and therefore may not fit...

Tefloning (pr. TEFF-lahn-ing): When you're looking for a partner for the next dance and someone glances at you then carefully looks over your shoulder, pointedly avoiding eye contact so you won't ask them to dance, you've just been tefloned.

Contranental drift(or simply drift): when a contra set slowly slides to one side (or up, or down) over the course of the dance.

Mis-four: when you take hands four, only to realize that someone made a mistake up above and you need to retake hands four with a different couple. As in, "Yeah, sorry, we misfoured. you'll get to dance with them later, but for now you're in my hands four."

Ghost: that partner or neighbor that you should be dancing with right now, except someone's run to the bathroom or something. Most common in walk-throughs. If you do the figure anyway as if that other person were there, it's dancing with a ghost.

Sophia Johansen
8/7/2013 03:16:20 am

If there's "contranental drift" then what about "contranental divide": when there's a dance with a down the hall or something and you end up with a big fat hole in the middle of the contra line (or a divide between the head hands four and the rest of the set).

dest/jess(ie)/etc.
11/16/2011 02:08:52 am

Thinking about this list, maybe we should make it a forumtopic so we can keep adding to it as we go? I'm sure something will occur to me later.

Ryan link
11/17/2011 01:31:15 pm

I've thought of another one:

Eye sex: When a dance allows for a long period of time where you and your partner can lock eyes for a really long time and not have to break the gaze unless you want to; e.g., a dance that starts with a mad robin with your neighbor, a full gypsy hey, and then a gents/ladies cross the set into their partners' arms for a swing.

Anonymous Contra Addict
5/25/2012 02:07:18 pm

Other figures and contra slang from our group (and just random stuff that happens):
An un-gypsy: When you really hate gypsys so you do-si-do instead. I've heard that this can be one such that the person you're supposed to be gypsying actually thinks you are trying to gypsy and failing miserably.
Reservation (sense 1) or placeholding: where the guy leaves his partner to hold their place in the set while he gets a drink of water
Flying invite: where the guy just sticks his hand in front of the lady and then starts running as soon as she rgabs it so as to attempt to be the head couple. He may not actually ask at all, or sometimes will wait until arriving at the head of the set and then ask if she would like to dance.
Reservation (sense 2): where you have a partner for a dance later (next, after the break, last dance, etc.)
Where you substitute a balance for something else (gypsy, do-si-do) before the swing in order to get a longer swing
Where siblings or good friends turn an allemande or wave balance into an arm-wrestling match
Beat-boxing to get something on time (usually balance kicks for a swing or the claps for a petronella)
Counting (on balance and swings or long lines: One! TWO! Three! FOUR!!! Five! Six! Seven! EIGHT!!!! (and Nine! etc. for a balance and swing)
Predicting the dance (What's the logical thing to do after (whatever the last move was))?

Sophia Johansen
6/10/2013 03:44:29 am

Do-si-did: The past tense of do-si-do.


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    I 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.

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