Erik's Dances
Lanny's Back
Duple Improper Contra
A1: Gypsy Nbr. 1-1/2
Circle L 3/4
A2: DSD Part.
Sw Part
B1: Balance Ring; Women cross by R. Shoulder
Balance Ring; Men cross by
R. Shoulder
B2: Balance Ring: One Petronella Turn
Balance Ring:
California Twirl w/ Part.
I wrote this dance in anticipation of a gig with the Portland band, The
Wildcats. The accordian player, Lanny Martin, had injured his
back
and it was uncertain whether he would be able to play. The title
can be either a lament or a celebration. Lanny recovered enough
to
play and his back was back in fine form the night of the gig, so Lanny
was indeed back.
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Artquake '95
Duple Improper Contra
A1: Long Lines Forward and Back
1's Swing
A2: Down the Hall 4 in line; Turn alone
Return and bend
the lines
B1: Women Chain over and back
B2: Circle L
Circle R
I was asked to call at the Portland Artquake festival in 1995 which
placed me and a band in front of about 2000 spectators whom I was
expected to encourage to Contra dance. We had about 50 "dancers"
in the crowd. They each took a beginner as a partner so every
couple had one experienced dancer. In this dance, partners have
an
easy time keeping track of each other and it's a nice, easy dance for
beginners.
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Tapestry
Duple Improper Contra
A1: 1's down cntr below one couple; separate; return up
outside to place
Circle L with former
neighbors
A2: 2's down the cntr below one couple; separate; return up
outside to place
Circle L with current
neighbors
B1: Gypsy and Sw. Nbr.
B2: Long Lines Forward and Back
1's swing
In the A parts you dance with two sets of neighbors. It pays to
spend a moment before the walk-through to introduce dancers to the
neighbors behind them as well as their current neighbors. The A
part of this dance is the A part from an English Country dance by the
title Dancing Wife by Gary Roodman. When I danced Dancing Wife
for
the first time I thought that set of figures was too cool to not share
with Contra dancers. When using this dance, please reference Gary
Roodman's English Dance. All I did was tag on a B part to get
Contra dancers to do some English.
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Frozen Lotion
Duple Improper Contra
A1: Gypsy and Swing Nbr.
A2: Circle L 3/4
Allemande R Nbr.
3/4; Men allemande L
B1: Bal. and Swing Part.
B2: Men turn by L 1/2; Women take left, turn the star 1/2
way further
DSD next Nbr.
This dance was written with the tune Big John McNeil's in mind.
It didn't have a name until a Winter camping trip in Northern Idaho
when
the temperature was -15 F. The name doesn't have anything to do
with the dance; it was just fun to say once the lips thawed out.
In the B2, the women join the star behind their partners.
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Whatchagonnado?
Becket Contra
A1: Circle L 3/4
Pass through; swing
next nbr.
A2: Women chain
R&L Through
B1: Balance ring; Petronella turn
Balance ring:
Petronella turn
B2: Balance and Sw. Part.
I wrote this one to go with the old-time tune Rock the Cradle
Joe. "What 'cha gonna' do when the baby cries..." I was
once
told after calling this that Petronella turns just don't go with
old-time music and did those fall together on purpose or was that an
unfortunate accident of programming. I did that on purpose.
'Cause I like it.
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Valerie's Trip to Portland
Duple Improper Contra
Double Progression
A1: Gypsy and Swing Nbr.
A2: Long Lines Forward and Back
Pass Through; Swing
Through
B1: Balance and Sw. Part.
B2: Cir. L 3/4
Weave the Line to 3rd
couple
I introduced this dance in Portland before I had chosen a title.
A woman asked to copy it down. Her name was (and still is, I
presume) Valerie, visiting from Juneau, AK. I was pleased that
she
liked it and named it on the spot. This dance has become one of
my
favorites. The pass through; swing through figure involves a pass
through to an ocean wave, immediately followed by an allemande right
halfway and gents turn by the left halfway to meet partners on the
side.
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Joyride
Duple Improper Contra
A1: Gypsy N
Mad Robin figure around N
A2: Half Pousette clockwise (Men back to begin)
Hey (5 changes, men start with L
shoulder; finish by men passing L)
B1; Swing P
B2: Women chain
Star L to next N
This is one of the most flowing dances I've written and dancers have
expressed appreciation for the connectedness and satisfying feel.
After the half pousette with partner, the women should let go and take
a step back to leave room in the middle for the men to begin the
hey. The timing of this dance has been described as "squishy",
which is ok. Encourage dancers to stretch out the Mad Robin, the
Pousette and the Hey and use all the music provided. The dance
was originally written to dance the fifth change of the hey in the B1,
but dancers seem to prefer to arrive for the swing at the top of the
phrase. That's fine, but they shouldn't arrive earlier than
that.
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Whoa, Nellie!
Becket Formation contra dance
A1: Men Al'd L 1-1/2
Star Promenade neighbor; men back out...
A2: Women Al'd R 1-1/2
Star Promenade partner; women back out...
B1: Balance the ring;
Petronella turn
Balance the ring: California Twirl (face new neighbors)
B2: Two new women Al'd R
1-1/2
Swing Partner
The first start promenade is done with the man picking up his neighbor
by putting his right arm around her waist. The second is done
with
the woman putting her left arm around her partners waist. The two
figures also turn opposite directions. So they really are mirror
images of one another!
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A Rose by Another Name Would Smell
Double progression, improper
contra dance
Begin in progressed position (next
to neighbor on the side, woman on the right, facing partner across)
A1: Hey (Women start with R
shoulder)
A2: Women pass right once
again
Swing partner
B1: Circle L x 1
Women chain across
B2: Long Lines Forward and
Back
With NEXT neighbor, Gate halfway (men forward, women back)
With NEXT neighbor, Gate halfway (men back, women forward)
The progression at the end of the dance was picked out of the English
dance The Rose of Rochester which I though was too good to not share
with contra dancers. The gate figures should wrap around the ends
of the lines; if you don't have a NEXT neighbor to do the gate, do the
figure with your partner who happens to be accross from you. You
may have to reach for it, but it will get you in the right place to
start the dance again.
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Evil Duane
Improper contra dance
Start in wavy line across; women take L in center, give R to neighbor
A1: Balance wave R and L;
slide R
Balance wave L and R; slide L (women slide L all the way across to
Partner)
A2: Balance and Swing Partner
B1: Give and Take (Long
Lines Forward; men hand partner to other man, men fall back with
neighbor woman for a...)
Swing neighbor
B2: Balance the ring;
Rollaway partner across
Circle L x 1/2; Pass through up/down
to
next wave
At the end of A1 if there is space and inclination, the women have a
great opportunity to spin twice on their way across the set to meet
their partners.
I wrote this dance to go with the tune Evil Diane by Sam
Bartlett. I got Sam's permission to use a take off from his tune
name. Sam was intrigued by the mythology/story of the dance.
Duane was Diane's high school boyfriend. It didn't work
out; Duane cheated on Diane halfway through the dance. After one
last "rollaway" (ahem...) they broke it off and went on to the
next. But do we ever really learn from these experiences?
Apparently not. We seek pleasure wherever there's a great tune to
dance to.
My intent has been to call this dance only when the tune Evil Diane is
available in the band's repritore. My hope is that you enjoy it
in
the same way. Any similarity to actual Dianes or Duanes is
strictly coincidental.
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Ad Vielle (Oddville)
Becket (sort-of) contra dance
Start in wavy line across; men take R in center, give L to partner
A1: Balance wave forward and
back
All drop hands, step forward to new wave
Balance new wave forward and
back
Allemande L ~3/4
A2: Balance and Swing Partner
B1: Circle L 3/4; pass
through up/down
Swing next neighbor; end facing
across
B2: Women allemande R 1-12
All allemande L partner ~1-1/4 to wave
with men in center by R
I wrote this dance because I needed an accessible, interesting dance to
fit the tune Oddville Cupola by Claude Ginsberg of the Seattle contra
dance band KGB (www.kgbmole.com/kgb). The Portland Megaband has
played Oddville Cupola for the last couple years and this dance has
been very pleasing to dancers when danced to that tune. Of
course, it will work with any 32-bar tune, but that one is
special. Thanks, Claude!
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Wasatch Wiggle
Duple improper contra dance
A1: See Saw Neighbor (left
shoulder do-si-do)
Men, Ald L 1-1/2
A2: Gypsy (or Balance) and
Swing Partner
B1: Balance Ring; Petronella
turn one place to right
Balance Ring;
Petronella-nella turn two places to right
B2: Balance and Swing
Neighbor
I wrote this one in August, 2007 for the Wasatch Wiggle dance weekend
produced by the Salt Lake City dancers. The dance has been
through a couple of revisions. Initially I choreographed an
inverse "Mad Robin" figure to start, with the men passing in front of
neighbor to start. I called that the "Happy Raven". That
works, but I replaced it with the see saw because it's easier to teach
and allows more neighbor interaction. The motion from the B2
neighbor swing carries one into that trajectory.
I'd never seen a Petronella turn which moves two places. I named
it a Petronella-nella and dancers immediately liked it when I
introduced this dance for the first time in Seattle. I hope I get
to dance it sometime; it looks like fun.
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