Type: Contra Dance, Duple Becket Counter-Clockwise
Status: Public, Proven but REVISED since (3/31/2017) and likely to be significantly revised once more. See my dance The Love Pirate for my recommended current variation.
This dance is a further refinement of an idea I’d first developed in my dance Give the Gents a Whirl. First called from (a reconstructed) memory at the Rutland, MA contra dance in Summer 2016, I polished it a bit more and called it successfully at the Monday Contras dance at the Concord Scout House on 2/13/2017.
The ends must participate in the big oval promenade and interleave between the two neighbor-partner dyads coming out of the endmost star to enable the progression (not jump ahead of or wait behind). Timing is leisurely/smooth in the A1 – encourage dancers to relax into and enjoy the refined pace.
Will Mentor called this at the Rehoboth, MA Challenging Dance on 3/31/2017 where I got a chance to dance it. We discovered dancers completed the promenade back much quicker than expected, so I’ve revised the B1 to adjust for that experience. See The Love Pirate for an alternative fix and The Whole Slice for a different take on the same opening move.
A1
(8) Hole in the Wall*
(8) LHS 1x
(Gent is looking at N Lady’s back across set, they keep walking forward and to the left to…)
A2
(6,2) Promenade N CCW around the set, Ladies Turn Back (over right shoulder)
(8) Next N Swing
B1
(4,4) Promenade back to across from P, Courtesy Turn 3/4 [L fwd, G back up] to face across
(8) Ladies Allemande Right 1+1/2
B2
(4,12) Partner Balance & Swing
Version 1 was:
B1
Promenade back to across from P (8)
Courtesy Turn 3/4 [L fwd, G back up] to face across (6), Ladies Pass Right to cross (2)
*Hole in the Wall: Borrowed from an English Dance move, you walk forward 3 steps to face N across, Gypsy Right 1/2x to swap places with the Neighbor and back out 3 steps.