Tag Archives: contra dance

Sourdough Starter – Singlet/Doublet – Don Veino

Type: Contra Dance, Singlet or Doublet Progression: None Status: Proven This is the first of my purpose-made remote/virtual dances in a genre that I began referring to as “co-contras.” I had previously composed The Spaniard’s Latte (To Go) for similar … Continue reading

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The Spaniard’s Latte (To Go) – Set Dance – Don Veino 202003

Type: Set Dance Status: Proven Due to the 2020 COVID-19 health issue, April’s New England Folk Festival (NEFFA) was canceled. As a scheduled performer I was invited to submit material for a “Virtual NEFFA” to be presented on-line via video. … Continue reading

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Kitty Awesome! – Becket – Don Veino 20200124

Type: Contra Dance, Becket Left/CW Status: Proven The name and artwork for this one comes from our daughter. She’s currently crazy about kitties and her highest compliment is when something is “kitty awesome.” Unusual enough to be interesting, this one … Continue reading

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A Long Courtship – Becket – Don Veino 20181209

Type: Contra Dance, Becket Left/CW Status: Proven This dance came out of a discussion Will Mentor and I had about writing a dance which built up and defied expectations regarding when you’d get together with your partner. It was briefly … Continue reading

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Dreaming of Dolphins – DI – Don Veino 20190123

Type: Longways, Duple Improper Status: Proven The title pretty much says it all. I was in a period where I was thinking about Dolphin Heys repeatedly, generating gobs of DH dances. Between this Duple Improper dance and two other 4-Face-4 … Continue reading

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Becky’s Boulder – DI – Don Veino 20180522

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: DRAFT One of several related dances composed this date which were inspired by the new Becky Tracy tune Black Rock, off the Eloise & Co. album with Rachel Bell. Yeah, I love the tune. … Continue reading

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Rockslide – DI – Don Veino 20180522

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven One of several related dances composed this date which were inspired by the new Becky Tracy tune Black Rock, off the Eloise & Co. album with Rachel Bell. Yeah, I love the tune. … Continue reading

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You Caught My Eye – DI – Don Veino 20180522

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven For Sage, who caught my eye. ♥ One of several related dances composed this date which were inspired by the new Becky Tracy tune Black Rock, off the Eloise & Co. album with … Continue reading

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Three Out Of Four Ain’t Bad – 4 Face 4 – Don Veino 20180829

Type: Contra Dance, 4 Facing 4 Status: Proven Another of my “extra swings” dances – you get to swing with 3 out of the 4 opposite role dancers in your set without resorting to tricks like ending one swing mid-phrase … Continue reading

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Pumpkin Spice Madness – DI – Don Veino 20181006

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven We’re in that season again – where everything gets offered in some form of pumpkin spiced variant. I find most such things (but for pancakes or other baked goods) totally foul but the … Continue reading

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Fun With Flipper – Triplet – Don Veino 20181006

Type: Proper Triplet Status: Proven Yep, I’ve been on a real Dolphin Hey compositions run – which led me to research the history of that move back toward its origin. It appears the Dolphin Hey first appeared in the modern … Continue reading

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Feeling Gravity’s Pull – DI – Don Veino 20180710

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven I wanted something smooth and stately which swapped around the idea of who typically does certain sorts of moves (e.g.: in this dance, it’s the Ladies who gate the Gents – not the … Continue reading

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Mad For Ogontz – DI – Don Veino 20180808

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven At CDSS Ogontz Family Camp 2018 Steve Zakon-Anderson wanted to teach Mad Robin to the 11s & 12s group but didn’t have a suitable dance. We couldn’t find one in my deck either, … Continue reading

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Bonus Round/Repeatronella (in Dublin) – DI – Don Veino 20180726

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven This is a set of dances approaching the same two-Neighbor-Swing theme in different variations. Dancers seem to really like these and they can scale in difficulty from working with more beginner dancers or … Continue reading

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Fairly Nicked From Nick – Becket – Don Veino and Nick Howe 20180815

Type: Contra Dance, Becket Status: Proven In a conversation with Nick Howe following Ogontz Family Week 2018, we reviewed a draft of his 2017 “The Cuckoo and The Robin.” Nick’s dance features a double Mad Robin sequence (CCW into CW) … Continue reading

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So Long and Thanks for All the Fish – 4 Face 4 – Don Veino 20180528

Type: Contra Dance, 4 Facing 4 – single progression, alternating sides Status: Proven I’ve become slightly obsessed with Dolphin Hey dances. In this case I was striving for one that automatically alternates who gets to act as the traveling pair, … Continue reading

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Hey, Ack is Back! – DI – Don Veino 20180711

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: DRAFT Named in celebration of Lynn Ackerson having completed her Veterinary Tech program and, hopefully, her return to the contra dance community. Lynn’s an all around good egg and was very welcoming and helpful … Continue reading

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(Home Again, Home Again) Jiggity Jig – DI – Don Veino 20180430

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven This dance was a bonus spin-off while thinking through my dance The Right In Tension. It was intended to be useful as an easy frame for the Right Hand High, Left Hand Low … Continue reading

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The Bubbles Incident – Becket – Don Veino 20180620

Type: Contra Dance, Becket Left/CW Status: DRAFT I was playing with new ways to do a Down-the-Hall dance – in particular, how to achieve the progression. I hit on the idea of a ring of dancers going down and then … Continue reading

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Totally Ridiculous Utterly Mad Proposition – DI – Don Veino 20160112

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: EXPERIMENTAL – NOT INTENDED TO EVER BE ACTUALLY DANCED! On January 11, 2018 the Third Occasional Bad Contra Choreography Contest was announced by Gregory Frock. The goal of this contest was to write the … Continue reading

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The Oddball In Charge – Mixer for 5, 7 or ? Dancers – Don Veino 20171210, rev. 20180112

a.k.a. “The Magic Charm” Type: Circle Mixer for odd number of dancers, Gender-free Status: Proven At smaller venue dances you may find yourself at the beginning or end of the evening below the comfortable number of dancers for a contra … Continue reading

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Force of Nature – DI or Becket – Don Veino 20180620

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper or Becket Right/CCW Status: Proven Shel Michaels made me write this… just kidding ;-). But he did suggest I write a dance to commemorate this event. On 6/18/18 a microburst/tornado struck our neighborhood. Nobody was … Continue reading

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The Right In Tension (a.k.a. Synchro de Mayo) – Becket – Don Veino 20180430

Type: Contra Dance, Becket Left/CW Status: Proven I’ve written a series of dances playing with the residual tension from the last contact in a roll-away and this one I feel is my simplest solution to date for it feeding a … Continue reading

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Two Hearts Beat As One – DI – Don Veino 20180203

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven For my wife Sage on our 10th Valentine’s Day. Written independently but likely strongly inspired by my recollection of Don Flaherty’s Heartbeat Contra – the A parts are the same and the B … Continue reading

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Filet Mignon – DI – Don Veino 20170918

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven The instant I heard Simon Riopel’s tune L’Air Mignonne played by Eric Boodman I knew I must write a dance to match. This dance plays with dancer expectations re: Rory O’Moore moves, so … Continue reading

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¡Que Linda! – DI – Don Veino 20180211

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven, Public Here’s a contra in honor of Linda Leslie. I wanted to give Linda a dance more likely to be regularly called than my prior dance Linda’s Gifts (which is a waltz-time Contra … Continue reading

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Swinging Chainsaws – DI – Don Veino 20171006

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: DRAFT (but proven via transitive property…) This dance is one of a set that grew out of my work on (Like) Juggling Chainsaws. There is a mirror role and move dance to this one, … Continue reading

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Dosi Dude – DI – Don Veino 20171006

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven This dance is one of a set that grew out of my work on (Like) Juggling Chainsaws. There is a mirror role and move dance to this one, Swinging Chainsaws, which could be … Continue reading

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The Devils A Swinger – DI – Don Veino 20171012

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: DRAFT The actual title of this dance is “The Devil’s A Swinger” but WordPress currently won’t show the post if any form of apostrophe is used in the post title, so this is the … Continue reading

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I ♥ Devil Dogs – DI – Don Veino 20171012

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: DRAFT Yep, named for the snack cake that was my second favorite in the Drake’s lineup when I was a kid, right behind Ring Dings and just before Yodels. OK, so maybe behind Yodels … Continue reading

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Oh, The Indecency! (v2) – Indecent – Don Veino 20170802

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Indecent Status: Proven Indecent formation = ones proper, twos crossed over Not much to say about this one other than I hope dancers really enjoy the novelty of the formation and somewhat uncommon moves. I’m guessing … Continue reading

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Wild Mouse – 4 Face 4 – Don Veino 20170823

Type: Contra Dance, 4 Face 4 Status: DRAFT, EXPERIMENTAL This sequence re-imagines the B parts from my dance Lobster Roll. I wanted to find another way of resolving a 4 Face 4 than has been done to date. Originally I … Continue reading

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Lobster Roll – 4 Face 4 – Don Veino 20170823

Type: Contra Dance, 4 Face 4 Status: DRAFT This sequence re-uses a concept I’d first developed for a down the hall dance Strolling & Rolling. When thinking about the commonality of facing lines/4 and a line/4 down the hall I … Continue reading

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Strolling & Rolling – Becket – Don Veino 20170725

Type: Contra Dance, Becket Left/CW Status: DRAFT This dance sprang out of my interest in doing something unique out of a Partner Roll Away. I’ve experienced other callers’ attempts at making a roll away feed something with Partner focus like … Continue reading

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Counter Clock-Weiss – DI – Don Veino 20170729

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: DRAFT, EXPERIMENTAL This dance was written in memoriam to Eph Weiss. Eph was an active dancer in many folk styles in the Boston, MA area up until nearly his 93rd birthday and was known … Continue reading

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Ephervescence – DI – Don Veino 20170729

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven This is a conventional respin of my all-reverse dance Counter Clock-Weiss, written in memoriam to Eph Weiss. Eph was an active dancer in many folk styles in the Boston, MA area up until … Continue reading

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Wicked Smooth – Becket or DI – Don Veino 20170803

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper or Becket Left/CW Status: Proven There’s been a dance “seed” on my whiteboard for some time, which germinated today into what I think is a wonderfully smooth dance (what we New Englanders might describe as … Continue reading

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Poussettey Spaghetti – DI – Don Veino 20170715

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: DRAFT This dance came out of a comment my wife, Sage, once made while we were walking down to the dance hall at Ogontz camp in Lyman, NH. There was an English Country Dance … Continue reading

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Poussette in Boots – Becket – Don Veino 20170715

Type: Contra Dance, Becket Left/CW Status: Proven This dance came out of playing with Poussettes towards my dance Poussettey Spaghetti, intended to be simpler than that dance. At the time of it’s composition, our daughter Raeden was obsessed with getting … Continue reading

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(Riding in the) Zoomy Car – DI – Don Veino 20170717

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven The A parts of this composition were inspired by Lindsey Dono’s work-in-progress composition Working Title (WT), which I’d become involved in discussing. Lindsey, several others and I were challenged to date in finding … Continue reading

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Dance No Evil – Becket – Don Veino 20170710

Type: Contra Dance, Becket CW/Left Formation Status: Proven Another in a series of my “not evil” Star 3/4 explorations. See Shining Sparkle for my original Star 3/4 composition and motivation. This dance counts on the “New England Style” Promenade and … Continue reading

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Trip Through Athol – Becket – Don Veino 20170609

Type: Contra Dance, Becket CW/Left Formation Status: Proven US Route 2 is a significant road connecting contra dances in the eastern and western parts of Massachusetts (in particular at the Concord Scout House and Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield). To … Continue reading

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Shining Sparkle – DI – Don Veino 20170609

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven Alternate Title: During testing this was temporarily known as “The 75% Solution” and “Stellar Redemption.” While discussing a caller’s draft dance with colleagues, one persisted that a Star 3/4 was always “Evil, Don. … Continue reading

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Trip to Santa Fe – Circle Mixer – Don Veino 20170622

Type: Circle Mixer Status: Proven During a trip to New Mexico for other reasons I arranged to be booked for the Santa Fe FolkMADS Contra Dance. Shortly before the event I was informed that a group of 20+ international students … Continue reading

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Dark Side of the Moon – DI – Don Veino 20170526

Type: Contra, Duple Improper Status: Proven In the Contra Dancers Facebook group Emma Rushton posted to ask if anyone had or was planning to write a contra themed for the August 21, 2017 total eclipse of the sun. I originally … Continue reading

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Super Robin – DI – Don Veino 20170523

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven Dedicated to Robin Humes – family friend and super volunteer in service of the Concord Scout House area contra community. It’s only fitting this dance include a Mad Robin (besides the obvious eponymous … Continue reading

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Bang a U-Ey! [V2] – DI – Don Veino 20140321

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Proven but revised 20170528 I wanted to create an improper dance which provided the opportunity for cross-set play so often available in proper contras. Originally the A1 action was for the ones and then … Continue reading

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The Mighty Mommy Mole – Proper Triplet – Don Veino 20160327

Type: Proper Triplet Status: Proven This is my first Triplet dance. I was inspired to come up with this after seeing Bob Isaacs’ dance Cinnamon Cruller on the SharedWeight Caller’s List. I love the transition from the star into the … Continue reading

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Oh, Yeah! – DI – Don Veino 20170428

Type: Contra, Duple Improper Status: DRAFT Alternative Title: When I’m Sixty Four as in (sung to the refrain of the Beatles tune of the same name): Am I too dizzy? Will you still dance me? When I’m sixty four? More … Continue reading

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The Love Pirate – Becket Right/CCW – Don Veino 20170331

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Becket Counter-Clockwise Status: Public, Proven This is a spin-off of my dance Ladies, Whirled. The ends must participate in the big oval promenade and interleave between the two neighbor-partner dyads coming out of the endmost star … Continue reading

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Hey, Aren’t You With Me? – Becket – Don Veino 20170416

Type: Contra Dance, Becket Left/CW Formation Status: DRAFT Another dance playing with Mad Robin transitions (see similar posts). In a way this is a return to one of my earliest dances (Raeden’s Curls), which used a Mad Robin 1+1/4 – … Continue reading

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Ladies, Whirled [V2] – Becket Right/CCW – Don Veino 20160716

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 … Continue reading

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Sage Thoughts – 4 Face 4 – Don Veino 20170315

Type: 4 Facing 4 Status: Proven, reviewing B1 timing This dance’s feature sequence is all in the Bs. My wife, Sage, really liked the feel of the Butterfly Whirl in my dance Give the Gents a Whirl (where Ladies whirl … Continue reading

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I ♥ Unicorns – DI – Don Veino 20170203

Type: Contra Dance, Duple Improper Status: Public, Proven The “♥” in the title is spoken as “Heart” – the title for this dance was given by our 5 year old daughter Raeden and inspired the unique Mirror Mad Robin and … Continue reading

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