...
These are included in the email that gets sent a day or two before the class. You should consider using them, starting Week 3 or so. If you do so, make sure that the calls referenced have been taught. Otherwise, you'll need to edit them so they match, or write your own.
Grand Square - uses week 1 callsmaterial
Grand Square has a well-defined algorithm: After every three steps, you turn 90 degrees (such that you never turn out of the square) and after 16 beats everyone reverses. So, what happens if you leave the basic definition in place, but change the starting conditions? Typically, the Sides start facing their partner and the Heads start as couples at home. What happens in each of these 4 scenarios?
...
Some calls can be disorienting because they leave you turned 90 degrees from where you started. For example, a Star Thru will always turn you 1/4. If you started facing a "head" wall, you will end up facing a "side" wall. This can be disorienting because it leaves you facing someone different, perhaps even in a different formation. You've learned other calls after which you end facing 90 degrees from where you started; can you name them?
Box or line - uses week 6
Some 4 person calls work within a box. During the call you work exclusively with the dancers within your box. An example of a box type call is Right and Left Thru.
Box: X X X XOther 4 person calls work within a line or wave. Note that a wave is a specialized form of a line where every other dancer is facing the opposite direction. An example of a line type call is Chain Down The Line.
Line:
X X X X
Wave: (The points are their noses)
v ^ v ^ or ^ v ^ v
Which type of call (box or line/wave) are the following 4 person calls?
- (Head) Ladies Chain
- Bend The Line
- Scoot Back
- Wheel and Deal
- Swing Thru
- Cross Run
- Cast Off Three Quarters
Bonus: Are you in the same formation (box or line/wave) with the same people at the end of the call? Or has it changed?
Singers - after singer lecture
As promised, here is the link to the longer talk on Singers that Guy gave during IAP in 2013: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/28748264 The core of the singer material starts around 17:00. Do you know the answers to these:
- Who does the #1 man swing at the end of Figure 3? (normal right-hand lady progression)
- Who does the #3 lady swing at the end of Figure 2? (same progression)
- If your square breaks down, who should you swing at the end of the Break?
- Can you name a few calls that are more typically used during the Opener, Break, and Closer than in the Figures?
Reminder on couple numbering:
Caller
1’s
2’s 3’s
4’s
Whom do you work with? - uses week 5
A new brain-teaser for you. In some of calls you are work with the person beside you. In others you work with the person in front of you (or behind you). Who are you working with for these calls?
- touch ¼
- hinge
- box the gnat
- trade
- zoom
- ½ sashay
- star thru
- run
- turn thru
- dosado
Careful, there is one call on the list that is a bit tricky as the answer is dependent on the starting formation. Consider both a right handed wave and facing lines.
Some calls require all 8 dancers (e.g. Right and Left Grand), others are danced in smaller groups of people. For example, Right and Left Thru is danced by 4 people -- 2 couples facing each other. The other dancers in the square could be dancing the same call or something else altogether. It can be helpful to know how may people you are working with during a call. What size group do you work with to do each of the following:
- Square Thru 2
- U Turn Back
- Chain Down the Line
- Trade By
- Pass the Ocean
- Swing Thru
- Zoom
- Wheel Around
- Wheel & Deal
- Touch 1/4
- Boys Run
- Half Sashay
11: (Hint: the answers total 39)
...