Square Dancing at Str8 Events

There's a lot of square dancing to be had in town! In addition to the gay hoedowns and fly-ins, there's the straight Festivals like WASCA's.

I wonder why not more gay/lesbian dancers go to these events.
I can think of a few reasons. Feel free to add your thoughts.

Some possible reasons why NOT:
-some gay dancers only dance the opposite gender role (boys dancing as girls, vice versa). and therefore not feeling welcome...
-too many events, not enough vacation time, therefore prioritize which ones to attend.
-strict dress code (that stifles one's style).
-your reason here <>

Some reasons why YES:
-if it's local, why yes! no need to worry about extra costs.
-most of them charge only $40 for 3 days and nights of non-stop dancing!!!! $40 only!!!
-a chance to dress up, traditional square dancer style (of course you can do that and MORE (er, also LESS ;-O) at gay fly-ins
-a chance to represent the gay square dance community
-if Club night dancing is not enough, you'll become seasoned within your level in no time.
-Plus DBD dancing for hours and hours and hours!
-general square dancing at any level with plenty of strangers! helps you improve
-you get to dance again to fantastic callers that you've met at fly-ins.
-your reason here <>


Have DCLS members actually discussed these things in the past? (Just curious)

Relay the Deucy, Redux

Butch Adams called for us last night, and brought a different take to Relay the Deucy. To keep us all honest, here's the definition of the call:

RELAY THE DEUCEY - Starting formation - Parallel Ocean Waves. TIMING - 20

All Circulates in this definition refer to the Original Circulate path established by the ends of the original ocean waves. No dancer ever stops moving during this call; the pauses written into the definition (i.e., the action described as "half-circulate") are there for clarity of description and for teaching purposes only. Each end and the adjacent center dancer turn one-half (180°). The new centers of each ocean wave turn three-quarters (270°), while the others half-circulate, forming a six-person wave and two lonesome dancers. The wave of six, working as 3 pairs, turns 1/2, while the others half-circulate. In the wave, the center 4 turn 1/2, while the other four dancers half-circulate. The wave of 6, again working as 3 pairs, turns 1/2, while the others half-circulate. Finally, the center 4 of the wave turn 3/4 (becoming the centers of the new waves), while the outside 4 half-circulate to become the ends of the final waves.

STYLING: Basic swing thru styling is utilized for turning movements within the ocean wave formations. Circulating dancers do the circulate action with arms in natural dance position, blending to hands up ocean wave formation at the conclusion of the call.

The rest of what I write here is a "cheat," but it's based closely on the definition. Here goes:

1. Partners trade.
2. Centers cast off 3/4s and the ends move forward. (The out-facer end moves to the end of the six-person wave forming in the center. The in-facer end moves forward alongside the wave.)
3. The center wave of six does a grand swing thru. The two outside dancers move forward alongside the wave. Those on the ends of the wave, move off of the wave in a forward direction.
4. The six dancers remaining in the wave spin the top while the outside dancers step to the ends of the forming new waves.

Butch provided a couple of other hints, too: If you are an out-facer in the original waves, you are going to be (mostly) moving along the outside. If you are an in-facer, you'll be working in the wave in the middle of the formation.

Relay the Deucey

Relay the Deucey is a hard call to teach, to workshop. I've never seen it done successfully. I've come to think a large part of the problem is dancers not knowing how to Half-Circulate.

Teaching or workshopping Relay the Deucey should begin with dancers in parallel waves. Then the end dancers should Half-Circulate eight times, with an emphasis on how small the Half-Circulate is for a trailing end, how large for a leading one. Finally, Partner Trade and repeat.

It should also be clear that there are six parts to Relay the Deucey:

1.  Partner Trade

2.  Centers Cast Off 3/4

3.  Center Six Trade

4.  Center Four Trade

5.  Center Six Trade

6.  Centers Cast Off 3/4

—with dancers at every part doing a Half-Circulate if not otherwise directed!

Dancers should be able to dance each part, stop, look around, understand where they are, what they're doing, where they're going. Callers should not buy into the cop out that Relay the Deucey is harder to do slowly and in stages. It's an illusion that dancers know what they're doing if they can fluff their way through at higher speeds.

What's in a name?

"Make Magic" — I've wondered why this C1 call is so named. Most sensibly, it should be a call that takes you to a Magic Column. But there's only one formation from which this happens: a 2 by 4 formation with a center box circulate and outside couples facing in. This, by the way, has a name of its own. It's called a Quarter Box. The idea is that any 2 by 4 formation with outside couples facing in takes its name from the center, e.g. Quarter Diamond. What should be Quarter Wave, however, is ordinarily called a Quarter Tag.

A Question & a Plea

Relay The Deucey, Motivate, Chain Reaction—what do they all have in common? They often break squares down. And the reason why is also something they all have in common: they depend on stars or star-like formations and there are four different paths (the maximum) an individual dancer may have to dance through. 

Star formations, if failed, break a square down because there's no saving line, no other line of four, to rebuild on by imitation. And star formations often fail when dancers are imperfect team players (it takes four dancers to make a star: if one smarty-pants dancer has skittered on ahead, a tardy dancer may not see the formation and so fail to dance the call!).

Now to the question and the plea. When teaching or workshopping any of these calls, why don't callers put us dancers through all four paths. It's absolutely essential for dancers who dance by position and it's no waste of time for dancers who dance by definition. An entire cycle of Relay The Deucey and Motivate can be achieved by having the dancers Swing Thru in between the four iterations. The same can be accomplished for Chain Reaction by an Extend & Outsides Trade (i.e. Finish Ping-Pong Circulate).

I've had some very good teachers and workshop callers, but I'm baffled why none of them has done this. I don't think any of these calls can be considered to have been successfully workshopped unless the dancers have managed to get through an entire cycle (as above) ... from left-hand waves!

Armchair Square Dancing

I've just come across a terrific resource: Vic Cedar's Choreography Database. With a few clicks you can read sequences involving your "favorite" calls, at varying levels of difficulty. Not for everybody—but those for whom this is appropriate ... you know who you are!

Left, Reverse, Mirror, Arky

I learned C1 a year ago. According to Callerlab's Basic Challenge (C-1) Definitions (10/12/06), the definition of the "Left" modifier begins "Do the call interchanging right with left, clockwise with counter-clockwise, and promenade with reverse promenade." I'd heard of "Reverse" and "Mirror" and even "Arky"—none of them as yet official modifiers. I'd supposed that "Reverse" applied to "Beau" and "Belle" and "Arky" to "Men" and "Ladies" (to follow Callerlab's antique terminology), while "Mirror" perhaps combined "Left" and "Reverse".

In double checking for this posting, however, I notice Callerlab's Advanced Definitions (10/31/06) for the "Left" modifier states 

Do the call interchanging right with left and if also applicable belle with beau. (Left should only be used to modify calls where a right hand turn or shoulder pass is clearly part of the definition. The term Reverse is commonly used when the major interchange is Beau with Belle such as Reverse Swap Around.)

—no mention of "counterclockwise" or "promenade". What a difference a couple of weeks makes! I wonder what others dancers think of this and where "Mirror" fits in.

The Tandem Concept in Plus

I think the Tandem Concept should be introduced in Plus. Little need be done with it, but how it simplifies the definition of Track II: Tandem (Trade and Touch)! Compare that with the convoluted definition in Callerlab, which even so doesn't dispense with "dancers work[ing] 'in tandem'."

Searching Callerlab

Oh Brave New World (no, not a call)! Searching with Adobe Reader through Callerlab's Basic and Mainstream Definitions (the 10/19/06 iteration) I find, what I've long suspected, that Pull By is nowhere defined! The closest one gets is in the "Dancing Hand Positions" (associate right!) — "Pull By: The action brings two people toward each other. Hands should be droped before bodies cross a common plane." Whatever the "action" might be is nowhere specified. I wonder how many on the committee have been using the search function.

Should Box The Gnat be a gender call?

Recently I was at a dance where the caller called (or seemed to call) Box The Gnat for facing dancers of the same gender. He maintained (or I thought he maintained—such is the Fog of Floor) that at our level (A or above) gender didn't matter. I should mention that he has subsequently denied all of this. But it got me thinking what a genderless definition of Box The Gnat might be. I propose, Slide Thru And Roll. The whole arm thing then just becomes a co-gender flourish.

P.S. Oh yes, I see that my definition isn't genderless, but it does allow the call to be made for two facing dancers of whatever gender.