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| Author | Allan Brozek |
| Formation | Becket, progressing left |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Music |
| A1 | ( 8 ) Circle left 3/4, end facing neighbor (notice who it is)
( 4 ) Pass through ( 4 ) With neighbor #2, allemand left once around |
| A2 | (16) Original neighbors balance and swing, end facing across |
| B1 | ( 8 ) Ladies chain on the right diagonal
( 8 ) Long lines forward and back |
| B2 | ( 8 ) Star left once around (partners are in different stars)
( 8 ) Partners swing, end facing across |
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| Author | John Ivan |
| Formation | Improper |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Music |
| A1 | (16) Neighbors do-is-do and swing, end facing across |
| A2 | ( 8 ) Ladies gypsy LEFT 1-1/2, end facing shadows on the left diagonal
----- Note: The ladies are in center and gents outside. The shadows are to the gents' lefts. ( 8 ) Shadows gypsy right, end facing partners |
| B1 | (16) Partners gypsy and swing, end facing facing across |
| B2 | ( 8 ) With neighbors, circle left 3/4
( 8 ) With neighbors, allemande right 1-1/2, end progressed |
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| Author | Allan Brozek |
| Formation | Becket, progressing left, double progression |
| Difficulty | Intermediate to Difficult |
| Music |
| A1 | ( 8 ) With shadows, allemand left
( 8 ) With partners, swing |
| A2 | ( 8 ) Long lines forward and back
( 8 ) Circle left 3/4 |
| B1 | ( 4 ) Balance the circle
( 8 ) Weave past two neighbors along the line (passing 1st by the right and 2d by the left) ( 4 ) Swing with third neighbor, end facing across |
| B2 | ( 4 ) Ladies give right hands to each other and pull by
( 8 ) Partners allemand left 1+1/2 ( 4 ) Men join right hands to form a wavy line across ----- Balance the line, and step forward to shadows |
The balance in B2 is on the last four beats of the phrase. Some dancers have a bit of trouble with the balance, and so the caller may have to prompt this part almost constantly.
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| Author | Christine Hale |
| Formation | Becket, progressing left |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Music |
| A1 | ( 8 ) Ladies gypsy
( 8 ) Partners swing, end facing across |
| A2 | ( 8 ) Ladies chain across
( 8 ) Star left, end with ladies turning back to face neighbors ----- Note: Instruct ladies to turn out, over their right shoulders |
| B1 | (16) Neighbors gypsy and swing, end facing across |
| B2 | ( 8 ) Long lines forward and back
( 6 ) Circle left 3/4 ( 2 ) With ladies in lead, shift left along the side to next couple |
The dance starts in normal becket formation (men on left). After the first round, the ladies will be on the "wrong" side after the circle left 3/4. Most people won't notice.
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| Author | Christine Hale |
| Formation | Becket, progressing right |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Music |
| A1 | ( 8 ) Long lines forward and back
( 8 ) Circle RIGHT 3/4, and pass through |
| A2 | ( 8 ) New neighbors allemande right 1-1/2
( 8 ) GENTS chain to their partners |
| B1 | (16) GENTS start a left-shoulder hey |
| B2 | (16) Partners balance and swing, end facing across |
Christine says it's usually the women who do all the work in contras, and she decided to write a "backwards" contra where the men do the work. In this dance, it's necessary to teach the gent's chain, as most dancers have no idea how the gent's chain is supposed to work.
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| Author | Christine Hale |
| Formation | Longways improper |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Music |
| A1 | ( 8 ) Neighbors dosido
( 8 ) Circle left 1-1/4 (circle goes across the phrase into A2) |
| A2 | ( 8 ) Neighbors roll away across the set, meet partners on other side
( 8 ) Partners swing, end facing across |
| B1 | ( 8 ) Gents allemande left 1-1/2
( 8 ) Neighbors swing, end facing across |
| B2 | ( 8 ) Long lines forward and back
( 8 ) Star left, end progressed |
Christine wrote this contra to celebrate Jim Gregory and Cindi Coia's wedding.
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| Author | Steve Holland |
| Formation | Longways Improper |
| Difficulty | |
| Music |
| A1 | ( 8 ) Down the hall four in line, actives in the middle, turn alone
( 8 ) Come back in a cozy line, arms around waists |
| A2 | (16) Bend the cozy line to a basket, and basket swing |
| B1 | ( 8 ) Circle left till you get straight (where you started before basket swing)
( 8 ) Long lines forward and back |
| B2 | (16) Actives balance and swing, end the swing facing down |
Steve wrote this dance for Joanie Lenihan, who loves basket swings in squares and wanted one in a contra.
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| Author | Christine Hale |
| Formation | Longways improper |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Music |
| A1 | ( 8 ) Star right (hands-across)
( 4 ) Gents drop out, ladies allemande right 1/2 ( 4 ) Neighbors courtesy turn |
| A2 | ( 4 ) Circle left 3/4
( 4 ) Neighbors roll away across the set ( 8 ) Partners swing, end facing across |
| B1 | ( 8 ) Gents allemande left 1/2 (pull across)
( 8 ) Neighbors swing, end facing across |
| B2 | (16) Ladies start a (normal right-shoulder) hey, partners end progressed |
For many years, Christine was a teacher at Watkinson School in Hartford.
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| Author | Steve Holland |
| Formation | Longways Improper |
| Difficulty | |
| Music | Very lively reels |
| A1 | ( 8 ) Circle left 3/4
( 8 ) Partners swing, end facing across |
| A2 | ( 8 ) Ladies allemande right 1-1/2 (to trade places)
( 8 ) Men allemande right 1-1/2 |
| B1 | ( 8 ) Partners allemande left twice around
( 8 ) Ladies chain |
| B2 | (16) Ladies start a (normal right-shoulder) hey, at end of hey flow into next circle |
Steve wrote this dance to celebrate the 40th birthday of Bob Chapman, a great dancer from Providence RI who always makes it a point to ask newcomers to dance. It was first danced in a roller skating rink they rented for the party. Bob's favorite move is the hey, and so Steve included one. The RI dancers like to chant "MEN MEN MEN" and "WOMEN WOMEN WOMEN" during same sex allemandes, and so Steve included those as well.
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| Author | Christine Hale |
| Formation | Becket |
| Difficulty | Intermediate to Advanced |
| Music |
| A1 | (16) Partners balance and swing, end facing across |
| A2 | ( 8 ) Circle left 3/4, end facing up or down
( 4 ) Pass through to new neighbors ( 4 ) Ladies join left hands to form a wavy line, and balance |
| B1 | ( 4 ) Neighbors allemande right 1/2
( 4 ) Gents join left hands to form wavy line, and balance ( 8 ) Simultaneously: ----- Gents allemande left once around ----- Ladies loop across the set to meet partners |
| B2 | (16) Partners pull by right hands, and
Ladies start a LEFT-shoulder hey, end with partners facing across |
Christine wrote this dance for the (now unfortunately defunct) third Sunday contra at Trinity Church, Hartford, CT.
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Please email comments and suggestions to Rob Lindauer, rlindau@attglobal.net.
Last update: 2001-07-04
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