30 September 2018
Cascade Crossfires Newsletter #1
10/01/2018
Dear Friends,
Fun night on Monday! Welcome to those who are new to Plus dancing! Thank you for joining us! Welcome to all who are returning for a brush up or a little more floor time! Welcome to all our regular dancers!
Plus calls are many Basic and Mainstream calls added together and given a different name. There are some new formations. The mental exercise part is that you will have to remember which calls go in which order. The better Mainstream dancer you are the easier Plus dancing will be. I strongly encourage you to go to as many Mainstream dances as you can while you are learning Plus.
The most challenging square dance calls are Runs, Trades, Circulates, Stars, and Casts. The things that help are touching hands at the end of any call so you know your formation and keeping your square small. It will also help to make your turns precise. Many dancers either over turn or under turn. An example would be only turning 90 degrees when it should be 180 degrees or turning 5/8ths instead of 3/4 or 3/4 when it should be a half turn. Being precise and touching hands will help you be in the right position and facing the correct direction for the next call.
If you haven’t been using these yet here are a couple of online resources for square dance calls:
Saddlebrooke Squares: http://www.videosquaredancelessons.com/lessons/callindex.htm
This is a square dance club in Arizona. They are videos of live dancers. Search for the call you want to watch. Some of them are grouped together. I would recommend picking one particular dancer and the follow them through the call.
Tam Twirlers – Taminations:
http://www.tamtwirlers.org/tamination/info/index.html
This club has provided a site viewing the calls from a ‘birds eye’ view. The calls we are dancing are from the Plus list. You can see the traffic patterns. The gridlines help. There is also a phone app for this program.
As you use these sites, particularly the live dancer sites, you will note that there are some styling differences from what we will be learning in class. Please dance the calls as I teach them in class. Some of the differences are due to regional styling differences across the United States. Some of the differences are that the definition of the call has been modified since the videos were produced.
We will welcome more new Plus dancers this coming Monday only.
See you Monday!
Happy dancing,
Susan
PS You can also find these newsletters on my website – www.callersusan.com under the Cascade Crossfires tab.
PPS I am sending this newsletter to all members of the Cascade Crossfires, new class members and to a few dancers who support the club regularly. If you do not want to receive them there is an Unsubscribe option at the end.
Week #1
1. Acey Deucey: Starting formation: parallel waves and two-faced lines; other formations where you are able to identify 4 centers and 4 ends (or outsides). TIMING – 4 steps
CENTERS must be able to TRADE within in adjacent pairs of 2. ENDS (or outsides) must be able to CIRCULATE and not become centers. Center 4 TRADE, while the others CIRCULATE.
4. Load The Boat: Starting formation - Lines of four, with centers facing in, and the ends of each line facing the same (in or out) direction. TIMING – 12 steps
The END dancers move forward around the outside, passing right shoulders with three moving END dancers, and turn one-quarter in (90º) to stand beside the third person passed, facing the center of the set as a couple. Simultaneously, the CENTER four dancers PASS THRU, TURN THEIR BACKS to their momentary partners, PARTNER TRADE with their new partners, and PASS THRU.
STYLING: The end dancers, while moving on the outside, leave enough room for the center dancers to work comfortably. Arms are held in natural dance position throughout the action, blending into the appropriate hand position for the next call.
6. Peel Off: Starting formation - Tandem Couples, Box Circulate, or Z formation. TIMING – 4 steps
Lead dancers walk in an approximate semicircle, away from the center of the starting formation, to become the ends of a four-dancer line. Trailing dancers step forward as necessary to become centers of the same line and U-TURN BACK, turning away from the center of the starting formation. All dancers end in a four-dancer line. Each dancer will have turned half (180º) to end facing the opposite direction from which they started. Peel Off from Tandem Couples ends in a One-Faced Line. Peel Off from Box Circulate or a Z ends in a Two-Faced Line.
Notes: Everyone can Roll after a Peel Off. Dancers move in a smooth, continuous motion that cannot be fractionalized. The center of the ending formation is the same as the center of the starting formation.
11. (Anything) & Roll: Starting formation - Various. TIMING – 2 steps
The term "... & Roll" may be added to any call which, by definition, causes one or more dancers to have turning body flow to the RIGHT or LEFT as they complete their portion of the call. It is an instruction to those dancer(s) to turn individually, in place, one quarter (90º) more in the direction of body flow determined by the preceding command.
Note that if "... and Roll" is added to a call, which by definition, has some dancers walking in a straight line at the completion of their portion of the call, those dancers will do nothing for the "... and Roll".
Fun night on Monday! Welcome to those who are new to Plus dancing! Thank you for joining us! Welcome to all who are returning for a brush up or a little more floor time! Welcome to all our regular dancers!
Plus calls are many Basic and Mainstream calls added together and given a different name. There are some new formations. The mental exercise part is that you will have to remember which calls go in which order. The better Mainstream dancer you are the easier Plus dancing will be. I strongly encourage you to go to as many Mainstream dances as you can while you are learning Plus.
The most challenging square dance calls are Runs, Trades, Circulates, Stars, and Casts. The things that help are touching hands at the end of any call so you know your formation and keeping your square small. It will also help to make your turns precise. Many dancers either over turn or under turn. An example would be only turning 90 degrees when it should be 180 degrees or turning 5/8ths instead of 3/4 or 3/4 when it should be a half turn. Being precise and touching hands will help you be in the right position and facing the correct direction for the next call.
If you haven’t been using these yet here are a couple of online resources for square dance calls:
Saddlebrooke Squares: http://www.videosquaredancelessons.com/lessons/callindex.htm
This is a square dance club in Arizona. They are videos of live dancers. Search for the call you want to watch. Some of them are grouped together. I would recommend picking one particular dancer and the follow them through the call.
Tam Twirlers – Taminations:
http://www.tamtwirlers.org/tamination/info/index.html
This club has provided a site viewing the calls from a ‘birds eye’ view. The calls we are dancing are from the Plus list. You can see the traffic patterns. The gridlines help. There is also a phone app for this program.
As you use these sites, particularly the live dancer sites, you will note that there are some styling differences from what we will be learning in class. Please dance the calls as I teach them in class. Some of the differences are due to regional styling differences across the United States. Some of the differences are that the definition of the call has been modified since the videos were produced.
We will welcome more new Plus dancers this coming Monday only.
See you Monday!
Happy dancing,
Susan
PS You can also find these newsletters on my website – www.callersusan.com under the Cascade Crossfires tab.
PPS I am sending this newsletter to all members of the Cascade Crossfires, new class members and to a few dancers who support the club regularly. If you do not want to receive them there is an Unsubscribe option at the end.
Week #1
1. Acey Deucey: Starting formation: parallel waves and two-faced lines; other formations where you are able to identify 4 centers and 4 ends (or outsides). TIMING – 4 steps
CENTERS must be able to TRADE within in adjacent pairs of 2. ENDS (or outsides) must be able to CIRCULATE and not become centers. Center 4 TRADE, while the others CIRCULATE.
4. Load The Boat: Starting formation - Lines of four, with centers facing in, and the ends of each line facing the same (in or out) direction. TIMING – 12 steps
The END dancers move forward around the outside, passing right shoulders with three moving END dancers, and turn one-quarter in (90º) to stand beside the third person passed, facing the center of the set as a couple. Simultaneously, the CENTER four dancers PASS THRU, TURN THEIR BACKS to their momentary partners, PARTNER TRADE with their new partners, and PASS THRU.
STYLING: The end dancers, while moving on the outside, leave enough room for the center dancers to work comfortably. Arms are held in natural dance position throughout the action, blending into the appropriate hand position for the next call.
6. Peel Off: Starting formation - Tandem Couples, Box Circulate, or Z formation. TIMING – 4 steps
Lead dancers walk in an approximate semicircle, away from the center of the starting formation, to become the ends of a four-dancer line. Trailing dancers step forward as necessary to become centers of the same line and U-TURN BACK, turning away from the center of the starting formation. All dancers end in a four-dancer line. Each dancer will have turned half (180º) to end facing the opposite direction from which they started. Peel Off from Tandem Couples ends in a One-Faced Line. Peel Off from Box Circulate or a Z ends in a Two-Faced Line.
Notes: Everyone can Roll after a Peel Off. Dancers move in a smooth, continuous motion that cannot be fractionalized. The center of the ending formation is the same as the center of the starting formation.
11. (Anything) & Roll: Starting formation - Various. TIMING – 2 steps
The term "... & Roll" may be added to any call which, by definition, causes one or more dancers to have turning body flow to the RIGHT or LEFT as they complete their portion of the call. It is an instruction to those dancer(s) to turn individually, in place, one quarter (90º) more in the direction of body flow determined by the preceding command.
Note that if "... and Roll" is added to a call, which by definition, has some dancers walking in a straight line at the completion of their portion of the call, those dancers will do nothing for the "... and Roll".