New Square Dancers Class

• February 16, 2012 Fan the Top. This is just a Spin the Top without the initial End-with-a-Center-Trade.
• February 09, 2012 Trade the Wave. Take a Peek. You will move to the other side of the wave, in Cross Run fashion. Pass right shoulders. Right-hand wave becomes left-hand, and vice versa.
• February 02, 2012 Track II. In order to define the paths, inside and outside, the outside facing couple basically does a Partner Trade, causing the left-side dancer to take the outside path, in order to pass right shoulders. The ending position is parallel Ocean Waves.
• January 26, 2012 Spread. Roll. Remember Spread apart. Only something on the inside can spread apart, so that is how you can remember who Spreads. Roll is performed in place at the end of a previous call. Don't wander.
• January 19, 2012 Extend. Follow Your Neighbor.
• January 12, 2012 Spin Chain the Gears.
• January 05, 2012 Linear Cycle. Dancers often recite: Hinge, Fold, Follow, Peel. After the Hinge, the dancer looking out Folds and then Follows the dancer looking in who essentially Box Circulates 2 positions. The Peel direction is the direction of the Box Circulate path.
• December 22, 2011 Peel Off.
• December 15, 2011 Coordinate.
• December 01, 2011 Load The Boat. If you are an "inside" dancer of Load The Boat, keep the formation tight and be aware of who is your temporary partner at each moment. The first Pass Thru should be barely completed so that when you turn your back on your temporary partner, your new temporary partner will be immediately at your side. Then it is simple to know with whom you Partner Trade and finish with a Pass Thru.
• November 17, 2011 Ping Pong Circulate. When a center dancer in the inside path circulates to an end position, he/she "flips" into position, kind of like performing a partner trade with the circulating outside path dancer. Unless the center wave is left-handed...then the dancers circulating to the end position "trade" by passing left shoulders. So, whether the inside wave is right or left handed, the dancer at the end of the wave (an outside path dancer) must go around on the *outside* of the other circulating inside path dancer.
• November 10, 2011 Acey Deucey, Teacup Chain. Acey Deucey is straightforward, but Teacup Chain can seem somewhat complicated and daunting. If the ladies keep in mind the goal or pattern, the complexity goes away. The pattern calls for each woman to chain around the square in sequence, first chaining to her corner man and so on in order to arrive back to her original partner. The women alternate chaining in the center via a star and chaining to the corner man via an arm turn. How far to chain in the center is whatever is needed to get to the next man in the sequence. A quarter turn, however, is not enough, so if that is what is needed to get to the next man, just skip him and turn all the way around once more to get to him. The men help out by "receiving" a lady and "sending" her to her next position. The men will always "receive" from the same direction and "send" to the same direction. For example, he either always "receives" from the corner position and "sends" into the center, or vice versa. It can be helpful to the lady if he helps direct her by whispering "into the center" or "to the corner". When he finally receives his original partner back, he "receives" her with a Courtesy Turn. This is the only time to Courtesy Turn. All other times, "receiving/sending" is by a forearm turn, by whichever arm the lady offers.
• November 03, 2011 Vance taught Cross Trail Thru. Long ago, this was a Mainstream call, but several years ago, Callerlab moved it to the Advanced program. However, since our club is named Cross Trailers, Vance thinks it is only fitting that our club members know this call. It's simple, really: just a Pass Thru followed by Half Sashay.
• October 27, 2011 Congratulations Class! You Graduated. You also learned Spin Chain Thru. Starts like Spin The Top. Remember: 1/2, 3/4, 1/2, 3/4. If you are not a dancer participating in the aforementioned turns, it's important that you stand still.
• October 23, 2011 Lots of fun at the first ever CCTRCDDPGP (Cary Cross Trailers Review Class Dinner Dance Pre-Graduation Party)! After some review, we sat down for a meal and conversation, listened to a live classical strings duet play some arrangements from Haydn to Elvis, and had fun (trying) to dance to a lively recording of a Mainstream tip by a different caller. Attendees even learned Spin Chain Thru, the last call in the Mainstream curriculum.
• October 13, 2011 Two new calls: Dixie Style to an Ocean Wave, Recycle. Dixie Style to an Ocean Wave starts with the right side dancers (the lady in a "normal" couple) right hand pull by (as in a Ladies Chain). Meanwhile, the inactive dancers adjust by moving to the right. They meet the oncoming dancer, and perform Left Touch A Quarter and join up to form a left-hand wave. Recycle has the end dancers in an ocean wave Cross Fold. The adjacent dancers follow around and end up facing the same wall as they were facing when they started.
• October 06, 2011 Cross Run, Cross Fold, Slide Thru. Remember that both Cross Run and Cross Fold, as their names imply, require that the directed dancer *cross* the center point of the 4-person line. The directed dancer will pass one inactive dancer and end at a position two dancers away. If directed dancers must pass each other to get to their ending position, they should use the right-shoulder passing rule. If it helps you remember which is which, let's compare Fold and Run. A Fold ends with the directed dancer directly in front of or behind the inactive dancer, who does not move at all. A Fold is an incomplete Run: a Run starts out as a Fold but ends with the directed dancer stepping into the space occupied by the inactive dancer who makes room by sliding out of the way. Slide Thru is a gender specific call. It starts out as a Pass Thru, but ends in a quarter turn right if you are male, or quarter turn left if female. Always, always. Doesn't matter if you are in "normal" position or half-sashayed. Males turn right. Females turn left. Simple as that. For styling, blend the Pass Thru with the quarter turn, so instead of merely passing the facing dancer, you slide by them. Slide Thru as the name implies.
• September 29, 2011 Review.
• September 22, 2011 Scoot Back is basically a Turn Thru for those facing another dancer and a Fold for those on the outside facing out. Remember that Sccot Back is an implied split square call, so when the initial position is a column, there is no dancer interaction across the center of the column.
• September 15, 2011 Tag The Line and Half Tag. When you hear these calls, immediately figure out which line of four you are in, then turn towards the center and begin Pass Thru (walk forward while passing right shoulders). If the call is Tag The Line, pass two dancers (perform a Double Pass Thru) then listen for the next instruction (Right, Left, In, Out) for direction to Quarter Turn, or perhaps the caller will follow up with the next call, such as Centers In or Clover Leaf or whatever. If the call is Half Tag, start out like Tag The Line, except if you are the leader, you will stop adjacent the second dancer you meet, and if you are the trailer, you will stop adjacent the first dancer you meet. Join right hands with the dancer you meet. Your line of four will end up in a right hand box. The other four dancers in the square will do likewise next to your box. Typically these two boxes side by side will make parallel waves. Off hand, the exception occurs when all eight dancers start in one long line or wave. For that situation Half Tag will result in two stacked boxes, a right hand column. The animations can make all these descriptions much clearer.
• September 08, 2011 Review.
• September 01, 2011 Turn Thru, Single Hinge, Fold. Turn Thru is a half right arm turn, with a step forward at the end. Be careful to turn exactly one half, and when stepping forward, don't let your body rotate. If you are not already holding someone on the right, look to arm turn the dancer in front of you. If the caller wants, Left Turn Thru may be called...obviously a left arm turn. Single Hinge is like Touch A Quarter, except it is performed with a dancer with whom you are already touching hands. It's half a Trade. When you perform a Fold, you will end up facing the inactive dancer's front or back. If a Fold leaves a large gap in a line (e.g. Centers Fold), some dancers allow the square to "breathe" by sliding as appropriate. According to Callerlab, this appears to be technically incorrect, as they dictate the inactive dancer (the dancer being Folded upon) remains exactly that, inactive or unmoving.
• August 25, 2011 Circulate 1 1/2, Spin The Top. Circulate One And A Half is easy. Start by circulating one position, then begin to circulate to the next position. When you are halfway to that second position, stop, and maintain your body position. Don't rotate. Simple, huh? The call is exactly what it says it is! When in a right-hand ocean wave, Spin The Top starts like a Swing Thru. If instead your line of four is in a left-hand ocean wave, Spin The Top starts like a Left Swing Thru. In other words, regardless the handedness of the ocean wave, Spin The Top starts with the outside couples turning half (trading). Then the new inside couple turns (casts) three quarters while the abandoned outside dancers walk up a quarter to reunite and join hands again with the center dancers who left them to cast 3/4. A call commonly following Spin The Top is Right And Left Thru. Be careful. Don't let your body get rotated when performing the Right And Left Thru. Your trajectory out of the ocean wave should be straight ahead, perpindicular to that ocean wave. Ladies, let the gent on your left courtesy turn you. Gents, don't forget to courtesy turn!
• August 18, 2011 Split Circulate, Box Circulate, Reverse Flutter Wheel, Left Square Thru. Just as you split the square into two groups of four dancers for calls such as Zoom and Walk And Dodge, Split Circulate and Box Circulate operate in the same way. Reverse Flutter Wheel and Left Square Thru are similar to their "normal" counterparts. Reverse Flutter Wheel is a mirrored regular Flutter Wheel. It has the left-side dancers chain in the middle using their "outside" or left arms, while the regular Flutter Wheel has the right-side dancers do likewise with their "outside" or right arms. Left Square Thru starts with the left hand instead of the right hand in a regular Square Thru. Just remember to quarter turn *into* the square of four dancers.
• August 11, 2011 Single File Promenade and Walk And Dodge. Walk and Dodge is an implied split-square call. If you hear this call, immediately determine which group of 4 dancers you are in, then if you are looking at the back of one of these dancers, just walk forward (circulate) to that position. If you are looking out of your group of four, slide over. If your group of four is looking at each other, the caller will specify who walks and who dodges, in that order. Example: "Boys Walk, Girls Dodge."
• August 4, 2011 Cloverleaf.
• July 28, 2011 Wrong Way Thar. Last class of the second of three 12-week terms.
• July 21, 2011 Pass To The Center.
• July 14, 2011 Centers In and Cast Off Three Quarters.
• July 07, 2011 Besides teaching 4 new calls, Vance explained that Roll Away With a Half Sashay is now, according to Callerlab, properly called Rollaway. However, since Rollaway has for decades been called as Roll Away With a Half Sashay, callers may, out of habit, use that old term. Either way, perform Rollaway. The variation of Circulate that Vance taught tonight was Column Circulate.
• June 23, 2011 Couples Trade, Trade By, Alamo Style (Wave or Ring).
• June 16, 2011 Zoom and Ferris Wheel.
• June 09, 2011 Three new calls. Everybody's doing GREAT!
• June 02, 2011 Two new calls and further teaching of Circulate (Boys, Girls, Centers, Ends, All 8) originally introduced on March 24. The Circulate concept was contrasted with Trade. Partner Trade was introduced. Remember that when performing a Trade, one will end up facing the opposite wall. Tonight Partner Trade was introduced from "normal" couple position: man on left, woman on right, both facing the same direction. From this position, as with any trade with dancers facing the same way, the dancers must pass each other on their way to the other dancer's position. In order not to collide, remember the "right shoulder" rule: always pass right shoulder to right shoulder. When performed from "normal couple" position, Partner Trade is just like a hand-less California Twirl. Also taught tonight was Sweep a Quarter.
• May 26, 2011 Two new calls and lots of review.
• May 19, 2011 Two new calls and formal teaching of Boys/Girls Trade.
• May 05, 2011 First class of the second of three 12-week terms. We reviewed calls from the last few weeks and learned 6 new calls.
• April 28, 2011 Last class of the first of three 12-week terms.
• April 14, 2011 Three new calls. Circle to a Line seems to give a little trouble to some of the men. One man needs to let go of the dancer on his left, but the other man retains hand-holds with both dancers on his left and on his right. The trouble for some men is figuring out if he is the one who retains hand-holds or if he is the one who lets go. If after circling left half-way around, the man is looking out of the square, he is the one who maintains both hand-holds and continues the current motion unfolding the circle into a line so that he and his right-hand lady end up facing inward (remember to raise right arm so that the right-hand lady can unfold under this arch). If instead he is the man facing towards the center of the square after circling left half-way around, he releases his hand hold with his left-hand dancer, so that she may continue unfolding the circle to a line to the right. To repeat, after circling half, if you are the man looking inward, let go of your left hand-hold. If you are the man looking outward, don't let go of either hand and continue unfolding into a line that ends up looking inward.
  Another way to look at this is to remember what the goal of the call is: to make two lines of four facing each other. So, if after your small circle rotates half-way around, you are looking in toward the other group circling around, you are facing the correct way for the goal of the call. Your partner on your right is also facing the correct way, so you keep your hand-hold with her. The lady on your left, however, is facing the wrong way, so you need to let go of her so that she and her partner can continue and unfold the circle and finish making a line facing inwards. If you are the man looking outward, you know that you are looking the wrong direction for the goal of the call, so you need to retain both hand-holds and unfold out of the circle. Hope these various explanations help.
  Tonight, Vance also talked at length about Allemande Left. If in a circle or square, finding the dancer with whom to perform Allemande left is easy: look for your corner (guys look left, gals look right.) Things get a little more complicated if the dancers are in a different formation, say a column. In that case, the rule for men is first look left, as usual. If no lady is there, then look forward. If still no lady, then look right. For women, the looking order rule is just the opposite: look right, look forward, look left.
• April 07, 2011 Five new calls. Wheel and Deal from a line of four can give dancers a little trouble because the right-hand couple must quickly identify themself as such and wheel around in front of the left-hand couple.
• March 31, 2011 Three new calls: Boys/Girls Circulate, Boys/Girls Promenade, and Girls Trade. Boys/Girls Circulate is similar to Couples Circulate. Boys/Girls Promenade is like a left-hand star in the center of the square, except no hands are used. Finally, our substitute caller and teacher, Bo, introduced Girls Trade from a two-faced line. In the center of the line, the girls pivot 180 degrees around their joined hand. Although we didn't actually dance it tonight, Boys Trade from the same position would be similarly performed.
• March 24, 2011 Three new calls: Lead Right, Veer Left/Right, and Couples Circulate. All three are pretty self-explanatory and seem not to give anyone much trouble. From previous weeks, however, Bend The Line seems to give many students some problems. Don't worry, it will soon become second nature. Right now, the hardest part is realizing the line of four that you are currently in. Once you do that, then the two couples, whether facing the same direction or opposite direction, need to move so that they face each other.
• March 17, 2011 St. Patrick's Day! No new calls. Only review. Nice article posted on our Links page about the coming youth revolution in square dancing. Emily (and hopefully more like her) are our future.
• March 10, 2011 For calls that have a pull by component (Right and Left Thru, Right and Left Grand, Square Thru, etc.), Vance reminded dancers to let go of the fellow dancer's hand no later than when the two are shoulder to shoulder. Star Thru and California Twirl are sometimes confused. Star Thru is performed with a facing dancer, while California Twirl is done with the current partner, the dancer on the side. With both calls, it is the girl who walks under the arm of the guy until the two are naturally side by side.
• March 03, 2011 Square Thru is much easier, as are ALL square dance calls, if you do NOT use firm hand grips. You should always use light hand touches, not grips. If you grip your fellow dancers, often you both will be spun slightly or even greatly off of the desired track and timing can be thrown off as well. As for U Turn Back, remember to turn INWARD toward your partner.
• February 24, 2011 California Twirl and Dive Thru. Remember, that if you are the outside facing couple making the arm arch for the couple "diving thru", you almost always need to break your hand-hold so that the couple doesn't need to duck to an absurd degree. Just remember to come back together and reestablish your hand-hold, then complete the call with a California Twirl.
• February 17, 2011 Tonight was mostly review. Walk Around The Corner and See Saw Your Partner seem to give some student dancers a little trouble. Just remember that when you Walk Around Your Corner, keep your right shoulders adjacent while you walk around. Keep eye contact over your shoulder until your partner becomes visible again then step forward to your original position, back toward your corner. See Saw Your Partner is pretty much the same thing, except it's left shoulder with your partner.
• February 10, 2011 The official beginner class time is from 6:30-8:00PM. The first hour is dedicated to the class only, then the last half hour is supposed to start with a regular club tip while the students rest and watch, followed by a combined tip for everybody, students and regulars. That's the official timeline. As you have probably noticed, the final combined tip may not start until after 8:00. If anyone has a personal schedule that requires you to leave promptly at 8:00, feel free to leave before the final combined tip. If anything new is taught, rest assured that it will be reviewed the next week. And, you can always check Calls Taught to see if you missed anything...
• February 03, 2011 We had a great first class night! Be sure to check out "Calls Taught" to review what you learned tonight and at the Open House. We will try to keep this page current within a day of each class. See you next week. Remember to wear some red!

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