Longways Duple Minor Improper
| A1 | 1-2 | men cross-right, finish facing partner |
| 3-4 | partner circular-hey 2-places (no hands) | |
| 5-8 | all circle-left | |
| A2 | 1-2 | women cross-right (finish facing partner) |
| 3-4 | partner circular-hey 2-places (no hands) | |
| 5-8 | all circle-left | |
| B | 1-4 | neighbor change places along the line sliding-door style (women passing inside) |
| done in four-steps (one step-close movement per measure). | ||
| 1- women advance / men retreat | ||
| 2- all step towards the center (single line across the set with women in the center facing each other and men on the ends facing back of neighbor) | ||
| 3- continue next step across center (couples changing places) | ||
| 4- men advance / women retreat (back into lines reforming duple set) | ||
| 5-8 | partner back-to-back (finish facing neighbor) | |
| C | 1-2 | neighbor two-hand-turn halfway and face out |
| 3-4 | neighbor lead-out and face in | |
| 5-6 | neighbor lead-in | |
| 7-8 | partner cross-right and mirror-turn-out (cloverleaf) with neighbor into progressed place |
Music
Background
The background on this dance came to me when I was choosing dances merely by tunes for an event and found myself in a pickle as I had learned that the hall was long and narrow which would have certainly presented an issue for dances set to a large circle formation. To keep the tune in that program, creative solutions needed to be employed - so I wrote a dance.As Barbara rehearsed the evening program with her band mates, the movements flowed as easy as that third glass of Red Cat and the patterns became almost intuitive to the musical phrasing. I introduced the dance in Rochester in July of 2012 and was most fortunate that nobody there really knew the original Farewell Marian version for it seemed to go over quite well.
I find that this dance tends to be somewhat accessible especially if you suggest to the ladies that the misdirection (from the women's perspective) created in the first circle left will give them the opportunity to swish their skirts (the men need to wait until the second circle left). Even though the dance tends not to be too partner focused, there is ample opportunity to reward yourselves with a romantic back-to-back as a reward to a successful sliding-door figure.
Many thanks to Gene Murrow for reviewing my dance at Pinewoods in the summer of 2012 and to Eden MacAdam-Somer for her suggestion on the dance title (must keep the musicians happy).
Notes for Callers
Originally I had written the dance to have a circle-left then later a circle-right. Gene Murrow like the texture of the direction change of different circles (first left then right) but this works great from the perspective of those dancing the Man's part. Those who are dancing the Women's part are abruptly changing direction twice (after the circular-hey 2-places). So in the spirit of reasonable compromise, the current version of the dance has circle-lefts after the circular-hey so everyone can share in the pain/joy of the direction change (also making it easier to remember the call).
In teaching the dance, I often instruct everyone to observe where their partners are traveling during the men/women change for the circular hey begins immediately with their partner. Additionally, the musical phrasing in the 'A' section has the three figure moves (cross, circular-hey and circle) ending on longer notes (half/dotted-half) to help the dancers punctuate their movements in an elegant fashion.
In the 'sliding-door' figure, I find it useful to explain that "you will change places with your neighbor this way ..." and instruct that each of the four steps take one waltz measure.
Again the 'C' section has the same musical phrasing as the 'A' section finding the primary movements (lead-out, lead-in and cross) ending on longer notes (half/dotted-half).
Media
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