Introduction

Five years after “Ramsay Chase” was written, the dance seems to have taken on a life of its own.  I love hearing that dancers enjoyed it in California or at Pinewoods, or that someone requested it from a caller by name.  People increasingly ask if I have a book of dances.  That, plus the thought that the dances might live longer than I do, prompts this collection.

My dances frequently celebrate relationships with dance friends or comme-morate dance events; these connections are mentioned in the background notes for each dance.  More recently, a growing interest in birding has found its way into my dance titles.  This, plus the strong Ohio connections through-out the book, made the Ohio state bird a good namesake for the collection. 

Not all the dances in this book are my own.  I’ve included others that I like to call which are written by (mostly) Ohio friends and not published elsewhere, or which are variations I think worth sharing.  There are also four tunes which fit well with certain dances.  Each is the property of its creator.

Good contra dances are typically passed around from caller to caller, and I feel complimented when someone asks to collect a dance I have just called.  So please feel free to share the dances in this book with others who might enjoy them.  Be sure to include the name and author of the dance, and consider mentioning both when calling a particular dance.

Putting together a collection of traditional-style dances is not financially-motivated.  Instead, I’d like to set my dances off into the world, and hope they might contribute to the living tradition so many of us enjoy.  We all make this kind of contribution in our local dance communities, and I think it’s an important one at many levels.

If you are reading this book, you are likely familiar with the Country Dance and Song Society, which supports contra dancing – and other traditional Anglo-American dancing – throughout the US and Canada.  CDSS is an invaluable resource to callers, providing a sales service for books and recordings, as well as high-quality training programs for callers and musicians.  They also sponsor many week-long dance camps throughout the summer, and offer vital support to local dance communities and special dance and song events all over.  You are also a valuable resource for CDSS.  Please consider joining us and supporting the important things we do.  If you’ve bought this book, you’ve already begun helping.  After the production costs are covered, all proceeds go directly to CDSS. 

The table of dances on the next two pages lists titles, page number, formation, difficulty level, and notes for each dance.  Under formation, proper, improper, indecent, and becket all refer to longways, duple minor contras.  “Indecent” is a term I first heard from Chris Bischoff, meaning that the number two couples cross over while the ones remain proper. 

Difficulty level is a general guide that might be thought of as follows

1. simple:  good for beginners, and for early dances in an evening of mixed experience levels; useful for teaching basics

2. easy:  concise walk-thru for mixed levels or no walk-thru for experienced dancers

3. moderate:  may have unusual figures, sequences, or structure;
   easily negotiated with careful teaching

4. challenging:  complex figures or sequences; requires careful teaching and attentive dancers

5.  intense:  complex figures, confusing geography; plan for extra teaching time

The notes section of the table names authors other than myself, and indicates if a dance is other than the 32-bars of a standard contra dance, a variation of a traditional dance, or an English country dance.  It also notes if a dance has a matching tune with it.  A separate table of tunes is also provided on p. vi.

The dance instruction abbreviations I use are listed on p. vi.  All heys in this book are heys for four.  Unless otherwise indicated, I generally intend use of hands in a right and left thru, and a wrist-grip in a star.  When the number of beats required for a particular figure is not obvious, I provide suggested timing in [brackets] directly following the figure concerned. 

I’m grateful to all the authors who have allowed me include their creations:  Eric, Peggy, Yonina, Carol, Everett, Adriane, Seth, Fred, and Ernst for their dances, and Peter, Daron, and Bill for their tunes.  Thanks to Gary Roodman for publishing advice, to Peter Martin for formatting the tunes, and to Gaye Fifer and Carol Ormand for proof reading.  I am also grateful to Charles Roth for the server space for my website, where my dances have lived before this book.  And to Fred Todt for more than I can express.

I’d also like to express my gratitude here to those who have mentored me in my calling:  Erna-Lynne Bogue first suggested the idea, got me started, and gently urged me to think about English.  She then sent me off to Bruce Hamilton, whose care and thoughtfulness about dancing and calling revealed a whole new world I’m still happily exploring.  Becky Hill has provided gobs of material, endless helpful conversation, and a bubbly enthusiasm that is a constant inspiration to me. 

Thanks, too, to all the callers, dancers, musicians, sound people, organizers, and choreographers who help keep this a living tradition.  

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