EA Calls for March 2

Here is a short video on effective practice that definitely applies to square dancing. In particular, this point. [You should] practice in your brain in vivid detail. It's a bit surprising, but a number of studies suggest that once a physical motion has been established it can be reinforced just by imagining it. In one study 144 basketball players were divided into two groups. Group A physically practiced one-handed free throws while Group B only mentally practiced them. When they were tested at the end of the two week experiment, the intermediate and experienced players in both groups had improved by nearly the same amount.

1. Worked on rolls. Finish the call; stay on spot where you finished; turn a quarter in the direction of body flow
   1. Cloverleaf and Roll: Caller Lab has ruled that only the trailers can roll.
   2. Split Circulate and Roll: only dancers that turn a corner roll. Sequence diagram
   3. Swing Through and Roll: Roll is called early so that dancers that trade just once get the roll instruction. The second traders act on the same roll instruction.
   4. Left Box the Gnat and Roll: The woman turns to the right so she rolls to the right (clockwise) at the end, the man turns to the left so he rolls to the left (counterclockwise).
   5. Wheel and Deal and Roll (worked it a lot)
   6. Partner Trade and Roll
   7. Trade and Roll
2. Half Sashay, Head Men Center for a Teacup Chain. Taminations (Only shows it for women going in, so you need to imagine the men are circles.)
3. Looked at spreading from various configurations. Jerry said it is one of the most difficult commands in square dancing because there are so many different definitions for it.
   1. Leaders in tandem groups are spreaders, e.g. Heads Star Through and Spread. Note: it doesn't make any sense for the trailers in a tandem group to spread because that would require the leaders to back up.
   2. Active dancers are spreaders, e.g. if the following formation resulted from the girls (circles) trading, then spread would refer to them because they are the active dancers.
      .
      Note that here the girls are neither the leaders in a tandem group nor are they the centers of a line.
   3. Tag the Line. If the following formation resulted from a Tag the Line
      
      Jerry said "Some callers would think it is okay to call spread and expect that the leaders of the tandem groups (the circles) would spread since they do so in other situations (e.g. 3a above). This is essentially a Centers In call and I would call that instead of Spread".
   4. Jerry said: "[If] there are no leaders in your boxes, that rule goes out the window when you are in ocean waves or lines. It only works when you are in two groups of tandems, one behind the other, that the leader or centers thing will work for you. From here, spread goes to the centers of the wave". See Taminations for an example of centers of a wave spreading.
   5. Now consider the following two-faced line formation created when the girls (circles), say, ran around the boys in a wave
      
      All dancers are active here (the boys had to slide) so the Spread command is not directed at the active dancers as it was in 3b. above. Jerry said "Some callers contend that you can [tandem] spread from here, I think that the definition doesn't allow for it myself. If I said spread some callers think that the trailing couple would move up and get between the lead couple (the lead couple slides apart).The definition very clearly says from General Lines and Waves that the centers work so if I said spread here the girls [(circles)] would have to slide open and the boys would slide to the middle.".
4. The spread examples from Taminations can be grouped into the categories that Jerry described
   1. If only some of the dancers are directed to Spread, they slide apart sideways to become ends, as the inactive dancers step forward between them.
         Heads Star Thru and Spread
   2. If the (Anything) call finishes in lines or waves (e.g., Follow Your Neighbor), the centers anticipate the Spread action by sliding apart sideways to become the new ends, while the original ends anticipate the Spread action by moving into the nearest center position.
         Acey Deucey and Spread
         Bend the Line and Spread
         Coordinate and Spread
         Cut the Diamond and Spread. Note this is equivalent to points move in and cross run
         Fan the Top and Spread
         Follow Your Neighbor and Spread
         Hinge and Spread
         Pass the Ocean and Spread
         Swing Thru and Spread. Note this is equivalent to ends trade, centers cross run.
         Trade the Wave and Spread. Note this is equivalent to centers trade and ends trade
   3. If the (Anything) call finishes in tandem couples (e.g., Wheel & Deal from a line of four), the lead dancers slide apart sideways, while the trailing dancers step forward between them.
         Cloverleaf and Spread
         Ferris Wheel and Spread
         Pass to the Center and Spread
         Wheel and Deal and Spread
         Zoom and Spread
5. Worked on Ping Pong Circulate with left and right hand waves for the net. Two ways of looking at it
   1. Know your path and stay on it (right hand wave, men have outside path, left hand wave, women have outside path.)
   2. Know which shoulder to pass (right hand wave, pass right shoulders, left hand wave pass left shoulders).
6. Taught Relay the Deucey to the beginners. Four versions
   1. From a right hand wave with men at the ends, men go in first and ladies circulate and end up as centers of the resulting waves.
      Instructional version: sequence diagram;
      Continous version: taminations
   2. From a right hand wave with ladies at the ends, ladies go in first and men circulate and end up as centers of the resulting waves.
      Instructional version: sequence diagram;
      Continuous version: not available on taminations.
   3. From a left hand wave with men at the ends, men go in first and ladies circulate and end up as centers of the resulting waves.
      Instructional version: sequence diagram;
      Continous version: taminations
   4. From a left hand wave with ladies at the ends, ladies go in first and men circulate and end up as centers of the resulting waves.
      Instructional version: sequence diagram;
      Continuous version: not available on taminations.
7. Reviewed Linear Cycle. See last weeks post.
8. Jerry called "Now" and many dancers turned 360 degrees and continued what they were doing.
9. Jerry called Follow Your Neighbor from a 1/4 tag formation instead of the usually parallel waves formation. This required everybody to do the Extend and Arm Turn 3/4. He then called promenade. See the sequence diagram.
10. On a related note, a couple of weeks ago Jerry called Scoot Back from a 1/4 tag formation. This required everybody to Step Ahead, Forearm Turn 1/2, and step straight forward.
11. Crossfire. Jerry did not do the 4-dancer version of this call, i.e. dancers ended up in a 1/4 formation instead of a double pass through formation.
12. Everybody Cross Run. This is not in Taminations. It appears that it can be done from any of the 16 types of lines. If you are an end you cross the center of the line and become a center. If you are a center you cross the center of the line and become an end. Collisions are avoided by passing right shoulders. There are no sliders.
13. Wrong Way Grand. Men flow clockwise, women flow counterclockwise. Note that it starts with a right hand pull by just like the normal Right and Left Grand
14. A tip usually consists of a series of hash calls and then a singing call.
15. From Wikipedia: "Hash calls are a series of movements called from a hoedown record. In modern Western square dance, a hoedown is a piece of music used for a patter call (a call that is spoken or chanted, rather than sung to the tune of a popular song), or the recording that contains this piece of music. In the early days of the Western square dance revival (the 1940s and early 1950s), most hoedowns were traditional fiddle tunes; since the late 1950s, recordings of simple chord progressions, with no discernible melody, have also been sold to callers under the name "hoedown."
16. From Bill Burleson's Square Dance Encyclopedia: "A singing call is choreography that has been put into the lyrics of popular songs. These will usually have the same calls given to the head and side couples."
17. Here is a transcription of Jerry's cover of Eric Clapton's "I've Got a Rock and Roll Heart"
18. If the bucket is stirred, the next call will most likely be a singing call