Grant Goodyear's Dances

Hay for Poker (improper, dbl prog, 6 Aug 2006)

Notes:

1. Written in honor of Sarah Goodyear's horse, Poker
2. Not only is there "hay", but can you find the steeplechase figure?

Elegant Whimsy (Improper, 8 May 1998)

Notes:

1. Written in honor of Fritz Barnes, who epitomizes the title
2. This dance was written such that it could be either a contra dance (as written), or an Irish reel by dancing the "sashays" with sevens instead of a slipping step (the move is then termed a "telescope") and replacing the balances with sets.
3. The music used for this dance really requires strong phrasing in A for the balances, which occur at the end rather than the beginning of the phrase. Two tunes that work very well are Cold Frosty Morning and Kitchen Girl.

Sarah Said Yes! (Becket, 14 Dec. 2001)

Notes:

1. Written for Sarah Robertson (now Goodyear) after she agreed to marry me!
2. Partners are in different sets during the Petronella twirls, so dancers should twirl either not quite once or once and a half for the second twirl to find their partners.
3. During the long lines in A1 dancers should make sure that they are facing a new couple. Alternatively, a reasonable variation is to replace the long lines with a circle to the left with new neighbors.

Grant's Give & Take (Becket, '99)

Notes:

1. In A1 the first time through the dance couples circle left with the couple directly across from them. After the first time through, the circle left is with the couple on the left diagonal (a bucksaw progression).
2. In the Give-and-take the lines go forward two steps, partners take hands, the man gently pulls his partner to him while the lady ever-so-briefly resists and then acquiesces ("please don't lead me into that briar patch..."). In principle the give-and-take should only require four beats of music, allowing partners to have a 12-beat swing, but it will feel much more natural to dancers to take 6 beats instead. My view is that the issue of timing is essentially between the dancers and their partners.
3. The give-and-take, partner swing, and bucksaw progression were liberally stolen from the Larry Jennings' variant of Ted Sanella's dance Salute to Larry Jennings, which I learned from Lisa Greenleaf. For the first four years that I called this dance it didn't have a name. I finally named it at the 2003 Buffalo Bayou dance weekend in 2003 when Lisa Greenleaf asked for the dance but refused to accept it without a name.
4. This dance is surprisingly easy for dancers.
5. Scollay's Reel and Balkan Reel work well.

Chasing Fire (Improper, 15 Mar. 1998)

Notes:

1. Written for Kelsi Snoke 1 week after her 24th birthday; revised 12 Feb. 2000.
2. Can alternate 1s and 2s active in B

Chris & Lisa Found Each Other (Circle mixer, June 1997)

Notes:

1. Written for the wedding of Chris Johnson and Lisa Edwards.
2. This dance is almost as much of a game as it is a dance, since I deliberately designed this dance so that it would be common for dancers to not have a partner at the end of B2. Thus, they would have to find a new partner from the "lost-and-found" in the center.
3. Experienced dancers have to be told up-front that the pull-by in B2 does not start a grand right and left.
4. I frequently use this dance with beginners because it's easy, lots of fun, and it sneakily gets across the idea that when something goes "wrong" in a dance, the dancers can fix it.

Contra for Linda (Improper)

Notes:

1. I wrote this dance in honor of Linda Leslie, the caller who first taught me to dance. The stars in B2 are there because Linda calls "Star" so wonderfully.
2. I intended this dance to be a relatively straight-forward gender-free dance. In fact, I frequently call this dance by requesting that the dancers find partners of the same gender (thanks to Lisa Greenleaf for giving me that idea), and asking each "couple" to decide who will play the gent's role, and who will play the lady's role. With some dancers there can be a lot of initial resistance to the idea, but they invariably have a lot of fun once the dance actually starts. (From a sneaky-caller perspective, this trick is also a great way for a caller to emphasize some of the finer details about the swing to the more experienced dancers who tend to tune out the caller when swings are described to beginners.)
3. This dance is such a simple glossary dance that I'm sure that many people must have written and used this dance before me, but I don't recall seeing it anywhere.

Playing With Fire (Becket, 6 Sept. 2000)

Notes:

1. Written for Kelsi Snoke
2. Meant to be flirtatious between partners until the eventual swing in B2.

Dawn's Gypsy Dance (Improper, 17 Dec. 1999)

Notes:

1. Written for Dawn Castner
2. I often use this dance as a no-walkthrough last dance of the evening. The story-line is strong enough that I can call it a few times, and then dance it myself.

Sarah's Dance (Becket, Apr. 2001)

Notes:

1. Written for Sarah Robertson (now Goodyear).
2. Dancers need to start the star in B1 a bit early, but that's rarely a problem since dancers tend to rush a promenade across anyway.

Sarah's Starry Becket (Becket, 11 July 2001)

Notes:

1. Written for Sarah Robertson (now Goodyear).
2. The end of A1 seems to cause difficulties; not sure if it's a timing issue or my poor teaching.

Joe & Jeni's Wedding (Improper, 24 Mar. 2001)

Notes:

1. Written for the wedding of Joseph Burks and Jennifer Pedersen
2. This glossary dance is so simple that probably everybody has written it at one time or another. I don't seem to have a published version, however.

Wave to Bob (Improper, Jun. 1997)

Notes:

1. Written for Bob O'Brien, who gave me my start in calling.
2. At the end of B2 dancers just walk forward to find new neighbors for the dosido.

To and Fro (Proper, 1 Aug.1997)

Note: Based on the English Country Dance Picking of Sticks.

Contra 101 (Improper, 17 Jan 1998)

Notes:

1. I wrote this dance as a way to easily teach basic dance moves, but I generally use it just for assessment.
2. If you know your dancers, you might want to consider alternating 1s swinging and 2s swinging in B2 throughout the dance.
3. Another variation is to replace B1 with (8) right and left through across followed by a butterfly whirl, and (8) promenade back.