I've lately ended up
calling a bunch of
parties and I've been happy with calling mostly longways whole-set
dances. These are ones that are shaped like a contra dance in terms
of having two lines facing each other, each person across from their
partner, but your role doesn't matter and you're not grouped into
hands-fours ("minor sets"). I want to be able to teach it in a single
fast-paced walkthrough, match it tightly to the musical
phrase , and be able to drop out after a few times through. This
means I need most of the figures to be very simple, and a low piece
count. On the other hand, if I build every dance out of the same small number
of building blocks (ex: reshuffles of Galopede ),
dancers will start to feel "haven't we done this one before"? So I
also like dances that have a "hook": an interesting figure that we
don't do in the other dances. Some examples: In Jacob's
Potato the whole set circles (well, potatoes) left and right. In the Low-Backed
Car each line takes a turn dancing around the other. In Charge
and Drag the top and bottom couple each arch over one of the
lines, and then additionally charge towards each other and drag to the
bottom. Other hooks I like include lines
weaving between arches and the whole set casting
to the bottom ("peel the banana"). I was looking for more dances like this, especially ones that fit in
small spaces (no down the hall) and aren't too picky about the number
of couples (5 - 8). I asked the Trad
Callers mailing list for ideas, and got back a bunch. After
looking through them I added two to my repertoire : Witch's
Reel (thread the needle) Falling
Masonry (arch over lines; cascading sashay) Of the ones I didn't add, I think the zig-zag poussette figure in Wee Willie
II would be fun to adapt, but the dance as written takes more
space than I often have. I'll probably look for another dance with
that figure (or write one). I also saved two simple duple minors where roles don't matter, for
when the crowd is ready for something slightly more complex: Riverside
Jig (simple duple minor with lines of four arching down over the
whole set) Quandranella (simple duple minor with petronella) Comment via: facebook , lesswrong , mastodon , bluesky
Easy Whole Set Dances With a Hook
Brief
Whole-set longways dances are favored for being teachable in a single fast walkthrough, matching musical phrases, and droppable after a few repeats; the caller seeks simple figures and low piece counts that work in small spaces for 5–8 couples. From Trad Callers suggestions the author adopted Witch's Reel (thread-the-needle) and Falling Masonry (arch over lines, cascading sashay).
Why it matters
Caller prefers whole-set longways dances teachable in a single fast-paced walkthrough that align tightly with musical phrases and can be dropped after a few repeats; requirements: simple figures, low piece count, fit 5–8 couples and small-floor (no down-the-hall) venues.
Key details
- After querying the Trad Callers mailing list (post dated 2026-07-11; source Jeff Kaufman), the author added Witch's Reel (thread-the-needle hook) and Falling Masonry (arch-over-lines with cascading sashay) to their repertoire, saved Riverside Jig and Quandranella as simple duple minors, and set aside Wee Willie II due to space needs.