You Might be an Advanced Dancer If...
- You know where to be at the start of each dance phrase and how to recover from a lapse;
- You are able to assist your partner and neighbor to the next move;
- You execute flourishes safely and without disturbing others;
- You know when not to use flourishes in order to make sure that both you and the person you are dancing with are able to glide into the next move as smoothly as possible;
- You live by the motto: "Better never than late" -- i.e. you know to skip flourishes or even entire moves if that is required to get back in time and on phrase;
- You require little or no instruction to do intermediate or advanced moves, including:
- Hey for four
- Mad robin
- California twirl
- Petronnella
- Pass through to an ocean wave
- Balance the wave
- Cross trail through
- Contra corners
- Give and take
- You can dance the opposite role -- which is to say that you can remember to switch your palm orientation (gents' hands face up, ladies' hands face down), your hands-across star elevation (gents' linked hands are above ladies' link hands), your geographical position (ladies are always right!), and your swing frame.
Read More About It...
- How to Be a Great Contra Dancer: 8 Basic Notes, 9 Tips on Technique, & 10 Points of Etiquette
- Jonathan Sivier's Tips for Experienced Dancers Dancing with Beginners
- Gary Shapiro's website – more viewpoints on contra dancing
CCD occasionally sponsors Advanced Challenge Dances
The next ones are on: (To be scheduled)