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Advanced Challenge Dances

Schedule

Two - three dates a year. Check the schedule for the next date.

Location

Clarkston Community Center

Cost

Purpose

To pull out all the stops and create an environment in which dancers are under the hypnotic impression that they are actually in the center line of the Saturday night dance of our November festival weekend (only cheaper and with less crowding). There is no beginner's workshop and programming for Advanced Challenge Dances includes, as Seth Tepfer puts it: "Black Belt contras, no walk thru contras, strange and illicit dance formations rarely allowed to see the light of dance and all manner of things that will tease and tantalize our baser dance natures." Callers who are booked for these dances are encouraged to explode out of the starting block with new things, push the envelope, and take creative risks.

Are you an Advanced Dancer?

You are ready for an Advanced Challenge Dance if ...
  1. You know where to be at the start of each dance phrase and how to recover from a lapse;
  2. You are able to assist your partner and neighbor to the next move;
  3. You execute flourishes safely and without disturbing others;
  4. 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;
  5. 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;
  6. 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
Adapted from materials provided by Contra Dance New York (CDNY)

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