Jonathan Sivier's Dance Page


Here are some dances I've written:

Feel free to give them a try and let me know what you think.

Contras

Sicilian Circles


Dances From New Harmony

These dances are from the manuscript "Community Dances, 1826" from New Harmony, Indiana.

Brainstorm

Scott Miller and Jonathan Sivier
duple improper; beginner-intermediate
written: 9/4/94
1
balance the circle, twirl and move 1 place to the right
2
repeat balance and twirl
3
repeat balance and twirl
4
repeat balance and twirl
5-6
balance the circle one more time and swing neighbors
7-8
hey for 4, women start by passing right shoulders, end facing original direction ready to balance with a new couple

Notes

1-4
turns are as in "Petronella", turn CW 3/4 while moving 1 place to the right around the circle

Some tunes that have worked well with this dance

Petronella

History

This dance was written on 9/4/94 by Scott Miller and Jonathan Sivier with the help of Lori Haselhorst and Helen Pancella. It was after one of the Childgrove Country Dancers contra dances in St. Louis. Scott had written a dance entitled "Late Nitropella" which had some problems so we brainstormed a bit to find a way to fix it. We grabbed a couple of dancers before they could leave to help us walk through the dance. We changed the dance a bit so we gave it a new name.

The Eye's Habit

Jonathan Sivier
duple improper; intermediate
1-2
gypsy and swing neighbors on the side of the set
3
active women go down the center, active men up the center, single file, turn alone
4
return to place, cast off with original neighbor
5-6
gypsy hey, actives start by passing right shoulders in the center
7-8
actives gypsy and swing, end facing down

Notes

3
don't go too far in promenade
4
inactives all use right arms to cast actives around
5-6
a regular hey-for-four with the actives starting it by passing right shoulders in the middle can be substituted for the gypsy hey
7-8
inactives should staighten the line and arrange themselves ready to gypsy and swing with the next active couple

Some tunes that have worked well with this dance

Miller's Reel
Mason's April

History

I got the idea for the central figures of this dance in the summer of 1992. I wanted a dance with a gypsy hey in it and thought of this neat way to get everyone in place to do it. I set it aside and didn't do anything with it until 1996 when I came across my notes and was inspired to do the rest of the dance. It has some tricky parts, but has been well received when I've called it.

Fearful Symmetry

Jonathan Sivier
duple improper; intermediate
1
allemande left with neighbor 1 1/2
2
ladies chain over
3
circle left 3/4
4
swing partners across the set, end facing original direction
5
allemande right with neighbor 1 1/2
6
men chain over
7
circle left 3/4
8
swing partners across the set, end facing original direction

Notes

4
swing in original location
8
swing in progressed location
Make sure the set isn't too tight. Plenty of space is needed for everyone to swing their partners across the set at the same time.

I labeled this an intermediate dance because of the men's chain and because the symmetry of the two halves can lead to some confusion as to which half is being danced.

Some tunes that have worked well with this dance

History

I wanted a dance with a men's chain in it and I enjoyed the dances that had you allemande left with your neighbor 1 1/2 to send to women in for a ladies chain. I reasoned that if the left allemande was replaced with a right allemande the men could chain in the same fashion. I ended up with dance that had 2 very similar parts with the only difference being the hand used for the allemande, who chains and the location of the swing.

Stars and Stripes

Jonathan Sivier
duple improper, double progression; intermediate
1
long lines forward and back
2
left hand star 1 time
3
right hand star 1/2, allemande left 3/4 with next neighbor to a wavy line across the set, men in the center
4
balance the line, men allemande right 1/2
5-6
balance and swing partner on the side of the set
7
circle left 3/4
8
swing neighbor on the side of the set, end facing in

Stars and Stripes

Jonathan Sivier
duple improper, triple progression; advanced
1
long lines forward and back
2
left hand star 1 time
3
right hand star 1/2, allemande left 3/4 with next neighbor to a wavy line across the set, men in the center
4
balance the line, men allemande right 1/2
5-6
balance and swing partner on the side of the set
7
circle left 3/4 and pass through along the set
8
swing new neighbor, end facing in

Notes

3
timing is tight, must move quickly, end in a wavy line with actives facing up, inactives facing down, men holding right hands in the center, 1st progression
5-6
balance and swing on man's original side
7
2nd progression for triple progression version
8
3rd progression (2nd progression for double progression version)

probably best to use hands-across stars

Some tunes that have worked well with this dance

History

I came up with the idea for the 1/2 star into a 3/4 allemande to a wavy line of 4 in 1994. I was trying to create a dance with stars and stripes (lines across and along the set) as a 4th of July dance. Initially the dance began with this figure. It worked OK, but was a bit awkward starting with this difficult series of figures. So I rearranged the dance in 1995 to move the figure to later in the sequence. While it is still the same figures in the same order, it seems to work a little better this way.

Swing On A Star

Jonathan Sivier
duple improper; beginner-intermediate
1-2
balance and swing your neighbor
3
circle left 1 time
4
ladies chain to partner
5
star left 1 time
6
star right 1 time
7
swing your partner on the side of the set
8
circle left 3/4, pass through along the set

Notes

3
smooth transition into circle from swing
4
men move partner's right hands into center of circle to assist with transition into ladies chain, ladies chain to partners
5,6
basket stars preferred, because of nice transition from ladies chain and good connectivity
7
the tricky part of this dance is ending the swing on time, since it's in the first half of the phrase. Less experienced dancers may need to be prompted to end on time.

Swing On A Star #2

Jonathan Sivier
Becket clockwise; beginner-intermediate
1
circle left 3/4
2
swing your neighbor on the side
3
circle left 1 time
4
ladies chain over
5
star left 1 time
6
star right 1 time
7-8
swing your partner on the side of the set
1
slide left and circle left 3/4 with a new couple

Notes

3
smooth transition into circle from swing
4
men move partner's right hands into center of circle to assist with transition into ladies chain, ladies chain to partners
5,6
basket stars preferred, because of nice transition from ladies chain and good connectivity
7-8
swing partners on your original side, men turn around, partner is behind
1
slide left to progress, progression is CW

Some tunes that have worked well with this dance

Arkansas Traveller
Billy In The Low Ground
Morpeth Rant
Nail That Catfish To A Tree
Old French

History

This is the first dance I ever wrote. I was inspired by Ted Sannella's Contra Dance Style workshop at the Knoxville Dance Weekend in February of 1992. He stressed the importance of smooth transitions from one figure to the next. After the weekend I wrote down the transitions we had done and a few others I could think of and I realized that if I arranged them correctly I had a dance where there would be a nice flowing transition between all of the figures. The first version is a standard duple improper dance. It works well enough, but I ended up improving it by putting it into Becket formation and adjusting the figures a little. It's a nice, smooth dance that I often like to use at the end of an evening of contra dancing.

When The Stars Are Right

Jonathan Sivier
duple improper; beginner-intermediate
written: 2/2/2000
1
allemande left 1 1/2 with neighbor
2
ladies chain (to partner)
3
hey for four half way (women start passing right shoulders)
4
swing partners (on women's original side)
5
men allemande left 1 1/2 in the center
6
swing neighbors on the other side
7
star left 1 time
8
star right 1 time (look for new neighbors)

Notes

7
the transition from a swing to a left hand star may be a little awkward, but I think the satisfying transition to a right hand star makes up for that

Some tunes that have worked well with this dance

History

This dance was inspired by the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. Many of his stories take place in small towns and back-woods areas in New England in the early part of this century and that was where contra dancing was being done at that time. While he never mentions dancing in his writing, and I have no reason to think he even knew what contra dancing was, I like to think that his characters occasionally went contra dancing for recreation. Lovecraft was an anglophile and more interested in things of the past than in the present and I think he would have approved of contra dance's roots in the past and the dances from England. In many of his stories reference is made to the Great Old Ones and how they will rise up "when the stars are right" so I wanted to create a dance where you progress on to your next neighbor when the stars become right. Granted Lovecraft might have frowned on a modern contra dance such as this (duple improper and equal with partner and neighbor swings) so perhaps I'll have to write another one and make it proper and unequal.

Whynot Swing Your Partner?

Jonathan Sivier
Sicilian circle; beginner-intermediate
written: 9/13/2000
1
circle right (in big inner and outer circles)
2
circle left
3
do-si-do partners
4
swing partners (end facing original direction/neighbor)
5
do-si-do neighbors
6
swing neighbors (end facing partner)
7
circle left (in minor sets of 4)
8
circle right (transform back into big circles and continue circling right to start dance over again)

Notes

1
start by taking hands in inner and outer circles with everyone facing their partners

Some tunes that have worked well with this dance

History

I adapted this dance from "Whynot's Circle Contra" by Roger Whynot. I modified it to add a partner swing.
Let me know what you think:
jsivier@illinois.edu

Last updated on May 15, 2008