Chesapeake Squares' Mainstream Class, Week #4

[bjarvis]

This afternoon, kent4str and I lead the Chesapeake Squares' fourth weekly session of our latest Mainstream square dance class.

Dayle had taught the prior class but that was two weeks ago: we all took last Saturday away from the class so that Dayle, kent4str and I could attend our previously-scheduled C1 boot camp weekend. As expected, the break took a bit of a toll on the new dancers' memories, but not as much as I had suspected. They lacked the sort of driven confidence on some of the newer calls (pass the ocean, swing thru, do paso, wheel & deal, etc.) but they managed well in the review and were clearly demonstrating much stronger confidence and faster reaction times as the afternoon went on.

This week, we introduced the following new calls:

• zoom
  
• flutterwheel/reverse flutterwheel
  
• sweep a quarter
  
• veer left/veer right
  
• trade by
  
• touch 1/4
  
• circulate (in all its glorious forms)
  
• ferris wheel
  
• cloverleaf
  
• turn thru>
  

Buried in this list are some additional subtleties: they were introduced to columns (via touch 1/4) and the split concept (via split circulate).

Recalling the problems of past MS classes, we kept the regular all-eight circulate from waves apart from split circulate in the teaching order as best we could. We also drilled a great deal with both and, towards the end of the afternoon, I think they had it down pretty well. At least they seemed to be having fewer issues than I've seen in other MS classes, including my own so many years ago.

We all had some fun, a few laughs and generally a good time, all while learning a few things. I'm declaring this afternoon's class a success.