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A Becket formation, double progression contra by Bill Olson
A2 Bal the ring (4), Petronella twirl to R (4), Hands across Star LEFT x 1 (8)
B1 (Men keep L hands joined, Women join hands on Right diagonal) EGGBEATER* x 1.5 (8), (Women drop R hands, look forward to new star) Hands across Star L x 1 (women in front of Shadow) (8)
B2 B&S Pt (16) (face across)
Notes: This is another "Eggbeater Dance". The timing is tricky and critical. First of all it is important for the dancers to identify their shadows. This is most easily accomplished in the middle of A2. After the Petronella twirl, dancers are on the side of the set (or at the end of the set) with their partners on one side of them and shadows on the other side. This is very important because things get pretty disoriented after the diagonal eggbeater figure, where dancers move to the other side of the set. To start the Eggbeater the men keep their left hands joined and the women drop left hands, and join RIGHT hands with another woman across to the right (actually there's only one place they can do this, in the "lane" between the men!) After the eggbeater the dancers are still between their partners and shadows and the women look away from the old star and towards the "new" star (this is actually pretty much looking "straight ahead" for the women) joining Left hands across in front of their shadows. Timing is difficult because the men have just been going around by the left since the middle of A2 and need to WAIT for their shadows to join in. It helps to inform the men that they go around by the Left Hand with the same man for 24 beats, first in the star with their partners, next in the eggbeater figure and finally in the star with their shadows. At the ends a couple pops out at the top in each A1. They have to cross over and look back into the dance almost immediately because the woman waiting out participates in the eggbeater figure each time. This puts her on the side with her partner and after the second star all partners Balance and swing and everyone is back in the dance again. This dance is hard to teach. I (arrgghh) actually had to walk it through 3 or 4 times the first time I called it at the Concord Scout House on April 19, 2004! The Scout House dancers usually don't want any more than ONE walk through, but they realized *I* was just learning some of the quirks of the dance so they indulged me. Once we all got the timing in A2 and B1, the dance smoothed out and it really flowed nicely!
* The eggbeater, is a "while" figure. The men are allemanding left while the women are allemanding right. The two allemands interleave like eggbeater blades. The men follow their partners each time, so have to wait just a bit for the women to get started so everyone doesn't crash into one another.
This dance is dedicated to Pam Weeks, my very best partner.
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