Dance Review - Jan 2003, Ben Rubright

Dance Review - Jan 2003
By Craig Shucker .

Featuring: Ben Rubright |-bio

A-2 Workshop | A-2 Dance | C-1 Dance | C-2 Dance | C-3A Dance

Friday C-3A Dance

Ben had obviously done a lot of homework preparing for this weekend. At the C-3A session Ben concentrated on C-3A concepts. He used so many that I was only able to remember a few. Here are the few that I could remember:

(1) from a formation created from having the ends of right-hand columns Triple Box Counter Rotate: Initially Tandem Motivate

(2) from a formation consisting of a single double pass thru in between and facing perpendicular to facing couples: In Your Right "J" Own The Boys Split Counter Rotate By Recoil

(3) from a formation created from having the outside Beaus Right Loop 1 in a 1/4 tag: Initially Triple Wave Flip Chain Thru

(4) from a right-hand staggered column formation with all the dancers on the main diagonal facing in: Initially In Your "O" Or Butterfly Coordinate.

Saturday A-2 Workshop

Ben started by workshopping Switch The Wave and Switch The Line. He stated that both Switch calls are really the one call since they have the same definition, and that they should both be on the same list. (I agree with him.) He also workshopped Trail Off and Mini Busy.

Saturday A-2 Dance

Ben's use of Peel the Top from ocean waves and his use of Horseshoe Turn from a 3/4 tag caused some confusion until he reviewed them a few times. By far, the material that caused the most discussion was his introduction of Cloverleaf as a 4-dancer call working from a box consisting of two single file columns of two. The leaders roll back in a 270 degree arc to end up facing and the trailers follow the their original leaders to end behind them; the result is single double pass thru. Whether this is actually an acceptable usage of the call is hard to tell; the CALLERLAB definitions do not specifically exclude it. C-3 dancers will recognize this call as Peel The Deal. In any case, the dancers had a lot of fun with it.

Sunday C-1 dance

In the C-1 session, Ben started by reviewing Tally Ho from two-faced lines. Then he spent the majority of the session working the "Replace" modifier. In most cases he replaced the first part of the call and used wording such as "Use [replacement call] For The First Part, [main call]". Here is a partial list:

(1) from eight chain thru: Use Recycle For The First Part, Swing The Fractions;

(2) from right-hand ocean waves: Use Swing The Fractions For The First Part, Swing The Fractions:

(3) from right-hand columns: Use Split Recycle For The First Part, Swing The Fractions;

(4) from left-hand ocean waves: Use Switch The Wave For The First Part, Right & Left Thru;

(5) from facing couples: Use Square Chain Thru To A Wave For The First Part, Alter The Wave;

(6) from ocean waves: Use Explode The Wave For The First Part, Load The Boat;

(7) from tidal two-faced line: Use Cross Roll To A Wave For The First Part, Relay The Shadow;

(8) from facing lines: Use Square Chain The Top To A Wave For The First Part, Relay The Shadow.

Sunday C-2 Dance

Ben continued to primarily work the "Replace" modifier. For example, from left-hand ocean waves: Use Turn To A Line, Relay The Shadow. Other interesting material included: (1) from offset right-hand two-faced lines with the leads in the center line: Offset Lines Criss Cross The Shadow; (2) from right-hand ocean waves with the girls facing in and the boys facing out: Do Your Part, Boys Switch The Wave, Girls Tally Ho.
PS: Before I close, I have a final comment. Several of the dancers from my A-2 workshop along with some of their friends decided to come to their first Trailblazers A-2 sessions in December. They danced very well and had a great time. They returned in January. Also, in January we had quite a number of first-time dancers come from various areas. Some of them did very well. Others had some problems but showed the potential to do well with a little more exposure. All the new dancers commented on how much fun they had and how friendly our dancers were. So, to all the dancers who made our new guests feel welcome and comfortable, thanks for your help and support. You are what makes Trailblazers special!