Maia Calls Dances

A friend was recently asking for dances to build up their collection, as they were getting back into calling and their dance box had a lot of weird nonsense in it. (You know, that one dance you collected and wrote down but never actually tested, and then you try to call it and a hole opens up in the space-time continuum. Who hasn’t been there?)

Below are the dances I’d recommend to them and to anyone else with the same question. I’ve roughly grouped them into some categories that I find useful when building up a collection—any categories or classes of dances that I’ve missed?

Opener/Beginner dances

The dances you call first or second in an evening to get the beginners oriented, or that you pull out when someone’s entire bachelorette party (for instance) rolls into the hall. There are many of these to choose from but I’ve limited myself to just a couple.

• Hypnosis by Melanie Axel-Lute - a good intro dance with low piece count and lots of moving together, that doesn’t involve a chain. Good to just get people moving and not worry about teaching a chain yet.
• Airpants by Lisa Greenleaf — glossary dance, no chain
• Easy Peasy by Diane Silver — glossary dance, no chain
• The Appetizer by Scott Higgs — includes a chain, but avoids the chain-star progression (new folks are often confused by finding new N’s out of a star)
• The Baby Rose by David Kaynor — what can I say?
• The Nice Combination by Gene Hubert — a classic for a reason!

As mentioned above, the chain-star progression can confuse beginners, as it’s not immediately obvious how to find new Ns out of a star. It often works just fine in a hall with enough experienced dancers, but in extremely beginner-heavy halls, I wouldn’t call a first dance with this progression.

For any glossary dance with a chain-star progression, you can substitute “circle left 3/4; pass through and do-si-do” or, for an even more forgiving version, “circle left 3/4; balance the ring and pass through.”

Get everyone back on track

You need a second dance for a hall that’s not ready for anything super complicated, or you need to get everyone’s confidence back up after a dance that crashed and burned. Here are some dances that are a little more interesting than the plain ol’ glossary dances like those above, but are still good for getting a hall moving together and—because of low piece count and a lot of moving together—hard to mess up.

• M.A.D. About Dancing by Robert Cromartie
• You Can’t Get There From Here by Carol Ormand
• You Can Get There From Here by Linda Leslie — this is THE Rory dance, and is titanically hard to mess up. (Many Rory dances are good for this program niche, though!)
• Rock Creek Reel by David Harris

Move intros

When you need to introduce a hey but your dance card for Butter (perhaps the prototypical hey intro dance) is in tatters because of how many times you’ve called it.

• The Carousel by Tom Hinds — a perfectly cromulent hey intro that’s not butter
• Wrinkled Ribbon by Melanie Axel-Lute — a slightly more interesting hey intro than Butter. Good for a hall with a smaller proportion of beginners, to give the experienced dancers something interesting while teaching the newbies the hey. Works best if you’ve already done a promenade.
• Rockin’ Robin by Rick Mohr — a slightly more interesting hey intro, as above
• Rollin’ to the Grey Eagle by Hank Morris — as above
• Minimum Fuss, Maximal Fun by Dean Snipes — my favorite box circulate intro dance because it’s really hard to get the initial wave orientation wrong coming out of a box box the gnat
• Square Affair by Becky Hill — my go-to for introducing a square through
• Heart of Glass by Cary Ravitz — simple star promenade + butterfly whirl

Something more interesting

Generally accessible, but also really satisfying for experienced dancers. Dances in this bucket tend to be either “this one weird trick” dances (i.e. mostly simple moves that you’ve learned from earlier glossary dances, with one little twist that makes it real cool but isn’t too hard to learn) or just really well-composed dances.

• 50/50 by Bob Isaacs
• Cupid’s Clout by Susan Petrick
• The Dance G***** by Gene Hubert — otherwise simple low-consequence shadow dance
• Fun Dance for Marjorie by Bob Golder — an English-flavored contra with a neat but not-too-difficult swap-to-star figure
• Maliza’s Magical Mystery Motion by Cary Ravitz — a twist on a petronella dance, super satisfying to dance, makes a good closer as well
• Becky’s Brouhaha by Rhiannon Giddens — a brief excursion outside the minor set! (Also! Did you know that Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops wrote contras?? Or at least, wrote this one contra!)
• Neighbor, Neighbor On the Wall by Maia McCormick

Favorite Closers

Dances that aren’t too hard to pick up (often simple moves or low piece count or both) and easy for the dancers and band to jam out on, ending with a partner swing (ideally balance and swing). Often stompy-balancy, but not necessarily.

• Still More O’Moore by Jim Kitch
• Hume Fogg Reel by Susan Kevra
• Tica Tica Timing by Dean Snipes
• See “Maliza’s”, above
• Mary Cay’s Reel by David Kaynor
• Maid Marian’s Fancy by David Smukler
• Train Delay by Maia McCormick — a touch more complicated b/c of the shadow interaction, but still generally successful
• Pink Martini by Maia McCormick — NB: a little more complicated
• Winter in Summerland by James Hutson & Jeff Spero — note that this one’s a bit trickier than others on this list, but flows beautifully and can be an extremely satisfying closer if the hall is up to it.