Composing a Dance

While in Chesterfield, Jackson showed me a few dances that he learned in school and while we were discussing them, he asked if it was possible to write a dance himself, to which I replied, "Of course!" So, we started talking about some figures, and how they could go together, and how the dance could tell a story. What we came up with was a really cool contra dance that we named "Summer Storm" and it goes like this:

Summer Storm, Duple Improper or Proper, Circles of four from the top
By: Jackson Green & Pam Green

A1 Circle left once around
Circle right once around
A2 Partner allemande left
Long lines forward and back (3 steps with whoop and clap each way)
B1 Partner allemande right
Longlines forward and back again with whoop and clap twice as before
B2 1’s two hand turn
1’s arch, 2’s duck under to next neighbor

The idea is to start out pretty calm (the circles right and left), then crescendo into small whirlwinds that turn into thunderstorms, one after the other... then settling into a rainbow (the arch). We had a lot of fun coming up with this, and I'm looking forward to trying it out at a family dance sometime soon.