Gretchen's Fancy

May 2006
five-couple mixer; set as shown at right
16 bars of 5/4
Music: Take Five by Paul Desmond
Warning: This dance has not been tried out with actual dancers. So far it exists only in my mind. If anyone tries it out, please let me know how it goes!

A1	Rings of five circle left once around. All (except centers) half poussette neighbor while center couple right shoulders round once and a half.
A2	Rings of five circle right once around. All (except centers) half poussette neighbor while center couple left-shoulder right shoulders round once and a half.
B1	Four changes of rights and lefts, beginning with partner by right up and down set. See notes below.
B2	All set to next person up and down the set, turn single, and two-hand turn.

Notes

The Gretchen of the title is Gretchen Pearson, my wife. I wanted to name a particularly unusual dance for the love of my life.
The grand chain in a figure eight is the figure that caught my imagination. I recognize that it is unforgiving--because the unusual formation does not facilitate dancers moving to their progressed place in case of error.
Perhaps dancing to a 5/4 tune adds unnecessarily to the difficulty of the dance. Maybe so, but at least none of the figures uses 5 beats; they all take 10 beats. Anyone brave enough to try the dance might try a leisurely 4/4 or 2/4 tune, taking 8 beats for the figures.
A1: The rings of five are top two couples + lady 3 and bottom two couples + gent 3; center couple must pass by the right at the start of this move.
Center couple should drop hands from circle early to pass partner by right. In the top half of the set, ladies begin poussettes advancing; in the bottom half it is the gents. Poussettes are in the same direction of travel as the circles.
A2: Same circles except that center couple have changed circles.
Again center couple should drop hands early to flow into this move. Same couples begin pousettes advancing as in A1; again poussettes are in the same direction of travel as the circles. A2 ends with all dancers in original places.
B1: Middle couple pull by each other by right, and pull by the opposite gender person to the right with the left; this should make it easier for the (originally) topmost lady and bottommost gent to pass through the center by sticking out their left hands and moving to the left. The third change is also by right hand up and down set. The four changes are illustrated in the diagram below.
B2: This is your new partner.
The figure below shows the starting position each time through the dance.

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