Incandescent Smile

February 2013
Three couples longways, proper
Music: Syracuse Skies by Charlene Thomson (available on request), 24-bars of 3/2.

A1	Partners set (advancing) and turn single (spacious) [4 bars] Ones cross and dance below (as twos lead up) [2 bars] Same ones cross and dance below (as threes lead up) [2 bars]
B1	Partners right shoulders round 3/4 (until men face up and women down) [2 bars] Half hey for six (starting with partner by right) [6 bars]
B2	Invert the lines [2 bars] Partners cross set* [2 bars] Partners back to back [2 bars] and two-hand turn [2 bars]

For my late wife, Gretchen, who died in August 2012 after fighting leukemia for about eight months. Gretchen's smile was one of her most attractive features, one that remained with her throughout her illness.
Tune: My friends at Syracuse Country Dancers commissioned the tune in her memory from Charlene Thomson. A lovely rendition of the tune by Charlene, Eileen Nicholson, and Laurel Sharp appears on Charlene's new recording, Promise of Spring, albeit not at dance tempo.
Half hey for six: For teaching purposes, it may be helpful to stop the dancers after the right shoulders round 3/4 in the following position--facing partner but slightly offset, ready to pass partner by right shoulder. Thus all dancers are near the center line of the set, but still on their proper side of it. The hey ends with both lines inverted, slightly offset, all improper, men facing down and women up.
Invert the set: The next move, invert the set, has the bottom gent and top lady cast to the other end of the set, staying improper, followed by the rest of their line.
*Cross the set: I prefer the crossing to be as in Hole in the Wall, but only if the set inversion finishes on time in straight lines. An alternative that flows from the set inversion is to cross the set by the left shoulder and turn in.