WEST COAST SQUARE DANCING.
WEST COAST DANCING - CALLS & CONCEPTS LIST
LESSON # 1: 1. DANCER NAMING:
A. PARTNER / CORNER / BOYS / GIRLS
B. COUPLES: HEADS / SIDES #1, 2, 3 & 4
C. CENTRES / ENDS (Teach with (15) Couples Circulate, Ends & Centres)
2. FORWARD AND BACK
3. CIRCLE LEFT
4. ALLEMANDE LEFT
5. DOSADO
6. PROMENADE (1/2 way, inside, single file.)
7. RIGHT AND LEFT GRAND /WEAVE THE RING
8. SWING ***Teach in Lesson 3)
9. RIGHT ARM TURN
10. PASS THRU / (DOUBLE PASS THRU***Teach with W&D Lesson 6)
11. COURTESY TURN
12. LEAD TO THE RIGHT
13. VEER TO THE LEFT
14. BEND THE LINE
15. COUPLES CIRCULATE
16. STAR THRU
LESSON #2:
17. (2 / 4) LADIES CHAIN
18. ROLL AWAY
19. NAMED DANCERS TRADE
20. CALIFORNIA TWIRL
21. SQUARE THRU
LESSON # 3:
22. RIGHT HAND STAR / LEFT HAND STAR (WW GRAND BOX GNT)
23. FLUTTERWHEEL / REVERSE FLUTTERWHEEL
24. SWEEP ONE QUARTER
LESSON #4:
25. SIDES FACE GRAND SQUARE
26. TOUCH ONE QUARTER
27. MEN RUN
28. SCOOT BACK
LESSON # 5:
29. ALAMO RING / SWING THRU
30. RIGHT AND LEFT THRU
31. PARTNER TRADE
32. U TURN BACK
LESSON # 6:
33. DIVE THRU (PASS TO THE CENTRE)
34. CIRCLE TO A LINE (Single file circulate)
35. WHEEL AND DEAL & (***Double Pass Thru) (1st couple LT 2nd couple RT)
LESSON # 7:
36. STEP TO A WAVE / SWING THRU
37. PASS THE OCEAN
38. EXTEND
LESSON # 8:
39. FERRIS WHEEL
40. FOLD / CROSS FOLD
41. FACE LEFT / RIGHT / IN / OUT
LESSON # 9:
42. FULL TAG
43. HALF TAG
44. WALK AND DODGE
LESSON # 10:
45. RECYCLE
46. TRADE BY
Calls / Concepts Not Covered in West Coast Dance
Centres In / Cast-Off 3/4 Etc
Chain Down The Line (In some figures use own discretion)
Circulate - Split/Box/All 8
Cloverleaf
Cross Run
Dixie Style to a Wave
Dopaso
Eight chain Thru
Half Sashay
Hinge - Couples
Ladies In Men Sashay
Separate / Split 2
Thar Family
Shoot The Star
Slip the Clutch
Spin Chain Thru
Spin the Top
Slide Thu
Trades Couples
Walk Around / See Saw
Zoom
Calls that don’t need a formal teach and can be included. Dancers can pick up after some floor time, Such as Backtrack, Wrong Way Grand, Star Promenade
TRANSISTION TO FULL MAINSTREAM
It is recommended that new graduates from the WCD program be given a "completion card" that will include a "to be completed" list of remaining calls to be learnt. Dancers can use it as follows:
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When visiting a different club, to inform the club caller how far they are along and which moves are left in their "to be completed" list.
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If they learn a call from the "to be completed" list, they can check it off.
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Once they have done the moves on the "to be completed" list, they have learnt the entire Mainstream program from standard formations.
They can then go back to their home club, (or any club), and ask to complete the full program from extended formations, (if they wish).
Callers and Clubs can help by advertising that they are "WCD friendly", (West Coast Dancer Friendly), to inform visiting dancers that WCD dancers can dance with them. Dancers will start looking for clubs that are WCD friendly when looking for clubs to visit. (Just like many country towns now have signs up that state they are RV Friendly and want people to stay.)
Please remember that dancers do not have to learn any more if they don't want to. It is anticipated that clubs will start operating primarily with the West Coast Program and will eventually out number clubs operating at other programs.
THE FOLLOWING IS EXTRACTED FROM A CALLERS ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA DOCUMENT (July 2015)
West Coast Dancing is a program designed to expedite the initial teaching process. The intent is not to provide a comprehensive curriculum which will make expert mainstream dancers out of our new dancers right away. It is to get them dancing a variety of calls from the most common set ups as quickly as possible. It is a compromise between teaching just the basics which would be boring for experienced dancers, and teaching the entire mainstream program which tends to overwhelm our new dancers with so much information that they bow out of the activity before becoming confident dancers. The overriding principle behind WCD is that if we hope to recruit and retain new dancers in today’s world, we need to lighten up the burden of learning we pile on people who come to sample our product and get them dancing with us. People just want to dance!
The first question callers always ask is: “When do we teach the rest of the Mainstream Program?”
The answer should be, “When the new dancer has the confidence and desire to learn more!” Until that time, any pressure we put on them to move forward and live up to the expectations we have of them, will only drive them away as we have so amply proven in the past. An integral part of the West Coast system is that we provide our new dancers with regular dances at their level after about 10 weeks of lessons to allow their confidence to grow and their interest to blossom before pushing onward.
The West Coast curriculum is compact enough that it enables us to fit in two to three classes in the year. Once a new dancer has taken the course, we need to provide them with regular dances at that level and encourage them to come back to class as helpers. Non-standard positions and new calls can be gradually integrated into West Coast level dances at the caller’s discretion. Helping with the class helps to consolidate the new dancers understanding of the calls and build confidence. Once the calls and concepts in the West Coast program have been mastered and the new dancers have a good understanding of the various formations and how to move from one to another, it is expected that learning the balance of the Mainstream program should be much less onerous. But before progressing,
In choosing which calls to include in the West Coast curriculum and which to defer until later, the following criteria were used: Priority was given to calls which are most commonly found in Mainstream singing call figures with the exception of calls which possessed too many combined elements (Spin Chain Thru, 8 CH Thru), calls which require dancers to make accurate turns in excess of 180° (Spin the Top, Cast off ¾) and calls which were self-explanatory and can be introduced with little or no explanation. (Separate @ one to a line, Wheel @)
Other calls which are not specifically listed on the teaching program are expected to come up naturally as the new dancers get a better understanding of what various terms mean. Example: Men Run is listed, Women Run isn’t. But once a new dancer understands what is required of the active and passive dancer when the command to Run is given, it doesn’t require much of a leap to have Women, Ends, Centres, Out-facers, etc execute the command to Run.
WHAT IS WEST COAST SQUARE DANCING?
West Coast Squares is a West Australian adaption of successful square dance program that has been trialled in USA, Canada and other parts of the world. It is based on the concept that new dancers don't really want to sign up for long learners classes, and they want to start “anytime” instead of waiting for one or two opportunities a year. We can do this by running a 10 week program which teaches “the most commonly used moves from most common positions first” so that new dancers can start enjoying square dancing from day one. Dancers may choose to stay at the "West Coast Program" for as long as they like – or they may decide to learn the full Mainstream Program. The remaining moves and less common set ups are easy to transition to because dancers have already learnt the fundamental concepts of square dancing.