Well, that was good time. We reviewed some previous figures, and learned some new figures.  So what did we review?  

• Lead right and veer left
• Circulate (boys, girls, ends, centers, couples, all 8)
• Chain down the line
• Grand Square (sides face  grand square)
• Ladies backtrack

New figures we learned were:

• Trade (boys, girls, ends, centers, couples, partner)
  • Partner trade is the same as a California Twirl with no hands.  The couple must be facing the same direction.
    • All other trades occur when dancers are in a line, for example, with men on the ends and ladies in the center.  In this case, men move forward to take the position of the other man in the line. Ladies, who in the center, similarly move forward to take the position of the other lady.
• Right and Left Thru
  • Remember Pass Thru and Wheel Around?  Right and Left Thru achieves the  same result.  Couples are facing each other.  Each dancer extends his/her right hand and does a pull by, with the men given the ladies a courtesy turn to face the other couple.
• Flutterwheel/Reverse Flutterwheel
  • Couples are facing each other.  
    • Flutterwheel - the ladies extend their right arms and do a right forearm pull by, then using their left hands take the opposite man back to the ladies starting position.
    • Reverse flutterwheel - the men extend their left arms and do a left forearm pull by, then using their right hands take the opposite lady back to the mans starting position.
• Sweep 1/4
  • Used in conjunction with a Flutterwheel or Reverse Flutterwheel for now.  The couples sweep another 1/4 around in the direction they were travelling in.

For those dancers eager to see what we'll be learning in Lesson #7, here's the list of figures:

• Circle to a Line
• Separate
• Split Two
• Wheel and Deal
• Double Pass Thru
• First Couple Left, Next Couple Right

With Lesson#6 behind you, you are one-third complete of the course.  Congratulations and keep up the good work!  Kirk Rockerbie

https://www.videosquaredancelessons.com/lessons/
​https://www.tamtwirlers.org/taminations/

Circulate
In the case of men, ladies, ends, centers and all 8 circulate, the general rule is that directed dancers will move forward along the circulate path to the next position.  For couples circulate, couples will move forward to the next position.  Here is a link to a video that lets you see real dancers perform  circulates.
https://www.videosquaredancelessons.com/lessons/m08.htm

Well that's lesson #5 tonight and everyone is doing great!  Tonight we reviewed Grand Square and Square Through (4 hands, 3 hands and 2 hands).  What did we learn tonight you ask?  Here's what we did:

1. Lead right and veer left, and Lead left and veer right.  In this example, the Head couples while holding hands with their partners turn out to the right to stand in front of and face the side couples on their right side.  When the caller says "veer left", the two couples step up and slide apart with the ladies joining right hands in the middle.  Lead left and veer right would have the head couples lead to the left and stand in front of the side couple on their left side.  When told to "veer right", the couples would step up and slide apart to allow the ladies in the center to hold left hands in the middle.
2. Circulate (mens, ladies, ends, centers, all 8 and couples). I will post detailed explanations of each of these on Monday Oct 22. In the meantime, you can visit Saddlebrook Squares and see the videos of dancers performing these figures.
3. Ladies backtrack. When in a single file promenade or couples promenade around the square, the ladies, when hearing 'ladies backtrack', will peel off to the right and promenade in the opposite direction of the men.  The caller might then say, for example, ' when you find your partner, swing and promenade".

I hope you had a great time tonight!  In Lesson #6 we will learn

1. Trade (mens, ladies, ends, centers, partners, couples)
2. Right and left through
3. flutterwheel 
4. reverse flutterwheel
5. sweep  a quarter

​

Lesson 4 was mostly review, with two new figures introduced - Square Through and Grand Square.

Square Through is one of the most widely used figures in square dancing.  We learned how to do a Square Through 4 (that being 4 hands around), Square Through 3 (that being 3 hands around), and Square Through 2 (that being, you guessed correctly, 2 hands around).  Both the Saddlebrook Squares and Taminations websites would be worth visiting to further study Square Through.

We also learned Grand Square -- which  is usually called as Sides Face Grand Square.  In this figure all dancers are in motion at the same time, with each dancer completing an individual square with the larger square.  The heads start by stepping forward into the center, and the side stepping backwards,

We will review Square Through and Grand Square as part of Lesson 5, and learn some new material as well.

Keep up the good work!  Kirk Rockerbie

​Well that was fun last Sunday night.  I hope the new dancers had a good experience and look forward to future lessons.  So what did we cover?  Well, we reviewed all figures from Lessons 1 and 2, and then went through four new figures which were:

1. U turn back
2. Bend the Line
3. California Twirl
4. Dive Through

Each of these figures is shown with real dancers on the Saddlebrook Squares website at 
https://videosquaredancelessons.com/lessons/#mainstream

U-turn back and California Twirl are demonstrated in Lesson 1c.
Bend the Line is demonstrated in Lesson 4
Dive Through is demonstrated in Lesson 7.

Should you have any questions, please contact me at your convenience.

Remember, no lesson on October 7.