Andrew says…The theme this year was 'dances that are explicitly designed to exploit being gender-free'.
As the number of events employing gender-free calling increases, and people become more comfortable dancing in any role, we thought it would be a great time to ask what influence that might have on emerging choreography.
Obviously any dance can be called gender-free, and the vast majority of dances to be written will continue to be suitable for calling with or without gender for the foreseeable future, regardless of the calling style preferences of the choreographer. But it does have some potential impact: on the one hand, if you're calling positionally rather than using alternative role names, it can impact the calling strategy (which can sometimes actually lead to a clearer call, but I won't deny it makes some harder); on the other hand, removing gender-based expectations can remove constraints in the choreography, explicit or implicit, potentially leading to new dances — which I find particularly interesting because we all want to see great new dances being written!
We said in the announcement for this competition that you can submit any dance that you feel matches the description, and that this included:
- Writing a dance which is particularly straightforward to call as gender-free.
- Writing a dance which you would not necessarily have written if you expected it to be called gendered — i.e. you find that by removing or relaxing some expectations that come along with gendered dancing, new choreography becomes possible.
As in previous years, the dance order was randomized and no-one except Mecki (the Festival Director) knew who had submitted each dance until the end of the competition. After dancing each dance, we took an average of scores from those who danced it, according to the following scale:
1. Would avoid In its current form, I'd sit out this dance if I knew it was being called. 2. Indifferent An OK dance but it wouldn't be one of my favourites. 3. Enjoyable A good dance I'd look forward to doing again. 4. Exceptional This is a great dance I'll be talking about – I'd actively ask to do it again or would call it myself. Dancers were also invited to give a bonus point for “Excelled in the brief”. This did spark a conversation about what the brief actually meant in practice, which was expected — many of the concepts here have been around for years, and many people experience dance as ungendered regardless of the intent of the choreographer.
We were delighted to have a record number of entrants — 13 in all! Unfortunately we didn't have time to do all of those in the session so, as per the rules, the Selection Panel (all experienced dancers or callers) decided which would have to be dropped. All 13 are included here and there are notes below each.
A competition like this can never be truly fair — the “best” dance for one event, group of dancers, or even point in the programme might not be the best elsewhere! So while we obviously have to have some winners, I'd like to extend my congratulations and thanks to all of the entrants for their time, creativity, and the fun it gave all of us who attended the competition.
Here are the dance instructions and information about some of the choreographers — the others haven't given any. This is my standard layout rather than the way the individual choreographers may have written their instructions. Unless otherwise stated, a full stop (period) is 4 or 8 bars (8 or 16 steps); a semicolon is 2 bars (4 steps). If you're the choreographer and you think I've misrepresented your instructions please contact me and I'll change my wording.
Colin Hume
Formation: 12 person square sets, three on a side. Label the people as LEFT, MIDDLE and RIGHT as they face into the square. Note that this will change every time through the tune.
Music: 
3 x 32 bar reel with a good amount of flow. (We think this can also be danced to a hornpipe, with the star stepped 1-2-3-hop, but we haven't tried it.)
Colin Hume suggested the tune “Sailor's Hornpipe” (officially “The College Hornpipe”) which is in the link above. Zöe agreed except that all the recordings she'd found were too fast. But there's a free program called Audacity which can adjust tempo without altering pitch.
This dance is inspired by the capstan on a ship, used to raise the anchor. The nautical styling is optional, but broadly represents the process of getting a sailing ship under way.
The main figure for this occurs in the B part.
First figure: “Prepare ship!”
| A1: | HEADs go in and meet and fall back. SIDEs go in and meet and fall back. |
| A2: | MIDDLEs go in and circle left. MIDDLEs circle back right and FLOW DIRECTLY into: |
| B1: | “All hands, weigh anchor!” MIDDLEs do a left hand star, all the way around. Maintaining the star, the RIGHT joins their MIDDLE, so that each “spoke” has two people on it and they continue the star around again all the way. |
| B2: | Maintaining the star, the LEFT joins their “spoke”. Rotation must slow (or the outer person's legs fall off). Go three-quarters around in 12 beats, then the star splits and the spokes fall back as a line into the square (4 beats). |
As a result of B1 and B2, each “side” will now have progressed one “side” clockwise and will have also progressed within their side, to the order “MIDDLE RIGHT LEFT”. The positions then reset (so the old MIDDLE becomes the new LEFT, the old RIGHT becomes the new MIDDLE and the old LEFT becomes the new RIGHT).
Second figure: “Make sail!”
| A1: | New Middle faces new RIGHT, new LEFT looks in, new MIDDLE passes stationary RIGHT with their right shoulder, loops around in a figure eight, to loop stationary LEFT with left shoulder. Continue INTO |
| A2: | MIDDLE passes RIGHT on the right shoulder to start a REEL FOR 3 on their side. MIDDLE flows directly into: |
| B1/B2: | “All hands, weigh anchor!” as before. |
Third figure: “Wear ship!”
| A1: | ALL TWELVE FORM CIRCLE: Circle left. Circle right. |
| A2: | Break into circle for your side, circle left. Circle right for MOST OF 8 steps, at the end — MIDDLE drops hands, LEFT and RIGHT make an arch for MIDDLE to go through to flow directly into: |
| B1/B2: | “All hands, weigh anchor!” as before. |
Angi lives near Hull and calls and dances at 3 local folk dance/ceilidh clubs. Her favourite dance style is contra, especially electro contra. Sometimes a contra dance finds its way into the club nights!
Zoë lives in Cambridge, dances and calls at the Round, and particularly loves Playford. She has written one dance before, which Colin Hume glowingly described as “short”.
Jemima lives in Cambridge, where she dances and calls at The Round and with her newly-founded ceilidh band, Mango Trout. She loves all things ceilidh, contra and Playford. She's been calling for about a year, and this is the first dance she's been involved in writing!
Andrew says… Colin predicted this one would be the winner when he was preparing the instructions for the website, and he was right — it was a clear favourite! Easy to dance and call, with enough novelty and variety for everyone to enjoy it, and flows really nicely. It doesn't get everyone home at the end, but that doesn't actually matter, and provides a bit more variety if you do it more than once. We used a reel for music.
Own tune (24 bar reel)| A1: | Balance the ring; Petronella turn one place to the right. All that again. |
| A2: | Right-hand star half-way; set in the star. Right-hand star half-way more; partners right shoulder round (gypsy) halfway — all now progressed and on original side. |
| B: | 2nd corners clap own hands, clap other's right hand, clap own hands, clap other's left hand; 1st corners same. Partners same; all cloverleaf turn single toward next neighbour. |
Cara King lives in Pasadena, California, where she dances and calls with Monrovia English Country Dance and the Historical Tea & Dance Society, two wonderfully warm and welcoming groups. She loves creating new dances, and now has a baker's dozen.
Andrew says… I'll admit to having underestimated this dance when I read the instructions! The random order made this the final dance, and it would indeed make a really good last dance in a session. Dancers appreciated its straightforward and fun nature and the “perfect” fit to the music.
Formation: Becket. Music: 32-bar contra. Smooth, dreamy tunes.
Warn dancers as they get up that in this dance everyone will do both roles in a contra swing.
| A1: | Circle left ¾. Neighbour swing. |
| A2: | Long lines forward and back. Chain across. |
| B1: | Circle right ¾. 1-handed half-poussette with partner, around next neighbour couple. |
| B2: | Circle left ¾. Partner swing (using your already-connected hand as the pointy end: this will be the opposite swing hold to the previous neighbour swing, and swaps you and your partner for the next time through) |
Sam Tetley Smith is a contra caller from Sheffield.
Andrew says… I was excited about this one going in and definitely exploits being gender-free. Contras are fundamentally role‑ based due to the swing, and if you know that your dancers are happy dancing both roles then you have the opportunity to mess with that! If you're going to do that though then the dance needs to make it very clear who is doing which role in the swing, and this was a good solution to that. It also swaps you and your partner each time around so that you get to do both sides of the dance! Some people were less familiar with dancing the unfamiliar swing role, which made it harder for them. If you've got an adventurous club then I'd encourage you to give it a go!
Formation: Five people — four in a diamond, numbered anti-clockwise from the top, with number 5 in the middle.
Music: 5 x 32 bar reels
| 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 5 | 4 |
| 3 | ||
| A1: | Outsides join hands and circle left half-way — the middle person may show off their stepping prowess. Outsides advance and retire. |
| A2: | Partial cloverleaf: 5 face down and hey for three half-way up and down the set, starting right shoulder at the bottom with 1. 5 face right and hey for three halfway across the set, starting right shoulder with 2. |
| B1: | Circular strip-the-willow: 5 and 1 right-hand turn once around; 5 and 2 left-hand turn once around as 1 moves towards the middle. 5 and 1 right-hand turn ¾ around in the middle; 5 and 3 left-hand turn once around. |
| B2: | 5 and 1 right-hand turn ¾ around in the middle; 5 and 4 left-hand turn once around. Progression: 5 and 1 right-hand turn ¾ around to leave 1 in the middle and 5 on the outside; outsides single file one place clockwise, finishing anti-clockwise from the top: 2, 3, 4, 5, with 1 in the middle. |
Repeat four more times to return everyone home.
Andrew says… Keith has entered every competition so far and come second twice — we thank him for his continued inventiveness! We really liked the flow of the heys into the circular strip the willow. It felt a bit weird to chase left one quarter at the end only to circle left one half immediately following that, and there was really too much time for the circle left; as a caller I found I needed to keep reminding dancer 5 to face down after the circle.
Formation: Trio facing trio up and down the hall
| R1 ↓ | M1 ↓ | L1 ↓ |
|---|---|---|
| ↑ L2 | ↑ M2 | ↑ R2 |
| R3 ↓ | M3 ↓ | L3 ↓ |
| ↑ L4 | ↑ M4 | ↑ R4 |
This dance recalls the short story of the same name from Kipling's Jungle Book. In the first half of the dance, the great Indian python Kaa (not a buffoonish villain as Disney made him, but a friend and ally of Mowgli) sinuously pursues the kidnapped man-cub through the jungle, while in the second half the bandar-log pin-wheel through the trees, throwing him from one to the next!
| A1: | Single file anticlockwise half way around your set of 6. With the next trio (e.g. trio 1 with trio 4 in the diagram above), join hands and circle left half way and pass through up and down by the right shoulder to meet the old trio. |
| A2: | With the old trio, dance a right shoulder round, and go back to the new trio. With the new trio, ends (L & R) watch while middles allemande left once and a bit to face first corners. |
| B1: | Middles turn 1st corner RH to face 2nd corner, turn 2nd corner LH to face the other middle, middles turn one another RH to face 3rd corner (i.e. own L), turn 3rd corner LH to face 4th corner (own R) |
| B2: | Turn 4th corner RH to face other middle, turn other middle LH to face own partners. In your trios, star right once around, and M, followed by L and then R, breaks the star to go into the next lead round Devil's Elbow style. |
Suggestions for the band:
Like a lot of dances, the A musics are mostly a relaxed, laid-back introduction (with the last 8 steps of the second A serving as “get-ready-here-we-go” style ramp-up where tension builds), the first one and a half B musics are a frenetic, complicated hook, and the last 8 steps of the second B are a more relaxed resolution. If the music can reflect that it would be good.
Suggestions for the caller:
Andrew says… We didn't quite manage to master the transition from the star at the end of the dance to the single file anticlockwise at the start of the next time through — it's likely that there's a calling trick there which I was missing at the time! It might benefit from some recovery time. There was nonetheless a lot of praise for the ideas in it and people who would like another go at it.
Formation: 5 couples longways.
Music: The Atlantic Star, Sue Stapledon, 2002.
Suggested recording: 
Dave Yeomans and Caroline Bunting playing 5 x 32 bar Scottish Reels — Lady MacKenzie of Coul and Barren Rocks of Aden — from their CD “Dancing Musicians”.
| A1: | 1st long corners (Top left and Bottom right) cast left shoulder to invert the set. All back-to-back partner right shoulder. |
| A2: | New 1st long corners cast left shoulder to invert the set. All two-hand turn partner and keep hold. |
| B1: | 1's and 2's half straight poussette clockwise; 1's and 3's half straight poussette anti-clockwise. 1's and 4's half straight poussette clockwise; 1's and 5's half straight poussette anti-clockwise. (Order now 2, 3, 4, 5, 1.) |
| B2: | Middle couple (4's) individually move diagonally right and join those two couples to circle left all the way. Same people left-hand star back to new progressed place |
Patricia George lives in The Blue Mountains 90km from Sydney. It is a beautiful National Park and Heritage Listed Area of New South Wales. She dances regularly in Sydney and recently attended a weekend organised by The Victorian Folk Dancing Society. She enjoys entering dances in competition and was lucky enough to share first place in The National Composers Competition in Canberra in 2024. She has enjoyed dancing and calling since 2007, when she became part of Bedford Fine Companions. She is lucky enough to dance and call in England and Australia.
Andrew says… “A fun club dance” — easy to call, enjoyed by all. The poussettes are fairly tight but we had no trouble with them in practice. One self-confessed extremely picky comment was that if you start the poussettes the other way then it flows better for the circles at the bottom.
Formation: Longways duple
Music: American contra-style 32 bar reel or jig
| A1: | Circle left ¾. Double Mad Robin (up/down the set — clockwise, so right hand person goes behind partner to start) |
| A2: | Pass through across the set (pass opposite right shoulder) and stay facing out; turn as a couple (anti-clockwise, right-hand person going forward). Pass the ocean (right-hand people left-hand turn each other ¼ as partners go straight across to make a wave across the room, all holding partner's right hand and middles holding left hand; set. |
| B1: | Right-hand turn partner halfway; middles left-hand turn ¾ as partner moves forward to make a wave up/down. Right‑hand turn partner halfway (in a wave up/down, middles holding left hands); set. |
| B2: | Middles start left-hand turn as partner drops in behind them to make it a star — turn the star once round to original home place, then face original neighbour up/down the set and pass them left shoulder. |
Andrew says… A moderately challenging dance with a high “piece count” that probably wasn't helped by being the penultimate dance when everyone's brains were tired! It's a contra without swings in, the lack of which reduces the recovery time somewhat, and people kept wanting to set before the third turn in the B2.
Formation: 4 couples longways
Music: 32-bar hornpipe or polka e.g. Skirmish (Nick Barber)
| A1: | Lines on the side forward and back; two-hand turn partner. Tops and bottoms cast to the sides as middle four right-hand star halfway; left-hand star halfway on the sides |
| A2: | Lines across forward and back; two-hand turn opposite. Ends cast back to top and bottom as middle four right-hand star halfway; left-hand star halfway at top and bottom: all home. |
| B1: | Hey on the sides, ends passing middles left shoulder to start. |
| B2: | Middles step back as ends meet in the middle with a right-hand star once around, don't go back to place. Top couple arch over bottom couple to swap places; all face up and down and cross-hand swing this person once around; you're now in a sideways set, and up has moved to the right, with the original middle two people now being the top couple. |
The final figure which changes the set orientation is from a Morris dance I wrote over a decade ago which had the fun effect of changing who was odd and even and who was middle and end each time so everyone got to be each at least once, so when I heard about the theme of this year's competition I wanted to build out from that idea.
Andrew says… We danced this to a fairly slow polka. I'm afraid it fell apart but there was a lot of praise for the concept — people really wanted it to work but there was just too much to fit into the music. It's possible that a slower step-hop would have been easier, but unfortunately we didn't have time to try that out! The dance might also be more successful if there were more bars for the figures in general. You also only get two different partners, but that's really difficult to avoid in a 4-couple change-partner dance.
Formation: Sicilian Circle
Music: The Grumbling Old Man and the Growling Old Woman: traditional Quebecois (32 bar reel)
| A1: | Balance forward and back towards your diagonal opposite (no hands); Petronella turn one place to the right. Current 2nd diagonals R-hand open chain (to partner). |
| A2: | Repeat from new positions, ending at home with 1st diagonals facing out) |
| B1: | The people who last chained across pass right shoulder to start a hey for 4 halfway. Partners left shoulder round (gypsy) halfway; take left hand in left and balance forward and back. |
| B2: | Partners underarm turn to change places, the same people who started the hey turning under; turn single right and face neighbours, taking hands in a circle. Balance the ring; partners underarm turn, with the person currently on the left turning under (i.e. the people who did not turn under before) to face new neighbours. |
Renée Camus is an English dance caller and choreographer living in the Los Angeles area (United States). She has taught dancing from ballroom to clogging to tap to historical dance in camps such as Pinewoods, Terpsichore's Holiday, and Cincinnati Vintage Dance Week. She started writing English dances in 2018 and has written around 14 dances so far, available on her website reneecamus.com/english-
Andrew says… It was a nice concept to give everyone a go at the chain. Some found the geometry slightly confusing, and the storyline was made harder by having to remember the left shoulder round halfway in the B1. It was noted that the geometry was harder due it being a Sicilian circle — some suggested it would be easier in a longways set, but I do see why Renée has chosen a Sicilian, to give the dance the space it needs for the chains.
Formation: Longways
Music: 32 bar American jig
This is the wording supplied by the choreographer.
Longways set, but you don't have a partner for this dance! Instead, your corner will act as a shadow for the duration of the dance – following you through each progression. You will also swap roles each time through the dance – meaning if you started on the left first time round, you'll start on the right on the next turn.
| A1: | First corners turn by left hand 1½ to form a wave. Balance the wave. Walk forwards for 4, to meet the person coming towards you on the side. Balance. |
| A2: | Swing with this person and open out across the set. New first corners pass left to start a full reel for 4. |
| B1: | Once you get back to where you started the reel, keep travelling as if you're about to loop into the middle, but stop when you meet your original neighbour. Swing this neighbour and open out across the set again. |
| B2: | Call this as the second wave. The current twos cross over with each other and stand in between the two people in front to form a long line across the set. Take hands with them and kick balance. Drop hands in the middle and outside people gate the middle people until they're opposite you, the twos will have swapped places with each other. Take hands in a ring of four and circle halfway clockwise. |
Formation: Longways
Music: 32 bar reel or jig
| A1: | Right-hand star. Flutter wheel. |
| A2: | Reverse sashay (4 steps), Pass the sea (6 steps), Chain down the line (6 steps). |
| B1: | Right and left by — right and left thru and turn a quarter more, then centres slide nose to nose (slither) to form a wave. Left chain down the line. |
| B2: | Half hey (start with person on left) (7 steps), Left-hand star (7 steps), Pass thru (2 steps). |
As a child Judi did tap, ballet, and modern lessons. She attended the occasional ceilidh and was told by a ballerina in Mexico that she was a 'natural' and ought to dance more. In the last decade she got involved with and then took a very active role in the Lancaster University Folk Society where she called and, unsurprisingly, liked passing on her knowledge of how to dance. She also wrote a few dances during this time.
She set up Lancaster Contra Dance in 2023. As a side effect of setting up LCD she took up American Square Dance and broke all the rules — teaching herself up to A2 within a year. Perhaps inevitably she's written some contras with less common MWSD moves.
Formation: 3 couples longways
Music: 32 bar jigs or reels
| A1: | All three couples left-hand star halfway. Back-to-back partner. |
| A2: | All three couples right-hand star halfway. Swing partner. |
| B1: | Top couple galop to the bottom and swing, the others move up and swing once the top couple has passed them. |
| B2: | Act like the animal of your choice. You can stay on the spot or move about the room as long as you get back to set ready to start the dance again. |
Naomi, their teacher says: I imagine there will be some much more serious and clever ways of exploiting gender-free calling but I think this one adds a lot of fun to the mix and I like the fact that it takes people not only beyond gender but also beyond species. It would be great to hear if there is any feedback on the dance during the process so I can pass it onto the kids.
Formation: Square
Music: 32 bar steady reel
| A1: | Sides roll away (4 steps); Heads lead right, circle to a line, head left-hand dancer (Men) break to side lines of four (12 steps). (Lines have ladies in middle, men on ends.) |
| A2: | Centre 2 of each line, square thru for 3, on third hand make an ocean wave (This is the 4 ladies). Balance the wave (4); centres step thru (4) |
| B1: | All Pass Thru (2) (This leaves ladies facing out) Centres square thru for 3, on third hand make an ocean wave (8) (This is the 4 men) WHILST Ends California twirl (This is the ladies), Balance the wave (4); centres step thru (2) |
| B2: | Swing facing dancer, ending proper, make Side lines of 4 (4) (It's only a very short swing), Centre 2 of each line Reverse Flutterwheel (8) (Couples Sashayed/Improper), Circle right to reform square at left-hand dancer's (Men) home place (4) |
Break: Caller's choice — however suggest have a swing or two as dance has minimal swing time.
Sequence: Break, Figure led twice by Heads, Break, Figure led twice by Sides, final Break.
The words in bold need to be changed when the Sides lead the figure.
Notes for caller
Teaching Notes
Michael started dancing in the sixties and — like so many of us — got into it by pure chance. He has been calling on and off for many years. During lockdown he got into learning Modern Western Squares which gave him a lot of ideas and new Outside the Box thinking which has led him to writing English dances in new styles. He now goes to a callers' club where he tests out most of his dances.