Grapevine Twist - Coffman

Grapevine Twist - Coffman is a Square Dance. It was devised by Charlotte Coffman in about 1930. It was interpreted by Lloyd Shaw in 1939 and published in Cowboy Dances. It is a Square dance. It is a multipart dance. The minor set lasts 188 bars.

Lloyd Shaw writes:

THE CALL:

  1. No introductory call
    1. First couple, just you two
      Step right out and spin 'em a few:
    2. Now gather in four to the middle of the floor, And dance again as you did before.
    3. Now pick up six and don't get mixed, And dance around till you get all fixed.
    4. Then simmer down eight and don't be late.
    5. Form the grapevine twist like the one on the gate.
      Here you twist and there you twirl
      Right around that pretty girl.
    6. Here you duck and there you dive,
      Pep up boys and act alive.
    7. Twist 'em right and twist 'em wrong
      Straighten 'em out and trot right along
  3. Now allemande left with your left hand
    Right hand to partner and right and left grand
    Meet your partner and promenade.
    4. Repeat 2 for the second couple and finish with
  4. Promenade, Indian style
    Lady in the lead and single file,
    Turn right back and swing 'em awhile
    5. Repeat 2 for the third couple ending with (3)
    Repeat 2 for the fourth couple ending with (4)

The animation plays at 120 counts per minute normally, but the first time through the set the dance will often be slowed down so people can learn the moves more readily. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color, however the border of each dancer indicates what role they currently play so the border color may change each time through the minor set.

The dance contains the following figures: hand turn (allemande), circle, lead, rights and lefts, swing (and probably others).

If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.

If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=GrapevineTwist-Coffman

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The dance is copyright © ~1930 by Charlotte Coffman. The interpretation is copyright © 1939 by Lloyd Shaw. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2023 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
Creative Commons License My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.