Contra Corners
Also known as: Swing Corners (Wilson).
Bars: 8.
In this version of the figure you pull-by right with your partner, turn your 1st corner left, pull-by right with partner, turn you second corner left.
In a modern contra dance this can be unexpected because one of your corners will be outside your minor set.
History
Early examples of this figure are not very explicit, and it is not always clear which hand you use to turn whom, thus in modern dancing styles we have two different versions of what is basically the same figure.
In US Contra Dancing you turn your partner right, your 1st corner left, your partner right again, and your second corner left. The first description I can find that explictly says to do this is in Thomas Wilson's An Analysis of Country Dancing from 1808.
Most other styles have settled on: turn your first corner right, partner left, 2nd corner right, partner left.
By 1918 Burchenal's version of Chorus Jig has squashed the original triple minor into a duple minor, meaning that all corners are always active.
Some dances which (probably) use this figure
- Dances for which I have animations
Note: This list may be incorrect or incomplete.
See Also
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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.