All the Way Around

So, I decided to use Mapquest’s “no tolls” option while getting directions to the Glenside dance. Downtown Trenton, NJ does indeed have no tolls, but this brought us little comfort driving lost through its streets. There was a dispute between driver and navigator about whether or not to turn around but we were both happy to pay the 75 cent toll at the first higway out of the city we found.

Parking behing a minivan with the license plate “dancer,” we could hear the band inside singing a familiar tune. We walked into the Glenside Memorial Hall as the first contra ended. Each dancer wore Mardi Gras beads which spun around their necks, ankles, and wrists during the final swing. Three chandeliers, dimmed during waltzes, hung above a perfect floor.

The Commotions, that evening’s band, featured an accordion player, a piano player, and a singing fiddler, who I once thought I caught whispering melodiously “just in case” at every allemande left. Their tunes, old timey meets 1920’s jazz, had a hint of carnival flavor. During one dance “The Entertainer” was played. There were several callers, chief among them Bob Isaacs, the renowned dance writer. With his laid back way of calling, I felt that, like an old friend, he had great faith that we could follow anything he called.

During my first dance of the night, I was suprised to find that folks in Glenside do right-and-left-throughs like Mainers, offering their hands as we crossed the set. With nearly every neighbor swing I was greeted with a curt nod and a simply stated, “welcome.”

Sometimes I choose to sit out during squares, but I’m very glad I didn’t that night. There was one with a complicated figure involving multiple stars and allemandes. Bob Isaacs described it by saying, “its kind of like contra corners for eight people if you know what I’m talkin’ about. You’ll see.”

After realizing that the calling was open mic, I mouthed to Dave from across the room that he should call a dance. He got booked for the fourth one after the break and decided to call “Scout House Reel.”

Dave and I danced the first contra after the break, a medley, and one of the callers called a circle left “Alllllll the way around!”. We grinned at each other, but then Dave scowled, realizing, “that’s how I was going to call it!” During our next swing, I begged him to call it Peter Amidon style. So Dave got up there on the tall stage with the big curtains, and asked the band for some reels. Once the walkthrough was complete and it was time to circle left he called out, “Go all the way around. All the way around. All the way around.” “Just for you,” he later said, grinning, as we did the last waltz.

-Pennsville, NJ