Tips, the unit of the dance
A tip is one piece of music's worth of dancing — the block of dancing between two records, or between two pauses in a live call. A tip lasts roughly 10 to 15 minutes, and an evening is usually 6 to 10 of them.
This is the unit dancers actually experience. You do not dance "a dance"; you dance tips.
Patter and singing calls
Tips alternate between two kinds:
- Patter tips — instrumental music, no singing. The caller calls figures and fills the gaps with rhythmic talk (patter, hence the name).
- Singing call tips — a familiar tune with the calls sung in place of some of the lyrics.
Both are built from the same figures. A singing call is simply a tip whose figure is fitted to a song.
Every tip comes home
A tip is self-contained, and this is the property that makes an evening work: a tip begins and ends at the squared set. Callers call this a zero — the figure starts at home and brings everyone back to home, in the same arrangement.
Because of that, it does not matter how the last tip finished. Every tip starts fresh from the same place. See Zeroes, get-outs and modules.
How a tip is built
A caller assembles a tip from a handful of parts. You will meet these words from the first night:
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Opener | the first figure: takes everyone out of the squared set and brings them back, warming the square up |
| Figure | the main sequence. In a singing call it is usually danced four times, once with each couple leading |
| Break (or middle break) | a shorter, simpler figure for variety and a breather |
| Closer | a figure near the end that winds the tip down |
| Finale | the closing sequence — usually Allemande Left, Grand Right and Left, Promenade Home |
Common openers include Circle Left, Forward and Back, Circle Right; a Grand Square; or an Allemande Left into a Promenade Home.
Why the figure repeats four times
In a singing call the figure is danced with each couple leading in turn: the Heads, then the Sides, then their opposites. Everyone gets a turn as the active couple.
Each repeat is itself a zero, so the next couple can take the lead from a square that is back where it started. That is the whole trick of a singing call.
What this means for you as a dancer
- You will not know the figure in advance. You will not need to. Each call is done as it comes, and the figure brings you home regardless.
- The figures repeat. By the third repeat of a singing call figure you will often find you know what is coming, not because you memorised it, but because you danced it twice.
- Mistakes are survivable. If you lose your place, look at the square, find the shape you should be in, and join it. The next call will sort you out. See Sequence and relationship.
Next
- the machinery behind "every tip comes home" → Zeroes, get-outs and modules
- how the 50 calls are taught across a course → Course overview