Mainstream restrictions
Most Mainstream calls are remarkably free: they work from many formations and combine flexibly. A minority carry a restriction — a starting formation they require, or a formation they may not start from.
This page gathers them, because a restriction that is not stated is a beginner being set up to fail.
The restricted calls
| Call | Restriction | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|
| Courtesy Turn | may start only from a Normal Couple (Boy left, Girl right) | Plus manual, "Mainstream Restrictions that are Removed at Plus" |
| Right and Left Thru | inherits the Courtesy Turn restriction | same |
| Chain Down the Line | inherits the Courtesy Turn restriction | same |
| Pass the Ocean | may start only from Facing Couples | same |
| Swing Thru / Left Swing Thru | may start only from a Wave of at least 3 dancers, or an Alamo Ring | same |
| Recycle | waves only — it is defined from a wave | Mainstream manual, call heading |
| Star Thru | Boy facing Girl — a facing pair of the same role is not the call | Mainstream manual, starting formation |
| Single Circle | the amount must be stated — there is no default fraction | Mainstream manual, dance action |
| Sweep a Quarter | Facing Couples only, and it is a suffix call — it depends on the call before it | Mainstream manual |
| Circulate | cannot use the Ocean Wave Rule or the Facing Couples Rule | Mainstream manual, Circulate Family preamble |
How to read that table
Three of these are worth a note:
The Courtesy Turn family. Because Courtesy Turn wants a Normal Couple, and because Right and Left Thru and Chain Down the Line both contain a Courtesy Turn, the restriction propagates. This is the single most common cause of "that call did not work" for a beginner — and it is usually the arrangement, not the dancer, that is wrong.
Circulate is the exception to the exception. Many calls use the Facing Couples Rule or the Ocean Wave Rule to start from a formation one step away from the one named. The Circulate family explicitly does not. If you are in waves and hear a circulate, dance circulate, not a step-through.
Sweep a Quarter is a suffix. It is not a call you can start from nowhere: its action depends on the call before it, because the direction of the quarter circle continues the motion already in progress. A caller cannot open with it.
Where these come from
The restrictions marked "same" are recorded in the Plus manual rather than the Mainstream one, in its section "Mainstream Restrictions that are Removed at Plus". That section exists to say what Plus relaxes, and in saying so it documents what Mainstream requires. It is the clearest statement of these restrictions anywhere in the two manuals.
What is not restricted
Everything else in the program starts where its page says it starts, and uses the two rules above where the manual says those rules apply. If a call page in this book has no Restrictions section, the manual states none — which is a fact worth relying on.
Next
- the two rules that widen a start formation → Facing Couples Rule, Ocean Wave Rule
- what "improper" means → Proper versus improper