M43 — Hinge Family
Teaching unit M43 of the CALLERLAB (New) Mainstream Suggested Teaching Order, effective
1 September 2026. Prerequisites: Mini-Wave,
This unit is a family with two lettered parts. Each part gets its own call card below. They share one idea: Hinge is a half Trade of adjacent dancers.
a. Single Hinge
At a glance
| Starting formation | Mini-Wave — only |
| Ending formation | Mini-Wave, the other way round |
| Timing | 2 beats |
| Unit | M43 of 50, part a |
Animation
▶ Play this call — pause, step and scrub it: Watching the animations.
Dance action
"1/2 Trade"
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
What you do
- Take the hand. You are already in a Mini-Wave, so your right hands (or your left hands) are joined and you are facing opposite ways.
- Both step forward. Walk forward in a semicircle around the joined hand.
- Pass the other dancer shoulder to shoulder and keep going.
- Stop half a turn round, still facing opposite directions, with the same hands joined.
You have swapped places with your partner in the Mini-Wave, and you are now facing the opposite way from where you started. Look at your joined hand again — you are in a Mini-Wave that has simply turned itself inside out.
Timing
2 beats — one bar of music. It is the shortest call in the unit and one of the shortest in the program.
Styling
"Dancers maintain their handhold"
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
Do not let go. The joined hand is the centre of the turn, so if you drop it, the two of you will drift apart and the semicircle becomes a guess.
Restrictions
The starting formation is a Mini-Wave only. You cannot do a Single Hinge from facing dancers.
The manual is also explicit that "Hinge 1/4" is improper, because Hinge is not used with fractions — that is what sets it apart from Touch a Quarter. Hinge is always a half turn.
Common faults
| What happens | Why | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| You turn a quarter instead of a half | Confusing Hinge with Touch a Quarter | Hinge is always 1/2 — you finish facing the opposite way |
| The pair drifts apart | Letting go of the hand | Keep the handhold; it is the pivot |
| You try it from facing dancers | Assuming it starts anywhere | It starts from a Mini-Wave only |
| A caller says "Hinge 1/4" and you are unsure | The phrase is improper | Dance a Single Hinge (a half turn); the fraction should not be there |
Where you meet it
Single Hinge turns up wherever a caller needs to rotate a wave or a box by half a turn — most often as "Centers Hinge" or "Girls Hinge", naming the dancers who are to do it. See the course overview for where this unit sits.
Related calls
- Touch a Quarter — a quarter turn from facing dancers, where Hinge is a half turn from a wave. See M42.
- Trade — the same exchange of places, danced dancer by dancer rather than from a handhold. See M32.
- Couples Hinge — the couple-sized version, below.
- Cast Off Three-Quarters — a three-quarter turn from the same Mini-Wave. See M45.
Also called / formerly
The caller may simply say "Hinge". At Mainstream that means Single Hinge. The older Partner Hinge — Hinge from an ordinary couple — was removed from the program in 1988, so at Mainstream the bare command "Hinge" is not a Partner Hinge.
b. Couples Hinge
At a glance
| Starting formation | One-Faced Line and Two-Faced Line — only |
| Ending formation | Two-Faced Line |
| Timing | 3 beats |
| Unit | M43 of 50, part b |
Animation
▶ Play this call — pause, step and scrub it: Watching the animations.
Dance action
"1/2 Couples Trade"
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
What you do
- Stay with your partner. You are one of two couples side by side, facing opposite ways along the line.
- Keep your couple handhold and turn, as a pair, half a turn — the same half-circle you would walk in a Couples Trade.
- Stop when you have swapped places with the other couple.
The two couples have exchanged ends of the line. You finish in a Two-Faced Line, with the same two couples still facing opposite ways along it.
Timing
3 beats — a bar and a half. It is a touch longer than Single Hinge because two dancers moving as one unit need a little more room.
Styling
"Each Couple maintains their handholds"
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
Both the couple handhold and any centre handhold stay in place for the whole turn. Let the turn happen around your joined hands rather than steering each other with your arms.
Restrictions
The starting formation is a One-Faced Line or a Two-Faced Line only. From a line of eight, the caller names the dancers — "Each Side, Couples Hinge" — so that only four dancers move.
Common faults
| What happens | Why | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| You let go and turn as individuals | Habit from Single Hinge | This one is danced by the couple, handhold intact |
| You half turn and end up facing the wrong way | Turning the wrong direction | Turn the way a Couples Trade goes, ending in a Two-Faced Line |
| You finish in a One-Faced Line | Stopping short or over-turning | Half a turn, no more: the couples swap ends, they do not line up |
| Only one couple moves | Missing that the whole line does it | Every couple in the line turns, as a unit |
Where you meet it
Couples Hinge is most often heard from a Two-Faced Line as a way to spin both couples round without breaking the line — for example after a Pass the Ocean and a Swing Thru. See the course overview.
Related calls
- Single Hinge — the Mini-Wave version, above.
- Couples Trade — the same half-circle, but from facing couples or a line. See M32.
- Wheel and Deal — two couples turning as a unit, ending facing in rather than along a line. See M26.
Also called / formerly
Couples Hinge has always been called Couples Hinge. It is the only version of Hinge that a couple may do at Mainstream — the bare word "Hinge" belongs to Single Hinge.
Manual source: Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026, pages 38–39. Reproduced under the permission in sources and attribution.