Cantia Canter

Source: Composed by John Sweeney
Formation: Sicilian Circle

A1 #1s (Facing AC) Gallop AC (8) & Back (8)
A2 #2s (Facing CW) Gallop CW (8) & Back (8)
B1 Face Neighbour: Balance: [Step Right Kick Left; Step Left; Kick Right] x2
Neighbour Dosido
B2 Circle Left
Zig-Zag: Holding Partner's nearest hand Zig Left (4); Zag Right (4) - do those moves diagonally forward to finish facing New Neighbours

Music:
32 bars of something that is fun for galloping!

Notes:
Quarndon Hill is fun, but 48 bars. John Chapman wrote a 32 bar version called Godfrey's Gallop. Michael Barraclough wrote a variant with a different B1/2 called Not Godfrey's Gallop. I was going to call this version Definitely Not Godfrey's Gallop, but decided Cantia Canter was a better name, reflecting its origin at the Kent Ceilidhs. Cantia was the name of East Kent the last time it was a kingdom in its own right - yes, quite a long time ago - around about the fifth century!

All these dances start with Galloping around the circle. I liked Michael's B2 for the progression, but I wanted a more ceilidh feel for B1 so I changed it.

Warning the stationary dancers to get out of the way is very important!

I usually start the walkthroughs with teaching B2 a couple of times to get the dancers used to the progression. I do the Zig-Zag first, then the whole of B2, getting them to flow the moves together.




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