Square Dance Tutorial

Counter Rotate

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2.6: SAME KIND OF POSITION

As a box counter rotates, the leaders remain leaders and the trailers remain trailers.

Similarly, as other formations counter rotate, even though the dancers all move, they normally retain their roles within the formation: beaus remain beaus, belles remain belles, centers remain centers, ends remain ends, points remain points.

Note that this is not really a separate characteristic. It is because everybody keeps the same distance from the center and the same orientation toward the center that they stay beaus, belles, leaders, trailers, etc.

It can, however, be helpful to remember this characteristic in order to reassure yourself that you have moved and turned the proper amount. For example, it is often much easier to check that you are still a leader than that you moved the correct distance.

Note that this is only true of positions/roles within the formation that is counter rotating. For example, in the case of a Split Counter Rotate, some people will move from being the center of a wave to being the end of a column. But in that case it is not the waves or the columns that are counter rotating -- it is the boxes that form each half of the square that are counter rotating. The dancers remain leaders or trailers within their own box.

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