This is dance #11074 in The Caller's Box, a contra dance database.

Download as JSON

Aston Polka Contra

by John Findlay and Herbie Gaudreau

Permission: search

FormationBase: Duple Minor - Improper
Progression: Single

Figures:

Sorry, the permission for this dance is 'search', which means that its figures can be searched but not displayed.

Calling Notes:

So, who wrote this?

Don Armstrong published this in Sets in Order (Oct 1962, p 63) attributed to John Findlay.
However, Bill Lichtman in American Dance Circle (March 1991, p 12-14), claims that John Findlay merely presented this dance, which was written by Herbie Gaudreau, citing someone who was there when the dance was presented (Bill Johnston).

I'm not convinced. It very much has the feel of a Herbie Gaudreau dance, as he was the first to put the heel-and-toe action in a contra. The various 16-count chunks are ones he used regularly.

But it doesn't appear in his column. The closest match is the folk-processed "Away We Go", which when reprinted in Northern Junket (1960) only differed by having the B2 be a right and left through over and back. (The original from 1959 had a Needham Reel-type second progression. Most all his dances at this time period had a double progression.)

So it may be one of Herbie's dances that wasn't printed in his column. Or more likely, a folk-processed version of "Away We Go".
Appearances: The Caller/Teacher Manual for Contras, p 22
Dancing for Busy People, p 189
website Contralab
American Dance Circle, vol 1998, no Sep, p 19
American Square Dance, vol 1971, no Aug, p 29
American Square Dance, vol 1990, no Nov, p 44
American Square Dance, vol 2008, no Feb, p 28 ("Ashton Polka")
New England Caller, vol 1990, no Nov, p 78
Sets in Order, vol 1962, no 10, p 38
Sets in Order, vol 1974, no 4, p 26
Oglebay Institute Syllabus, vol 1981, no Spring, p 15
Oglebay Institute Syllabus, vol 1985, no Fall, p 7
Oglebay Institute Syllabus, vol 1995, no Spring, p 13
Stockton Dance Camp Syllabus, vol 1979, p 3
Videos: 1 2