Call of the Month

August, 1993: Peel Off

by Barry Leiba

Did you get them all right? If not, reread the column, and do a bit more thinking about it over the next few months as you dance.

This month we'll talk about a Plus call that Mainstream dancers will still probably see a lot of. The call is PEEL OFF, and it's just recently been moved off the mainstream list onto the Plus list. It usually takes a few years for callers to stop using calls that get taken off lists, and some callers never seem to get the message. But if you've just learnt Mainstream, you might not have been taught PEEL OFF.

From its most common starting position, PEEL OFF is easy. It's the job of PEEL OFF to turn a tandem (one dancer behind the other) into a couple (one dancer beside the other), and it's done in a box of 4. Leaders (if you have any questions about that, find a copy of the April column) turn back away from the center and move out to be ends of lines. Trailers turn back away from the center and adjust to be centers of lines. It's most commonly done from completed double-pass-thru formation (DPT), and we can see an example of that in the accompanying diagram. The important things to note are (1) everyone turns away from the center (that's important for body flow, and critical if the caller calls AND ROLL), (2) the leaders step forward and outward after they turn back, the trailers step forward a bit before they turn back (it's actually sort of like a cloverleaf motion), but in any case, every adjusts to make a line when they're done, and (3) you always end up next to the person you were in tandem with. Extra credit question: Is PEEL OFF a shape changer?

Of course, we can do the call from formations other than completed DPT. Let's set up a right-hand column: heads LEAD RIGHTand CIRCLE TO A LINE, TOUCH ¼. Now PEEL OFF: the girls are leaders and the boys are trailers in each box of 4, so the girls will peel away from the center to become ends of lines, while the boys will peel away to become centers. The lines we get this time are two-faced -- PEEL OFF does not always end in facing lines. Now let's BEND THE LINE and PASS THE OCEAN to make waves. PEEL OFF. From waves? Yes, indeed. In our right-hand column we had two boxes of four, and each box worked independently. In waves we also have two boxes of four, but they're side-by-side instead of top-to-bottom. This time the boys are in tandem and the girls are in tandem, so we have same-sex couples when we're done and we have to let the square breathe a bit to make a grand two-faced line. It's very important that the girls remember that they're working in their own box of four -- don't cross the center line!

Now let's try this: from where we left off, WHEEL AND DEAL (be careful!) and TOUCH ¼. Now, remember to check the formation after each part, and don't move without thinking: PEEL OFF twice. The first time our column turns into two-faced lines. The second time, from two-faced lines, we're working with different people, and our lines turn into a grand line, with four people facing one way and four the other. How can we get out of this? BEND THE LINES OF FOUR, girls PASS THRU, all TRADE AND ROLL, SWING YOUR PARTNER and promenade off the page until next month.

Oh... and yes, PEEL OFF is a shape changer!