Call of the Month

October, 1993: Acey Deucey

by Barry Leiba

It's time once again to have a look at a Callerlab quarterly selection. Callerlab has voted to add ACEY DEUCEY to the list of Mainstream quarterly selections as of September 1, 1993 ("quarterly" is a misnomer, actually, since they're only voted on and changed three times a year). As many of you know, Callerlab designates quarterly selections to add variety. Quarterlies should always be workshopped if they're used. They are either experimental calls or calls from higher-level programs, and a quarterly is in the program for at least four months and remains there as long as Callerlab voting keeps it there. The current quarterlies are all from higher-level lists.

While we're on Callerlab news, I should report that Callerlab has recently voted on whether to remove some calls from the Basic and Mainstream lists (the actual list, not just the quarterlies!). The calls, and the percentage of votes in favor of removal were

Note that no changes have been made yet; the Plus committee must consider the results first (to consider adding the dropped calls to the Plus list), and then the Advanced and Challenge committees must have their turns.

Now, on to ACEY DEUCEY. You've done this call many times, without realizing it. How many times have you been in waves with the boys in the middle and heard the caller say "girls CIRCULATE, boys TRADE"? Well, that's an ACEY DEUCEY. It can be called from any formation where the ends can CIRCULATE without becoming centers, and the definition is simply "ends CIRCULATE while the centers TRADE". Note that there are always four ends and four centers for this call. Waves are the most common starting position, but there are many others. Let's have a look.

The CIRCULATE can have dancers passing each other, and the TRADE can be a PARTNER TRADE. From a squared set, if the heads LEAD RIGHT while the sides HALF SASHAY, all make waves and the sides RUN, we have lines facing out. ACEY DEUCEY from here has the centers doing a PARTNER TRADE while the ends each circulate to the other end of the line, passing right shoulders as they go. We end in facing lines, and we can do another ACEY DEUCEY. The centers PARTNER TRADE again to wind up where they started. The ends CIRCULATE straight ahead, which amounts to a PASS THRU, and we're in back-to-back lines again.

We don't have to be in some kind of line, though; columns are OK too, as long as the ends are facing out (see if you understand why before you read on). From our lines facing out, let's have the centers step forward while the ends slide together (that's an Advanced call: STEP AND SLIDE). We're now in completed double pass thru (completed DPT) formation. ACEY DEUCEY now: the centers PARTNER TRADE while the ends CIRCULATE, which, from here, amounts to a PARTNER TRADE also, and it puts us into starting DPT formation. Can we do it again? Well, the ends aren't facing out, and I said that the ends have to be facing out if we want to do ACEY DEUCEY from columns. Have you figured out why? Well, if the ends were to CIRCULATE from here, they would walk straight ahead and become centers, but the definition doesn't allow that. From lines the ends can be facing in, but from columns they must be facing out.

We'll look at two other formations. Let's go back to a squared set and have the sides TRADE AND ROLL while the heads SWING THRU. We have an odd formation that's sometimes called a DOG BONE (see the diagram). ACEY DEUCEY from here has the ends, who are facing, CIRCULATE straight ahead (PASS THRU), while the centers, in a wave, TRADE (by the right). For the Plus dancers, we could do the same thing from ¾-tag formation (but not from ¼-tag -- yes?), and we can also do it from diamonds. Advanced dancers must be very careful here -- ACEY DEUCEY from diamonds is not the same as SIX-TWO ACEY DEUCEY! From right-handed diamonds we have the center four, in the wave, TRADE by the right, while the ends (the points) CIRCULATE around the outside in their big box of four. It's important to note the difference between this and SIX-TWO ACEY DEUCEY (where the center two TRADE while the outside six CIRCULATE).

While we're on ACEY DEUCEY, maybe next month we'll look at the rest of my list of "calls that I'd like to see move down to Plus". Until then...

The columns are copyright ©1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994 by Barry Leiba; for permission to reprint them, please contact the author. No request has been refused yet. Of course, you may print a copy for personal use without specific permission. You may contact the author by e-mail at "leiba@watson.ibm.com"
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