Table of Contents

A

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Albert Memorial Square		Pat Shaw ~1971		Square
And Now, the Fourcast		Gary Roodman 1992		4 Couple Longways Becket permutation: 4123
The Astronomer		Colin Hume 1985	Wild Thyme	6 Couple Longways

B

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
A Balanced Tern		Joseph Pimentel 1999		Duple Minor
The Buttercross		Colin Hume 1996	Colin Hume	6 Couple Longways
Butterfly Reel		Eric Black 2002		Duple Minor
Buzzards Bay		Pat Shaw ~1977		3 Couple Longways permutation: 231

C

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
California Twirlin'		Janet Levatin (date unknown)		Duple Minor
Cannock Chase		Charles Bolton 1991	Dave Bartley, Ruthie Dornfeld and Terry Wergeland	3 Couple Longways permutation: 312
Champagne		Jenna Simpson 2014	Odd Sundays Garage Band	Duple Minor
Coconut Cream Pie		Lynn Ackerson (date unknown)		Four Face Four
The Connectrix		Rick Mohr 2000		Duple Minor
Cranky Ingenuity		Bill Olson (date unknown)		Duple Minor
Cure For The Claps		Bob Isaacs (date unknown)		Duple Minor

D

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Dipping & Diving in the Brew		Al Olson ~1983		Triple Minor

E

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Easy Schmeezy		Vic Ceder 2019		Duple Minor

F

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Folderol		Jenna Simpson 2021		Duple Minor

H

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Heartbeat Contra		Don Flaherty (date unknown)		Duple Minor
Hocus Pocus		Lisa Greenleaf (date unknown)		Duple Minor

I

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Impropriety		Brooke Friendly/Chris Sackett 1999	Bare Necessities	Duple Minor
Inauguration Day		Gary Roodman 2015		Duple Minor
The Invisible Woman		Fried de Metz Herman 1994	Odd Sundays Garage Band	Duple Minor

J

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Jack's Health ~ Bolton		John Playford 1679 Charles Bolton ~2004		Duple Minor
Jensen's Hornpipe		Gary Roodman 2020		4 Couple Longways permutation: 3142
Johnson City Circle		Gary Roodman 2000	Cilantrio	5 Couple Circle
Joined at the Hip		Catherine Shaw ~2026		Triple Minor

K

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Kim's Game		Colin Hume 1995	Masquerade	Four Face Four
Kind and Easey ~ Sheffield		Nathaniel Kynaston 1716 Ken Sheffield 1995	Colin Hume	Duple Minor

L

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Lucy's Lead		Scott Higgs 2014		Duple Minor

M

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Mad Robin in Love		Greg Frock (date unknown)		Duple Minor
Marshmallows in Flight		Rich Goss (date unknown)		Duple Minor
Mrs. Saxton's Magic Carpet Ride		Wendy Graham 2010		Lines of Four

P

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Passages		Kalia Kliban 2008	Odd Sundays Garage Band	Duple Minor
Peter's Maze		Colin Hume 1985	Wild Thyme	Square
The Pride of Newcastle		Pat Shaw 1963	Bare Necessities	3 Couple Circle

Q

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Queen of Heart		Gary Roodman 1992		Duple Minor

R

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
The Rambling Pitchfork		Iain Boyd 1987		Triple Minor

S

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Smithy Hill		Tom Cook 1987	Bare Necessities	Duple Minor

T

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
Tilt-A-Whirl		Martha Wild (date unknown)		Duple Minor
Trip to Chippenham		Gary Roodman 2011	Cilantrio (Karen Axelrod, Peter Barnes, and Mary Lea)	Duple Minor

W

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
What Goes Around Comes Around		Bob Isaacs (date unknown)		Becket
Whip-poor-will		Joseph Pimentel 2004		Duple Minor
Whiskeyjack		Christine Robb 2017	Odd Sundays Garage Band	Duple Minor
The Woodshed		Lise Dyckman, Jim Saxe, Nancy Gaugh and Alan Winston 2012		Duple Minor
Worth the Wait		Gary Roodman 2018	Anna Patton, Eric Martin, and Karen Axelrod	Duple Minor

X

Dance Title	Type	Deviser (or Editor/Publisher), Date, Interpreter	Music Performers	Formation
X Ackley		Chris Sackett 2007		Duple Minor

Warning: The figures for each dance is generated programmatically by regular expression matching and may be in error. Also, for old dances, they reflect the figures used by the interpreter which may not match those of the deviser.

California Twirl

Also known as: California Whirl, Frontier Twirl, Twirl to Swap.

An online definition may be found here.

Bars: 2.

This figure involves a couple, standing side by side, with the woman to the right of the man and inside hands joined. They change places, and end facing the other way (with the same hands still joined. The man walks forward outside the woman in a semicircle turning right, while the woman twirls under their joined hands 180° to the left.

History

Lloyd Shaw does not mention it in his Cowboy Dances from 1939.

The first use I can find is from the report of the "Southern California Square Dance Standardization Subcommitee" which was published in the January 1951 issue of Sets in Order.

California Whirl (Turn-back or around after an arch)

Although the modern California Twirl is invariably done with the man on the left and woman on the right, this does not seem to be the case in 1951 with more examples where the man is on the right:

It's Corners California Whirl, and see-saw round with your own sweet girl

"California Whirl": holding his corner's right hand in his left, the gent twirls the lady in a CW spin under his left arm while he walks a half CCW turn, ending up at arm's length, each facing in proper grand-right-and-left direction. Then passing corner girl by left shoulder, see-saw round partner, also passing left shoulder

California, Here I Come by Bob Hall, published in the Nov, 1951 issue of Sets in Order

By 1953, the term "California Twirl" appears in Easy Key Handbook of Square Dance Fundamentals, Clarke Kugler. And his definition now says that the woman is on the man's right.

Things were different on the East Coast: in Northern Junket, Aug, 1970, page 22 there is a dance which uses the term "Frontier Twirl" (with a comment saying it's a new term for an old figure) in a context where I'd use a "California Twirl", so I suspect the two are the same. Although published in 1970, the dance itself dates to 1968.

CALLERLAB published the first standardized list of calls in 1975, and California Twirl was on that list.

Recently I have seen the term "Twirl to Swap" used to mean a non-gendered version of California Twirl, and, occasionally, "Box the Gnat", and "Star Through".

See Also

• Box the Gnat

This website is copyright © 2021-2026 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.