American Square Dances of The West
& Southwest - online instruction book

With Calls, instructions, diagrams, steps & sheet music

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	of the West and Southwest                                   69 Right and Left Eight figure, it is called a "Right and Left Six," and requires the same timing of twenty-four beats as does the Right and Left Eight. It is the same movement, except that the couple which is in the center dances directly across the set after passing through the couple they faced, and dances a Right and Left Through with the opposite couple, continuing this move­ment until all are back at their starting point of the movement. Two Ladies Chain This figure is danced by the designated ladies and by the two couples answering the call. The two designated couples face. The two ladies exchange places by taking right hands with each other. The ladies give their left hands to the opposite gentlemen who place their right hands at the ladies' backs and wheel around, counterclockwise, the gentlemen moving back­ward, the ladies forward, exactly as in the Right and Left Through and the Do-si-do. This is a half Ladies Chain and is usually followed by a repeti­tion of the movement, with the gentlemen sending the ladies back to their own Partners, though the call of "Half Ladies Chain" is not used in the Western dance. Instead, the call of "Two Ladies Cham," or its equivalent, is given for each half of the full figure, each half of the movement requiring eight beats of music to execute. The usual Western call is "Two Ladies Chain across the floor, Chain those pretty girls back once more." The full figure indicated in this call requires sixteen beats of music to execute. Often only half of the full figure is danced in the West, with the dancers going directly into another move­ment after the "half* Ladies Chain, as is done in the Western version of the Right and Left Through.