March 30, 2006, 11:42 p.m. (Message 44930, in reply to message 44925)
As far as I can recall over decades it's been promenade in Southern California. I've also just consulted a member of the "dem" team MacLeod Dancers, which does the dance, not surprisingly, quite often, and have had the same confirmed. As she said, and as my own mind recalls: nearer hands through (or making of course) the arch, then shift to promenade to dance around the standing corners and pass to the opposite sides. I think that the support of the promenade hold is really needed to make that turn around the standing corners, and nearer hands conjures in my mind a peculiar picture of the man dragging the woman around the corner "whip" style, much like the Red Queen dragging Alice and proclaiming: "It takes all the running you can do just to stay in the same place. If you want to get someplace else, you have to run twice as fast." In any case, hereabouts definitely promenade hold. Robb Quint Thousand Oaks, CA, USA