Courtesy turns

Ladies chains, right and left throughs, and promenades are all assumed to be across the set, unless otherwise noted. Also, these are all 8-beat figures, and forty years ago would be described as half-figures. (If that last sentence means nothing to you, ignore it. It's only there for those who Know Too Much.) In a similar vein, right and left through implies a courtesy turn.

Formation

All contras are duple minor unless otherwise noted. (As opposed to triple minor.)

Heys

Letters indicate the passes of the hey -- who's passing, followed by which shoulder. So in "Delphiniums and Daisies,"," the hey would be notated (WR,NL,MR,PL,WR,NL,MR).
(Women Right, Neighbor Left, Men Right, Partner Left, Women Right, Neighbor Left, Men Right)

Neighbors

A notation I picked up from Bob Isaacs. Your original neighbor is N1, the next neighbor in progression is N2, your previous neighbor is N0, and so forth.

Phrasing

Eight-bar (sixteen beat) phrases are labeled the standard A1, A2, B1, B2. For dances that use longer tunes, extra letters are used -- for example a dance for a 48-bar tune would include C1 and C2.

For a dance that is different each time through the music (like "Alternating Corners"), a number before the letter is used. So the first time through the dance it's 1A1, 1A2, 1B1, 1B2. The second time through the dance it's marked 2A1, 2A2, 2B1, 2B2. And higher numbers would be added if needed. Once you run through the final version, the dance begins again at the 1A1, 1A2, 1B1, 1B2 part.

Progression

There may be an implied progression at the end of the dance, especially with improper dances. Add if needed.

Timing

Timing is often omitted unless unclear, in which case the number of beats is indicated in (parentheses).

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