Melrose parade, Sat. 10Dec2016
The Right Stuff

Astrodancers assembled at the Mossman Hall. The parade was along SR 26, 10AM-11:30AM.

As the title of the 2016 Merry Melrose Christmas Parade was Cosmic Christmas, we settled on a Moon/Astronaut theme...

Here we are, attaching --as Anne colorfully put it-- Astronaut Bling.

Shortly before liftoff...

Various techical problems were handled expeditiously. Helmets tended to rotate --and bling to fall-off-- when the dancers moved, so we invisibly taped them in place. [The bling, not the dancers.] Switched from a headset to a corded mic. Run-throughs of the dance showed that the shortness of the contra line magnified end-effects, so Top/bottom couple is out became part of the calls. Everyone was in fine spirits and fine fettle. Here is our launch-vehicle at pre-flight inspection:

The final Helmetless run-through.

L-to-R: Dwight, Anne, Jeff, Eleta, Carol, David, Christin, Jonathan.

The Dance

Chainsaw Reel by Don Lennartson.

[BECKET: ID-dir-prog, THEN Becketize! Huge oval circle.]
[Same two] chain(8). Long lines(8); keep hands, and connect at the ends to make a huge oval.
Oval right(8) [“Ovaltine”]. Oval left(8) [“OvalTang”].
[Original foursomes] Circle-left(8). [C'mon back with a] Left-hand star(8) all the way around [ in front of his partner].
[ look right and] Allemand-R the new nbr- coming toward you(8). Partner-swing(8), on the side.
Jonathan King, Footloose. Called as no-walk-through. Caller? | Band?.

Fearless dancers donned astronaut helmets [a big hit with the crowd!], cheerfully allemanding with obstructed vision --and CO2 buildup. Happy/relieved Organizer and Caller high-fived, after passing the Judges Stand, as everything had worked.   A brief swing-dance spontaneously occurred.

The float-judges give one award in each of four categories: Our float, Dancing Fish of Lake Santa Fe, was Best Entry Overall for 2016.

Gathered around the Float-meister.   And -Finally- Pete gets into a photo..

We've  come full orbit   --the float is back at Mossman Hall for Unblingification,  in preparation for...

... next year's Floating Contra.
Namaste, y'all...