Docey-doe / Do Paso agreement
Docey-doe / Do Paso / Do-si-do / Dos a Dos
excerpt from Step by Step Through Modern Square Dance History by Jim Mayo
... Others were more receptive to change. Another action that spread, probably from the Shaw schools, was the Wagon Wheel. It was a break type of action involving a set routine following an Allemande Left from a basic square formation. Callers looking for ways to add variety to their program started to invent calls. An early instance of this happened at one of the Shaw schools. The name for the call Dos Paso was created by Dr. Shaw as a compromise. The “Texas” version of Docey Do was quite different from the back-to-back action of the Dos a Dos as it was done in the East. Although the action was not the same, the pronunciation was identical and this resulted in conflict among those who gathered in Colorado Springs. Shaw negotiated with Herb Greggerson that the hand-turn action of the Docey Do would be called Dos Paso in honor of its Texas origins. The long-term effect of this compromise has been the end of the two-couple Texas-style Docey Do. The action survived as the four-couple Dos Paso.
Al Brundage remembered the details of that negotiation this way:
"At that time I was getting enthusiastic about the “western” style of dancing and the various new movements that were starting to be introduced into the activity. The DoPaso vs. DoceyDoe/Dosado/Dosido argument was a hot issue and I recall being a strong advocate of the back-to-back Dos a Dos as we had been doing it in New England. At the same time Shaw was trying to standardize certain movements and the question came up about touching hands on the Right & Left Through. I hung in for no hands since that is what we were doing in New England and at the (Stepney) Barn - and it was the only way I had seen it done until I went to Shaw’s.
"Shaw put these movements to a vote to try and get a “feel” for what the representatives from various sections of the U.S. wanted. I made a deal with Herb Greggerson that I would vote for the “use hands” Right & Left Through if he would let Dos a Dos alone and let it be Back-to-back. Then I would also vote for the term DoPaso if he accepted it - which, after heated discussions with Shaw, he did."
Subjects: Modern square dance - general
Tags: Al Brundage, Do Paso, do-si-do, Docey-Doe, dopaso, dos a dos, Herb Greggerson, Jim Mayo, Lloyd Shaw, MWSD
Item Relations
| Item: Dosido / Docey-Doe / Do Paso | is related to | This Item |
| Item: Herb Greggerson bio | is related to | This Item |
| Item: Hand position in MWSD | is related to | This Item |
| Item: The Old Folks Danced the Do-Si-Do | is related to | This Item |
| Item: The Dos-a-Dos | is related to | This Item |
| Item: Meet the Docey-Doe Family - 1949 | is related to | This Item |
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Docey-doe / Do Paso / Do-si-do / Dos a Dos
excerpt from Step by Step Through Modern Square Dance History by Jim Mayo
... Others were more receptive to change. Another action that spread, probably from the Shaw schools, was the Wagon Wheel. It was a break type of action involving a set routine following an Allemande Left from a basic square formation. Callers looking for ways to add variety to their program started to invent calls. An early instance of this happened at one of the Shaw schools. The name for the call Dos Paso was created by Dr. Shaw as a compromise. The “Texas” version of Docey Do was quite different from the back-to-back action of the Dos a Dos as it was done in the East. Although the action was not the same, the pronunciation was identical and this resulted in conflict among those who gathered in Colorado Springs. Shaw negotiated with Herb Greggerson that the hand-turn action of the Docey Do would be called Dos Paso in honor of its Texas origins. The long-term effect of this compromise has been the end of the two-couple Texas-style Docey Do. The action survived as the four-couple Dos Paso.
Al Brundage remembered the details of that negotiation this way:
"At that time I was getting enthusiastic about the “western” style of dancing and the various new movements that were starting to be introduced into the activity. The DoPaso vs. DoceyDoe/Dosado/Dosido argument was a hot issue and I recall being a strong advocate of the back-to-back Dos a Dos as we had been doing it in New England. At the same time Shaw was trying to standardize certain movements and the question came up about touching hands on the Right & Left Through. I hung in for no hands since that is what we were doing in New England and at the (Stepney) Barn - and it was the only way I had seen it done until I went to Shaw’s.
"Shaw put these movements to a vote to try and get a “feel” for what the representatives from various sections of the U.S. wanted. I made a deal with Herb Greggerson that I would vote for the “use hands” Right & Left Through if he would let Dos a Dos alone and let it be Back-to-back. Then I would also vote for the term DoPaso if he accepted it - which, after heated discussions with Shaw, he did."