Anderson Ferry Reel

Level	Beginner
Type	Mixer
Formation	Proper longways with 5 to 7 couples (6 is ideal)

A1	(8) Up a double and back (8) Repeat	see notes
A2	(8) Dosido partner slightly more than once to face a new partner (leaving two loners at the ends) (8) Swing this new partner
B1	(16) Two loners ``ride the ferry''. The lone man weaves down the women's line to the bottom of the man's line while the lone woman weaves up the man's line to the top of the women's line.	see notes
B2	(8) Forward and back (adjusting the two lines) (8) Swing another new partner (person directly across) and end face up.

Notes

• The Anderson Ferry is a ferry across the Ohio River between Ohio and Kentucky approximately ten miles west of Cincinnati. During rush hours, there are boats going both ways.
• (A1) The figure is borrowed from English country dancing. With your partner, face up and go forward and back.
• (B1) If a set has 7 couples, the lone people usually have to omit the last weave to get back to place on time for the next figure.

History

I originally composed this for a dance I called at the Indianola Presbyterian Church in Columbus on a rainy Wednesday evening in August 1995. The Pit Bull String Band provided music for the dance. The dance was composed less than two hours before it was performed. Almost nobody at this dance was a dancer, but since they seemed to be doing so well, I got up my courage and called this dance -- they loved it.

My first and only encounter with the Anderson Ferry in the late 80's when I did some bicycling with Mary Tonnies, a Cincinnati dancer. We cycled west on the Ohio side of the Ohio River and crossed using the ferry to come back on the Kentucky side. I immediately decided I wanted to write a dance in honor of the ferry. I toyed with variations of Sackett's Harbor, but was unsuccessful. While preparing for the potluck dance at Indianola Presbyterian Church, the ideas for this dance came in a stream of consciousness. The actual dance took perhaps fifteen minutes to write. I immediately knew that this dance was a perfect dance in honor of the Anderson Ferry, so I named it the Anderson Ferry Reel.

I have called the dance several times in Columbus. I first got the chance to call the dance in Cincinnati on New Year's Eve, 1996. One of the dancers there lives near the ferry and knows some of the ferrymen. He told me that during rush hour, there are boats crossing in both directions, calling to mind the figure in (B1).

Hi Eric!

I mentioned your Anderson Ferry Reel to the guys who run the ferry (I'm practically a commuter on it and can see it from my living room). They said if they ever do a TV commercial, they'll film the boat with dancers doing the reel and you can be the caller.

Another bit of Anderson lore: did you know the ferry turns up in the movie "Lost in Yonkers". Its the old sidewheeler, and its pretending to be in Alabama toward the end of the movie.

Ray

Sure, you may include [my email comments]! It's a very good dance! I hope someday you get to be the Busby Berkley of the contradance set with a great floating extravaganza of everyone dancing it on board the ferry. I've thought of asking them if the boat were for rent for a summer evening of dancing on the river, but after examining the deck and seeing how metal plates are bolted down to it, decided not to.

thanks for writing the reel!

Ray

File prepared by Eric Conrad ( econrad@math.ohio-state.edu). Please mention my name if you call the dance. If you want to include it in a written collection, please ask.

Return to Eric's dance page.