Becket Formation

[David H. Millstone]

The other day, after posting what little I knew about the history of the
Becket formation, I asked Larry Jennings what information he could add. In
addition to being a choreographer, caller, organizer, and key figure in
the Boston dance community, Larry is known around the country as the
author of the landmark collection of dances, łZesty Contras.˛ For many
years, he authored (with Ted Sannella and Dan Pearl) a contra dance column
for the newsletter of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS). With his
permission, here is his reply:

-----quoted material follows:
łI wouldn't say that Herbie said nothing about the formation for Becket
Reel. He specified an even number of couples and affirmed the nature of
what I now call your shadow but he preferred corner. But, most
essentially, he specified that you stand next to your partner facing
another couple across.

łYou have come to the right person for an authoritative report on the
origin of the specific words "Becket formation". When Zesty Contras was in
draft, we had three genuine BF dances: #126 [Becket Reel], #197 [ Donąt
Forget Us], & #393 [Separate Paths]. You might count #291 [Left-Diagonal
Mixer], a mixer, and #808 [Becket Circle] & #824 [FLK Mixer], which are
single progression and therefore, with the thinking of 1982, could not be
set as longways. Al Olson and I agonized over what to do with those six
dances, hardly enough to give a name to the formation. But we had a
feeling that it might come to something and Al suggested "Becket
formation" and prepared a draft of the glossary entry. As I recall it, I
protested the part of his draft which used the term "position" to refer to
a couple's position rather than an individual's. I regret not being firmer
in this, but Al is at least as opinionated as I. By the autumn of 1983,
when the final text of Zesty was prepared, it had occurred to us that an
odd number of couples would work, but I didn't have the energy to fight
with Al about the question of "position". So the glossary entry was
published in 1983. So far as I know, there has been no independent source
of the term "Becket Formation".

łAs a footnote, there are almost 50 dances in Zesty in which all swing
partner on the sides of the set. Almost all of these would now be set in
Becket formation, but that came after 1983.˛
-----end of quoted material

David Millstone
Lebanon, NH