A relatively contra corners dance using all four corners. Hopefully fairly straightforward for a contra corners dance – it's USP is that it does contra corners all four ways, which can be fun!
| A1 | Neighbour balance and swing (8) |
| A2 | Long lines forward and back (4) 1st couple start contra corners: allemande right just over halfway to first corner and allemande left with them (4) |
| B1 | 1st couple allemande right 3/4 and allemande left with second corner (4) 1st couple allemande right 3/4 and allemande left with third corner (4) |
| B2 | 1st couple allemande right 3/4 and allemande left with fourth corner (4) 1st couple swing and face next couple |
Alternate with 2nd couple leading
As usual when calling contra corners, it's worth establishing who all these people are going to be before starting the figure. Here's where they are (I'd probably only describe the "where" bit in the call):
| Corner | Where | Men/Larks | Women/Robins |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Diagonally right | Current same-role | Next same-role |
| Second | Diagonally left | Next same-role | Current same-role |
| Third | Next to on left | Next neighbour | Current neighbour |
| Fourth | Next to on right | Current neighbour | Next neighbour |
When not the active couple, you alternate the direction you turn someone from – first right diagonal, then left, then right, then left. If you're at the end of the set at this point then that means you'll only turn every other time – it seems it's easy to get over enthusiastic, turn someone twice in succession and break the pattern!
Written because most of the contra corner dances I had in my deck had somewhat unsatisfying moves to get the set proper (usually involving a half figure of 8, which isn't a great contra move) so that contra corners can be done with people of the other role – why not dance with everyone? I'd just written Blazing Fox, so was thinking about such things. A 4-way contra corners doesn't leave a lot of time for much else though, so there probably aren't many other ways you can write this dance!
For non-Brits, this might help understand the name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Candles