SOME CONTRA DANCE TERMS DIAGRAMS BASIC FIGURES HISTORY MANNERS HOME 
How Couples Progress
Along The Set
Here are some diagrams to show how a simple progression works. We'll use six couples, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Our attention will be on couples C and D. When the couples are #1 couples (actives), they'll be blue. When they're #2 couples (inactives), they'll be red. And when they're waiting out at the end, they'll be colorless. Here's how the set looks when the dance starts:
(Top of set)
A B C D E F 
A B C D E F(Bottom of set)
After everyone dances the figures once, it looks like this:
(Top of set)
B A D C F E 
B A D C F E(Bottom of set)
Now they repeat the dance, and the set looks like this:
(Top of set)
B D A F C E 
B D A F C E(Bottom of set)
After the next time, C and D have no one to dance with:
(Top of set)
D B F A E C 
D B F A E C(Bottom of set)
But after the other couples dance and move on, C and D can start going the other way so C is now a #2 (inactive) couple and D is now a #1 (active)!
(Top of set)
D F B E A C 
D F B E A C(Bottom of set)
And now they've actually moved one place the other way:
(Top of set)
F D E B C A 
F D E B C A(Bottom of set)
Simple, eh?
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