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Tom fromm writes:
25. SEE SAW: Starting formation -facing dancers, square or circle. When combined with all around the left hand lady, each dancer walks forward and around the partner keeping left shoulders adjacent, then steps forward to face the corner. In all other cases, it is a left shoulder dosado. Dancers advance and pass left shoulders. Each without turning moves to the left passing in back of the other dancer and then moves backward passing right shoulders returning to starting position.

STYLING: When combined with all around your corner, styling is the same as in all around the left hand lady except that left shoulders are kept adjacent and left hand and left shoulder should be kept forward. When used as a left shoulder dosado, styling is the same as dosado except that left shoulder leads first. TIMING: 8 steps.

When we get ready to learn this move, we already know, All Around The Left Hand lady, with different endings. I will tell them that we are going to learn something "else" that we can do after "All Around The Left Hand Lady". I will tell them the definition of that part of the call. I will only teach in combination with "All Around The Left Hand Lady" at this point.
The first time out, I will start with a SS. I will have them Walk around the corner, then tell them to walk around the partner, "left shoulder with left shoulder." I'll say, "that is a See Saw". I will do it that way a couple times, then start "cueing" the Left shoulder, left shoulder, after I call See Saw. I will either have them square the set, or allemande left and promenade home the first few times. After I have them comfortable with that, I will follow with a variety of calls. I will make sure to throw in something other than See Saw, after the All Around The Left Hand Lady. I don't want to form a predictable pattern, and that will also keep them listening. I won't teach See Saw as a left shoulder do sa do, for a while. I will wait for a later lesson, and work this in with some other left hand stuff. I will set aside, a lesson that we only work on lefty things. This will be close to the end of the BASIC program, and will be a "fun and lets look at lefties" session. I want to be sure that ALL of the new dancers (if possible) are in attendance. To get things started, I will have the heads star thru, then square thru three. This will set me up for the See Saw, as a left shoulder Do Sa Do. I will tell them that we are going to look at another use for See Saw. I will tell them, that just like in a Do Sa Do, they will end looking face to face, with the one they started. I will tell them the definition for this set up. I will "walk" them through a couple times, as I "cue" ((pass left shoulders, slide back to back, back up passing right shoulders, and come face to face again.)) We will do this move several times, and do it with different dancers, and from different set-ups.
d2z writes:
When I taught #25. SEE SAW to my youngest, I taught the 'left shoulder Dosado' and danced it in patters as such. Dancing at home, with me calling (= control of how used) and dancing only Contra at public dances, reinforced this See Saw. It gives more variety of when it can be called or danced, rather than ONLY being able to call "Walk all around your Left Hand Lady, Sea Saw your pretty little taw". This was fine and everybody was happy, until my youngest, Jymann, took lessons to learn Mainstream with a Callerllab caller. The caller only uses the walking forward style, after "Walk all around ....." Was Jymann upset! He was upset for several weeks that the caller only used (what to him) was a 'secondary' style of the move See Saw.
So, would I teach it again, teaching the 'left shoulder Dosado' first? Yes, I still do, because I use it with Contra and Sicilian Circle. But I try to not reinforce ONLY the 'left shoulder Dosado' for too long before including the 'walking forward' style.
I think much of teaching is the reinforcing (= practice) of a move in the weeks/months/years after the initial 'teach'. What good is having a move ('left shoulder Dosado' type See Saw) if a caller will never use it beyond the second or third week after teaching it?

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