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Progression

In standard formations

A fundamental aspect of contra dancing is that the same dance, one time through which lasts roughly 30 seconds, is repeated over and over - but each time you dance with new neighbors. This change is effected by progressing the 1's down the set and the progressing 2's up (also up the hall and down the hall; see illustrations, below). In non-Becket dances this is done by moving the 1's to the bottom of their minor set and moving the 2's to the top of it: the 1's now have a different pair of 2's below them. In Becket dances, 1's progress by moving to the place formerly occupied by the 1's below them; similarly, 2's move to the place formerly occupied by the 2's above. (see "Formations", above, for definitions of terminology)

A dance will typically run at least long enough for every couple to dance with every other couple both as a 1 and a 2 (though extremely long sets may require shorter dances).

Progression in common set layouts

Proper progression

L1L2 L3L4...  -->  L2 L1L4 L3L6...  --> etc
G1G2 G3G4...  -->  G2 G1G4 L3L6...  --> etc

Improper progression

G1L2 G3L4...  -->  L2 G1L4 G3L6...  --> etc
L1G2 L3G4...  -->  G2 L1G4 L3L6...  --> etc

Becket progression

L1G1 L3G3...  -->       L1G1 L3G3...  --> etc
G2L2 G4L4...  -->  G2L2 G4L4 G6L6...  --> etc

Key: band is to the left; the first time through the dance is depicted on the left and the second time through is on the right; odd-numbered couples are 1's, even-numbered couples are 2's; couples in the same minor set are not separated by spaces.

Notes:

• In practice, all couples are evenly spaced; the groupings are just to clarify relations.
• As there is no limit on set length for these dances (other than the number of people the venue will accommodate), the "..." can represent any number of couples.

Progression leaves a pair of 2's out at the head with no 1's above them to dance with; if there is an even number of couples in the set, a pair of 1's is also left out at the foot. This is not a problem: the couple waits out one time through the dance and then comes back in, now heading in the opposite direction. A couple re-entering at the head of the set (formerly 2's) re-enter as 1's, and vice versa.

Note that

• in improper dances partners must trade places while waiting out (in the illustration above, G2 and L2 are switched with respect to where G1 and L1 where before progression)
• individual Becket dances have their own ways of moving couples into progressed position, and couples waiting out must take this into account when choosing how to place themselves;
• "waiting" out does not necessarily mean being uninvolved: many modern dances include figures which use the waiting dancers for a moment and then return them to where they were.

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