Grand Working <direction>

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There is a call Grand Cross Back:

\syhlines{g3e,b3e,g2e,b2e}	\syhlines{g4w,b1w,g1w,b2w}
before Grand Cross Back	after

Six people do the diagonal pull-by. This is the "intuitively obvious" meaning of "Grand". Grand Swing Thru also has an "intuitively obvious" meaning. The Grand Working <direction> concepts give a well-defined and general interpretation for these.

On a Grand Working call, everyone does a 4-person call in a 4-person setup made of two adjacent 2-person setups, put together in ways that might be complex. Normally, if Cross Back is called from columns, the 2x4 is split in the natural way. One way to look at this is that each 2-person miniwave is associated with the other miniwave on its own "split" side. But on a Grand Cross Back, two people (the head boys in the example above) work in the 2x2 box formed by associating their center miniwave with the other center miniwave. Grand Cross Back is the same as Grand Working Forward Cross Back. This means that everyone works in the box formed by their miniwave and the miniwave forward of them, if there is such a miniwave. If there are no spots in the setup in front of them, they work in the only way possible, which is split. This will be true of the side boys in the example above.

Starting from a 2x4

In general we could say that Grand Working Forward means this:

\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc bAe , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc bBe , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr}

On Grand Working Forward, if you are person A or B, do the call in the 4 solid spots. (The person next to you doesn't have to be facing the same way as you.)

Grand Working Right means this:

\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc bAn , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc bBn , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr}

On Grand Working Right, if you are person A or B, do the call in the 4 solid spots.

Grand Working Backward and Left mean the obvious thing.

In normal cases (assuming the caller didn't say something like "2x8 Matrix Grand Working Forward") there aren't as many spots as the above diagrams suggest. One only has to figure out whether to work on each side ("split") or in the center 4. Furthermore, the ends have no choice — they always work split. The centers have to use the given direction to decide whether to work with the other centers or with the adjacent outsides.

The thing that makes this concept (and the Multiple Formations Working <direction> concept) difficult is that the center subsetup and each split subsetup overlap by 50%. One has to get used to doing a call in the presence of people who are doing something apparently unrelated. It is of course the caller's responsibility to make sure that the resultant overlapped setups don't conflict.

\syhlines{g3n,b3s,g2s,b2s}

before Grand Working Right Bingo

\sdform{\danc g3n , \danc b3s , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr \danc b4n , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr}	\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc b.. , \danc g2s , \danc p.. \cr \danc p.. , \danc g4n , \danc b.. , \danc p.. \cr}	\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc b.. , \danc b2s \cr \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc b1n , \danc g1s \cr}
3 people think this	2 people think this	3 people think this

\sdform{\danc g3e , \danc b4e , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr \danc b3w , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr}	\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc b.. , \danc g4e , \danc p.. \cr \danc p.. , \danc g2w , \danc b.. , \danc p.. \cr}	\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc b.. , \danc b1e \cr \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc b2w , \danc g1w \cr}
resulting in this	resulting in this	resulting in this

\syhlines{g3e,b4e,g4e,b1e}

Finished

Handling the 50% overlap becomes tricky when the call is a shape-changer. Consider Grand Working Right Peel and Trail. The three results are end-to-end lines that overlap by 50%:

\syhlines{g3n,b3s,g2s,b2s}

before Grand Working Right Peel and Trail

\sdform{\danc g3s , \danc b3n , \danc b4s , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr}

result on the left side

\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc b.. , \danc g2n , \danc g4s , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr}

result in the center

\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc b.. , \danc b2n , \danc b1s , \danc g1n \cr}

result on the right side

\sxhlines{g1n,b1s,b2n,g4s}

Finished

Rather than dealing with the intricacies of overlapping setups by 50%, it is probably better to concentrate on doing the call split or in the center. Use your shape-changing and "breathing" skills. For example, if you are in the left group in the Peel and Trail case, concentrate on the two end-to-end waves that would result from a normal (split) Peel and Trail, and on your position in that formation. The overlap will then take care of itself.

Sometimes the results can't be overlapped, because they are only one person deep in the overlap direction. In that case they are simply put together. The people in the outer "split" lines have to leave extra space for the center line. We say that "the overlap goes away".

\syhlines{g3s,b3s,g2s,b2s}	\syhBBBs{b3e,g3w,g2e,.+.,b2e,.+.}
before Grand Working Right Swap the Top	after

Starting from a 1x8

If the starting formation is a 1x8, it's harder to figure out what 4 people you work with.

Grand Working Right means this:

\sdform{\danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc bAn , \danc bBn , \danc b.. , \danc b.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. , \danc p.. \cr}

If you are person A or B, do the call in the 4 solid spots on Grand Working Right.

Once again we have shown an impossibly large number of other spots. And once again you can't associate another setup with yours if it would be out of the actual matrix — in such a case you use the only 1x2 that is next to yours.

It is important to know what pair of people (couple, miniwave, tandem, or whatever) you are in, and choose the appropriate other pair of spots to work with — the Grand Working concept associates two 2-person setups (couples, miniwaves, etc.) to make a 4-person setup.

If the other person in your own 1x2 is not facing the same way as you, her interpretation of "right" will be different, but her spot is still part of the 1x4 setup that you work in. "Grand Working Left" means the obvious thing. If the setup is a generalized 1x8 tidal column, the concepts "Grand Working Forward" and "Grand Working Backward" could be used.

"Grand Working Together", which is almost never used, means work with the other 1x2 that is closer to your end of your 1x2. Your partner in your 1x2 will have a different opinion of which other 1x2 is closer, of course. "Grand Working Apart" means work with the 1x2 that is farther from your side of your 1x2.

All of these designations are quite difficult to deal with in a 1x8, and there is another formulation that is almost always used. "Grand Working as Centers" is the same as "Grand Working Together". Notice that, if you associate your 1x2 with another 1x2 on the side closer to you, you will be a center of the resulting 1x4. If you are a very end of the 1x8, you have to use the 1x2 on the other side, and you will be an end.

Conversely, "Grand Working as Ends"" is the same as "Grand Working Apart". If you associate your 1x2 with another 1x2 on the side farther from you, you will be an end of the resulting 1x4, unless you are one person in from the end of the actual 1x8, in which case you have to use the other 1x2, making you a center of the resulting 1x4. These two facts provide a convenient way to deal with Grand Working as Centers or Ends: While this may not sound like an improvement over the Together/Apart way of thinking about things, it actually works very well.

\sxhlines{b2s,g1n,g2s,b1n}	\sxhlines{g1s,b1n,b2s,g4n}
before Grand Working Right, or Apart, or As Ends, Swing Thru	after (Plus dancers would call this a Grand Swing Thru.)

The dancers don't even need to think too hard about whether they are in the outer miniwaves and the direction therefore doesn't apply to them. The rule that everyone uses is "Pick a wave (center wave or split wave) that makes me an end, if possible. If not possible, pick the only wave that works." In this example, everyone except the head girls can pick a wave that makes them an end. The head girls can't, so they work as centers of their split wave.

These two designations are practically always used, rather than "right" or "apart", from 1x8 setups. After they were invented, there were suggestions that "Grand Working as Beaus" could be used in 2x4's instead of "Grand Working Right", but those terms were never adopted.

\sxhlines{b2s,g1n,g2s,b1n}	\syhBBBs{b4e,g4w,.+.,b1w,.+.,g1w}
before Grand Working as Centers Lockit	after

\sxhlines{b2w,g1e,g2w,b1e}	\syhlines{g4w,b1w,g1w,b2e}
before Grand Working as Centers Single Polly Wally	after

The latter is also called just Grand Single Polly Wally. As we have seen, many plain "grand" calls can be reformulated in terms of "grand working". These reformulations may or may not be helpful to you.

Additional Directions

There are a few more designations that one sometimes hears. "Grand Working Toward the Center" means the obvious thing — work with the other centers if you are in the center, and work with the adjacent centers (that is, split) if you are on the outside. "Grand Working Clockwise" is used in a 2x4, and is quite difficult. Assuming you are a center, imagine there is an old-fashioned clock (the kind with hands) in the very center of the set, and its hands are sweeping (clockwise) through your spot. After it passes you, it will pass through an end or another center. Work in the formation that includes that person. Of course, if you are an end, none of this applies to you, and you always work split. "Grand Working Counterclockwise" means the opposite, of course.

\syhlines{g4n,b4n,g1n,b1s}	\syhlines{b3n,g4s,b4s,g1s}
before Grand Working Clockwise Circulate	after