ROUNDALAB

Standardization of Classic Cues
David Roberts




The SCDC committee is charged by Roundalab to review cue sheets of dances that have
been selected by the membership to become Golden Classics. The work of the SCDC 
Committee is accomplished for the specific purpose of encouraging round dance leaders
to cue these cherished classics even though the original cue sheets may be difficult to 
understand. The SCDC's job is to evaluate the possibility of producing an additional cue
sheet with Roundalab preferred cue terms to assist Roundalab members to cue these
dances in their dance programs. No attempt should be made to change any figure in the 
original cue sheet or modify the dance in any way. If however Roundalab has written a 
standard cue term that exactly describes what the choreographer originally intended the
figure to do, and the standard cue term would make the figure easier for our leaders and
their dancers to understand, we believe Roundalab has a responsibility to provide this
information to it's membership. This additional cue sheet is just that; an additional tool 
that can be used by our membership to assist them in understanding and learning to cue
the classic dances in question. These additional cue sheets will have Roundalab preferred 
cues however no one is required to use them. They are available if members want to use 
them but do not in any way replace the original cue sheet. If you have been cueing the 
dance in your group and your dancers are comfortable with the original cues, don't 
change. We understand and appreciate the reluctance of some of our leaders to consider
any changes to the original classic cue sheets. We also know all of us have learned many
things about dancing, cueing, and choreography in the last 40 years and today have the
tools to assist our newer leaders with figures that read easier, cue better and ultimately
can be taught to our dancers so they can understand them better. That doesn't mean there 
was anything wrong with the original cue sheet. It just means we did things differently 
when we started. We believe that if Roundalab doesn't do anything to assist our 
membership in learning to cue these wonderful classic pieces they eventually will fall by
the wayside and all of us will be the losers. The SCDC committee is dedicated to 
performing the task we have been assigned. We are aware that there are classic dances
out there that have been modified and are now difficult to dance with the revised cue 
terms. We intend to evaluate these dances to see if errors were made and make every 
attempt to correct those problems.  We invite you the membership to evaluate what we 
are trying to accomplish and understand that our goal is to provide you with whatever 
tools we can to assist you in cueing classic dances.