Wednesday, September 8, 2010

New Haven Summer Social - 7 September 2010

Four couples turned out. For the day after the long weekend I thought that was pretty good. The temperature was cool, the humidity was high, and two fans dealt with that.

Summer is over and when my class in Wilton resumes I will be teaching there on Tuesdays and only rarely making it to the New Haven class and only as a dancer, not as a teacher. My teaching in New Haven will once again be restricted to the Second Monday of the month class on the Heights.

Bad news - but not completely unexpected: Mary Kate Adami (nee Sampson), who has been quite sick for some time, has died. A memorial service was held this past weekend. 

Tonight's dances were:
Knights' Heys  (32 H 3)  T. Glasspool
Gypsy Dreams  (32 S 2) T. Glasspool
Miss Muriel Johnstone's Jig  (32 J 3)  G. Dale Birdsall – A Cup of Kindness
Auchindrain   (32 R 3)  P. Price
Through A Glass Darkly  (32 S 4) B. Skelton – Kiwi Book
Un-Named Dance  (32 S 2)  C. Anagnostakis
Lang May Your Lum Reek  (32 J 2) B. Priddey

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Knights' Heys - Teacher's Check Mark award winner in 2003 and about to make its first encore appearance since that ball - and about time too.


Gypsy Dreams - What a delight! The Tournee is becoming  a good looking formation. Finally. Due to sheer repetition. I hope the teachers in New Haven continue with this. Oh and by the way - reappearing on the 2011 K&G ball program for the first time since it premiered in '04.

Miss Muriel Johnstone's Jig - A fairly simple wee dance, heavily weighted toward first couple. Second and third couples are very much supporting couples in the dance - theirs is a choppy role with lots of stop and go four bar phrases. I would like to dance it some time and see for myself - but no Dancer's Check Mark Award for it tonight.

Through a Glass Darkly - No dancers award for this one either, but I would give it a Teacher's award. Why? To justify the amount of head banging I had to do to get a couple of very simple concept across. Set advancing men, that means moving forward on bar 1! Right? Got it? Not.

Un-Named dance by C. Anagnostakis - Sorry. You will just have to wait, but I think it will be worth it.

Lang May Your Lum Reek - I just love that stealth progression (bars 29-32). Worth all the angst and sturm und drang of the third figure. As for that - try practicing it with both hands joined and you may find the key to the whole dance. Note well: I am programming this one as the premier dance on the 2011 K&G ball program.

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