New Haven Summer Social - 21 June 2011

I seem to be a little behind. We dance tonight and I am just posting last weeks dances.

The evenings dances were:
MacFarlane's Geese  (32 R 4)  Jean Attwood
Carlaverock Castle  (32 R 3)  Peter Price (that's me!)
The Docent's Tour  (32 S 3)  Tim Wilson (Measures of Pleasure)
Dancin' Witches  (32 J 3)  Edwin Werner (Dragonflies)
Glen Nevis  (32 S 4)  Diane L. Dow (Pinewoods Coll)
Romance of the Waimarie  (40 J 4) Bevin Shaw - Oaks in Autumn

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MacFarlane's Geese:- A nice retake on Wild Geese with a delightful last eight bars - I just love a stealth progression! But the dance just didn't have the spark that would have made it memorable. Please note, I did NOT say I would't teach the dance again, 'cause I will, but with different music. I used The Danelaw band set of 4x32 Reels based on Caddam Wood.  The virtual dancers in my head loved the combination but the dancers on the floor may not have.

Romance of the Waimarie:- The best I can say is "Eh".  I love Bevin's dance Those Russians - this one, compared to that one is a bust. Nice concept with the fwd and reverse paddle wheel and i liked the corners moving up with 1C into 3 hands across, but the 8 bar setting figure was a big why?  The overall, and unanimous response was "Don't bother?"

Carlaverock Castle:- It is a good thing to do, to sit on a dance for a couple of years, not teaching it, and then to revisit it. I know what I wanted when I wrote the dance, but sometimes I lose sight of it, and when I return to it I fall in love with it all over again, only this time it isn't as personal and there is a fuller appreciation of what I achieved in the dance.

Please - use Muriel Johnstone's recording of Lady Dumfries if you possibly can.

The Docent's Tour:- Oh my, this one has it, that ineffable something that puts this dance on my Top 50 list and on my short short list of dances for the 2012 Kilts & Ghillies Tea Dance - and it is so simple that surely someone else has written this dance before, haven't they? I am very glad that it was Tim Wilson though because I like almost everything of his that I have seen. This teacher's Choice Award.

Dancin' Witches:- Just another dance until you experience the transition between the reels of 3 across into the reel of 4 on the diagonal. That is a nice moment and makes this one a keeper. From the Bob McMurtry publication Dragonflies.

Glen Nevis:- I had hopes that this would be a keeper - it probably isn't. The figure that I call a Grand Figure Eight might work with  quite a bit more work but, frankly, it just isn't enough reward for the effort required. And I feel  like a traitor because I know and like Diane Dow - she used to dance in New Haven and was a favourite of mine. I wish her well where ever she may now be.