Another warm muggy night. A front moved through early this afternoon and I just plain wilted. I showed up for dancing because I am the only one with key and code and, minor point, I was teaching tonight.
What was really nice was having 14 dancers. I can't remember the last time such a crew showed up.
The downside of the evening was the weather and the fact that no one, my self included, brought their A brains to the game.
Brian Haeckler will be teaching the next two Tuesdays.
Tonight's dances were:
The Gates of India (32 J 4) Jean Attwood
Twelvesome Reel (32 R 6) B. Priddey
Glayva (32 J 2) John Drewry
The Burn of Sorrow (32 S 2) B. Priddey
Bratach Bhana (32 R 3) J. Drewry
A Warm Winter's Evening (32 S 4) S. Rusche
**********
The Gates of India - From the lady who brought us The Falls of Rogie a dance for a folly. Standing on a Scottish hillside is, I am told, a replica of an Indian city gate build to provide employment during the great depression.
I honestly don't know what to say about this one. Though a bit more of a challenge than I figured, the dancers did appear to be enjoying themselves and no one was holding their nose. I am definitely going to teach this one again and will try to be in the set dancing it when I do.
Twelvesome Reel - the second go-round for this dance and not nearly as successful as the first, and most of the dancers were there the first time. Oh well. I'll give it another shot another time. (I still think it is a neat dance).
Glayva - I taught it out of Pilling and boy did I screw it up. Lovely dance when properly taught. 'Nough said.
The Burn of Sorrow - This one got a healthy round of applause! Simple, slightly asymmetrical and very interesting variations in light and shadow (control of step length). And I thought it was going to be a throwaway. Despicable me. (Wrong again - and glad to be). Another winner from Barry Priddey - checked and highlighted.
Bratach Bhana - Again. Why? Because it has been a very long time since it has been done on a regular basis and it is too good a dance to led fall into disuse. An early Drewry the only negative about the dance is the piece count. So many 2 and 4 bar chunks to remember. Oh well - deal with it - it's good for you.
I hate Microsoft software. I have the Andrew Rankine version on the computer. iTunes (for PC) can find and play it but Microsoft's Windows Media Player can not find it so I can't play it. And I have to use WMP because I need to adjust the speed of playback, and iTunes doesn't do that! Drat and Darn and other bad words. So I am stuck using the Colin Dewar Trio's version of Bratach Bhana and, pardon my french here, his version stinks out the house. The band is so bad (MHO) I almost didn't load it onto my computer. It has to be my only choice before I will play him.
A Warm Winter's Evening - By an old friend who used to dance in New Haven (while attending grad school). He wrote the dance while in Atlanta at Emory.
A simple strathspey that demands careful phrasing and covering. A simple challenger.
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