Monday, April 18, 2011

Waterbury Class - 8 April 2011

Another installation in the continuing saga of ball prep.
Tonight it is Waterbury and the dances were:

Mrs Stewart's Jig  (32 J 3)  35/1
Knights' Heys  (32 H 3)  T. Glasspool
Gordon of Straloch  (32 S 3)  Peter Price
Miss Muriel Johnstone's Jig  (32 J 3) Dale Birdsall

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Mrs Stewart's Jig:-  One of your everyday good enough jigs that a foundation stone of the dance.

Knights' Heys:-  One of my favourite dances, recipient of a "Dancer's Choice Award"  and every time I teach it I get positive responses from many of the dancers. Certainly deserving of a place on anyone's Top 50 list, and, in my humble opinion, deserving to be recognized more widely and incorporated into the standard repertoire.

Gordon of Straloch:- Yes I did write this dance. And the more I teach it the higher it rises in my estimation. I give most of the credit to Liz Donaldson for her arrangement that I could not resist and was so inspired by.

Miss Muriel Johnstone's Jig:-  Oh my oh my. this one is far more confusing than I anticipated. The second teaching didn't go much better than the first. Ralph Page, the late celebrated caller of New England contra Dancers, had a category of dances that he called "little stinkers" because they played with experienced dancer's minds. This dance deserves the same sobriquet.

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