Wilton Class - 3 May 2011

Well, the ball is done and that means it is time to start developing a short list for next year's Tea Dance.
And that means new dances, experiments and not a few crash and burns, and I had one tonight.

The evening's dances were:
A City in Bloom  (32 J 3 set)  Irene van Maarseveen (Many Happy Hours)
Phyllis' Fancy  (32 S 2)  Barry Priddey (Sutton Coldfield Book)
Farquharson Fifty  (32 J 3 set)  Irene van Maarseveen
The Captain  (32 R 3)  R. King (SF - Solstice Party Book)
The Burn of Sorrow  (32 S 2)  Barry Priddey (Silver Rose book)

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A City in Bloom:-  A disappointment with this class. We couldn't see our way around a awkward moment and make it feel right. I am definately going to do this again using different music as that might have been the real problem.

Phyllis' Fancy:- Received a DCA a few months back but still it doesn't stir my soul. I originally thought it would make a decent ball dance, it is simple enough, dancers like it, but it just doesn't lift me. Maybe a few  more trials will make a difference in my outlook.

Farquharson Fifty:-  It appears to be a pattern for teaching Promenade and not really a dance at all.

The Captain:-  The third time the charm?  I have taught this only twice before, in October of 2001 and November 2010. No strong response on any one's part until tonight when it caught fire. Music called for was 'any good reel" so I used Dave Wiesler & Mara Shea's recording of "Sleepwalking" off their CD "Heather Hills" which definately qualifies.

Class voted it a Dancers Choice Award on the basis of it's simple, but lovely, flow.

The Burn of Sorrow:- This one caused me problems. I don't deal well with simple dances that don't get danced well. Maybe it was mental burn out being the last dance of the evening after all. I still get thrown for a loop when experienced dancers can not handle Right Hands Across followed by loops, then LHA followed by subtly different loops. And after all the dances that I have taught that have the toubillon in them, for the dancers to have not clue one is mildly disturbing and raised my blood pressure. I did not do well. Sorry guys.
But it is a nice pleasant, mostly simple dance that enough dancers liked that they voted it a DCA and I will dance this again in a heartbeat.