Back on Schedule… Yeah Right!
This was a very experimental session. On the near horizon a workshop dedicated to the late Robert Gregg, one of my dancers and a deviser of different but good dances.
H was still working on The Southpaw Reel when he died. The action is all left handed (no surprise given the title). I was scheduled to teach it at the workshop and the description was so very Bob that after 20 minutes of trying to figure out what he meant I headed for the fridge for a beer. 40 minutes later I thought I knew what his intent was but that is never a sure thing until it is danced and thus confirmed.
This class was the perfect opportunity to test my interpretation. It took up most of the first half. I was very lucky too. 4 of the dancers had previously learned it from Bob himself and my interpretation not only worked it was correct. (hooray!)
I like the dance. The problem is bars 9-16. They are a 30 minute project in and of themselves. It is so different in concept and so not standard usage that experienced dancer are thrown for a loop and require serious retraining, as it were.
All in all, except for the wording, this dance is a finished product ready for publication. I have to work this out with the branch and his estate.
The other three dances I taught this evening are also winners and, dare I say it, more accessible.
The dances were:
Dust Devils (32 J 4some) Jane Lataille - Still enough to Dance
The Southpaw Reel (32 R 3) Rbt. Gregg - leaflet
Yet Another Birthday (32 S 3 set) Holly Boyd - Montréal Moments
Shinkansen (32 R 3) Ann Dix - Reel Friends 3
**********
Dust Devils – If you have a class with small numbers, and this one is,
this is a dance for you. From a book you should have. By a
dance diviser who is thinking outside the box and who is
really very good at what she does. Recommended!
The Southpaw Reel – From the pen of a chemist who had a view far
removed from the norm. I need to find time to rewrite the
second figure into something understandable. Forty minutes
struggling to decipher his description is just too much. Forty
minutes teaching the figure is a guarantee that the dancer
will never want to see it again. The results are not worth
that kind of effort. If I can get the description down to 10
minutes study and the teaching down to a minimal
10 minutes then the reward is definitely worth the effort.
Yet Another Birthday – It's a beautiful thing indeed. It received a
Dancer's Choice Award and they were most insistent that I put
it on the upcoming (March 28, 2014) Kilts and Ghillies Tea
Dance program. Holly wrote a Keeper. Went right to the top
of my Top 50 Strathspeys list, neck and neck with Maurice,
Linnea's Strathspey, and Gypsy Dreams.
Highly recommended!
Shinkansen – from the pen of the late Ann Dix. It also received a
Dancer's Choice Award. On it's first trial too. it too will be on
the Kilts and Ghillies Tea Dance program this spring.
Accessible, Fun, with a mild fugal formation.
Recommended!
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