23 September 2015 – Westchester

Deborah and Charlotte 's  series.

Wacky Reels Night -

Walk around warm up to "Sleepwalking" by Mara Shea and Dave Wiesler.

Dances taught:-

The Fairy Ring - (32 J n Circle) - Ian Boyd
Cadgers in the Canongate - (48 R 3) - Bk 9/10
A Summer Meeting - (32 S 3 set) - Irene Townsend

Berwick Johnny - (32 J 3) - Graded
Strathglass House - (32 S 3) - Bk 13
The Royal Deeside Railway - (32 R 3) - Bk 40/9
Red House - (40 R 2) - Bk 7/2

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The Fairy Ring :- See previous post.

Cadgers in the Canongate :- Good Music. Often great music. I love the reels. I like that they are serious misinterpretations (IMHO) of the original intent. I like that the reels are *parallel* crossover (Rshoulder) reels on opposite sides that end in partner's place and that, in the second reel, 1C switch roles/tracks to end home.

I do NOT like the prevalent idea that we need to make rules upon rules and that all of these funky, wacky, parallel reels need to be danced the same way so lets fix the dances even if they aren't broke! Agendas over common sense.

I DO like the idea of diversity, of having some freedom of interpretation inwith the basic rule bound framework of Miss Milligan's style of Scottish dancing. My 'original' (1953 edition) of Book 9 says nothing about how or where you end the reels. It leaves it up to the teacher and/or the dancers.

The reality is many young (read 'new') teachers don't have the money to buy the latest and greatest re-revised dance books. They usually get theirs passed on from the teachers who never updated their collection to the newest versions and are retiring. So the unrevised versions are out there and are going to be for quite some time to come. And there is going to be a long time conflict of differing versions.

When in Rome do like the Romans? In other words - Teach dancers the building blocks so they can dance to the briefing they are given, even if different from what they are used to. (Good luck).

A Summer Meeting :- Yes. This one. It is good. A simple minor 'tweak' of the standard fundamental reel of four. And so satisfying. Thumbs up Irene!

Half reels of four (with rotation), a poussette right round, and a bourrel. And that latter figure is the one that blew minds through out the room. It is not like they have never seen the figure before. It is not new to them. They love Barbara's Strathsepey (with a 3C bourrel). Can do it just fine. But tonight… a disaster. Sigh.

Berwick Johnny :- Boring. Tedious. Just my opinion of course. Truthfully it has been used for years, it is accessible to every one, it is available, and that much usage means it has real value.

Strathglass House :- the music makes the dance!

The Royal Deeside Railway :- Truthfully, the first several times I danced it I didn't like it. Too much fuzzy (fussy) timing too hard to describe so best not dealt with. Recently though I am finding I like it. If you don't try to specify the timing to the dancers they will just figure it out on their own and usually with out over thinking it. Parsing - It is a skill and it needs to be learned.

Red House :- Good dance. all the rage when I started dancing (in the stone age). Over done so it disappeared and I am glad it is beginning to make a come back in this area. The iconic recording (the one I learned the dance to, of course ;-)  ) is The Berkeley Scottish Player's version (Cabbage Records ). The other versions that I have heard have been decent, but their version seems to be inspired. The sound is, of course, very West Coast, and fiddle heavy but then I have always preferred fiddle to heavy handed accordion.

And to get back to the evening's them (reels, right) the Red House Reels are unique and lots, repeat lots, of fun, and I would love to do them more but would hate to burn out on the dance a second time. The 25 year hiatus was just too long. Too, I am not sure I would care to have other dances with the same reels. The music and dance are inseparable and I think the reels and the dance may also be inseparable. Darn ;-(