29 May 2017 –– Scotia

First hour Deborah taught

Saw ye my wee thing  -  (32 J 2)  -  25/9
Fair Donald  -  (32 S 3)  -  29/4
The Falls of Rogie  -  (32 R 3)  -  Attwood
Deil Amang the Tailors  -  (32 R 3)  -  14/7

The second hour I taught

Cutty Sark  -  (32 J 3)  -  40/2
Munro Rant  -  (32 S 2)  -  MMM
John Cass  -  (32 R 5)  -  49/10
Tamatea's Flute  -  (32 J 2)  -  Drewry

*  ––  ** ––  **  –– *  *  * -–– ** ––  **  ––  *

Cutty Sark:- a nice simple warm up dance with just enough difference to keep it from being a mindless throwaway.
Dance: Cutty Sark | SCDDB

Munro Rant:-  Again, a dance with a twist that keeps it mindful. And it has tourneé.  What could be wrong?
Dance: The Munro Rant | SCDDB

John Cass:- This one is special. It is subtle! I repeat *subtle*!! And I like it.
The triple tandem diagonal reels - are triple, are  tandem, but not truly diagonal. I repeat - not truly diagonal. Every time I see it I discover tweaks I could make to the reels. I also find I haven't gone far enough from the standard.

The first thing I saw was that the timing improved if the two ladies (in 4th and 5th places) began the reel by dancing up the sideline. Not kinda sorta but literally up the sideline before cutting behind the tandem men. This was true for the top two women as well - they needed to dance down on the sideline before cutting the reel.

The next thing I saw was that 1st couple did better if they did not face the paired men on the diagonal but faced the gap in 3rd place on the men's side directly - both at the start of the two reels. This made the beginning directions (for both sets of paired men) much clearer and, surprise, the timing of the reel improved.

I have now seen a third 'tweak' - related to the previous observation. -  Everyone should be cutting the reel by dancing either straight across the set or straight up and down the set at their cutting time in the reel. This warps the axis/direction of the reel - it is no longer on the true diagonal and the loops are not symmetric. But the fit and the look are both improved.

The hardest part - getting the tandem dancers to wake up and start at the same time as their leader. Starting late is simply a  BAD  idea.

I give this one a teacher's choice award.