Another K&G road test/summer social juggling act.
Dances taught:
The Shetland Shepherdess (32 J 3) Wallace: Graded 3
Ysobel Stewart of Fish Hoek (32 S 3) Short: Bk 52
Under A Shady Tree (32 R 3) O'Conner
Farewell to Balfour Road (32 J 5) Bk 52
Ruby Wilkinson's Farewell to Cranshaws (32 S 3) Bk 52
Love in the Marais (32 R 3) Paris Book
Kamo Karousel (32 J 3) Eddy West
@*@ –– @*@ –– @ * @ * @ –– @*@ –– @*@
Ysobel Stewart of Fish Hoek:- A nice solid dance. It is not, in my opinion, a great dance but it is one that I will keep coming back to. To my mind the heart of the dance is about sequential visitation rights.
Under a Shady Tree:- The first time I danced this, never having taught it before, not knowing what to expect, my partner and I lit up! The possibilities for eye contact, for keeping in touch while dancing asymmetric paths made for a sublime experience. I would give it three thumbs up. No one else seems willing to give it the time of day. Now, maybe it as Deborah says, that the first few times the dancers are focused on gross geography and only later will the subtle byplay come to the fore. I hope so because this one is in my category of specials and I actually find it painful to see all the opportunities past by.
Farewell to Balfour Road:- Another successful experiment. We confirmed that this is a fun one worth two thumbs up! On the shortest of short lists for K&G.
Love in the Marais:- Learned it at Pinewoods. Antoine Rousseau put this, and two other dances from the Paris Book, on his evening program. Good fun. And, I like gypsy turns. Thumbs up.
Kamo Karousel:- 👍👍 What? another one? Indeed. Doesn't read like it, but it danced that much better. A definite choice for an ender, either the first half or as a last dance on the program. Pick good rabble rousing music and it flies! And since the K*G's next band leader will be visiting from New Zealand… Ya, you betcha.
Ruby Wilkinson's Farewell to Cranshaws:- Oh yes! Funky not so Scot-ish music but great fun. And the reels - YES. The diagonal reels of four (a la Girardet House) of the middle couples intersecting with reels of four across the dance of the end couples.
Truth: The only way these reels work is if you actually phrase the reels *correctly*. I refuse to reread the manual on this subject. The wording is mushy. The dancing that I see in too many performances is that too.
Not so rhetorical question - Why is it that when dancing a half reel of four the "half way" is nailed by both the middle dancers and the end dancers? But, when dancing a full reel of four the end dancers find a different half way point? One that is in fact nowhere even close?
I suggest that looking at reels of four from the perspective of a Grand Chain might be helpful - they both have six changes in 8 bars of music or, for a half figure, 3 changes in four bars. The timing for these formations is *identical*. If you are starting at the end of the reel the timing should be exactly the same as a half chain – first change by the RH on [1}, second change by the Left on [2] the third change by the right on [3 and 4].
The critical question in a reel of four is: How Far Out is Halfway?
I submit: It is NOT around and past the end and starting back in! Just out TO the far end - to exactly where you would finish if this were a half reel and *not one millimeter further*.
If the timing is not accurate the reels in this dance will not mesh, things will not look right to the dancers, it will show on their faces and be evident in the set.
(Some times I wish all the dancers were wearing electric shock collars… or even better that I could give them a jolt in the pleasure center of their brain when they get it right. Clicker training???)
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
6 August 2018_Scotia (New York, NY)
Summer Dance in the City, and I have two mutually exclusive agendas.
First: this is a social evening. Second: I have to find dances that deserve to be considered for the Kilts and Ghillies Tea Dance. And the only true test is when the leather meets the dance floor.
This evening's dances:
Bottoms Up (32 J 3/3L) Rhodes:Snowdon 3 Bk 49/2
The Dancing Bees (32 R 3) Goldring
The Clarsach (32 S 3/3L) Ryer
Farewell to Balfour Road (32 J 5) Bk 52/7
The Flower Lady (32 S 3/3L) Avril Quarrie
Orpington Caledonians (32 R 3) Bk 49/2
The Shetland Shepherdess (32 J 3) Graded Bk 3
The Lea Rig (32 S 2) Bk 21/5
Toast to the Mousies (32 R 3) Gratiot - leaflet
The Aviator (32 J 3) Bk 52/9
Bedrule (32 S 3) Bk 33/7
Trip to Timber Ridge (32 R 3) Bk 52/12
) - ( – ) - ( – ) - ( – ) - ( – – ) - ( – ) - ( – ) - ( – ) - (
Bottoms Up:- A nice little jig, an easy peasy thing. Ehhh NOT.
Simple, yes, but it is so easy that it is easy to miss the count and that it is mildly upsetting. Not that it really matters, but yet… A K&G test dance proposed by Sandra my program co-deviser. Stays on the short list.
The Dancing Bees:- This is a known quantity and a nice wee social dance.
The Clarsach:- On the evening program by request. The dance was on the 2018 Kilt and Ghillies program, and liked well enough that David (of the beaming smile) called and requested it. How could I not.
The dance has a nice little move: all 3 couples set advancing, the 1C petronella while the corners retire. As a corner (and the teacher) I like to set while retiring. The instructions do not specify - they just say retire.
Farewell to Balfour Road:- Not a boat anchor! The first time this was taught I stood there in the set saying (to myself) "this has to be the single most tedious dance I have ever come across!". Then the teacher added the twist - it is a canon with a new couple starting every 16 bars! Out of the dust bin and onto a pedestal - well not quite that but certainly into the back pocket as a standard 5C set go-to. The response has been two thumbs up - with a big grin from just about everyone.
The Flower Lady:- Unpublished as far as I can tell. I learned it at Pinewoods from Linda Henderson. (You need a good teacher ? - Hire her! She is clear, precise, concise, has high standards and expectations and, above all, she is gentle. Highly recommended (You couldn't tell I like her so I had to say it, right?)
Back to the dance - It is a Nice one! Well actually a very nice one. Nothing over the top, it has a track figure with a slightly tangy twist. Thumbs up.
Orpington Caledonians:- It been out a couple or three years now and still fun. Still a thumbs up.
The Shetland Shepherdess:- A Ron Wallace production. Which means, sight unseen, I am going to like it. I first met it at the New Haven Highland Ball this past spring and have been using ever since.
A good program opener, good anytime really. How many thumbs? Well certainly one big one, maybe two. Worth the look.
The Lea Rig:- It has been years since I last danced or taught this. I think maybe we over did it and ended up with a case of indigestion. The music, song style strathspey, is lovely, the dance can become tedious. But I woke up to the fact that many of our current dancers have never seen it. Oops.
Toast to the Mousies:-Another David request. It too was on last year's K&G Tea Dance. The dance is good. The music is magnificent - tune by Keith Smith. It lifts you out of your chair and draws you onto the floor. The tune (listening style) is found on the CD Highland Shortbread by Keith and Muriel. A dancing version is found on Spark o' Water - CD by Keith and Muriel - as the lead tune for the dance Norma's Garden.
The Aviator:- 👍 👍- This one is special. It is about flying in tandem and then peeling off to circle in parallel. Timing/phrasing of the tandem half-whole reel of three (with lead change) is critical.
I find that the normal - learned - muscle memory phrasing of the reel works not so well. But cutting the reel by dancing STRAIGHT across or STRAIGHT up and down the center axis of the set makes for better phrasing/synchrony with partner - and you do have to work at it! But oh the joy when you get it right.
Bedrule:- We only have one - no snacking on crackers. :-)) Good basic strathspey. Lots of fun to watch. Written because even though we carefully teach dancers to 'flow' between Right Hands Across
below into Left Hands Across above, invariably 1W transitions with a flip. So the devisor wrote that flip into this dance - and now I watch 1W flow beautifully between the two wheels, without the written in flip! Go figure.
Trip to Timber Ridge:- A Linda Henderson production highlighting the Saltire (twice). IMHO we now have another good/great program ender. (My was I getting tired of Reel of the 51st/Royal Scots/etc. etc.). Two thumbs up!
First: this is a social evening. Second: I have to find dances that deserve to be considered for the Kilts and Ghillies Tea Dance. And the only true test is when the leather meets the dance floor.
This evening's dances:
Bottoms Up (32 J 3/3L) Rhodes:Snowdon 3 Bk 49/2
The Dancing Bees (32 R 3) Goldring
The Clarsach (32 S 3/3L) Ryer
Farewell to Balfour Road (32 J 5) Bk 52/7
The Flower Lady (32 S 3/3L) Avril Quarrie
Orpington Caledonians (32 R 3) Bk 49/2
The Shetland Shepherdess (32 J 3) Graded Bk 3
The Lea Rig (32 S 2) Bk 21/5
Toast to the Mousies (32 R 3) Gratiot - leaflet
The Aviator (32 J 3) Bk 52/9
Bedrule (32 S 3) Bk 33/7
Trip to Timber Ridge (32 R 3) Bk 52/12
) - ( – ) - ( – ) - ( – ) - ( – – ) - ( – ) - ( – ) - ( – ) - (
Bottoms Up:- A nice little jig, an easy peasy thing. Ehhh NOT.
Simple, yes, but it is so easy that it is easy to miss the count and that it is mildly upsetting. Not that it really matters, but yet… A K&G test dance proposed by Sandra my program co-deviser. Stays on the short list.
The Dancing Bees:- This is a known quantity and a nice wee social dance.
The Clarsach:- On the evening program by request. The dance was on the 2018 Kilt and Ghillies program, and liked well enough that David (of the beaming smile) called and requested it. How could I not.
The dance has a nice little move: all 3 couples set advancing, the 1C petronella while the corners retire. As a corner (and the teacher) I like to set while retiring. The instructions do not specify - they just say retire.
Farewell to Balfour Road:- Not a boat anchor! The first time this was taught I stood there in the set saying (to myself) "this has to be the single most tedious dance I have ever come across!". Then the teacher added the twist - it is a canon with a new couple starting every 16 bars! Out of the dust bin and onto a pedestal - well not quite that but certainly into the back pocket as a standard 5C set go-to. The response has been two thumbs up - with a big grin from just about everyone.
The Flower Lady:- Unpublished as far as I can tell. I learned it at Pinewoods from Linda Henderson. (You need a good teacher ? - Hire her! She is clear, precise, concise, has high standards and expectations and, above all, she is gentle. Highly recommended (You couldn't tell I like her so I had to say it, right?)
Back to the dance - It is a Nice one! Well actually a very nice one. Nothing over the top, it has a track figure with a slightly tangy twist. Thumbs up.
Orpington Caledonians:- It been out a couple or three years now and still fun. Still a thumbs up.
The Shetland Shepherdess:- A Ron Wallace production. Which means, sight unseen, I am going to like it. I first met it at the New Haven Highland Ball this past spring and have been using ever since.
A good program opener, good anytime really. How many thumbs? Well certainly one big one, maybe two. Worth the look.
The Lea Rig:- It has been years since I last danced or taught this. I think maybe we over did it and ended up with a case of indigestion. The music, song style strathspey, is lovely, the dance can become tedious. But I woke up to the fact that many of our current dancers have never seen it. Oops.
Toast to the Mousies:-Another David request. It too was on last year's K&G Tea Dance. The dance is good. The music is magnificent - tune by Keith Smith. It lifts you out of your chair and draws you onto the floor. The tune (listening style) is found on the CD Highland Shortbread by Keith and Muriel. A dancing version is found on Spark o' Water - CD by Keith and Muriel - as the lead tune for the dance Norma's Garden.
The Aviator:- 👍 👍- This one is special. It is about flying in tandem and then peeling off to circle in parallel. Timing/phrasing of the tandem half-whole reel of three (with lead change) is critical.
I find that the normal - learned - muscle memory phrasing of the reel works not so well. But cutting the reel by dancing STRAIGHT across or STRAIGHT up and down the center axis of the set makes for better phrasing/synchrony with partner - and you do have to work at it! But oh the joy when you get it right.
Bedrule:- We only have one - no snacking on crackers. :-)) Good basic strathspey. Lots of fun to watch. Written because even though we carefully teach dancers to 'flow' between Right Hands Across
below into Left Hands Across above, invariably 1W transitions with a flip. So the devisor wrote that flip into this dance - and now I watch 1W flow beautifully between the two wheels, without the written in flip! Go figure.
Trip to Timber Ridge:- A Linda Henderson production highlighting the Saltire (twice). IMHO we now have another good/great program ender. (My was I getting tired of Reel of the 51st/Royal Scots/etc. etc.). Two thumbs up!
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