23 October 2018_New Haven

We have a beginner. A 3 weeks of experience beginner. She is planning on going to the Nutmeg Workshop and Evening Social. I received a list of formations she has been taught and I decided, given the reports, that she could handle some heavy duty dances. Wipe my brow and sigh (in relief). She could and did.
She is, simply put, magnificent.

The dances (and there were only four):-

The Findlays' Jig  -  (32 J 3)  -  Goldring
The Chicago Loop  -  (32 R 3)  -  Kent Smith
Miss Florence Adams  -  (32 S 3)  -  Bk 38 (Drewry)
The Scallywag  -  (40 J 3)  -  Bk 52 (Kelly)

The Findlays' Jig:- Nice, simple, good warm up, and a good way to assess basic timing.

The Chicago Loop:- Another simple dance, one where dancers have opportunities to take unauthorized trips to Paris.

Miss Florence Adams:- I like it. I always have. And with Set & Link, with variations, and a variant Corners Pass & Turn - a great dance for a superbly competent beginner and for me because I got to reteach the standard figures, with variations, from bar 1, and the know-it-alls (and we all have some) couldn't complain and got the necessary review.

I taught standard S&L with neighbor on the sides. I then taught Set & cross Link (change of orientation). Then S&L all facing up; all facing down; and again - this time all start facing up, end the link facing down and cross link to end on the sides. And finally, after revealing that they had all learned 2C's and 3C's parts, as in the dance- 2C facing down, 3C facing up and 1C facing up, then down, and ending facing 2nd corners. It worked.

Similarly I taught a standard corners pass & turn with 1st corners, then 2nd corners. Then posed the question: What changes if we start the formation facing 2nd corners? 1C has to turn RH to face 1st corners.

Threw them into the dance. They did it. All of them. Well.

The Scallywag:- Except for the setting piece it is more or less a straight forward dance. They got it, and called for an encore.

22 October 2018_Scotia

This class was all of two days after the NY Branch's Jeannie Carmichael Ball. I wasn't about to start stressing, either myself or the class, about the Brooklyn class' upcoming Drewry Night program. This was a 'anything but' class.

The dances I taught were:

Davy Nick Nack  -  (32 H 3)  - Campbell
The Lea Rig  -  (32 S 2)  -  Bk 21/5
The City of Stirling Reel  -  (32 R 3)  - Goldring
A Reel for Allice  -  (32 R 5)  - Goldring
One Set Short of a Hundred  -  (32 S 3/3L)  -  Paris Bk.
The Scallywag  -  (40 J 3)  -  Bk 52 (Kelly)
Deil Amang the Tailors  -  (32 R 3)  -  Bk 14

– ::  ––  ::  ––  ::  ––  ::  ––  :: ::  ––  ::  ––  ::  ––  ::  ––  :: –

Davy Nick Nack:- Why? Because the corner changes are HALF TURNS!! and nobody dances them that way unless they are hit with a 2x4 to get their attention. Muscle memory! Feh!
The main fig. opens with a nice big wide open turn 1+1/2 in 4 bars, a cast and a short turn to 1st corners - Then the dance cries out for nice big wide strong turns (just 1/2 way) to change the corners in, change the corners out and for the ones to turn to face 2nd corners.
I hear the cry. Am I the only one?

The Lea Rig:- because it has been decades since it was a common dance. And the music is… classic.
Yes Virginia, it should come back as a std. repertoire piece. But please not every week!

The City of Stirling Reel:- A new intake on NY Branch's dance list. I needed to learn it as it was new to me (too). What is nice here? Well, a snowball chain in QT, abbreviated snake passes - not shortened but for 4 dancers in place of 6. It's a Goldring so how bad could it be.

A Reel for Alice:- Because I like it! I just adore the double capstan move, and the question: Can you make eye contact?

One Set Short of a Hundred:- A sweet simple thing. Contains a diamond poussette (👍) and a tourbillon (👍👍). Did I say simple? I think I did. Well, the world might as well learn 'em 'cause they are going to see them for the rest of their days.

The Scallywag:- This one is a gem!! In a platinum setting. In fact the whole of Book 52 is a gem. I found this dance just a wee bit daunting at first (even second) reading but it eases beautifully with even a touch of familiarity. The only thing I had to work out was the setting figure for 1C in the final 8 bars. I found some who could (and loved it) and some who were just confused: left? right? ??

This one went into my list of top 50 Jigs. Currently sitting at #50 out of 57 - but only because the list is alphabetical.

Deil Amang the Tailors:- not because they needed to learn it, because I needed a simple well known closer.

15 October 2018 – Scotia

This week we mostly prepped our own Halloween Party.

Program.

The dances we did were:

The Cup-of-Gold Vine  -  (32 J 3)  -  Sigg/California Gold
Glastonbury Tor  -  (32 R 3)  -  Bk 47/11
Dancin' Witches  -  (32 J 3)  -  Dragonfly (E. Werner)
Insomnia  -  (32 S 2)  -  Dragonfly (J. Montes)
Pinewoods Reel  -  (32 R 3)  - JB Dickson
Chris Ronald's Strathspey  -  (32 S 3)  - Wallace

<<<  ___  <<<---->>> ___  <<<---->>>  ___  <<<---->>>  ___  >>>

The Cup-of-Gold Vine:- Simple, suitable for beginners, pleasing.

Glastonbury Tor:- Zesty! It moves and it gets a thumbs up.

Dancin' Witches:-  Another good moderate intermediate dance. Good lead tune - The Sailor's Wife.

Insomnia:- Yet another good, moderate dance that everybody should know. The only even slightly outside the box figure is the Knot which might not yet have been taught to some beginners. And since most intermediate dancers would know that figure the dance is made up of known figures - so it should be a talk through the park.

Chris Ronald's Strathspey:- Devised by Ron Wallace so what could be bad? Two thumbs up (but I am prejudiced as you know).

8 October 2018 – Scotia

The dances taught were:-

New Year Jig  -  (32 J 3)  - Bk 51
An Autumn Posy  -  (32 S 2)  -  Butterfield
Lucy Campbell  -  (32 R 2)  -  Bk 17
Ruby Wilkinson's Farewell  -  (32 S 4)  - Bk 52
MacLeod's Fancy  -  (32 J 4)  -  Bk 33 (Drewry)

- - -  ^-^  - - -  ^-^  - - -  ^-^  - -  ^  - -  ^-^  - - -  ^-^  - - -  ^-^  - - -

New Year Jig:- This one is just popping out of the woodwork. From not even the radar to ubiquitous.
Easy Peasy flow, 1st woman never faces her partner but begins and ends every figure facing out. Eye contact challenged dancers have to work at it. Nice dance for opening and warming up. But I would be careful to avoid over doing this dance, which would be easy to do.

An Autumn Posy:- I call it a Xiowen special - she taught it, thereby bringing it to our attention, and it is catching on. I initially had issues with it. It is a very simple dance and that requires clean precise dancing which we don't get often enough for my taste. But the more we do it the better the dancers are doing. Yay! There must be a tune out there that fits this dance like a glove but I haven't found it. I am looking.

Lucy Campbell:- Something Society and something different… I had never encountered it before Sandra proposed it for there Kilts and Ghillies Tea Dance and I do mean never. I don't remember ever looking at. I certainly never had it taught to me and it is different enough I would remember it.

A variant RHA LHA - into a slipping figure with some traveling pas de basque that somewhat resembles a poussette, then a fugal figure into the final figure to progress.

    Diagram courtesy of SCDDB and Keith Rose.

In my opinion dancing the slipping/setting figure cleanly is the key to the dance. Across the set in 4 slip steps is easy and the transition to p-d-b on inside foot should be natural. It is the slipping to the center that causes problems. 4 slip steps here are too many or else too small and in either case just plain ugly. 

My solution is three slip steps to the center and a deliberate close. The left foot is free and the rotation [bar 7] is then on the easy foot and the retire is on the right p-d-b. As 1st Man I make my foot change at the beginning of the cast in the next figure. I dance p-d-b close, and leave off the jété.

A piece of me really wants to break out of the box and do the jété and begin the cast hopping on my right - making it an 'easy' cast and then stay 'out of step' for the remainder of the figure. Maybe someday I will gather the courage.

Ruby Wilkinson's Farewell to Cranshaws:- I like it. Deborah loves it! The music is delightfully different - I would NOT want our music to be all esoteric and different - but on occasion it is great fun.

The reels need work. There IS a preferred timing to reels of four. Unfortunately the Manual doesn't explain it clearly enough. In fact the manual can too easily be misinterpreted, and with double diagonal reels of four intersecting in the middle and those reels also intersecting with reels of four across the top and bottom timing becomes… critical.

In a reel of four you have to make three passes in four bars or 6 passes in 8 bars. Now where have we heard that before? Anyone?

Right you are – in grand chains. The timing of the end couples in a reel of four is EXACTLY the same: 1, 1, 2: Pass dancer by the right [1], next dancer by the left [1] and the next dancer by the right - slowly [2 steps]. You are in the opposite place from where you began, 1/2 way through the reel. Middle people simply start in the middle of the phrase (as it were). Take two to dance out to the END - no further - come in on 3 and pass on 4. In other words 2,1,1.

From the manual:

1. 1st and 4th women pass by the left􏰁 while 2nd and 3rd women continue to dance to the right, round the loop, to finish 2nd woman facing down and 3rd woman facing up.

The words that cause all the problems and misinterpretations: 

1.  continue to dance to the right, round the loop, to finish … facing down and … facing up.
   
   
   

So Around the end we go and back into the middle of the reel - early. And confusing the dancers who are expecting to meet only one person, not two, in the middle.

(If asked I will diagram this out.)

MacLeod's Fancy:- On the Brooklyn class' Drewry Night program.  For the eighth straight year in a row, and the 13th time in 19. Seriously, do I really have to prep this?  …… Yes. Sigh.