I chose Marian Anderson's Set of Jigs (Famous Baravan) because that music made me want to get up and dance. The one recording I had of John Drewry's 'name' tune did not!

Carding of the Wool -

Perfect Vision in 2020 – 3 x 40 Strathspey

Muse Cottage – 3x32S

Insomnia -- 32 J 3/4L

Ecclefechan Feline – 32 Jig 3/4L

Carding of the Wool

Sorry folks - YouTube is claiming our video of Carding of the Wool  is either hijacking their customers, demanding money from viewers, sending spam, unconstitutionally constraining national voting rights, or is in someway inappropriate. They have not responded to any of my queries.

The Portland Mermaid – 32 Strathspey 3/3L

27 April 2019_Kilts & Ghillies Tea Dance

It happened! It was a Success!

Thanks to Ingrid Davis for arranging and managing and doing all the the things that needed doing that we don't know about.

Thanks to the Band - Without music that lifts you and you can fly to… what's the point?
So Sharlene, thank you! And to Jenny Evans and Amy Beshara the fiddle players Sharlene  found. You were great!

Bottoms Up  -  (32 J 3/3L)
Sugar Candie  -  (32 S 3)
Dancing Bees  -  (32 R 3)

Beach Dancer  -  (32 J 3)
Lea Rig  -  (32 S 2)
Farewell to Balfour Road  -  (32 J 5)

Meg Merrilees  -  (24 R 2)
Miss Janet Laing's Strathspey  -  (32 S 4)
Kamo Karousel  -  (32 J 3)

     **  **  ***  **  **

Shadow  -  (32 J 3/3L)
From Paper to Pearl  -  (32 R 3)
Lucy Campbell  -  (32 R 2)

Rendezvous à Vichy  -  (32 R 3)
Bon Viveur  -  *128 M 4sq)
Sailor  -  (32 R 3)

The Aviator  -  (32 J 3)
One Set Short of a Hundred  -  (32 S 3/3L)
Trip to Timber Ridge  -  (32 R 3)

<<<  StrathspeyList >>>  cribs, diagrams and videos.

24 April 2019_Westchester

And on, and on, and on…

Shadow  –  (32 J 3/3L)  –  Rhodes
Miss Janet Laing's Str.  –  (32 S 4)  –  Bk 22 (Cramb)
Farewell to Balfour Road  –  (32 J 5)  –  Bk 52 (Buxton)
One Set Short of a Hundred  –  (32 S 3/3L)  –  Paris (Latour)
Come What May  –  (32 J 2) –  Bk 50 (Butterfield)
Sugar Candie  –  (32 S 3)  –  Bk 26
Dancing Bees  –  (32 R 3)  – Goldring
Aviator  –  (32 J 3)  –  Bk 52 (Fischer)

23 April 2019_New Haven

Another ball prep session.

Come What May  –  (32 J 2)  - Bk 51 (Butterfield)
Rendez-vous à Vichy  –   (32 J 3)  –  Paris (Latour)
Miss Janet Laing's Str.  –  (32 S 4)  –  Bk 22 (Cramb)
Meg Merrilees  –  (24 R 2)  –  Bk 1
Shadow  –  (32 J 3/3L)  –  Bk 50
One Set Short of a Hundred  –  (32 S 3/3L)  –  Paris (Latour)
Trip to Timber Ridge  –  (32 R 3)  –  Bk 52 (Henderson)

17 April 2019_Westchester

K&G Tea Dance is getting ever nearer.  So is NJ's Rerr Terr.

So it is Ball Prep. Dances taught were:-

Bottoms Up  –  32 J 3/3L)  -  Snowdon 3
Montréal Rendezvous  –  (32 R 3)  –  Birdsall
From Paper to Pearl  –  (32 S 3)  –  Collin
Aviator, The  –  (32 J 3)  – Bk 52 (Fischer)
Bon Viveur  –  (128 M 4sq)  –  Bk 52 (Brockbank)
Rendez-vous à Vichy  –  (32 J 3)  –  Paris Bk (Latour)
Trip to Timber Ridge  –  (32 R 3)  -  Bk 52 (Henderson)

Dale Birdsall's Montréal Rendezvous and Rhodes' Bottoms Up are the only dances that were not personally known to me before this season. Montréal Rendezvous was picked for the Rerr Terr and Sandra picked Bottoms Up for our Tea Dance. All the dances are fun, have good tunes or positive redeeming social value of some kind.

13 April 2019_Middletown K&G Workshop

Wow. We covered 12 out of the 18 dances!

Bottoms Up  -  (32 J 3/3L)  -  a reasonable opener.
From Paper to Pearl  -  (32 S 3)  -  Gaye Collin (NZ)
Farewell to Balfour Road  -  (32 J 5)  -  Bk 52
Lucy Campbell  -  (32 R 2)
Miss Janet Laing's Strathspey  -  (32 S 4)
The Bon Viveur  -  (64 M 4sq)  -  Bk 52
The Aviator  -  (32 J 3)  - Ooh! Luverly!  Bk 52
One Set Short of a Hundred  -  (32 S 3/3L)  -  Paris
Rendez-vous à Vichy  -  (32 J 3)  -  Paris
Beach Dancer  -  (32 J 3)  -  NZ
Shadow  -  (32 J 3/3L)  -  Bk 50
Trip to Timber Ridge  -  (32 R 3)  - Bk 52

10 April 2019_Westchester

Real heavy on the ball prep this week.

Dances taught:-

Beach Dancer  -  (32 J 3)  -  Eddy West
Miss Janet Laing's Strathspey  -  (32 S 3)  -  Bk 22 (Cramb)
Lucy Campbell  -  (32 R 2)  -  Bk 17

Shetland Shepherdess  -  (32 J 3)  -  Wallace
Asilomar Romantic  -  (32 S 3)  -  SF2
Kamo Karousel  -   (32 J 3)  -  Eddy West

+++   ≠≠≠  +++   ≠≠≠   ++ ± ++   ≠≠≠    +++    ≠≠≠   +++

Miss Janet Laing's Strathspey:- The Story: People are claiming this is a HARD dance. They are correct. Sandra is pointing her finger at me and saying I am at fault. I, in turn, am pointing my finger at her as the main culprit. It was on her short list.

At fault was our timing. She sent me a short list of dances for consideration. Miss Janet was one of those dances. She has a daughter in GB who was recently married and expecting her first child. Sandra spent time visiting. Rather a lot of that time during the critical phase of the program development, out of touch, and ultimately I had to choose. It was on her list so I went with it. Ta da! Here it is… Oh! You hadn't actually danced it? You liked how it read? Oops. Oh well.

The dance is in the 4.5 to 5 out of 5 in difficulty. Tight timing is needed to get the circles to flow.
A real challenger - and you could use it if you need to humble an advanced class who are good (and know it). But I love the conceit of the first 16 bars and the subsequent circles to get you home.

7 April 2019_New Caanan K&G Workshop

The workshop was arranged and mostly taught by Sandra Bethray (who is the teacher of the Purple Heather Dancers - the renaming of the Kilts & Ghillies class).

Just to clear up a question that might be asked after looking at the Tea Dance program- Why so many dances from New Zealand and Book 52?

Firstly the band leader is Sharlene Penman who is from New Zealand and secondly Book 52 is chock full of winners, recently published and I have appointed myself one of its ambassadors.

Beach Dancer  -  (32 J 3)  -  a New Zealander
The Aviator  -  (32 J 3)  -  Bk 52
Farewell to Balfour Road  -  (32 J 5)  -  Bk 52
From Paper to Pearl  -  (32 S 3)  -  a New Zealander
Trip to Timber Ridge  -  (32 R 3)  -  Bk 52
Bottoms Up  -  (32 J 3/3L)  - Rhodes
Shadow  -  (32 J 3)  -  Bk 50

3 April 2019_Westchester

Well, the start of the new series in Westchester and the K&G Tea Dance is a few short weeks away. But not an immediate deep immersion into ball prep.

Dances taught:-

Bethankit  -  (32 J 3)  -  Graded Bk 3
Invercauld's Reel  -  (32 S 3)  -  Bk 21
The Atholl Reel  -  (32 R 2)  -  Let's All Dance 1 (Trew)
Broadway  -  (32 S 3/3L)  -  Ronald
Rendez-vous à Vichy  -  (32 J 3)  -  Paris 1 (Latour)
Duke of Atholl's Reel  -  (32 J 2)  -  Bk 16
Triple Happiness  -  (32 S 3/3L)  -  Bk 52
Shadow  -  (32 J 3/3L)  -  Bk 50 (Thompson)
Montgomeries' Rant  -  (32 R 3)  -  Bk 10

— — —  @@  ——— @@  — ± —  @@  ———  @@  ———

Bethankit:-  warmup dance right? How about I don't like what I am seeing in their handing, especially in Rights&Lefts. Practice? I wish. Teaching! Seriously? Yes, seriously. :-(

Invercauld's Reel:- Because just because. The music mostly & because it is std. repertoire.

The Atholl Reel:- Pure dead simple (with R&L).

Broadway:-  Diagonal R&L following Set&Link3. Beautiful! Two thumbs up.

Rendez-vous à Vichy:- Because I saw some of the videos and they were gorgeous. Also because a young man has moved to New Haven from Paris and is dancing, and his wife Pascaline (who is still in Paris) wrote the music for several of the dances in this book. And I like the dance. Thumbs up.

Shadow:- A Shetland style reel.  Three tandem couples reeling! Another reason why I thought the original RSCDS description of the Pelorus Jack reels was a huge mistake! Glad they saw the light.

23 March 2019 -- New Haven

Time is marching on and the Tea Dance is fast approaching. That means "ball prep" and I need to avoid burning out and becoming absolutely sick of the dances before hand and that is true every year.

The dances I taught were:

Carols A Plenty  -  (32 J 3)  -  Lou Hanson
Sugar Candie  -  (32 S 3)  -  Bk 26
Corrievreckan  -  (128 M 4sq)  -  Carnforth 4 (Boswell)
Farewell to Balfour Road  -   (32 J 5canon)  -  Bk 52
Bon Viveur  -  (64 M 4sq)  -  Bk 52
Lucy Campbell  -  (32 R 2_  -  Bk 17

——— ±±±  ———  ≠≠≠  —— ± ——  ≠≠≠ ———  ±±±  ———

Carols A Plenty:-  Pretty Darn Simple Jig. Good to warm up the brain and the body.

Sugar Candie:-  A golden oldie. It has never before been on a K&G program. It was past time and I always need a balance between old vs new and inSociety vs outSociety dances.

Corrievreckan:-  Fun! Unusual! I learned it from Keira & Marc Hartstein who had one of the  Westchester class series and were doing a square each week. This one is a winner and I need to keep it fresh in mind so I can pull a 'surprise'.

Farewell to Balfour Road:-  A canon a la The Dundee City Police Jig - a new couple starts at the top every 16 bars (half dance) with each round taking 32 bars. I remember the first time it was taught and the teacher had each couple walk it once through in sequence. It had to be the most tedious dance in creation (so I thought) and then, oh then, he canonized it and it zoomed onto the top 50 list.

Bon Viveur:-  A nice 'simple' square if you consider schiehallion reels simple. And I do. They are merely a chase. The women chase their partners while their partners chase after that 'other' woman. In other words yet another winner from Book 52.

Lucy Campbell:- Sandra and I have agreed to differ on this one. I like it while she is less than enthralled. It is an older dance. It doesn't have that modern flow. It involves counting in fractions and that throws some people for a loop. Think while dancing? OMG! What a horrible thing to do to us!  :-)

26 February 2019_New Haven

Ball season has arrived - Upcoming are The New Haven Highland Ball Weekend; The NJ Rerr Terr; Kilts and Ghillies Tea Dance; Pawling Weekend and then summer.

The dances I taught were:-

Bethankit  –  (32 J 3)  –  Stacey -RSCDS 3rd Graded
Left-Handed Fiddler  –  (32 R 3)  –  Lasnik
Miss Florence Adams  –  (32 S 3)  –  Drewry - Bk 38/7
Sunshine and Sweetie's Jig  –  (32 J 3)  –  Bk 48/7
Born to Dance  –  (32 J 3)  –  Collin: From Paper to Pearl

<<  ––  >>   <<  ––  >>   <<  ––  >>   <<  ––  >>   <<  ––  >>

Bethankit:- "and the good Lord bethankit" - nice easy (if reels are easy) gentle starter.

Miss Florence Adams:- Because it long past time to reintroduce it!

I included this on a New Haven Ball shortly after it was published and all I got was a load of s**t! "Too Hard" was the kindest comment. And not the dance - the whole program! Looking back on that program I can see that it was, well… staid and boring at best. This was the only difficult dance on the program but it stained the whole evening. And I now can see why they thought that.

Firstly - it was a Drewry dance and we know that all Drewry dances are hard.
Secondly- it included a  NEW figure. Set and Link, just invented and a lot of it. Thumbs down!
Thirdly- it had yet another NEW figure - Corners Pass & Turn. Double thumbs down!!
Fourthly- that combination had a synergy that added up to NOT good.

And most of those dancers haven't danced it since. They "know" how hard a dance it is and would not!

Twenty years later how many dances now include Set & Link? How many times have you done Corners Pass & Turn? How hard is this dance with all that experience under your belt?
I was just ahead of my time.

Burns Night - Westchester 2019

It has been almost a full year since I have posted. Time to fix that.

The program was simple, and some dances were there only because the music has a Burns connection.

We danced the following:-

The Loch Ness Monster  -  (32 R 1circle)  -  Iain Boyd
Sky Top Jig  -  (32 J 2/3L)  -  Houghton
Gay Gordons Two Step (ceilidh)
The Lea Rig  -  (32 S 2)  -  Bk 21/5

Driving Through Eutaw  -  (32 J 3)  -  D. Leary
A Mans A Mam for a' That  -  (32 S 3)  -  Bk 30/5
The Nut  -  (24 J 2)  -  Bk 1/4
Trip to Timber Ridge  -  (32 R 3)  -  Henderson

       >>>>>>>>>>     ***    <<<<<<<<<<

The Lea Rig - the wonderful traditional music. It was time to resurrect the dance. It was overdone 30 years ago but the newer dancers have never heard of it.

Driving Through Eutaw:- was written to Ye Banks and Braes (Burns CD by Marian Anderson)
and it is a good dance, with a twist.

A Man's a Man for a' That:- a traditional Burns? - The dance is less than stellar, the music is classic!