Diamond Poussette

On strathspey.org the very long thread on strathspey steps transitions continues. Strong notes of boredom are being sounded. One splinter thread moved onto the subject of the Strathspey Pousette Right Round. I submitted the following and repost it here.

*****
The manual describes the *current* thinking on the strathspey poussette right round. In the 1963 edition of Book 21 (which is the one I have) the appendix has a very nice set of diagrams, with description, of the strathspey poussette right round – and it is not, repeat not, what is in the current manual.

The Society has changed their thinking and there are TWO ways of dancing the SPRR. The main difference between the two is the position of the dancers at the end of bars 1 and 4.

Old version -
bar 1 - Dance in to position on the top and bottom points of the diamond, each couple angled at 45 degrees to the center line, men above partners. Couples are NOT lined up.

bar 4 - Couples turn about and remain on the diamond end points, angled at 45 degrees to the center line and men above partners. Again, couples are not lined up.

New version:
bar 1 - couples dance in (and a little up or down) to stand in a diagonal line of four (angled at 45 degrees to the center line) but not ON the top and bottom points of the diamond but rather somewhere in between.

bar 4 - couples turn about AND move either up or down the set AND move away from the center line (definitely off the diamond end points) to reform that line of four.

Apparently some body of dancer/teachers thought that four dancers lined up looked pretty spiffy and changed the rules. To my mind all too much 'fudging' is required in achieving it.

The irony here is that the older version too has a line of four. It happens after the "step, close" portion of bar 2 when, like magic, the two couples form a line of four, angled at 45 degrees etc. It is just a passing moment. It appears and then disappears. It is the ephemeral nature of the line that makes the older version, in the opinion of this dancer, the more attractive of the two.


Comments definitely welcome!

Strathspey Steps - Transitions

There has been an extensive discussion (17 posts and counting) on strathspey.org over the 'proper' way to transition from a strathspey setting to str. traveling. The post by Oberdan Otto caught my attention and I am reposting it (without permission, please forgive) in its entirety.

Quote:

Hi Diane,

This is a subject on which I have spoken in the past. I have my own views which are not necessarily shared by much of the SCD world as they are governed by what I consider good body mechanics and not by dictum.

As for the Manual, you will get very little consolation there because it generally does not address step transitions. There are so many different step transitions, that trying to cover them might easily double the size of the manual and it might end up generating much discontent in the SCD community, because for many step transitions, there is not a single obvious method and our practitioners have chosen different solutions. As for getting a general consensus in the SCD community, that might be equally difficult.

Some step transitions are "natural" such as the transition from a right foot traveling strathspey step to a left foot traveling strathspey step. The normal end to one step is the normal preparation to begin the other.

The transition in question however--a left moving common scottishe (sp?) step to a right foot traveling strathspey step--is NOT natural. To do the transition, you have to decide if you are going to change the end of the previous step or the beginning of the next step. The setting step ends with the lift behind. The traveling step starts from 1st position. You cannot avoid changing one or the other. In this particular case you are likely to get as many people answering one way as the other as there are many practitioners on both sides.

For me, the first principle is that the transition should be smooth--no awkward bumps, halts or interruptions to the body flow. Well, in this case, a skilled dancer can do both methods smoothly, although a less skilled dancer might have difficulty moving into the traveling step with his stepping foot "trapped" behind the other leg.

For my personal answer to this question, I take one (mental) step back and ask "why is there a lift with the free foot coming up behind the other leg in the setting step?" In a mechanical sense, it isn't necessary--one could just draw in the free foot to the standing foot and step out again. However, anyone who has done the setting step correctly knows how good it feels to do that lift behind as preparation for the next setting step. It is great for reversing the body flow from going to the right, to the left and to the right etc. That is why I think the lift behind is there and when it should be used--for side-to-side DIRECTION REVERSAL.

So I ask myself, if I am transitioning from a left setting step to a right forward traveling step, is that a direction reversal? No, I think it is not. From this line of argument, use of the lift behind would be inappropriate. So I will transition through first position, not through 3rd rear aerial. If I am dancing a Petronella figure, there are lots of direction reversals. I will use the lift behind between the right-moving setting and the left-moving setting, AND between the left foot traveling strathspey and the right-moving setting!!!

But this brings up another transition on which we were all carefully schooled--circling to the left using strathspey traveling steps to circling to the right. I was taught that we should NOT lift behind because we are doing a traveling step, NOT a setting step. But how many of us have simply disengaged the brains, let our muscle memory take over and done the lift behind without thinking? It is MOST CERTAINLY a direction reversal, and that lift up behind feels really good. My personal view that dogmatically forbidding the lift behind in this case "because it is not a setting step" is a fundamental mistake that ignores body mechanics. Moreover, calling what we do when we circle left or right in stathspey time a "traveling step" is a pretty big stretch. It is a fairly contorted version of strathspey traveling with the dancer trying to have the upper body facing the center while the feet are dancing the circumference. The direction reversal is the only time we are not contorted and it sure feels exactly like the end of a setting step! I think this is a case where dictum has got its foot in its mouth.

OK, I'm off the soap box. Next!

Cheers, Oberdan.

End Quote.


If you want to read the entire thread you can access it from the archive page of the Strathspey server. You will need to either open the December Archive or do a search - try "strathspey transitions".

Going Viral?

A couple of days ago I posted the Kilts and Ghillies 2010 Ball Program to the Strathspey list as part of a thread on dance programs and attendance. This elicited a number of comments. Then, in one of my responses to said comments, I mentioned my liking for the medley Sage and Salsa. (Quoted below).

I have now sent either the ball crib or the actual directions to eight people. Four are in Europe or the UK, two are in Canada, one from Minnesota and one unknown.

And then, in a mistake, I sent a post to the strathspey list that commercially plugged the Santa Fe class's books, The Dunsmuir Book, Between the Rivers and Barry Priddey.

Where will it End?


*****
"Sage and Salsa is the first medley I have ever danced that I liked. It is simple. If you don't know it contact me. The dances coming out of the Santa Fe class are remarkable for their originality and sometimes IMO sheer genius. This is one of them."

*****
"I am attaching the ball crib for you. I think you will find more than one dance with differences.
My favourites are Mole's Frolic, Sage and Salsa, Maurice (advanced), Glen Falloch, Rakes of Auld Reekie, and On Hudson Creek.

Books to seriously consider owning: Always Enough to Dance, Still Enough to Dance, Fun for All Seasons (these from Jane Lataille and the Santa Fe SC Dancers - a very small class);
The Dunsmuir Book - I have found 6 superb dances in this one and haven't tried them all yet.
Between the Rivers - lots of good ones here too.
I am also finding a number of good dances from Barry Priddey (who seems to deserve far more recognition than he has so far gotten.)"