Hi David and all,
Thanks for the ideas. I know! It's a little crazy with the no-
circles. They did actually ask that no "complicated moves" such as
Heys be taught until/unless the dancers are doing well up to that
point. They are concerned about first impressions with the new
dancers, but I think the no-circles thing came from wanting to appeal
to the existing dancers in that area of the state. Since they are
dancer-organizers and not caller-organizers, I think I will lean on
them a little about their expectations. :) Your remarks encourage me.
I do have the Chimes of Dunkirk book, which has saved me from teeth-
gnashing in the past. I will look into the others. I have to say
that the Shared Weight archives have been useful in the past. Maybe
I should look again. I seem to recall some good discussion of family
dances.
And thanks for these dances, David. It's great that they can be
danced without regard to gender positioning! I will definitely make
use of them.
Thanks,
Joy Greenwolfe
On Nov 18, 2006, at 9:28 AM, David Millstone wrote:
Hello Joy,
If you're going to be doing similar gigs with less experienced
dancers, I'd
suggest getting copies of Chimes of Dunkirk and Listen to the
Mockingbird (New
England Dancing Masters) plus Dudley Laufman's two books (with
CDs)-- White
Mountain Reel and Sweets of May-- as useful sources for lots of
material. Marian
Rose's books (the Step Lively series) also have some wonderful
dances in them.
(All available through Country Dance and Song Society.) Yes, it's
an investment
in resources, but armed with the material in these books (and CDs,
too) you'll
have plenty of excellent material-- contras, circles, squares,
simple line
dances, mixers, suitable for working with beginners of all ages.
For your first dance coming up in early December, you have your
hands tied--
"required by organizers to be all contra (no circles or squares)."
WHAT ARE THEY
THINKING? Is the next list of requirements going to be that they
want lots of
newcomers to be there and oh, by the way, they want the first dance
of the
evening to include a hey for four on the left diagonal? Have they
told you that
every contra has to have a partner swing and a neighbor swing? Or
are they
waiting to spring that on you later on? Sheesh.
Okay, stepping back off my soapbox...
In the meantime, here are two simple contras that work with folks
who are new to
this kind of dancing. Don't have to worry about proper/improper,
just line 'em
up across from a partner, set up your minor sets of four, and
you're off.
David Millstone
P.S. It really is worth having a discussion with the organizers to
see if you
can come to a better understanding of how to build a dance series.
I would
suggest that contra contra contra is not the best recipe for success.
-------
Family Contra (Sherry Nevins)
A1 Balance ring 2x ("Go IN... and OUT... and IN... and OUT),
circle left 1x
A2 Balance ring 2x, circle right 1x
B1 DSD with neighbor, DSD with partner
B2 DSD 1.5 as a couple
------
Ellen's Green Jig (Roy Dommett)
A1 Do-si-do neighbor
Do-si-do partner
A2 Ones balance and swing
B1 Circle left
Circle right
B2 Square dance figure, Duck for the Oyster, Dive for the Clam:
(Still joined in a circle, twos arch and ones duck partially under
and then back
up to place. Ones arch and twos duck under and then back up. Ones
duck all the
way through Twos' arch to meet new neighbors.)
"Duck for the oyster, dive for the clam, duck through the hole in
the old tin
can" or similar patter
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