One overall suggestion is to get a copy of "21 Easy English Country Dances," a
booklet with accompanying CD, available from CDSS:
http://www.cdss.org/product-details/product/id-21-easy-english-country-dances-booklet-with-cd.html
It's a collection of classic dances with plenty of variety of formations and moods,
and it will give you a lot of good material (plus music) from which to work. For
example, it includes Upon a Summer's Day, which was the first dance in the first
edition of Playford, a very accessible three-couple dance that introduces the
USA figures-- up a double, siding, and arming.
If you have live music, the tunes for these dances are easily available, and you
can use the CD for your own practice beforehand.
David Millstone
