At Old Srurbridge Village, a living museum, we use one penny whistle, flute, or fiddle. We always dance Rakes of Mallow. The age of the dancing audience ranges from 4 to 70s, and they always have fun.
Rakes: Fwd & Bk, Fwd & Change lines Fwd & Bk, Fwd and change back to original line Right hand turn, left hand turn Top Couple sashay down. Simplicity is the key. Do a google search for books by the New England Dancing Masters, and by Mariam Rose. There are many good dances and CDs with the tunes. I wish you success! Rich On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 6:18 AM, Claire Takemori via Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > I want to learn to call & share family dances with more kids to spread > folk music and dancing in our area (SF bay area, near Santa Cruz). > > I've got an opportunity to teach dances for my son's nature class. It > will range in age from 5 to 15 years. There's an option to work with just > 8 years and up for some or all of the dancing. > > My questions: > > 1. Can you recommend some really fun dances for starting out? The first > couple have be great so I can win them over with fun. > > 2. I'm wondering how vital music is to the success? I think really great > live music is a major part of my joy of contra dancing. We are not allowed > to use electrical amplification. I'm wondering if I could use a single > fiddler? And how do I locate a local fiddler who might volunteer > playing? Maybe a talented youth? > > 3. I won't have a mic and will have to use a bullhorn. Any advice? I > don't have a naturally loud voice, but do sing so I know about projection > and belly breathing. > > 4. They are thinking of 8 consecutive weeks, once a week for 15-30 > minutes (before nature classes head out hiking). Is 8 weeks a good > initial exposure? How long should each session last, 30 minutes? > > 5. We might culminate with a "field trip" to a local barn dance. Any > advice for the preparation for that? > > Thanks for any advice! > > claire takemori > > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net >
