Hi Linda,
With some of the dancers as young as five you have quite a
challenge. :-)
I would start with something like:
Welcome to the Dance
Sicilian Circle
A1: Circle Left; Circle Right
A2: Star Right; Star Left
B1: Neighbour Arm Right; Arm Left
B2: With Partner: Forward 1, 2, stamp, stamp, stamp; backwards 1, 2, clap,
clap, clap
Odds (facing CCW) make arches, every go forwards and meet someone new
I always teach B2 multiple times as the first part of the walkthrough to
establish the progression and direction and who is making the arches.
>From a musical point of view this gives them a chance to work easily in
>eights, and practise stamping/clapping at the right time.
The heel and toe in this makes them have to work with the music and listen for
their turn to go:
Ping
Longways; Proper; Four Couples (but if some sets have five couples it is still
fine)
A1: Line 1 Lead Around Line 2 to places
A2: Line 2 Lead Around Line 1 to places
B1: Top Couple: two hands: Heel & Toe x2; Gallop to the bottom
Top Couple: two hands: Heel & Toe x2; Gallop to the bottom
B2: Top Couple: two hands: Heel & Toe x2; Gallop to the bottom
Partner Arm Right (or Swing - but for this type of group I would use
Arming)
To cover some musical education as well you could contrast different time
signatures. For example you could use a dance with a long gallop (sorry, I
know you say “sashay” in the US, but “sashay” is defined as “walk in an
ostentatious yet casual manner, typically with exaggerated movements of the
hips and shoulders” so it is completely the wrong word!) - I would tell them to
“gallop”! Anyway, if you do a simple dance with a long gallop and change tunes
from a jig to a reel part way through, you could tell them in advance to listen
for the change and see how it changes the feel of the gallop.
You could try Swedish Masquearde
https://www.barndances.org.uk/detail.php?Title=Swedish_Masquerade to show them
the difference in feel between a march, a waltz and a polka - I would
substitute Two Hand Turns for the close hold waltz and polka sections.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFqDEfZIxqg
This type of group usually enjoys Horse’s Branle
https://www.webfeet.org/eceilidh/dances/horses-branle.html, getting them to
match footwork to the music in the A part, listen for their turn every four
counts in the B music, and timing their hey to finish on time in the C music.
And of course it is different from many tunes in that it has three parts. If
you want to be silly you can tell the leader in the B part to do something
silly in the four beat crossing, then everyone else has to do the same thing.
I hope that helps.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected] 01233 625 362 & 07802 940
574
http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music Ceilidhs
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs
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