12 Oct
2010
12 Oct
'10
8:13 p.m.
I'm surprised not to see The Spanish Waltz on this list, as I love to dance
it. Is it not English enough, or is there some authenticity problem with it?
M
E
On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 8:37 AM, Michael Clark <michael.clark(a)wmich.edu>wrote;wrote:
It's interesting to see the votes for The Wood
Duck, which has always been
a favorite of mine, too.
About 15 years ago I was asked to call a series of dance parties for a
church social group, one a month for 3 months. One night I thought I'd try a
waltz mixer. Knew The Wood Duck would be too much of a challenge, so I
worked up the following substitute figures for the same tune (Bare
Necessities recording):
Formation: Circle of couples with partners facing, gents with backs to
center, ladies facing the center.
Music: 32 bar waltz tune
A1 Right hand balance together and apart, box the gnat to trade places.
Joining left hands as well, do a cross-hand two-hand turn once around. Now
gents are facing the center.
A2 That again. Now everyone is back in the starting place.
B1 With partner, dos-a-dos. On left diagonal, dos-a-dos neighbor (=next
partner).
B2 With neighbor (new partner) waltz promenade (those who can and wish to
may do a turning waltz), end facing this partner and give right hands to
start next round of dance.
Didn't give it a title at the time but came to think of it as The Wood
Phoenix, which incorporates the church name as well as the dance and tune
that were its inspiration. I probably used the recording of The Wood Duck
the first time I called it but have used other tunes, recorded and live, as
well.
The two-hand turns in A1 and A2 could go just half-way, or even once and a
half around, as long as everyone is back in the starting position at the end
of A2.
Mike
At 11:40 PM 10/11/2010, you wrote:
--
For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
I agree with Alan's choices, and will just
add that Circle Waltz (or
Family Waltz) works very nicely to the tune Tombigbee Waltz, especially at
the chassee steps.
Richard
On Oct 11, 2010, at 10:41 PM, Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing wrote:
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Chrissy wrote:
balance
A poll: What's your favorite waltz mixer,
and why?
For experienced English dancers:
"The Wood Duck", because of the trance-inducing match of tune and dance,
elegant flow, partner and neighbor interaction.
For everybody else:
"Circle Waltz" (Big circle, balance and roll-away 4x, with this one in and out, roll in, repeat going out, chassee
in, chassee out, waltz
around)
or some variation, because it's so
accessible, connects the whole room
repeatedly, lets you see most of the opposite-sex people in the room if
only
for a fleeting moment, and works with many
flavors of waltz.)
-- Alan
--
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Alan Winston --- WINSTON(a)SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone:
650/926-3056
Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand
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