[Callers] contra chestnuts & Money Musk

Good luck, Bill! And there definitely is a market of folks interested in the older dances. David Smukler and I each held a dance this past Saturday where the program was advertised as all older dances. We each had a great turnout. At my dance, we had everone from absolute first-timers, to many of the regular crowd, to folks whom we haven't seen on a dance floor in ages. Some dancers drove two hours to attend. Here's the program I called in Norwich, Vermont: Grand March British Sorrow Lamplighter's Hornpipe Jamie Allen Gay Gordon's Portland Fancy Morning Star Devil's Dream Money Musk Rory O'More Speed the Plough Young Widow Chorus Jig There were plenty of other good possibilities. Didn't include Petronella or Hull's Victory or Hull's Victory because we do 'em so often anyhow, mixed in with more modern material. Of course, we do Chorus Jig often, too, but you can't have a program of chestnuts and omit that one! The program in Syracuse, with multiple callers, went as follows: Lady Walpole's Queen Victoria British Sorrow Chorus Jig Petronella Rory O'More Money Musk 5th figure of the standard Lancers Lamplighters' HP Young Widow Devil's Dream One of the delights has been reading comments e-mailed after the dance from folks who wished that there could be more such events. Here are some samples: "I've been meaning to write to thank you for that fabulous dance this past weekend in Norwich. It was well worth the trip from northern Vermont. On the way back we were wondering if this could become an annual event. I've pretty much given up contra dancing in recent years (twirling, stomping, athleticism, etc) but that night brought back everything I love about it. The calling, the music, the dances, it was all sheer pleasure. So were the tidbits about the dances and their history. You even persuaded people to behave in a civilized manner..." "What wonderful dances !! Those chestnuts are such a treat to dance -- they're full of that unending flowing feeling if you're active; and if you're inactive, they're full of chances to admire the actives - the hall - and the caller and band, to enjoy the other dancers in your set, and to support the actives in making each round of the dance a perfectly timed smoothly-choreographed delight. And Money Musk is one of my favorites, so it was wonderful to do that last night -- I particularly like when the active person swoops (or backs) into his/her spot in the lines of three -- or as an inactive, when to two of you are receiving the "incoming" active with just the right timing. Plus while we were dancing it in Norwich, it was wonderful to realize that this dance being done by like-minded but unknown "friends" all around the globe, with great callers and bands all urging on the dancers!" "I saw so many familiar faces (usually I can't remember the names) and found that many had come because of the program. Us 'oldsters' don't get the chance to do the old chestnuts often. Thank you!" "Thank you for an absolutely wonderful dance last night. The program and music and calling were utter heaven..." Are these dances for everyone? Probably not. (I was calling a week ago at a large venue with many-- i.e., 50 or so-- new dancers on the floor. The first dance of the evening had no partner swing, only neighbor swings, so that the newbies could experience swings with many different people. One experienced dancer approached me afterwards to point out that there had been no partner swing. She mentioned that she had never done a dance before that evening that didn't have a partner swing, didn't know that such items even existed.) One of the things I noted in looking at the two hours of video footage we gathered from the Norwich dance was seeing all those inactive couples having fun while just standing still. Smiling at their partner, listening to the music, occasionally sneaking in a swing with an inactive from the neighboring line-- okay, so they weren't always standing still-- and watching the active couples. Boy, I sure remember picking up a lot of tricks from watching good dancers, something that's much harder to do in the everyone-moving-all-the-time dances. Don't get me wrong-- I love those, too, and call plenty of 'em, but variety is good. Where can you find directions for all those dances? Well, I'll put in a plug for "Cracking Chestnuts," published by CDSS. You can also find many of them on the syllabi online for the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend. As many of you know, Saturday night was also the time for what we dubbed the International Money Musk Moment. Folks in venues around the northeast danced Money Musk at more or less the same time, and we were joined by dancers in Michigan, California, New Zealand, Denmark, and (coming up this coming Saturday at their monthly dance) the outskirts of Zurich. David Smukler and I will compile the stories from all these venues and will share the information in some fashion. I posted a piece of video footage showing our dancing in Norwich, Vermont: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnCnMSEAejg There's also a short piece documenting Money Musk at Monte Toyon camp (Linda Leslie and Bob Isaacs calling): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy8hIwkpo1Q Here's a link to a Facebook site showing the dance in Bethlehem, PA, with Donna Hunt calling http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/swf/mvp.swf?8%3A149819=&v=24250984990&ev… and this clip from New Zealand, with Bill Baritompa calling to the New England Chestnuts recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdQIKMdtR3A Cheers, David Millstone Lebanon, NH