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   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574                         

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