New subject: Valentine's theme dance - followup/aftermath

23 Feb 2010

--- Greg wrote:
That is the technique used by the musicians who insert 
parts of recognizable songs or tunes into their medleys.
--- end of quote ---

A wonderful example of this came at Winter Dance Week at Brasstown two months
ago. Daron Douglas and Karen Axelrod were the musicians for two different
workshops each day in English country dance. Beforehand, they had jotted down
the basic chord structure of dozens of Christmas carols, and while I was
teaching a particular dance, they'd confer with each other about what might fit.
Not always, but frequently enough that we started looking for them, in the
middle of a classic ECD tune there'd be brief quote from one or another carol,
often going by so quickly that we were sometimes left wondering, "Did I hear
what I just thought I heard?" It was delightful fun and masterfully executed.

Another way to approach themes is to pick a different sort of organizing
principle. Knowing that I'll be calling Money Musk (a triple minor contra) at my
home dance next month-- International Money Musk Month, you know!-- and
recognizing that March is the third month, we'll be doing a "Three"
program:
triple minor contras, of course, triplets, triple progression contras, dances
with three swings in each round, three-facing three dances, squares with three
dancers on each side, dances in triangle formation, dances that require
three-part tunes, and so on. Yes, we will probably do "Three Thirty-Three" but
the broad THREE concept gives me much more flexibility than simply sticking to
tune names as the organizing principle.

David Millstone
Lebanon, NH

Re: [Callers] Valentine's theme dance - followup/aftermath