Thanks to Linda, Chris, and Beth for helping to identify these dances. Now
I can properly give credit to their authors.
Ann
From: Linda Leslie [mailto:laleslierjg@comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2015 9:01 PM
To: aefallon(a)verizon.net
Cc: Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>;
trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Callers] Identify these dances?
The Becket dance is a slight variation of Cats & More Cats by Melanie
Axel-Lute. Melanie's dance has the following A1:
Circle left 3/4, pass thru, next N allemande Right once and a half
The Improper dance is a variation of Generation Gap by Thankful Cromartie.
In her version, the only difference is a ladies' gyre instead of a do si
do.
Cheers! Linda
On Dec 27, 2015, at 7:28 PM, Ann Fallon via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net> >
wrote:
Hello, all
Best wishes for a joyous 2016.
Here are two dances that have been hanging around in my card file for some
time. Can someone help identify them? Many thanks.
Beckett Dance:
A1 (Slide Left) Circle L 3/4
N Allemande R 1 1/2 to long waves at side, W face out
A2 Balance R, L, Slide R
Balance L, R, Slide L
B1 B & S N
B2 Circle L 3/4, swing P, ready to slide left
Improper dance:
A1 N balance, star through, women chain
A2 Women DSD, Swing P
B1 F & B, men chain
B2 Petronella balance and spin
Repeat, but spin halfway more to face next N
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Hello, all
Best wishes for a joyous 2016.
Here are two dances that have been hanging around in my card file for some
time. Can someone help identify them? Many thanks.
Beckett Dance:
A1 (Slide Left) Circle L 3/4
N Allemande R 1 1/2 to long waves at side, W face out
A2 Balance R, L, Slide R
Balance L, R, Slide L
B1 B & S N
B2 Circle L 3/4, swing P, ready to slide left
Improper dance:
A1 N balance, star through, women chain
A2 Women DSD, Swing P
B1 F & B, men chain
B2 Petronella balance and spin
Repeat, but spin halfway more to face next N
Eastbourne International Folkdance Festival (EIFF)
>From Friday, 29 April 2016 to Monday, 2 May 2016
Starts Friday 19:30. Ends Monday 17:00.
Three days and nights of dancing on the sunshine coast
Evening timetables (full timetable on web)
Friday 29 April 2016
"Playford Introductions" Andrew Shaw and Purcell Automatic
"A Mixed Welcome" Frances Oates and Narrow Escape
American with Wild Ride
Saturday 30 April 2016
"THE Playford Ball" with Andrew Shaw and Purcell Automatic
French Bal with Dancez Francais
"All American" Evening with Cis Hinkle and Night Watch
Mixed Evening with Rhodri Davies and Wild Ride
Sunday 1 May 2016
American Evening with Cis Hinkle and ECDB
American Colonial Dances with Jim Morrison and Night Watch
May Day Mixed Evening with Frances Oates and Keeping Thyme
Earlybird bookings end 4th January 2016, full price from 5th January 2016
www.eiff.org.uk
Location: The Bishop Bell School, Eastbourne
Address: The Bishop Bell School, Priory Road, Eastbourne, BN23 7BE
Contact: 01823 401271
I've been booked to teach/call at the New London Assembly in
Connecticut, Sunday July 17 to Sunday July 24, 2016. I'd love some
other bookings before or after this - I usually do 4 weeks when I
travel to the States. I call English, Squares and Contras - if you
don't like Squares you probably won't want me calling your contra
dance! I would of course prefer several gigs in the same area rather
than spending all my time and money flying around. As bookings are
finalized they will appear on my Bookings page,
http://www.colinhume.com/bookings.htm
Colin Hume
Dancing Well: The Soldier Project seeking Dance Leader Intern.
Intern will be trained on dance leadership skills to work with veterans and families affected by PTSD or brain injury. Volunteer position. Must be available to attend at least 5 Dancing Well dance sessions between January 12 and February 16, plus training sessions to be determined. All sessions and training will be held in Louisville, Kentucky.
Candidates should have experience with dance leadership, excellent interpersonal skills and a passion for serving veterans through dance. Interested individuals should contact Deborah Denenfeld at Deborah(a)DancingWell.org mailto:Deborah@DancingWell.org to apply.
For those of you who have a Passport to Joy, Dancing Well is offering a Dancing Well sticker to all individuals who donate $50 or more or make two donations in 2015. Donations can be made at our new website www.DancingWell.orghttp://www.DancingWell.org. Thank you.
These references may be interesting for some folk to follow up on:
* The Trad. Dances of the Cumberland Plateau
Microfilm; 1986 / Ph.D. Thesis
Strobel Katherine Bronn
Texas Women's University
===
"Tap & Clog " folder - extensive collection, prepared to send photocopies
Springfield College
GV 1793-T36
Details of old-style clog dancing etc.
===
"Aesthetics Standards in Old Time Dancing in SW Virginia"
Susan E.Spalding
Ed. D. Thesis - Temple Univ. 1993
Springfield College
===
Country Life (UK)
"Living National Treasure - Clog Maker"
[clog = wooden-soled shoes]
Jul 9 - 1994 / v 188 no. 29 / p33
===
Americana - "Just Cloggin."
Nov 1 - 1989 / v 17 no. 5
Edward Korens
Antel Shanon (?)
===
CJB
Scottish country dancing as it may have been done in the Borders region in the 1930s ...
https://www.facebook.com/TheBondagers/http://thebondagers.com/http://thebondagers.com/archive-filmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqkL_ebTsjY
Great clip. However sadly the film is locked away in a dusty archive in Edinburgh and will likely never be seen again in its entirety. Apparently in the 1930s / 40s the film was used as entertainment for a local establishment for the mentally ill; then during a clear-out it was thrown away into a skip: but luckily it was rescued and made available to the public. It was a regular feature at the film show organised by the late Barry Callaghan at the Reading Traditional Step & Dance Group's annual "Step and Clog Dance Festival." And the Reading Cloggies used the depiction of the bondagers' costumes for their own costumes for when they performed social dances from the Scottish Borders. These latter were part of their "Campaign for Real Reels" or "Campaign to put stepping back into social folk dancing." To see the Reading Cloggies in action in their bondagers' costumes search YouTube for "Dancing England - 1985".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPzSc-ReEQ0
CJB
Here's an interesting clip on YouTube.
Three of the dances performed in the clip come from the English Scottish Borders, researched and collected by members of the Group including Tom & Joan Flett.
The costumes are modelled upon that of bondagers - tied or bonded farm labourers from the Scottish Borders.
There is an old film from the 1930s that is well worth tracking down. It was made by one Jamieson of his own dance troupe performing very similar dances.
The dances come from travelling dancing masters - who of course taught in communities throughout the British Isles. They were peripatetic. They didn't make the distinction that we do today of different stylised interpretations. They just got on with teaching and dancing.
Chris B.
====
Reading Cloggies - Dancing England - 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPzSc-ReEQ0
The Reading Traditional Step & Dance Group was the premier traditional social and clog dance group in the British Isles during the 1960s-90s. Members researched, notated, filmed and recorded old step, clog and social dances mainly from the old folk.
Here they demonstrate traditional social dances collected by members from the English / Scottish orders. Their costume is of the bonded servants and farm labourers of that region.
The dances are:
1. Morpeth Rant in hard-soled shoes, with rant stepping throughout. Sometimes the stationary rant steps were performed with shuffles or double shuffles.
2. Laurie Mulliner performing ex-coal miner Sammy Bell's 'Exhibition Hornpipe' from the music hall stage of the 1930s. Performed in English dancing clogs (wood-soled shoes).
3. The 5th figure of the Kitchen Lancers performed in hard-soled shoes, with shuffles and other steps. This would have likely been danced informally at a social gathering or party.
4. The Westmorland Three Reel - a true reel as a social dance with stepping and a weaving figure - in this case a hey for 3. This was often a dance performed or demonstrated at the evening ball at end of a dancing master's visit to teach local farm labourers social dancing and clog / step dancing. Here performed with Westmorland or Lakeland clog steps and in dancing clogs.
====
Rich Sbardella wrote:
<< I am relatively new at calling contras and I am looking for some easy to intermediate contras to introduce the hey to a group that includes many beginners and/or club square dancers.>>
Let me mention two of mine: Flirtation Reel and Hey Fever.
In Flirtation Reel, the hey is done from an uncommon setup (ones in center back to back, facing neighbor) and it starts with a right shoulder on the side rather than in the center. But it's a very forgiving dance: with a hey into a gypsy into a swing, there's lots of catch-up time if a dancer is late completing the hey.
Hey Fever goes from a hey to a balance with new neighbor to begin the next round. When I'm working with people (e.g. club square dancers) who aren't used to balances, I sometimes change a balance to a do-si-do (dos-a-dos).
Tony Parkes
Billerica, Mass.