Hello,
I'm wondering if anyone can provide title and author information for the
following stray dances that I recently transcribed from postie notes
written in my wife's handwriting. I'm sure I downloaded these from my
memory while I was driving and she took dictation, but I'm not sure how
long ago, or where we'd been dancing, or who might have been calling.
The formatting is from tables in Microsoft Word -- I didn't bother to
un-format for this post.
Thanks!
Jerome
Stray Dance #1 By Author ?
Improper Contra, start in Wave of four, ladies in center
A1
Balance the wave, allemande Right 3/4 (to long wave)
Balance the wave, allemande Right 3/4 (to new short waves)
A2
Neighbor Balance & Swing
B1
Circle Left 3/4,
Partner Swing
B2
Circle Left 3/4,
Neighbor Do-si-do 1 1/2 (& step into new wave)
Stray Dance #2 By Ron Buchanan?
Becket Contra
A1
Balance, Petronella
Balance, CA Twirl with Partner
A2
In New Ring Balance, Petronella
Balance, Partner Roll Away
B1
Men pull by the Right,
Neighbor Swat the Flea & Swing
B2
Men pull by the Left,
Partner Box the Gnat and Swing
Stray Dance #3 By Author ?
Becket Contra
A1
Half hey across set,
On right diagonal, half hey.
A2
Women weave back on right diagonal & swing that guy.
B1
Whole set promenade counterclockwise,
turn & come back single file, lady in the lead.
B2
Ladies allemande Right 1 1/2,
Partner swing
Stray Dance #4 By Author ?
Improper Contra
A1
Circle Left 1X,
Ones swing
A2
Down the hall, ones in center,
Turn alone, come back
B1
Neighbors Balance & Swing
B2
Long lines Forward & Back,
Twos swing, end facing up.
Jerome Grisanti
660-528-0858
http://www.jeromegrisanti.com
"There's no point in being unhappy about things you can't change, and no
point being unhappy about things you can."
Google is your friend...?
http://www.folk-network.com/miscellany/hardy.html
CJB
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 29/11/15, Alan Winston winston(a)slac.stanford.edu [trad-dance-callers] <trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Subject: Re: [trad-dance-callers] Triple Minor Progression
To: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, 29 November, 2015, 21:49
I honestly don't know what they did when they
got to the bottom of the
line. Susan de Guardiola has read much more extensively
than I have and
may have encountered some discussion of this.
One interesting thing in some dance sources is "neutral
couples". (I
read a piece by Thomas Hardy which I can't find now
where he describes
"College Hornpipe" in considerable detail, and
this finally got me to
understand how it works. Mr. Wilson advocated them but I
didn't
understand his explanation.)
Essentially, take hands eight for a triple minor. You have
1,2,3, and
neutral. Run the dance once. The neutrals are now threes.
On the
second round, after a progression,
the old 2s are neutral (or out at the top), the old 3s are
2s, the old
neutrals are 3s.
At the beginning of the third round, the couple out at the
top comes in
(yup, after being out only once).
If I were actually trying to get a crowd to do this, I think
I would
just have the 1s who only have 1 more couple just step down,
the way
they do it in RSCDS Scottish. I can't give a strong
justification for
this, but remember (in Georgian England, anyway, and likely
in Colonial
America in landholding circles) that standing up together at
dances was
a major opportunity for unchaperoned conversation, so
standing out more
was a feature rather than a bug, and also that the 1s might
have just
danced down a line of 30 couples and could probably tolerate
not dancing
one round. If you were doing the neutral couple thing , if
you danced
one round with ghosts then you might be back in as threes
immediately,
without any time out at all.
Even without neutral couples, it's likely more sociable
to just step
down and have a brief chat with the other couple.
-- Alan
On 11/29/15 11:06 AM, Tom Willson tjwill3(a)sbcglobal.net
[trad-dance-callers] wrote:
> As I am looking into Colonial and Early American dances
and seeing that most of them seem to be triple minors, a
question popped into my head: how did they do the
progression at the bottom of the line? I know that they
started these dances differently (i.e. the top couple
"teaching" the dance as they went down the line),
but I am curious as to how they handled the progression at
the bottom. I know of two ways we do it now (dancing with
"ghosts" or the bottom 2 (inactive) couples
trading places), but I am wondering how they did it back
then.
>
> Tom Willson
> Simi Valley, CA
>
>
> ------------------------------------
> Posted by: Tom Willson <tjwill3(a)sbcglobal.net>
> ------------------------------------
>
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I second the mention of Gene Hubert's The Turning Point; it's one of my favorite modern contras.
How about Ted Sannella's Yankee Reel? I use it as a first exposure to Right and Left Thru (RLT). It ends with Half Promenade and RLT; I explain Half Promenade and then tell the dancers that RLT is a lot like it, except that they'll "melt" through the opposite couple instead of steering completely around them. They seem to get the courtesy turn better if they've just done the same thing at the end of the promenade.
Of the 20 or 30 basic moves that occur in most traditional squares and contras, I think RLT is the hardest one for new dancers to comprehend. It's a compound move: you go straight and then you turn, and you turn in a way you couldn't have predicted. The most common error, in my experience, is for dancers to do a right-face solo turn after the cross. This is true whether or not they give right hands on the cross. In areas where giving right hands is the norm, it's important to tell them to let go quickly and not let the handhold force them into turning alone.
After 50+ years of teaching, I still haven't decided whether it's better to introduce RLT before or after Ladies Chain.
Tony Parkes
Billerica, Mass.
On 2015-11-22 1214, Tom Willson tjwill3(a)sbcglobal.net
[trad-dance-callers] wrote:
>
> Hello All,
> Can anyone please identify the dance and the tune being played in this
> video?
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BDGGlRo3OI
>
> I think the announcer says "The Pilgrim", but I have been unable to find
> a dance and/or tune with that title. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> thank you,
> Tom Willson
> Simi Valley, CA
I had similar responses as Micheal (exhausting my checks, on and off
line) and Alan (with mildly different terminology re observed directions
and a leaning, more than a surety, toward guessing it might have been a
triple minor.)
Like Tom I wrote folks, both the Col. Williamsburg site and a
dancer/dance leader/choreographer from the area. Nothing yet from the
first, the latter gave me a name and address for someone who might be a
dance leader at the site. She responded today.
Ann Marie Weissert of the Colonial Williamsburg Dance Ensemble sent
along the music and directions. If you'd like the scanned image please
write off list.
It appears it was/is a whole set dance, for three couples, published by
Thompson, 1768, in a dance manual.
I'm guessing that would put it in the third volume of his
"Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances Vol 3
1765-72" as I can't find it in any of his "24 Country Dances" series
books I've looked through.
It might currently be available, with 199 others, in
{Thompson Revisited; Boyd Rothenburger; Booksurge LLC; 2007; Thompson
Revisited A reprint, revision and translation of 'Thompson's Compleat
Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances' Volume 5, published in
London, England in 1789. Containing music and dance instruction for all
200 dances covering the years 1781 through 1788.}
---
The dance directions are as observed and noted by Alan, Ann Marie
commenting a few embellishments have clearly been made by the dancers:
"
Firft Man caft off and turn the third Wo. .|.
Firft Wo. caft off and turn the third Man :|.
Six hands round .|: Lead thro' top & caft off |:
"
---
The music: 6/8, G, M=73, AABB, 32 bar
---
One may find the sheet music here:
http://www.village-music-project.org.uk/pcroom/thompsonsvol3.pdfhttp://www.village-music-project.org.uk/pcroom.htm
---
and in ABC format:
http://www.cpartington.plus.com/links/ChrisPartingtonsLinksPage.html
or same at
https://archive.org/details/ThompsonsCompleatCollectionOf200FavouriteCountr…
[ https://archive.org/search.php?query=Thompson%27s%20compleat only ABC
music here, thus far anyway]
and here, as
Pilgrim [2], The
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/PIA_PIN.htm
where it is stated, "The melody is unique to Charles and Samuel
Thompson’s Compleat Collection, vol. 3 (London, 1773). Thompson
(Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3), 1773; No.
105." [It would also appear the directions are as unique to a
publication, by name]
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/book/Thompson/http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/book/Thompson/Pilgrim.abc
---
Directions: "Fail" as they say these days, on-line anyway. While the
VWML has many if not all of Thompson's Twenty Four Country Dances for
the Year 177x this Pilgrim is not in there. The Internet Archive also
hosts two "24 Dances" vols., of 1772 and 1803, which it is not in either.
Cheers, John
--
J.D. Erskine
Victoria, BC
Island Dance - Folk & Country
dance info - site & mail list
Vancouver Island & BC islands
http://members.shaw.ca/island.dance/
This leaflet was issued in 1961 to visitors of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, Sussex.
The dances most certainly would have featured there at the masqued balls and assemblies of which the Prince Regent was so fond.
* Trip to Brighton
* Prince of Wales at Brighton
* Long Live the Prince Regent
* The Prince Regent
* Regency Waltz
* Regency Hornpipe
Download the processed (enhanced) scans &/or the PDF file.
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/d9iv45ggjx1fu/Royal_Pavilion_-_Brighton
There is no copyright on the dances or music - all facsimiles. Interpret and republish them as you wish.
For more about Brighton and the Royal Pavilion here's a downloadable book:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/phkp9v79pf226/Brighton
More 'Sussex' dances to be uploaded later.
Chris B.
Twice in as many months I've attended out-of-town events that included a pin or button used to identify experienced dancers.
One was at a Jane Austen ball, where the local ECD group brought in acetate convention name badges that contained an illustration of two dancers. The other was a Civil War event where the dance troupe floor managers wore small cloisonne badges.
This seems like a good idea to have at events with lots of visitors. At the Austen event, everyone who "knows what you're doing" was invited to wear a badge, and newcomers were encouraged to select them in partnerships. At the other event, dance troupe folks were busily explaining the basics to folks who already knew the drill, and having something available for the public could have advanced the conversation along.
If you were designing something to use in this regard, what would it look like, and be made of?
Thanks for ideas!
--Karen D.
Cambridge is hosting the Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival on the
weekend of the 24-26th of February *2017*. We will have at least one,
probably two contras, on the Friday/Saturday night and would be
interested in having an American caller for this. We're a student-run
festival aimed at students (weekend tickets cost a few tens of
pounds), and we wouldn't be able to pay for someone to fly over
specially. I know it's a long shot, but is anyone from the US planning
a UK tour for February 2017 with a gap during that weekend? If so,
please contact ivfdfcambridge-at-gmail-dot-com.
Colin Hume
Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://colinhume.com
I'm part of a small group that is working towards establishing an on-going community trad dance in our very small, remote town (Kaslo, BC). We held one successful dance -- not knowing whether anyone would come, whether people would like it, whether they would want more.
The answers were yes . . . yes . . . and yes!
Before we plan the next dance(s)r, I am asking that our small planning group draft a set of objectives and policies that we can agree to, to guide us in our decision-making about money, venues, callers, musicians, hours, food/drink, footwear, etc. We have already run onto some shoals over future planning.
Can someone point me to . . .
-- prior relevant topics on this list
-- examples of objectives and policies posted on websites
If you have something in your files that might be a good model, you could add it to the Files section of this site, or e-mail it to me privately . . . sjdks then at then kaslo then dot then org
Many thanks!
Stephanie Judy
Kaslo, BC
John and Ann Rush were before my time in Argenta. They came with first wave of Quakers. However, friends who still live in Argenta remember them, and are in contact with Erika and Heath. Small small world!! All join hands.
~ Stephanie
