Hi All,
Recently two situations started me thinking about formations.
Firstly, three different times, in different places, with different people,
the topic came up of why so many dance sessions consisted of a single
formation: "Longways for as many as will", also known as "contra lines".
Secondly, there was a long discussion on one of the forums
about how much space is needed for a dance. All the replies, without
exception, assumed that it was the space required for longways sets! There
was just one brief comment at the bottom of one post acknowledging that
other formations might have different space requirements.
So, I did some research and made a Web page:
http://contrafusion.co.uk/Formations.html
I list over EIGHTY different formations, with sample dances
(including links to instructions or videos) for every formation.
I hope you find it useful, and maybe you will try
choreographing, calling or dancing a different formation.
Please let me know of any additions, corrections, comments,
etc.
Thanks.
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com
<mailto:john@modernjive.com> 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574
http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music Ceilidhs
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs
Eastbourne International Folkdance Festival (EIFF) will be holding its last
event in Eastbourne over the first Bank Holiday weekend, 3rd to 6th May 2019
- 4 days.
See: www.eiff.org.uk for ticket availability and full programme details.
A new venue has been found in Evesham with better facilities all on one site
for 2020 onwards, again see www.eiff.org.uk or Facebook for more
information.
Robin
The winner of the Neffa 75th Contra Choreography Contest is Diamonds Are For Neffa, written by Chris Page. The judges feel that his dance has good flow, is suitable for the NEFFA audience, and includes very NEFFA-appropriate inter-set allemandes and a celebratory diamond. Even the title is clever. We honor Chris for this wonderful contribution to the NEFFA tradition. Congratulations!
Thanks to the many people who submitted dances. There were 21 entries, with only one repetition of title (Diamond Jubilee). Bob Isaacs and I had fun trying out the dances in various parts of the country. Choreography for all of the submissions will be posted after the Festival.
Bob will call the winning dance at the Festival’s 75th Dance Bash on Saturday, April 13. We hope that many of you will be there to help us celebrate.
Many thanks,
Lisa Greenleaf
Hi All:
I wrote a dance to honor my BFF and his long time service to the Swingin' Tern Dance in NJ, writing the puns for their fliers for 35 years and doing publicity (and to honor his upcoming birthday). Many of you know him, Doug Heacock (pronounced Heycock). If you don't know him as a dance organizer, perhaps you've seen one of his many dance videos on his youtube channel?
Feel free to call the dance and let me know how it works for you. The dancers at Swingin' Tern this past Saturday enjoyed it.
Proud as a Heacock IMP by Donna HuntA1 Circle Left 1x 1/2 Pousette with Partner CW
A2 Balance ring (with original neighbors) with Partner: Ladies roll away and Gents sashay Swing Neighbor
B1Star Right 3/4, Swing Partner
B2 Gents Chain (left hand pull by)
Long Lines forward and back
Donna
Web Site: donnahuntcaller.com
Email: dhuntdancer(a)aol.com
Cell: 215-565-6050
We’re talking like down to two years old, hopefully with parents. With any
luck parents will hold the younger ones and mom and dad, dad and dad, mom
and mom will dance together. But does anyone have any ideas for if the
parents don’t engage in the dancing but just want to take pictures of their
darlings? It’s for a library program, about 30 minutes.
Thanks for any thoughts you might have.
Jim Thaxter
Columbia, MO
Thank you so much for all the advice. We danced Waves of the Sea (thanks Mo!), Haymaker's Jig, Rakes of Mallow, Bridge of Athlone, Thady You Gander, the Grand March, and a lot of waltzes. The bride danced a solo jig. No 3s and 7s needed. Thanks again!
Regards, Deborah Hyland St Louis
Not surprising you can’t find it online, it is unpublished (except here). I called it Waves of the Sea as there are too many versions Waves of Tory already. Though the one I like best is the version Pete Grasby calls. I think he calls it the Cuckoo’s Nest version as it evolved at a University folk dance club of that name (Coventry University?)
It is the same as the CDM version until you lead up through the 1’s arch, then instead of waiting till all are through and facing down to start the dip-&-dive the new leading couple turns and begins it as others are still coming through the arch. Which gives more time to finish dipping and diving and maybe swing.
From: mjw(a)mowaddington.plus.com [trad-dance-callers]
Sent: 20 January 2019 21:42
To: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [trad-dance-callers] Re: Ceili wedding
Waves of the Sea (simplified version of Waves of Tory for use with non- dancers)
Jigs (I don’t care how many bars) e.g. Dingles Regatta. Longways set for everyone (no fussing about 1 more couple)
Lines forward and back twice.
Cast (follow the leader / peel the banana) lead your partner up the middle
Top couple face down, all dip and dive turning when you reach either end until I say
Swing
I vary the length of the dip and dive but aim to give them an 8 bar swing and form the lines ready to go F&B at a sensible point in the music.
As someone said it’s hard to get people to stop in the right place, so I let them stop where-ever they are.
From: Rich Sbardella richsbardella(a)gmail.com [trad-dance-callers]
Sent: 20 January 2019 19:32
To: trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [trad-dance-callers] Re: Ceili wedding
Jacob, Can you provide a link to Mo's description?
Rich
On Sun, Jan 20, 2019 at 1:47 PM Jacob or Nancy Bloom jandnbloom(a)gmail.com [trad-dance-callers] <trad-dance-callers(a)yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Waves Of The Sea is Mo Waddington's adaptation of Waves of Tory, which he described in his post in this thread. (It looks good. I'm planning to use it myself.)
Jacob
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I've been asked by a bride for a ceili wedding. She was very specific about wanting Irish music, which i booked, but she was very vague about what ceili dancing was. She said " not really sure the names of the dances, we had the one with torpedo, in lines, some squares, dosey does spinning and such not sure if that helps."
I do know how to teach ceili, but going into great detail on 3s and 7s and jig step didn't seem to really lend itself to a wedding. My plan was definitely to include The Haymaker's Jig, Walls of Limerick, maybe Shoe the Donkey, but not too get much more complicated than that, subbing in ONS material from my regular wedding dances of squares, family dances, etc. but done with a little more Irish styling.
So, any advice on more Irish dances that lend themselves well to weddings?
Regards,Deborah Hyland
St. Louis
