Two Dances to Share

Two dances to share. I was coordinating at the Thursday Night Dance in Mt. Airy (Philadelphia) a few weeks ago with a band led by my son, Ben. We were talking about doing a dance that would go well with a medley of jigs that were fairly smooth in the As and very chunky in the B parts. I searched my dance collection and found an old dance that I made up nearly 20 years ago and had not called since. I made it up to go with a specific tune – Maggie Brown’s Favorite – that has a chunky A and smooth B. So, as we do with a lot of dances, after shaking the cobwebs off it, I swapped the parts of the dance around and rolled it out and . . . darn . . . it went very nicely and dancers seemed to have a very fine time. Back when it was created, dancers seemed to struggle quite a bit with the balance and square thru part. That’s become pretty commonplace now. The dance, titled Maggie Brown’s Favorite, goes very well with the name tune as written. If you want smooth A and chunky B, just swap the parts around. The second dance, Maggie Brown’s Other Favorite, is one I’ve used a fair amount over the years. I think it’s a pretty nice dance, also. Both dances feature a “meanwhile” figure with women allemanding once and a half with men orbiting around them – that’s the raison d’etre for the dances. But the balance and square thru part of the original is good and the element of surprise when you turn around to balance and swing your neighbor in Maggie Brown’s Other … that’s a very nice little moment indeed. If anyone cares to test drive, let me know what you think. Ridge *************************** Maggie Brown’s Favorite Contra, Duple, Becket, Clockwise Ridge Kennedy - 9/96, rev. 12/2001 A-1 Balance Partner (4) Pull by Right, Pull By Neighbor with Left (4) Balance Partner (4) Pull by Right, Pull By Neighbor with Left (4) A-2 Balance and Swing Your Partner (16) B-1 Circle Left Three Quarters, Pass Thru (8) Swing Next New Neighbor (8) B-2 Long Lines Forward and Back (8) Women Allemande Left 1 1/2 meanwhile Men Promenade around One time (8) Notes: Features an “orbit” and requires space along the lines. See also Maggie Brown’s Other Favorite, a better dance I believe. Goes very well with title tune or other bouncy/smooth jigs. Title honors band with same name that included Carl Friedman and Ralph Barthine of Baltimore area. Maggie Brown’s Other favorite Contra, Duple, Becket, Counterclockwise Ridge Kennedy;/May ‘97 A-1 Circle Left Three Quarters (8) Neighbor Do Si Do (8) Turn Around and face New Neighbor (Surprise!) A-2 Balance and Swing New Neighbor (16) B-1 Long Lines Forward and Back (8) Women Allemande Left 1 1/2 (8) meanwhile Men Promenade Clockwise Once Around (8) B-2 Balance and Swing Your Partner (16) Notes: Need space up and down for the orbit figure. If too crowded, men can just wait on side. -- Ridge Kennedy [Exit 145] When you stumble, make it part of the dance. - Anonymous And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh. - Friedrich Nietzsche