strathspey Archive: Elephant Stampede

I asked a question about this dance a few weeks ago, but there was some
confusion with my various addresses, and my request for info never came
through.It did not seem to matter too much at the time, as I thought I'd
probably not be doing the dance again, but I have been asked to teach it
again.
So, if anyone actually knows this odd dance :
After the ladies petronella to rejoin their partners, what should they do to
position themselves for the schiehallion reels? face in & turn out on the
last pas de basque? shorten the petronella and set facing out? set facing in
and then cast?

(why "odd dance"? well for one thing, 4x48 with hardly a bar of rest is
somewhat breathtaking, compared with most other dances. And I hope the
title is not appropriate for the way we dance!)

Martin

Bonjour Martin,

When I taught this dance I had the ladies shorten the petronella so
that they were facing out at the start of the Schihallion reels. Any
other option seemed to be asking for confusion. I don't have the
written directions in front of me but I remember the ambiguity on this
point.

The name of the dance refers to the tune 'Nellie the Elephant' which
apparently was an old TV tune, the tune is a lrage part of the reason
to do this dance. There is a punk rock version of the song on Youtube
that is one of the funniest music videos I've seen -- worth viewing
even if you don't usually watch music videos, but you will then have
the tune stuck in your head for hours (not to mention the visual
images). Just fetching the webaddress made me laugh again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti21PVHXrg

Bruce Herbold
San Francisco
(where we are daring to hope about next Tuesday)

On 10/30/08, Martin Sheffield <francoscot@gmail.com> wrote:
> I asked a question about this dance a few weeks ago, but there was some
> confusion with my various addresses, and my request for info never came
> through.It did not seem to matter too much at the time, as I thought I'd
> probably not be doing the dance again, but I have been asked to teach it
> again.
> So, if anyone actually knows this odd dance :
> After the ladies petronella to rejoin their partners, what should they do to
> position themselves for the schiehallion reels? face in & turn out on the
> last pas de basque? shorten the petronella and set facing out? set facing in
> and then cast?
>
> (why "odd dance"? well for one thing, 4x48 with hardly a bar of rest is
> somewhat breathtaking, compared with most other dances. And I hope the
> title is not appropriate for the way we dance!)
>
> Martin
>
>

In a message dated 10/30/2008 2:01:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
bherbold@gmail.com writes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti21PVHXrg

And will you use Teddy Bears' Picnic as an alternate tune?
Sylvia Miskoe, Concord, NH USA
**************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot
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Oh, man... Don't give him any ideas! -Steve

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 11:14 AM, <SMiskoe@aol.com> wrote:
>
> In a message dated 10/30/2008 2:01:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> bherbold@gmail.com writes:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti21PVHXrg
>
>
> And will you use Teddy Bears' Picnic as an alternate tune?
> Sylvia Miskoe, Concord, NH USA
> **************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot
> 5 Travel Deals!
> (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)
>
>

--
Steve Wyrick -- Walnut Creek, California

No -- Teddy Bears' Picnic is reserved as the second tune for White
Heather Jig. Wouldn't want to confuse anyone. Fortunately there's no
shortage of dorky jig tunes.

Bruce

On 10/30/08, Steve Wyrick <sjwyrick@gmail.com> wrote:
> Oh, man... Don't give him any ideas! -Steve
>
> On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 11:14 AM, <SMiskoe@aol.com> wrote:
> >
> > In a message dated 10/30/2008 2:01:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> > bherbold@gmail.com writes:
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti21PVHXrg
> >
> >
> > And will you use Teddy Bears' Picnic as an alternate tune?
> > Sylvia Miskoe, Concord, NH USA
> > **************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot
> > 5 Travel Deals!
> > (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Steve Wyrick -- Walnut Creek, California
>

It also has its own dance.
S
**************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot
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(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)

Bruce Herbold wrote:
| No -- Teddy Bears' Picnic is reserved as the second tune for White
| Heather Jig. Wouldn't want to confuse anyone. Fortunately there's no
| shortage of dorky jig tunes.

Hmmm ... I've been using the Liberty Bell March (aka the theme from
Monty Python's Flying Circus) for that. I don't remember where I got
the idea, but it seems to work well. I can imagine that Teddy Bears'
Picnic would work equally well. They're both jig-time marches that
are quite similar in style to the Six-Twenty Two Step.

--
I ♡ Unicode

John Chambers wrote:

> Hmmm ... I've been using the Liberty Bell March (aka the theme from
> Monty Python's Flying Circus) for that. I don't remember where I got
> the idea, but it seems to work well.

Funny. I use that as an alternate for Postie's Jig :^)

Anselm
--
Anselm Lingnau, Friedberg, Germany ..................... anselm@strathspey.org
A designer knows he's achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to
add, but when there is nothing left to take away. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Sylvia wrote:

>
> And will you use Teddy Bears' Picnic as an alternate tune?

Oh, no.
Teddy Bears' Picnic is reserved for Barry Priddey's "Woodland Assmbly"
(cf David Hall's recording with a super 4-bar intro).

Martin

Martin Sheffield wrote:

> Teddy Bears' Picnic is reserved for Barry Priddey's "Woodland Assmbly"

Here's what DanceData has to say on the matter:

Recommended for (3):
The Morland Knot (Jig-32, John Drewry)
The Teddy Bears' Picnic (Jig-32, Irene Collin)
Woodland Assembly (Jig-64, Barry Priddey)

Recordings (4):
Fete Champetre (David Hall and his Scottish Dance Band) Tune 1
Woodland Assembly (Marian Anderson and her Band) Tune 1
The Frisky (The Thistle Band) Tune 4
Widdershins (Barbara Manning & Ken Martlew) Tune 4

There's another dance in the database called »Teddybear's Picnic« [sic], by
Sven Leyffer, which does not appear to have a tune associated with it.
However, I know what I would play for it :^)

Anselm
--
Anselm Lingnau, Friedberg, Germany ..................... anselm@strathspey.org
You could argue that Microsoft is the product of clever strategy, mediocre
technology, and a hell of a lot of increasing returns. -- Brian Arthur

Greetings!

My copy of the leaflet for the Teddy Bears' Picnic (with the apostrophe as shown) does not specify the tune but as Anselm suggests, there is not a lot of choice. More interestingly, Sven is given as only one of the devisers. The notes read:

Devised by the Bears for the children - young and old - at the Dundee RSCDS Festival, March 1968. With thanks to George & Ellen Regan (Glasgow) for the superb Teddy Bear costumes. The Bears are Gwen Stone, Helen Lawrenson, Elizabeth Fairgrieve, Faye & Joe Burke, Andrea Re, Harry Hall and Sven Leyffer.

BTW, Nellie the Elephant was much more a radio item than a TV one. Hands up those 'd'un certain age' in the UK who remember Uncle Mac playing it on the BBC Light programme of a Saturday morning.

Jim Healy
Perth, Scotland
_________________________________________________________________
X Factor: latest video, features and more. Click here!
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oh, it's so nice to be corrected by my elders -- "you make me feel so young!"

Bruce Herbold

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:55 PM, Jim Healy <jimhealy@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Greetings!
>
> My copy of the leaflet for the Teddy Bears' Picnic (with the apostrophe as shown) does not specify the tune but as Anselm suggests, there is not a lot of choice. More interestingly, Sven is given as only one of the devisers. The notes read:
>
> Devised by the Bears for the children - young and old - at the Dundee RSCDS Festival, March 1968. With thanks to George & Ellen Regan (Glasgow) for the superb Teddy Bear costumes. The Bears are Gwen Stone, Helen Lawrenson, Elizabeth Fairgrieve, Faye & Joe Burke, Andrea Re, Harry Hall and Sven Leyffer.
>
> BTW, Nellie the Elephant was much more a radio item than a TV one. Hands up those 'd'un certain age' in the UK who remember Uncle Mac playing it on the BBC Light programme of a Saturday morning.
>
> Jim Healy
> Perth, Scotland
> _________________________________________________________________
> X Factor: latest video, features and more. Click here!
> http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/115454063/direct/01/
>

... and the Ugly Duckling, and the fastest milkman and ... and (can't
remeber the titles) ...the same songs "requested" week after week; would not
have missed that for anything!

Martin

For anyone looking for a good general music double cd (26 tunes and 21 tunes) Scosha group teacher, (Joan Donald) uses and recommends the "Sequence, Fun and Celebrations" by David Last which includes Teddy Bears Picnic which we use for the Scottish Ballet.

It is available from the Surrey based http://www.maestrorecords.com

Bob McArthur
Scosha Group
Bournemouth, UK> Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:17:38 +0100> From: francoscot@gmail.com> To: strathspey@strathspey.org> Subject: Re: Teddy Bears' Picnic (was:Elephant Stampede)> > ... and the Ugly Duckling, and the fastest milkman and ... and (can't> remeber the titles) ...the same songs "requested" week after week; would not> have missed that for anything!> > Martin>
_________________________________________________________________
Catch up on all the latest celebrity gossip
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/115454061/direct/01/

Jim Healy ha scritto:

Hi all,

as one of the bears I can confirm that Sven is the one who devised the
dance. The others are those who, along with Sven himself, danced it in
at the Dundee Festval in 1998 (??? cannot quite remember) dressed as bears.

Andrea
> Greetings!
>
> My copy of the leaflet for the Teddy Bears' Picnic (with the apostrophe as shown) does not specify the tune but as Anselm suggests, there is not a lot of choice. More interestingly, Sven is given as only one of the devisers. The notes read:
>
> Devised by the Bears for the children - young and old - at the Dundee RSCDS Festival, March 1968. With thanks to George & Ellen Regan (Glasgow) for the superb Teddy Bear costumes. The Bears are Gwen Stone, Helen Lawrenson, Elizabeth Fairgrieve, Faye & Joe Burke, Andrea Re, Harry Hall and Sven Leyffer.
>
> BTW, Nellie the Elephant was much more a radio item than a TV one. Hands up those 'd'un certain age' in the UK who remember Uncle Mac playing it on the BBC Light programme of a Saturday morning.
>
> Jim Healy
> Perth, Scotland
> _________________________________________________________________
> X Factor: latest video, features and more. Click here!
> http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/115454063/direct/01/
>
>

I am deeply relieved to read that the date was 1998 and not, as Jim Healey
had it, 1968. Having met Andrea in the flesh, I was trying to guess what
elixir of life he had discovered to retain the image of youth that he
projects. Or else he was a child progidy in the arts of devising.

Campbell Tyler
Cape Town

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrea Re [mailto:andrea@andrea-re.eu]
as one of the bears I can confirm that Sven is the one who devised the
dance. The others are those who, along with Sven himself, danced it in
at the Dundee Festval in 1998 (??? cannot quite remember) dressed as bears.

Jim Healey wrote:
> Devised by the Bears for the children - young and old - at the Dundee
RSCDS Festival, March 1968. With thanks to George & Ellen Regan (Glasgow)
for the superb Teddy Bear costumes. The Bears are Gwen Stone, Helen
Lawrenson, Elizabeth Fairgrieve, Faye & Joe Burke, Andrea Re, Harry Hall and
Sven Leyffer.

Salut, Bruce,
you wrote:

>
> I had the ladies shorten the petronella so
> that they were facing out at the start of the Schihallion reels.

That seems to be the nicest way to do it. one could even take hands and set
as one does in Clutha.

>
>
> The name of the dance refers to the tune 'Nellie the Elephant' which
> apparently was an old TV tune,

Yes, I'm old enough to remember that one!
But we'll have to dance with whatever we have on record.

Thanks for the youtube link ; I'l have a look.

All the best,
Martion

> There is a punk rock version of the song on Youtube
> that is one of the funniest music videos I've seen

This is the original recording of Nellie the Elephant though,
by Mandy Miller in the 1950s:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vlLIa8_pLpk

Jan

Beaconsfield, UK
RSCDS London Branch

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I don't have the book with me, but what Simon says sounds right.

I thought we'd had a discussion about the origins of this dance before - maybe it's in the archive. Anyway, here goes again:
The dance was written for me by two of my dancing friends from university. Nellie the Elephant was the choice of tune because my nickname is Nellie and I have a substantial collection of elephants. My 'trademark' on hand-made greetings cards (and my new email address - please delete the old one if you haven't already) is Nellifant. The title of the dance came from the tune and not the other way about.. It's published in the Aurora 10th anniversary book under a picture of 3 elephants. The book is available from Aurora: http://www.aurorascot.org.uk/about/10th-anniversary-book/aurora-dance-book-request

The dance has been on the Aurora Ball programme for the last two years, repeated immediately both times. But yes, it's quite "active"!

Best wishes
Helen
Dublin SCD Club, RSCDS International Branch and honorary member of Aurora, Aberdeen

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:49:19 +0100
From: "Martin Sheffield" <francoscot@gmail.com>
To: strathspey@strathspey.org
Subject: Elephant Stampede

So, if anyone actually knows this odd dance :
After the ladies petronella to rejoin their partners, what should they do to position themselves for the schiehallion reels?  face in & turn out on the last pas de basque? shorten the petronella and set facing out? set facing in and then cast?

(why "odd dance"? well for one thing, 4x48 with hardly a bar of rest is somewhat breathtaking, compared with most other dances. And I hope the
title is not appropriate for the way we dance!)

Martin

Helen wrote :"The dance has been on the Aurora Ball programme for the last
two years, repeated immediately both times. But yes, it's quite "active"!

So there are still some young energetic dancers on the scene.
I'm not sure I could do it twice -- even taking the men's role and getting
the extra 4 bars rest!

Martin

Martin

This is what I have and it makes very good sense to me.

25-28
All ladies dance petronella turn to finish beside the man one place to the
right, then all four couples set with nearer hands joined.

29-32
All ladies repeat the petronella to finish beside partner, then all four
couples set. On the last bar the ladies pull right shoulder back to face
out.

33-48
All four couples dance Schiehallion reels half way round the set.

Simon
Vancouver

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Sheffield [mailto:francoscot@gmail.com]
Sent: October 30, 2008 9:49 AM
To: strathspey@strathspey.org
Subject: Elephant Stampede

I asked a question about this dance a few weeks ago, but there was some
confusion with my various addresses, and my request for info never came
through.It did not seem to matter too much at the time, as I thought I'd
probably not be doing the dance again, but I have been asked to teach it
again.
So, if anyone actually knows this odd dance :
After the ladies petronella to rejoin their partners, what should they do to
position themselves for the schiehallion reels? face in & turn out on the
last pas de basque? shorten the petronella and set facing out? set facing in
and then cast?

(why "odd dance"? well for one thing, 4x48 with hardly a bar of rest is
somewhat breathtaking, compared with most other dances. And I hope the
title is not appropriate for the way we dance!)

Martin

Simon Scott wrote:

On the last bar the ladies pull right shoulder back to face
> out.
>

I suppose we had better do it like that then , if that is what it says in
the book. :-(

Martin

Bruce Herbold wrote:
|
| The name of the dance refers to the tune 'Nellie the Elephant' which
| apparently was an old TV tune, the tune is a lrage part of the reason
| to do this dance. There is a punk rock version of the song on Youtube
| that is one of the funniest music videos I've seen -- worth viewing
| even if you don't usually watch music videos, but you will then have
| the tune stuck in your head for hours (not to mention the visual
| images). Just fetching the webaddress made me laugh again.

That title sounded familiar, so I asked my abc tune finder
about it - and it found it. It's at Paul Hardy's web site:
http://www.pghardy.net/concertina/tunebooks/

So if you have some musicians handy, you can give them
copies of the tune.

--
I ♡ Unicode