strathspey Archive: Allemande - Phrasing

My oldest edition of Won't You Join the Dance is 1956, which it says is "Revised &
Enlarged".

Does anyone out there have a First Edition? - I am interested in what it has to say
about the phrasing of an allemande after looking at some dancers in an old film
phrasing it very differently from the way I was taught.

Malcolm

Malcolm L Brown
York (UK)

My earliest, green cover, WYJTD, is undated, but does not say "Revised &
Enlarged", so it may be a First Edition. My earliest, blue cover, WYJTD, is
dated 1976. Comparing 'Allemande' in both, the words are exactly the same,
though the diagrams have clearly been re-drawn. The squares and circles are
in the same places on paper, but the "arms" linking them are all slightly
different. [The direction arrows are 'open' in the green cover versions,
'solid' in the blue cover versions.]

I conclude that any discrepancies noted in the film are not down to WYJTD.

John M Sturrock
Cupar UK

> My oldest edition of Won't You Join the Dance is 1956, which it says is
> "Revised &
> Enlarged".
>
> Does anyone out there have a First Edition? - I am interested in what it
> has to say
> about the phrasing of an allemande after looking at some dancers in an old
> film
> phrasing it very differently from the way I was taught.
>
> Malcolm
>
> Malcolm L Brown
> York (UK)

Like John, I cannot be sure if my rusty red covered WYJTD is a first edition but it does have the price pencilled in as 7/6d which was that advertised in the first Bulletin after publication in 1951: it also refers to the Duke of Atholl as Hon. President so it was certainly published before his death in 1957. The bar by bar description of the allemande is exactly the same as in the 1985 version which was in force when I did my certificate and exactly how I was taught to teach the formation. As John mentions, the diagrams are very slightly different between the versions but not in any significant way.

That dancers in old films did not dance the formation as written should come as no surprise considering the many variations of formations on display at every dance I have ever been to. :o)

Jim Healy
Perth. Scotland

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