strathspey@strathspey.org:44530

Gary Knox

Briefings

March 7, 2006, 7:15 p.m. (Message 44530)

To Brief or Not to Brief - is a question that was debated for several years
in this area. Monthly parties were always briefed as they are informal and
the desire to encourage new dancers to participate is very important. The
Branch Committee's last directive was that most dances at a formal ball
would be briefly briefed; a briefing was not required for complicated dances
that took longer to brief than dance.

I can remember one discussion where it was pointed out that memorization is
much more important in Scottish schools (and the use of those brain cells)
than in US schools where the philosophy seems to be to look it up if you
need to know.

My guess is that most dancers in this area with 4 - 10 years experience
could not dance more than a dozen dances if they were only given the name
and had not danced it recently or studied for a program.


Gary, San Francisco Branch