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Request for written instructions for Australian Ladies

droddy

droddy

Oct. 8, 2001, 9:26 p.m. (Message 27802)

I belong to a SCD group in Thunder Bay, we would like to add 
Australian Ladies to our repertoire, and I am trying to obtain a 
copy of the written instructions for this dance. Dr. James Smith (in 
Vancouver) kindly sent me the version devised by Robert M Campbell, 
and mentioned that there is another version by Alex Hay. I tried to 
find a copy of this on the Strathspey site but could only find very 
general and brief details, not instructions for dance itself. Would 
it be possible for you to email me a copy of the instructions for the 
Alex Hay version, or tell me where I might find them on the internet 
(or a book title if published in book form). Also, is one version 
more popular (or more widely performed) than the other?
With thanks,
Dennis Roddy
John K. Andrews

John K. Andrews

Oct. 9, 2001, 6:20 a.m. (Message 27805, in reply to message 27802)

The Alec Hay version is contained in "Twenty SCD" by Alec Hay.  The Bob
Campbell version is in "Glasgow Assembly and other Scottish Country
Dances".  The Bob Campbell versions seems to be the more popular in the
U.S., at least in my experience.  Glasgow Assembly is available from
TACBooks (Teacher's Association of Canada).  Twenty SCD may also be
available from TACBooks.

Jay Andrews
Alexandria, VA
Jan Wilson

Jan Wilson

Oct. 9, 2001, 6:29 a.m. (Message 27806, in reply to message 27802)

The most commonly danced 'Australian Ladies' here in Sydney is Bob
Campbell's dance published in Glasgow Assembly.

Alec Hay's 'Australian Ladies' is published in Book One of "A Selection of
20 Scottish Country Dances Devised by Alec Hay".  This is (or was) published
by the Howick Scottish Country Dance Club in NZ and copies can probably be
obtained from the secretary who was (some years ago!) Mrs R Muldoon, 67A
Cockle Bay Road, Howick, Auckland.  New Zealand.  This dance is usually
referred to as "Hay's Australian Ladies" and it is a 4 x 32 bar reel for 4
couples.

I have never danced Hay's A. L. and, as far as I know, it has not been
danced in Sydney - however, I just might get it out and have a go at it next
week! Bars 19-20 could be interesting to achieve!

Jan Wilson
Alexandria, Sydney
Australia
Ian McHaffie

Ian McHaffie

Oct. 9, 2001, 2:08 p.m. (Message 27811, in reply to message 27802)

A comment (and question) on Australian Ladies  .

The following is partly from memory.

In addition to the two completely different versions of Australian 
Ladies -- one a 4-couple dance (Hay) and  one a 3-couple dance 
(Campbell) -- I recall another set of instructions for the better 
known (at least around Toronto) Bob Campbell version.

The first version I saw -- in typescript on a single page -- had 
different instructions for the corners in bars 17 - 32.  While the 
dancing couple were doing their "cross and cast to the right" four 
times,  the corners followed the same track as they do in the final 
version, but with changes of hands. That is, the corners' figure was 
"rights and lefts", with two bars of setting between each travelling 
movement. By the time the dance reached formal publication, the 
handing was changed to right hands for all the changes by the corners.

Does anyone else recall this change? Or have I got the Hay version 
(which I have not got) confused with the Campbell version?

Ian McHaffie
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xx
Rosemary Coupe

Rosemary Coupe

Oct. 9, 2001, 8:33 p.m. (Message 27829, in reply to message 27811)

My memory accords with yours, Ian. I first learned Bob Campbell's Australian
Ladies in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1984. At that time I was given a photocopy of
a closely typed page of instructions, on which the original "change places
giving the left hand" for bars 23-24 and 31-32 had been crossed out and
replaced by "change places giving the right hand." That would, of course,
have been some years after the publication of the dance in its present form
in Glasgow Assembly, but does indicate the way the dance evolved.
Incidentally, my copy of Glasgow Assembly gives an unusual printing history:
it was first published "in part" in 1970 (with or without Australian
Ladies?), and the "first full printing" took place in 1976. The
TAC-sponsored reprint was in 1982.

Regards

Rosemary Coupe
Vancouver
Ian McHaffie

Ian McHaffie

Oct. 10, 2001, 2:01 p.m. (Message 27838, in reply to message 27829)

Rosemary: I looked at the printing history on my edition of Glasgow 
Assembly: -- 5th printing, 1990 -- and, who knows, there may have 
been others since! This must make it one of the most popular books 
other than the RSCDS publications, some of the eariest of which must 
have been through multiple printings and editions by now.

In looking through the Glasgow Assembly book again, I made two 
interesting discoveries.

Firstly, there is a note about Australian Ladies, which I hadn't 
noticed before,  -- thanking Iain Boyd for the changes in bars 23 & 
24 and bars 31 & 32 -- and also for a change in bar 8. I wonder what 
change that was?? Perhaps the previous version had the dancers finish 
the four hands across on the sidelines and then dance in for the lead 
up. The dance was devised in 1967 for four Australian Ladies. Is any 
one of them a Strathspey subscriber? Perhaps one of them recalls the 
occasion and the changes.

My second observation was how clearly all the dances are described. 
Bob's descriptions seem to set a standard for how to describe a dance 
for someone who hasn't seen it danced. I have sometimes tried to work 
my way through an unfamiliar dance from the written instructions, 
only to find out that I didn't really know at the end what the 
devisor had in mind.  Bob's clarity often needs more words than there 
is room for on a "crib". --- Which relates to a previous thread. 
Should a crib teach the dance precisely from scratch to someone who 
has never heard of it? Or should it serve to remind a reasonably 
experienced dancer of the main figures?

Ian McHaffie
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xx
Brian Charlton

Brian Charlton

Oct. 12, 2001, 1:13 a.m. (Message 27854, in reply to message 27838)

G'Day, All,

The 'Australian Ladies' are still around, but I don't think they subscribe
to the list.

However, Iain Boyd has had some things to say on the list from time-to-time,
perhaps he could enlighten us.

Iain, are you out there?

If Iain doesn't reply, perhaps either Keith Napier could ask Elma See.

Happy Dancing (particularly os Australian Ladies - either version!)

Brian Charlton,
Sydney, Australia
Catherine

Catherine

Oct. 10, 2001, 10 a.m. (Message 27832, in reply to message 27802)


	    
	  
Murray Wilson

Murray Wilson

Oct. 12, 2001, 9:05 a.m. (Message 27857, in reply to message 27802)

At 09:13 12/10/01 +1000, you wrote:
>G'Day, All,
>
>The 'Australian Ladies' are still around, but I don't think they subscribe
>to the list.
>
G'Day Brian
Why don't you just buy the book?;-))

Murray Wilson
Auckland 
NZ

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