Whirls in "The flight of the sandmartins" / Update

Andrea Re

March 27, 2007, 12:27 a.m. (Message 48328)

Thanks to all.
I have done the dance at my class this evening and it actually went OK. 
After seeing and DOING the dance I can confirm that there is NO turn in 
the middle of the Schiehallion reels for 3. At the class I made the 
mistake of saying that I couldn't understand the word "whirl" and that 
prompted a barrage of definitions until I managed to say that I did know 
the word, but didn't understand it in this context. Ah, the joys of 
being a foreigner :-D .
The dance is actually quite good and it must have been ground-breaking 
and considered almost impossible when it was first devised.
Also I wasn't sure of the link between the RL and the LS reel for the 
ladies and my conclusion is that you finish the RL and then get into the 
reel.
In a way it shows that it is old-ish because there is a fair amount of 
standing about and no meanwhile figure, but all in all I would say that 
it has aged well and it is quite pleasant to dance.
The Schiehallion-like movement is not too easy but looks good. It is 
indeed like a "normal" Schiehallion reel, only with this "whirl" in the 
middle which is nothing but 1/3 of a LH wheel with no hands. Good 
manoeuvre and could be incorporated in a dem.

Thanks to Ron for his more "succinct" version of the dance.

Cheers,

Andrea (fae Dundee a who does NOT shy away from the "occasional" twirl ;-) )

ron.mackey

March 28, 2007, 1:04 a.m. (Message 48330, in reply to message 48328)

> The dance is actually quite good and it must have been ground-breaking 
> and considered almost impossible when it was first devised.

	I can confirm that!!   We worked on it for quite a few weeks in 
a club/class of 8 sets (!) and our small section incorporated it in our 
Dem list for several years.
Regards, Ron

Ron Mackey
Mottingham
London