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A dance looking for dancers
REBECCA SAGER
March 12, 1998, 6:04 a.m. (Message 11237)
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Throwing this little dance out there to see if anyone is interested in
trying it out. I believe it can be done somewhat better than we managed
to do it on Monday night. I could modify the second half to be more
conventional, but I sort of like having the action coming in from the 1st
man's and 4th woman's corners, echoing the skewed nature of the rights
and lefts.
Becky
--
Becky Sager,
Marietta GA USA
http://www.mindspring.com/~atlbrnch
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A STORMY RUSH-HOUR
A 32 bar Strathspey for four couples, devised by Becky Sager
Suggested music: "The Strathspey King", from the Music Makars CD
Bars:
1-2: All, taking hands on the side, set.
3-8: 1st, 2nd and 3rd men, with 2nd, 3rd and 4th women,
dance rights and lefts for three couples on the
diagonal, as in *"Monday Madness", one bar per hand.
2nd woman and 3rd man finish facing out, 1st man
facing 2nd man, 3rd woman facing 4th woman.
9-16: Reels of four on the sides, passing left shoulders to
begin. Finish facing as if to continue.
17-18: All turn facing person once round with left hand, so
that 2s and 3s are turned into the center, where they
join right hands across.
19-24: 1s and 4s switch neatly to hold nearer hands with the
person they have just turned and all dance once
round in a "star". All finish by flowing out to own
sides, holding nearer hands until the sideline is
reached. Order should be 1,2,4,3 on the men's side,
2,1,3,4 on the women's side.
25: 1st and 2nd men, 4th and 3rd women change places
with right hands (no polite turn)
26-28: 1st and 4th men and 4th and 1st women turn by the left
hand one and one half times to change places, (no
polite turn). 4th man and 1st woman should start
dancing with left feet!
29-32: 2s with 4s, 1s with 3s, circle four hands round to the
right.
Finish in order 2,4,1,3.
Repeat from new positions.
Rights and lefts for three couples may not_always_ take 12
bars. Reels of four _sometimes_ begin with left shoulders.
Composed in my head, March 6th, 1998 between 6:30 and 6:45 a.m.
while driving on I-285 in a thunderstorm. (I did reach work
safely, notwithstanding!)
*"Monday Madness" is a 4x40 Reel by Ted Blaschke of Atlanta. It
is published in the collection "Gretchen's Fancy".
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Eric T. Ferguson wrote: > > Hello Becky, > > I read your > > A STORMY RUSH-HOUR > on _strathspey_, and found it said > > 3-8: 1st, 2nd and 3rd men, with 2nd, 3rd and 4th women, > > dance rights and lefts for three couples on the > > diagonal, as in *"Monday Madness", one bar per hand. > > 2nd woman and 3rd man finish facing out, 1st man > > facing 2nd man, 3rd woman facing 4th woman. > adding > > *"Monday Madness" is a 4x40 Reel by Ted Blaschke of Atlanta. It > > is published in the collection "Gretchen's Fancy". > > Could you kindly post the detailed description of this formation on > _strathspey_, I am sure there are others too who do not know the figure and > do not have the reference. > > Thanks > > Eric Eric, et al - here is the description of Diagonal rights and lefts for three couples (or more correctly, I guess, for six people). I'm describing it as it appears in my experimental "Stormy Rush-Hour", as in the source, "Monday Madness", the 1st couple is in 2nd place to begin. Ted wrote this dance back in 1986 for a devisers' competition in the Branch 10th Anniversary year. The figure was inspired by "Johnnie's Welcome Hame", Ted thinking that squashing the figure to shorten the distance you have to travel for the extra left hand crossing would be an improvement. 1st 8 bars of "A Stormy Rush-Hour": (4 couple Strathspey) 1-2: All set 3: 1M & 2W, 2M & 3W, 3M & 4W cross RH 4: 1M & 4W cross LH, 2M & 3M change LH, 2W & 3W change LH 5-8: Repeat pattern of 3: and 4: back to place -or: 5: 3W &4W, 2W & 3M, 1M & 2M cross RH 6: 3W & 2M cross LH, 2W & 1M change LH, 4W & 3M change LH 7: 3M & 2M, 4W & 1M, 3W & 2W cross RH 8: 3M & 2W cross LH and face out, 1M & 2M change LH and face each other, 3W & 4W change LH and face each other Obviously you need a compact set, slow music and loooong steps - hey, it's an experiment. I hope it's equally obvious that in Ted's reel time dance, this is a 12 bar figure. I have enjoyed corresponding with Alan Paterson and Malcolm Brown about their attempts to teach this. I'm glad that some hilarity was provoked! Becky -- Becky Sager, Marietta GA USA http://www.mindspring.com/~atlbrnch