strathspey@strathspey.org:1334

Deborah Shaw

two topics

March 17, 1995, midnight (Message 1334)

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MUSICAL TREAT

Those of you who plan to attend Delaware Valley's workshop and 
ball this weekend are in for a musical treat.  Alasdair Fraser 
and Muriel Johnstone -- great singularly -- are incredible 
together.  At Unicoi (Georgia, USA) last weekend, these comments 
were heard:
*   "InCREDible!" (about ten per person, usually followed
    or proceeded by a "whoo!")
*   "Eargasmic" (one person but very apt)
*   "Too good to dance to" (impossible)

BRIEFS: PRO

I haven't read the 50+ messages on Strathspey from today and 
yesterday yet, so forgive me if I repeat someone else's comment, 
but those of you who come from areas where SCD is readily 
available are spoiled and have NO IDEA what it's like when 
classes and other dancers are rare commodities.  Whether a ball 
will be briefed is a major factor in my decision to attend.  I 
drive to another city for class, and I can't even attend every 
week.  For a dance, workshop, or ball, I sometimes travel 
hundreds of miles over a weekend.  Unicoi last weekend is 6-1/2 
hours by car; Washington, D.C.'s Capitol weekend in two weeks is 
5 hours by car.  One way.  

If I can get the program ahead of time, and I happen to have the 
references, then, yes, I can review the dances  -- generally by 
myself, reading the directions as I walk.  When you walk through 
a dance on your own, never having heard the music, you often miss 
problem spots.  However, even this is not always practical.  For 
example, for the 29 dances on the Hogmanay program at 
Philadelphia, I had never done 16 of them; had danced 8 once or 
twice, three to eight years ago; and knew very well the other 5.  
Most of the ones I didn't know turned out to be from the earlier 
books and a briefing was all that was needed.  On a 29-dance 
program, if you're unsure of 75% of the dances, a brief is very 
much appreciated.  I did not mind at all standing through the 
briefings for the 5 I knew very well.**  Now, I am an experienced 
dancer with an interest in technique, albeit not a teacher.  I 
can dance most of the old dances, even if I haven't done them 
before, on a talk through.  If I start in fourth place for a 
three-couple dance, and the top couple dances correctly, there's 
no problem even on a dance with a tricky spot or two.  On a 
complicated dance -- even Mic Mac Rotary, Bratach Bana, or other 
Drewry -- I don't need (but don't mind) a briefing if I've done 
it recently.  (I often forget the simpler dances without a 
briefing, however; I suffer from the "which one is that?" 
complex.)

The operative word here is BRIEF.  A brief is not a complete 
description, with all details included.  It is a quick reminder 
of the highlights, and it should be a terse verbal description, 
not read verbatim from the original.  I do resent standing and 
waiting through a reading, especially in a monotone, and 
especially as I watch panic grow on the faces of those around who 
were counting on the brief and now find it impossible to 
comprehend.  What dance cannot be briefed within one minute?  I 
once heard Ian Powrie's Farewell to Auchterarder briefed -- and 
very well -- in forty five seconds.  This gives the dancers a 
chance to catch their breaths and the musicians a moment to 
arrange their sheet music.

Happy dancing,
Deborah Shaw
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx

**  I probably won't go back to this dance however, for other
    reasons.  If you're from Delaware Valley and would care to
    know them, please contact me by private email.