Thread
Index
Bonnie Anne (Was: dances for 3 cpl sets?)
Lara Friedman-Shedlov
June 2, 2008, 8:54 p.m. (Message 52604)
We used to do Bonnie Anne all the time when I danced with the university groups in Scotland, but I've never encountered it here in the U.S. Usually we encored it with the men dancing as women and vice versa. It was great fun. I recently taught it to our group here in the Twin Cities, and I selfishly hope it will catch on a bit, so I can dance it more often. For those of you who do dance Bonnie Anne: Do you dance it as written, with the poussette right round at the end? Or do you "cheat" and do a regular (progressive) poussette? If I recall correctly, when I danced it with New Scotland at Edinburgh University, we used to do a regular poussette. Lara Friedman-Shedlov Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
We used to do it pretty regularly on balls and parties round here (Sacramento and San Francisco area) but I don't think it's been done since the 80s. we did the pousette as written - one more point of uniqueness for that dance. I still treasure the directions for the ladies to "quietly pas de Basque in place" while the men dance their reel of four. It was not unknown for the dance to be done with pdB throughout, including the reel of four with men's arms raised. A great dance but I fear it was a victim of the graying of our branch -- not just 96 bars of pdB, but then usually an encore. Many might echo the words of Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon if it showed up on programs now. But if you get it on a program in MN, let me know and I'll fly over. Bruce Herbold San Francisco.
Brief aside, Lara, thank you for mentioning that! I loved doing Bonnie Anne when I was in school in Scotland, and I also really loved switching sides for the encore. It was a good opportunity for us all to goof off a bit while challenging our brains. I loved seeing the boys hold their kilts like dainty ladies. :D Diane Donald Boise, Idaho USA
On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 8:54 PM, Lara Friedman-Shedlov <xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx> wrote: > For those of you who do dance Bonnie Anne: Do you dance it as written, with > the poussette right round at the end? Or do you "cheat" and do a regular > (progressive) poussette? If I recall correctly, when I danced it with New > Scotland at Edinburgh University, we used to do a regular poussette. I learned Bonnie Anne in New Scotland class few years ago and it was always done with a regular pousette at the end. So no changes here :) [at least not before 2005, when I left Scotland] It's danced (and demed) from time to time by at least half of the groups in the Czech Republic AFAIK :) Jan Brno, Czech Republic
Greetings! I meant to comment on this one earlier but ... Bonnie Anne does appear on social programmes occasionally, usually at Summer Dancing. What tends to happen is that it is done with 'normal' (progressive) poussettes to finish 2,1,4,3 and then repeated from those positions.Jim Healy Perth, Scotland
