New England Dancing Masters Workshops
Notes
Thursday Evening Dance
National AOSA Conference 2007 * San Jose
New England Dancing Masters
Mary Alice Amidon, Andy Davis, Peter Amidon
We were thrilled to dance with all of you Thursday night, thanks for coming!
Here are some online dance resources for finding dances in your own area:
http://www.thedancegypsy.com/
This is my favorite site. It includes contra dances, English country
dances and more, all across the United States.
http://www.contradancelinks.com/
This is a resource of contra dance websites
http://www.contradancelinks.com/pacific.html
This is a west coast contra dance resource.
http://www.bacds.org/
and this is specifically about the San Francisco Bay area.
and here are notes on the dances we did with you at the Thursday night dance party:
Blaydon Races
(In NEDM’s Chimes
of Dunkirk)
Formation: Circle Mixer: circle of couples
Music: Any jig
Great dance for a wedding or a reunion as it fosters conversation.
A1 (16) Forward and back twice. The second time end up facing partner and
holding two hands with partner.
A2 (16) All move towards center: step, together, step, together,
then move back to outside: step, together, step, together.
Repeat that whole sequence once.
B1 (16) All say goodbye to partner, pass right shoulders
with partner, and allemande right NEW partner, then allemande left new partner.(right
hand turn, then left hand turn with ‘arm wrestling’ grip.
B2 (16) All promenade this new partner.
As this is a circle mixer, I always start the walk through by having folks promenade and having the inside folks say ‘I am a moon’, ‘I am on the inside’, and the outside folks saying ‘I am a star’, ‘I am on the outside’. This is not a difficult dance, but the right hand turn and left hand turns of B1 can disorient the dancers as to whether they are supposed to promenade on the inside or outside. At a community dance I make the rule that, say, 2nd graders and younger all must dance with someone older, 3rd grader and up. Then, when everyone is promenading, I tell folks to put the oldest person on the inside. Thus all the inside folks, the moons, should always be 3rd graders or older.
The Longest Bridge by Andy Davis
In the handout
and in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut
This is a simple contra dance. Line all the dancers up and then tell
them to
take hands in groups of four, starting at the top (the end of the line nearest
the music) and having the children work their way down the line.
First Night Quadrille by Bob Dalsemer
In the handout
and in NEDM’s ‘Listen
to the Mockingbird’
Start by identifying the head and side couples, and make sure everyone introduces
themselves to their partner as well as to their neighbor
(the one next to you in a square who is not your partner).
Step It Down
in NEDM’s Down in the Valley collection
Grumpy March by Peter Amidon
in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
Sicilian Vowel Dance in the handout
in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
When you teach this it is helpful to distinguish the Counterclockwise facing
folks (who start the ‘grand right and left’ by first moving towards
the outside of the circle) from the Clockwise facing folks (who start the ‘grand
right and left’ by first moving towards the inside of the circle).
Circle Waltz Mixer
in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection