Tuesday, May 11, 2010

11 May 2010 - Dancing on the Heights

A wonderful night! I had a full set, I had some music on the new computer and taught dances that I had music for but hadn't prepared. And it went really well.

Tonight's dances were:
Coming Through the Rye (40 J 3) San Francisco 2
Knights' Heys (32 H 3) T. Glasspool
Glencoe (32 S 4) B. Priddey - Tam O'Shanter Book
The Pride of the Murray (32 H 3) I. Boyd - World Around the Corner
Gypsy Weaver (32 S 3) Between the Rivers (A. Peet)

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Coming Through the Rye - The first 24 bars are pure dead brilliant. The sequential parallel reels are stunning. The asymmetry gives it spice and when covered it is simply mahvelous. Peanut gallery piped up and declared it a ball dance. Who am I to argue with them? It is now on the short list.

Knights' Heys - Wow! I put this on the 2003 K&G Ball and haven't taught it since. My bad because it is a wonderful, joyous dance and how quickly we forget. It is one of Terry's best dances and he has many very good ones.

Glencoe - Mixed reviews on this one. Positive feedback from several and negative feed back from several. My personal feelings are equally mixed. I will put it this way: not up to the standards of Rakes of Auld Reekie or Maurice, but few dances are. This one is a good solid middle ground strathspey that is a little bit different.

The Pride of the Murray - I liked it in 2006 when I put it on that year's K&G Ball. I still like it and tonight's dancers all liked it. The moving turns and the social warmth of the "invitation" to 3M and 3L to join the turns and form teapots make the dance memorable.

Gypsy Weaver - Oh My Goodness Gracious. What beautiful music and what a beautiful dance. Top 10 contender! It is right up there with Maurice and Rakes of Auld Reekie.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

5 May 2010 - Wilton Class

Another late start and small class. It was also very warm and I was very distracted. My Mac crashed, I lost all my music and the Apple stores don't work on "antiques". I am now the owner of a PC and feeling like I stepped back into the stone age. All very depressing. Which affected the class negatively - and before you ask, no I was not able to leave it at the door.

I had to bring cds - and that is just about as bad as having to use tapes (remember those?).

Tonight's dances were:
The Burn of Sorrow (32 S 2) B. Priddey
Wedding in St. Monans (32 J 3) Mary S. Brandon
The Pride of the Murray (32 H 3) Iain Boyd
Bill Clement, MBE (32 J 3) John Wilkinson

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The Burn of Sorrow: Nothing special. I may need to find better music (when I have the new pc up and running and the basic library of SCD music is installed).

Wedding in St. Monans - Needs a four couple set for proper test. Three couples means too much fudging with the progression.

The Pride of the Murray - I like this dance! So did tonight's crew. And so they should, they liked it enough that I put it on the 2006 K&G Ball for them.

Bill Clement, MBE - Again I wish I had the right music, because the music I picked it proved to be nothing special.