Saturday, December 9, 2017

26 September 2017 – New Haven

I had hoped to have the K&G Tea Dance program settled by now - No such luck though.
So this evening was a mixed one. Some dances try outs from the short list and some for 'just because'.

The dances I taught were:

Deborah's Request  -  (32 J 3)  -  Price
Scotia Sea  -  (32 R 3)  -  Scotia Suite
The Rose Garden  -  (24 S 2)  - SF2
Highland Light Society  -  (32 J 3)  - Price
The Falkirk Wheel  -  (32 S 4 dancers)  - Price
Mrs Watt's Teakettle  -  (48 R 3)  -  Burrage

--  *  --  *  --  *  *  *  --  *  --  *  --

Deborah's Request:-  I heard a cry "I can't find any good dances for warmup, simple dances with simple turns in them".
"Well, write one" I said. "
"You do that better than I can." she replied, with that 'look'.
So I did. I had to.

Scotia Sea:-  I like the music. It could carry it's dance if it had to. It doesn't. The dance is good and I like the fit between the two. And the music flies!

The Rose Garden:- I have posted about this dance before. Check back. This one earned two thumbs up.

Highland Light Society:- I wrote this dance for Morag Geraci. A pillar of the Westchester group until she retired to Cape Cod. The Cape Cod Highland Light Society hosts the Scottish dancing in the 
Falmouth area.

The Falkirk Wheel:- At Falkirk two canals meet, sort of. There is an elevation difference of about 24.7 meters between the two canals and the Wheel is magnificent! The mechanical principle is based 
on a sun and planet gear system as are the reels in the dance. 

I first met this reel system in a George Emerson dance where he called it a "Planet" reel. Subsequently I have met the same reels under the term Celtic reel. They are the same but the concept of a celtic reel, a cross and a circle, is much easier on the mind than the other.

Mrs Watt's Teakettle:- Truth be told I looked at this dance a couple of times and passed on to the next. I didn't see any thing here, not really. But one day I did teach it and the response from the dancers was positive. It is a nice dance. It is not only worth doing but it is worth doing again. 

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