Wow, Rose, that was a great analysis of a dance directions for a dance you've never done before! Mary's right about the constant clockwise. Makes the dance mesmerizing or dizzying or right hip painful, depending on your point of view. When I teach it, I demonstrate. First I point to four "slots" around the circle Then show how the active dancer falls back into slot #1, ends up in slot #2, comes forward to meet partner and falls back into slot #3, ends up in slot #4 . I take hands for each of the circles but don't circle round, because I want them to focus on the sequence of locations. I use the slot metaphor because if they just head for the next pair, they sometimes start the circles facing out. If they *fall back* into the slot, they're in the correct position. I have them walk this, pausing after they're in slot #1 to identify the other 3 places they'll be going. Transition from circle 1 to circle 2: When I taught it recently, I had them "take two hands" with the person on their L and "turn a bit" to get into the new slot. This worked much better than other ways I've taught it before.It's better to remind them to turn to the next SLOT not the next circle, so they stay oriented correctly. Then point out that the 1st corners are the key to the success of this dance because they switch to a new set of people. Mary's "loose canon" is nice. I usually call it "being in outer space". The 1st corners have to stay in close and be alert to remember where they're needed. Walk again, this time with transitions. Depending on the group, I might do a quick walkthrough for the other two couples in the minor set, slowing it down at the transition moments. When I'm calling I say "slot 1, turn to slot 2, OPEN TO FACE PARTNER, slot 3, turn to slot 4, FACE PARTNER, turn half and...cast." As you can tell by the caps, the moments where you face your partner are the punctuation points where it's easiest to get people back on track again. My main problem is remembering to watch the dance ALL the way through because it tends to degrade over time. Great fun when it "cooks" and easy for beginner musicians. J ----- Original Message ---- > From: Rose Fox > To: winston@slac.stanford.edu; English Country Dance and related forms > > Sent: Tue, November 30, 2010 12:53:34 AM > Subject: Re: [ECD] "From Aberdeen" hints, tips? > > > On 2010-11-29 , at 22:16, Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing wrote: > > > So: Anybody got hints or tips on producing a successful "From >Aberdeen"experience? (I'd be more interested in thing specifically about this >dance, and things you've actually tried and had work would be even more >interesting.) > > Grain of salt warning: I haven't danced this, so I'm going off the description >here: > > http://www.srcf.ucam.org/round/dances/cdb/cdb6/fromab > > It does indeed look like a really delightful, slightly dizzying, and > potentially extremely confusing dance. > > The progression happens in the very first move of the dance, with the > ones casting and the twos leading up. Once that's done, the twos and > threes are in the same "slot" they'll be in for the rest of the round. > So when in doubt, the twos and threes should go home and then circle > with someone. > > As for the ones, I would be inclined to think of their track as paying > visits to specific places relative to the minor set rather than to > specific pairs of people, so as first gent I'd probably be chanting > "below, right, middle, above, left, middle" to myself; but someone > else might think of it as "threes, gents, partner, twos, ladies, > partner" or some mix of the two. Regardless, encouraging people to > think of it as a track would help those who think more spatially. > > A pre-dance walk-through in which each couple in the minor set takes a > turn walking that track--with the other couples just standing still to > provide reference points, rather than going through all the turns-- > would probably be helpful for the kinetic learners, though a bit time- > consuming. > > For those of us who think in terms of story, this is clearly a love/ > hate relationship in three acts. The ones get that really strong start > with the turn once and a half, but then they have a big fight. After > that they barely touch, and when they do meet up, they lock eyes for a > single searing moment and then back away as quickly as possible! Yet > after trying every possible combination of the other people in the set > (oh, those raunchy 17th-century choreographers and their threesomes), > they always come back to each other. Happy ending for a brief half- > turn, aww. (And yes, I really do think of almost every dance in these > terms, and it does help me keep track of where I'm supposed to be when.) > > Calling should presumably be aimed at the ones, but since they keep > going in opposite directions that will be awkward, and "woman up man > down" will have some of us automatically thinking about heys rather > than circles. Still, "turn once and a half, woman up man down" will at > least sound familiar and get people to where they ought to be. After > that I'd avoid terms like "clockwise" and "to the left", which tend to > confuse people, and instead say "keep going in the same direction as > the circle" (later abbreviated to "keep going around"). "Heads > circle... sides circle... ones meet" might also be good shorthand, and > expands the calling to include the twos and threes. Describing the > brief meeting of the ones at the end of B1 as a quarter-gypsy may or > may not be useful. > > Some of the difficulty might be avoided by making it a gender-free > dance so the ones don't worry so much about who starts out going up > and who starts out going down, or about getting in that final turn > halfway to end proper; but of course the people who would be worried > about that are probably also the ones who would benefit from some > consistency. Still, it is very suitable for a gender-free dance (just > replace "ladies/gents" with "sides") and that might be a good crowd to > call it for, since in my experience they tend to be high-energy and > low-stress. > > I hope some of this is useful. > > Cheers, > Rose > _______________________________________________ ECD mailing list ECD@bacds.org http://www.bacds.org/mailman/listinfo/ecd