I went up to the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA) last weekend for about 24 hours to do some teaching and dancing. I was sick all last week, so I was much more sedate than I normally would be at a Festival, dancing very little and saving all my energy for my two teaching sessions. A few thoughts:
Teaching
The Royal Scotch Quadrilles session Friday night went pretty well. We managed to make up four sets, barely, which is about all that would fit on the auditorium stage anyway. Despite a persistent problem on my part forgetting a setting figure in practice (though not when we actual ran the whole dance with music), we ran through figures 1-3-5 as planned. Multiple ringers helped. Music by Cal Howard and his many friends was perfect.
Cross-Step Waltz Saturday morning was in one of the large gyms, fortunately – it was very well-attended and filled the gym nicely without being overly crowded. Music was by the very patient Calliope (who really ought to get a proper social session rather than all the workshop sessions so they can play more) and partnering by the graceful Jennie Worden from Toronto. I cut the number of variations I taught down to three, which let people have more time for dancing. This seemed to go over well; I should continue to keep my desire to overteach in check in the future. I was being stopped regularly in the hall for the rest of the day by people who wanted to compliment me on this session.
Friends
It was lovely to get to spend actual quality time talking (mostly over food) to Michael & Jennie, Marc & Keira, David & Otavia, Jonathan, and Christine, and to at least say hi or talk a tiny bit with Persis, David, Kim, Kristen, Nicole, and Kat. Other than that, I only chatted briefly with folks during sessions. Not one of my more social weekends.
Filthy lucre
I sold a grand total of thirteen CDs of various sorts (Regency Ballroom, Royal Scotch Quadrilles, and Polo) via performer sales and in-person hawking. Thank you, Kat and Marc, for handling post-NEFFA CD transport.
Shopping
All batik dance dresses look ICKY on me. After many try-ons I came home with no dance dress. Instead I bought a reprint of “From the Ballroom to Hell”, an 1894 rant by a former dancing master about the evils of dance, particularly the waltz:
Her head rests upon his shoulder, her face is upturned to his, her bare arm is almost around his neck, her partly nude swelling breast heaves tumultuously against his, face to face they whirl on, his limbs interwoven with hers, his strong right arm around her yielding form, he presses her to him until every curve in the contour of her body thrills with the amorous contact…his eyes, gleaming with a fierce, intolerable lust, gloat over her, yet she does not quail. She is filled with the rapture of sin and its intensity; her spirit is inflamed with passion and lust is gratified in thought.
I should pass this along to men when attempting to convince them they really ought to learn to dance.
Egoboo
I am more or less accustomed to being stopped in the hallway by people who want to tell me they liked my teaching. I’ve even realized they’re both serious and sane. And I’m accustomed to being recognized from my postings on mailing lists; apparently I exude a small purple cloud of pedantry that causes people to blurt out “You’re THAT Susan!” But at NEFFA I was the recipient of a new and exciting form of recognition: yes, I am in fact the one who wrote the Lobster Quadrille thing!
Yummy
Strawberry-apple-banana-pineapple smoothie.
Dancing (not much of this, due to exhaustion)
Hambo: Very, very crowded session, at least twice as many people as could actually fit into the large gym. They should offer it twice to try to divide the crowd. Despite some frustration at the pace and audibility-of-teacher issues, I now finally understand how this dance works and can do the woman’s part pretty well. The man’s part will take more time, but now that I actually grasp the pattern properly I can practice at home.
Contra: I only did one, and it was unsatisfying. The music did not drive me. The progression was lame and a little awkward. A move did not flow naturally into the following partner swing, despite my partner Keira and I’s various experiments (reverse the swing, reverse positions, make a curlicue to get into it). I was surprised and disappointed.
Ragtime: Impossible task for Michael - mixing in enough of teaching to get people dancing while still keeping it a social session. Very tough. One-step and foxtrot with Jennie; damn, that woman can dance. I experimented with throwing in Newman’s third hesitation and the Coll sequence with the nifty reverse pivot at the end, and she came right along with me. I had never realized quite how sexy that hesitation was before. Blues with Amy; does anyone really know how to dance the blues 1920s-style? I sure don’t, but Amy nicely followed weird foxtrotty things and crab walks. Research is needed. Solo Charleston; wild, woolly, a little ragged, but exhilarating. New musicians! Great (and different) sound from the New New Orleans Jazz Band, but some tempo issues (foxtrot played at one-step tempo; I switched to one-stepping, but people who'd just learned foxtrot and thought they were getting a danceable example were probably flustered.) Teaching issues; Michael should use a headset mike, since whenever he put down the handheld we couldn't hear him. I thought I saw him demo a grapevine-pattern SSQQQQ sequence, which I would have disapproved of since I have not yet seen any evidence at all for using patterns in walk-trot foxtrot sequences. Couldn't hear, so can't be sure. Also, I did not like having a grand march at this as it used up way too much time that I would rather have used for couple dancing. Watching sixteen people come abreast up the hall was impressive, though, and impossible in most dance spaces.
Watching (more of this than usual)
Asymmetrical waltzes: I think they had better ideas for this in previous centuries; the mid-19th century 5/4 waltz and the early 20th century half & half both feel more graceful than what was being taught when I dropped by. I didn’t stay.
English dances with steps and bounciness: Michael Barraclough calling ceilidh dances. They looked fun and seemed very well-received by the attendees. I watched steps with interest and chatted with Christine about modern English country dance and Regency dance.
Commonwealth Vintage Dancers (performance): Very nice performance of Barbara’s reconstruction of Coulon’s double quadrille (early version), though I wasn’t entirely sure about that Trenise figure. I also think quadrilles should also be staged on the diagonal, as regardless of how pretty the back of Katy’s gown is, I get tired of looking at it. Though I guess that might make the diagonal fourth figure a bit awkward in this particular quadrille. And it’s always a pleasure to see Patri’s reconstruction of the extraordinary Cazorti.
Civil War Dances: Barbara Pugliese and CVD with the impossible task of giving a sampler of mid-19th century dance in only 50 minutes. Some very nice waltz, a grand march (tight squeeze on that stage), a bit of redowa (not successful - this needed a session of its own), and the Spanish Dance. The stage was absolutely packed and I didn't seem to be needed as a ringer, so I kibitzed with Jennie and thought hard about what I would do if anyone asked me to teach Civil War dance in 50 minutes.
Overall
A good time despite my tendency to sit around limply instead of dancing. I wish they would move back to earlier in the month, though - it looks like for 2009 they will once more be right at the end, which once more puts them in conflict with Cape May. Arrggh!
From the Ballroom to Hell--Hotcha! if that won't get straight men out on the dance floor nothing short of a winch will do the job.
Hope you're beginning to feel a bit better.
Posted by: fidelio | April 29, 2008 at 03:41 PM
Yes, I am much better this week, thanks!
I have never had much luck getting straight guys to dance. I can't figure it out.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | April 29, 2008 at 04:55 PM
I seem to recall that the 'folk' dancing we did in jr high (in the winter when it rained) included at least one grand march. Being in the multipurpose room, we might actually have had room to do 16 abreast, and I think we had enough people we could have done it in three ranks. (Mostly we did square dances, some Virginia reels. Co-ed, too, unlike high school dance classes. I can has waltz?)
Posted by: P J Evans | April 29, 2008 at 10:45 PM
u can has waltz!
The problem with sixteen abreast is that to assemble the sixteen abreast, you need room for 32 people side by side - a line of eight coming down each side and wheeling while the previous lines of sixteen are going up the middle. That needs a honking big room! At NEFFA we were in a high school gym and the "top" of the room was along one of the long sides - the length of a basketball court and then some. So there was room to wheel the lines. I was impressed.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | April 29, 2008 at 11:15 PM
But at NEFFA I was the recipient of a new and exciting form of recognition: yes, I am in fact the one who wrote the Lobster Quadrille thing!
Congratulations for the recognition, Susan. And I'm very glad to hear you're doing better.
Posted by: Serge | April 30, 2008 at 01:09 PM
Much better, though I still cough up translucent goo on a regular basis. But it seems to be coming more from my throat than from my chest now, and it doesn't hurt or leave me with pounding headaches.
I'm just ridiculously pleased at having been recognized as a blogger for the first time ever.
Posted by: Susan de Guardiola | April 30, 2008 at 01:18 PM