NEFFA 2009 Ramblings

I've been so tired lately that I tried to take it very easy at NEFFA this year.  I was only teaching one session, basic cross-step waltz with Amy Cann and her fellow musicians of Calliope.  It was scheduled first thing Saturday morning, which (not being a morning person), I hate, especially since I was staying a full hour away at my home-away-from-home in Medford.  Next year I need to try being slightly less flexible in my acceptable schedule times.  But the session went well, and once again I had people accosting me in the hallways and even, memorably, from a car in a dark parking lot late at night, to tell me how much they'd enjoyed it.  I could get a seriously swelled head from all the positive feedback I get at dance festivals.  Working with Calliope was great -- being able to pretty much just wave my hand and summon music of the proper style and tempo makes teaching much simpler.

After teaching, I had food and checked in the Spare Parts CDs I'm selling.  Since I wasn't teaching a session relevant to those CDs I'd only brought along a few each of The Regency Ballroom and The Polo.  I didn't expect to sell many, but one can always hope.

Along with attending a few dance sessions, about which more below, I did a little gentle shopping (two very cheap CDs of fiddle music for dancing and a small stuffed sheep), and hung out with various friends -- it was good to see Merav & Mike, Kat/Sor, JB, Joanne, David & Ottavia, Hobbit, David & Persis, Peter, Jeremy & Angela, Pat, Simone, Helen, Kristin, Liefe, Michael, Katy & Ben, Nicole & Brian, Terry, and more others than I can remember off the top of my head.  I even did a little negotiating and more-or-less settled two gigs for the fall.  October's weekends are now completely gone, with three out of four on the road and one at home with the EAS Regency Assembly and multiple houseguests.  Whee!

I drifted into the Gender-Role-Free Contra session led by Chris Ricciotti a bit late, but got in several good dances.  I'm not a regular enough contra dancer to be super-good at it, and I have to fight my historically-based instincts, but general experience with figures and musical sense usually carries me through.  My favorite dance this time was a mescolanza (four facing four) that had an interesting switch from line to square formation mid-figure and an interesting progression that had the two couples in each line switching sides each time.  Feeling daring, at the top of the set my partner and I switched gender roles mid-dance and managed to survive it with only a bit of confusion.

My two peeves about contra: as at the Flurry, I encountered a couple of people dancing the "female" role who weren't satisfied with my dullness in the "male" role and therefore pushed my arm up and added spontaneous twirls of their own.  At least this species of poor partner was less common than at the Flurry.  They were replaced by a whole series of men (and it really was men) dancing in the "female" role who felt that while swinging they should clamp their left arm tightly to their sides.  Along with making the dance frame awkward, this has the unpleasant consequence of imprisoning my right forearm in their disgustingly sweaty armpits.  Yuck!  I mentioned this to Chris afterwards and asked him to make a point of mentioning it as a caller now and then.

After another lengthy break spent primarily collapsed on the grass outside in a pile of people from what turned out to be a single extended polyweb (including Kat/Sor, occasionally found in the comments here) eating chocolate and oversharing personal information, I drifted back in for a session billed as French Mazurka.  This was quite interesting, and very well and clearly taught.  It wasn't the 19th century-style mazurka I'm accustomed to, which is rather strenuous and involves a lot of hopping, leaping, and heel-clicking.  This was the modern French "bal folk" version, which is clearly a degenerate version of the ballroom variations of the historical dance.  Specifically, there were sequences of polka mazurka and the extended polka mazurka sequence known as "La Koska," but instead of the expected "slide-cut-hop" there was just "step-close-lift."  Much easier on the knees, and with a very different feel, but still clearly connected to the ancestral form.  There were also some interesting turns that "wound up" one way and then turned the other.  I took enough notes that I could probably re-teach what I was taught fairly easily, but I think I want to study the dance directly from someone French before feeling I understand this particular modern folk form.  Note to self: find an excuse to go to France to dance.

I went from there straight into a free waltz session with Calliope and got some nice dancing in.  This was the second time in a week I'd danced to "Cecile" as the last waltz, though this time it was played at a moderate tempo rather than the hesitation waltz pace.

After a break for some dinner, I went in for a bit of modern English country dancing led by Scott Higgs, who was quite good, though one caller who did one dance between his calling was not so good.  If you're teaching a complex series of turns it's useful to tell people how far they go and where they end up at the end.  It took several repetitions of the dance and minor sets with couples whom I suspect knew it already to get that entirely clear.

I ducked out of that session early to get to the performance set which would include my friends in the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers performing L'Alliance, a mid-19thc quadrille of two couples which I'd taught to two different groups myself in the last six weeks or so.  I also got to see some interesting Chinese dancers and Scottish highland dance in the same session.  I was fascinated by the steps in the latter; unlike modern RSCDS-style Scottish country dancing, the highland dancers, who are essentially soloists, used a lot of steps that clearly connect to the 19th century ones used in the reel for three or four, which has a similar emphasis on solo dancing (generally, it's eight bars of reeling followed by eight bars of improvised fancy footwork).

I wound up the evening by drifting around the margins of CVD's Victorian dance session, which included a version of the Tempest (with a period-style snowball start!) which I wasn't familiar with (hurrah!), a waltz, a schottische, a Grand March, and the Gothic Dance.  I was feeling really tired by then so I mostly just came in as needed and otherwise watched quietly from a corner.

I slept late Sunday morning, then had to go north to meet with a couple whose 18th century-style wedding I will be calling dances for next year, so I only got back to NEFFA for a few minutes to pick up my CDs (four sold, which was better than I expected and paid for the weekend) before heading home and crawling into bed to write, read, and sleep.

Comments

[Marilee J. Layman]

Wow! That sounds like you had a lot of fun! And calling a dance at an 18th century-style wedding is really neat!

[Serge]

I could get a seriously swelled head from all the positive feedback I get at dance festivals.

Swelled heads are good to have, as long as they're your own, and not a cranium collection you keep in the basement and which would have the police very unhappy with you. Which is my way to say I'm glad you had a much-deserved good time.

[Merav]

It was, as always, lovely to see you. I'm glad you bought the sheep!

[Sorcyress]

Glad to hear you had a reasonably good time, and wonderful to see you. And to reply to the comment you left me, it is totally okay to link my livejournal here --I don't want my real last name floating the internet, but I keep myself perfectly public.

For those interested for whatever reason, my NEFFA report is here: http://kdsorceress.livejournal.com/410609.html

~Sor

[Susan de Guardiola]

Merav,
Yeah, I was walking back by and just couldn't resist the silly little long-haired ram. He's on my bookshelf now.

Sor,
Thanks!