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This page was updated
March 16, 2008

Workshops

Workshop Notes

Central Florida AOSA (Orlando)
Teaching Traditional Dance and Singing Games to Children

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Dear Central Florida AOSA teachers,

We were thrilled and honored to be part of your 25th anniversary last Saturday. Congratulations; you obviously have a very dynamic community of music teachers. Thanks for your enthusiastic participation at the workshop. Special thanks for Debbie Clifton, Debbie Fahmie and Brian Foote for all the work you did taking care of us. We know there are lots more folks who made this workshop possible, thanks also to you.

We encourage all of you to go dance at a community dance in your area. Here are some online dance resources for finding dances in your own area:

Here below are all the dances we did in the workshop. Most of them are in your notes; any dances we did that are not in your notes will be available on this website.

The Workshop

Blaydon Races
p. 1 in notes
in NEDM’s Chimes of Dunirk collection
We used ‘Mouth of the Tobique’ from NEDM’s ‘Any Jig or Reel’ CD for this. We did this is a mixer, but you can also do it with younger children without changing partners. We often call this at weddings. We always start teaching this, as we do with any circle mixer, by having the dancers promenade and defining the gents/moons/peanut butter/inside partners and the ladies/stars/jelly/outside partners.

Tree Song
p. 6 in the handout.
In NEDM’s Down in the Valley collection
Lorraine Hammond, who composed this wonderful singing game, is a songwriter and musician, and the best known Appalachian dulcimer player in the country. She is in the greater Boston area. The piano arrangement on the CD is Peter’s. We find this to be a calming, centering dance, both for the children and for ourselves.

Old Brass Wagon
p. 6 in notes
In NEDM’s Down in the Valley collection
This can be an a cappella singing game, or, with the CD (or live music) a great early dance to instrumental music. When Peter teaches it he walks through the figures first, and then says “Now just do whatever Mary Alice says,” and puts on the CD.

La Bastringue
p. 1 in notes
In NEDM’s Chimes of Dunkirk collection
We used this as a vehicle for a lot of teaching tips: Mittens; front of your mitten on the front of your neighbor’s mitten, thumb lightly on back; take hands drop hands take hands drop hands; posture; teach the forward separately from the back in the forward and back; shake partner’s hand, hang on, take partner’s left hand for teaching promenade; while promenading: inside person is the moon/peanut butter/gent, outside is the star/jelly/lady; four steps of making a circle from a promenade: “Hang on to partner stop walking, hang on to partner face the center, drop hands, take hands.”; 9 ways of keeping the circle big and round on circle left and right; dosido (gents start on inside, ladies start going outside) flowing into two hand turn flowing into promenade; when music starts clapping the first of each 8 beats; doing the dance with your hands; “thick” calling, then “thin” calling then no calling; saying the call right before the ‘clap’ or before the first beat of the phrase and figure.

Down in the Valley
p. 8 in notes
In NEDM’s Down in the Valley collection
We did this as a scatter mixer. One of the you suggested doing it in a long skinny line where each dances shifts one over each time (looping around to the other side when they reach the end). Dancers in the line on one side make up the first motion; dancers in the line on the other side make up the second motion.

Going to Alberta
p. 9 in notes
In NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
This is a GREAT way to teach the ballroom position (used for the waltz, the polka, and for a contra dance swing) at the same time as a simple polka step. We have found this to be a great dance for little kids, big kids mixed ages, community dance, in short, for anyone. You can do it as an a cappella singing game, or accompany it with piano, guitar, accordion, or Orff instruments, or do it to the music of the Sashay the Donut CD.

Colonial Dance
not in the notes
Mary Alice learned this at the most recent Pourparler, an annual national conference on teaching folk dance to children. Here is how it goes:

THREE WAYS TO ‘FOOT IT’.

  1. Side stepping: Right foot: to the (right) side and back Left foot: to the (left) side and back.
  2. Step kick: Step on right foot, kick left foot to the right Step on left foot, kick right foot to the left
  3. Irish stepping: Step on right foot, left foot crosses over right and touches to right of right foot. Step on left foot, right foot crosses over left foot and touches to the left of left foot. “1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3,"

Lucky Seven
p. 1 in notes
In NEDM’s Chimes of Dunkirk collection
We used ‘Golden Keyboard’ from NEDM’s ‘Any Jig or Reel’ CD. The grand right & left exercises: First all promenade to determine inside/outside gent/lady or moon/star roles. Then all face partner. Ladies crouch while men weave around circle, starting on the inside. Then Men crouch and assist ladies as they weave around: right hand for outside, left hand assist for inside. Then all stand and face center and do a stationary grand right and left just with the arms, counting up to seven. Repeat that, but this time stepping in place (two steps per arm reach). Then face partner and ‘repeat after me’ some of the rules: ‘I will not turn around, I will not go back…’ etc. Tell them that it always takes seven times to get it right, and make sure, when it doesn’t go right, that they all go back to where they started from (rather than trying to fix it in the middle of the grand right and left figure).

The workshop notes have level I. Level II, which we learned from contra dance caller Lisa Greenleaf, simply replaces the waiting (at the end of the A2 music) with a partner dosido.

This is the sequence I did with you. Of course you don’t have to all these exercises in exactly this sequence, EXCEPT: I always start by getting everyone partnered up and promenading, to distinguish between the gents/moons/inside role from the ladies/stars/outside role.

Highland Gates
p. 5 in notes
In NEDM’s Down in the Valley collection
This is a great dance for opening a community dance. Folks can join in the dancing as they straggle in.

Old Bald Eagle Square
p. 10 in the handout
In NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
Andy Davis’s brilliant version of ‘Old Bald Eagle’ is the simplest square we know: a great first square dance for young children. Try it with the Sashay the Donut CD to Andy’s calls.

First Night Quadrille
p. 1 in the notes.
In NEDM’s Listen to the Mockingbird collection.
You can do this to any jig or reel. I used the ‘Old Timey Reel’ from the Sashay the Donut CD and did a lot of improvised breaks A great dance for, say, 4th grade and up who have a fair amount of dance experience.

Start by identifying the head and side couples, and make sure everyone introduces themselves to their partner as well as to their neighbor (the one next to you in a square who is not your partner).

Silver Slide
an original dance by YOU.
It is a really wonderful dance, congratulations!

(CW = clockwise; CCW = counterclockwise)

Choosing Partners
We think it is a real gift to children to teach them how to choose their own partners. I like to frame this in ‘Kings’ and ‘Queens’ language to help the children get over their self consciousness over choosing partners.

I have them all practice the words: ‘May I please have this dance?’ ‘Yes thank you.’ and then practice answering me, and then practice asking me. Then I demonstrate what it looks like to ask a partner to dance, by asking one of the ‘Queens’. Then, I have that Queen sit down, and I ask her again, showing the 10 steps: The approach. Eye contact. The question. The answer. King puts out his hand. Queen stands and takes King’s hand. They hang on to each other’s hand and walk to the top of the hall. The King stands on the King’s side, the Queen on the Queen’s side and they face each other, nose, toes and bellybutton, taking two hands. Then they drop their hands, and, voila, there they are.

Then I have a volunteer Queen ask a King, then a volunteer King ask a Queen, and then all ask. This can be quite wonderful, and the children who succeed in doing this should be quite proud of themselves.

Here is my sequence:

Talk about an adult contra dance where folks line up in 60 seconds, many of them dancing with folks they have not met before, because of a special way of asking that goes all the way back to Kings and Queens:

I demonstrate choosing a queen for a partner. Then I do it again, describing the steps:

That was an example of a King asking a Queen, now for an example of a Queen asking a King: any volunteers?

Kings and Queens
p. 4 in the handout.
In NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
We used ‘On the Danforth’ from NEDM’s ‘Other Side of the Tracks’ CD for this dance. You might also use our other version of ‘On the Danforth’ which is on our ‘Sashay the Donut’ CD.

Before we teach this dance we will dub each child a King or a Queen, and talk to them (sometimes while the music is playing to help sustain the mood) about what it means to be a King and Queen: They have royal posture, they never rush, they make good decisions, they are very attractive; basically describing the ideal King/Queen or, which, in my mind is being the very best person they can be. This is in the style of an historic English country dance.

Love Call Me Home
I gave this to you on a separate sheet.
Mary Alice and I sing in Hallowell, a hospice singing chorus. (See www.hallowell-singers.org). Since we formed our group about four years ago hospice singing groups have been springing up throughout Vermont, New England and beyond. Many of the hospice groups are singing ‘Love Call Me Home’ as part of their repertoire. Hallowell has recorded a CD: ‘Angels Hovering Round’ (which you can order from the Amidon website). A film was made about Hallowell: ‘Holding Our Own’ (Google that and you will find the website where you can order the DVD.)

Many of the songs that we sing in Hallowell are on our ‘Beatitudes - Amidon Choral Arrangements’ book and companion CD that you can order from our website.

If you are going to perform ‘Love Call Me Home, you have my permission to use the arrangement, but you should get Peggy Seeger’s permission to use her song. She has always been generous about the use of her song, and she has also been appreciative when folks send her royalties for the use of her song. I send her $50 once in a while for the use of it, since I use it so much.

Peggy Seeger
Pegseeger at aol dot com
91 Paul Gore St.
#1 Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

THE DANCE PARTY

Rural Felicity
not in notes
This is in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection.
I like using jig medleys for this. It is a great dance for a community dance.

Peperell Stomp
not in the notes
An original dance by Mary Alice Amidon
She made this up just a month ago while doing an elementary school dance residency in Pepperell, MA. It is great for a wide range of ages and for a community dance.

Black Joke
p. 2 in notes.
In NEDM’s Chimes of Dunkirk collection.
The source of the title of this dance is, we believe, innocent: a variation on the English dance tune name: “blackjack”, but to avoid any misunderstanding we call it “Hey ho diddley dum” when calling it at a community dance. It is a great dance for a community dance. We always have every young child, say 2nd grade and under, dance with an older child or an adult when doing this at a community dance.

Sashay the Donut
p.4 in the handout
in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection.
I like calling this with groups of 4th-6th graders, 6-8 couples in a set, to “The Flying Tent” on NEDM’s “Other Side of the Tracks” CD. You have to call pretty strongly in the beginning to help define the phrase, but later on the phrase gets much more clear and the dance fits perfectly with the AABB music. When you do this dance with larger sets, let the dance go across the phrasing of the music (once through the dance is more than once through the tune) which is what I did in our workshop. You just pick up the beginning of the nearest 8 or 16 bar phrase when starting each sequence over again.

Haste to the Wedding
p. 4 in the handout
In NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection.
This is the simplest contra dance we know; a great first contra dance for, say 4th grade and up.

Sicilian Vowel Dance
p. 4 in notes
In NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
We used ‘Golden Keyboard’ (actually, the piano only comes in at the end of the cut) from NEDM’s ‘Any Jig or Reel’ for this. Do this with 5th or 6th graders who have a fair amount of dance experience, and who have already learned the grand right and left (‘Lucky Seven’ from our Chimes of Dunkirk collection is a good teaching dance for the Grand Right and Left figure). It can work at a community dance if you have all the younger children dance with an adult or older experienced child partner. The main teaching point is, once folks are in the formation of couple facing couple (Sicilian circle formation), having everyone point to the left. Those pointing to the inside of the circle say “I am an insider.” Those pointing to the outside say, “I am an outsider.” That is the direction they start going when they do the big, no hands, stay-with-partner grand right and left.

Circle Waltz Mixer
not in the notes

In NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection.
We used ‘In Continental’ Waltz from the ‘Sashay’ CD for the music. This is a wonderful dance for a wedding. We replaced the final short waltz with a waltzing two hand turn at the workshop.