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This page was updated
October 1, 2008

Workshops

Workshop Notes

Great Plains Orff Chapter of Nebraska

Dear Great Plains Orff Chapter of Nebraska Teachers,

We had such a wonderful time with all of you. We were impressed with the turnout, the number of students, your enthusiasm and your level of participation.

Thanks to Shelly Smith for taking care of so many of the details, to Rick and Heather for transportation, to Linda Wood for a terrific sound system, to Karen for transportation and for a really lovely meal, to Ann Keith, Tom Michaelic, Dr. Melissa Burke, and everyone else that made this a wonderful trip and experience for us.

Your homework is to go to a local contradance. Here is all you need to know:

Dances

Here is a list of the dances we did, with further notes on each dance:

BLAYDON RACES
p. 1 in the handout.
in NEDM's Chimes of Dunirk collection
We used 'Irish Jig Medley' from NEDM's 'Sashay the Donut' 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.

PEPPERELL STOMP
not in the handout.
An original dance composed by Mary Alice Amidon while doing an elementary school dance residency in Pepperell, MA. It is great for a wide range of ages and for a community dance.

TREE SONG
p. 6 in the handout.
in NEDM's Down in the Valley collection.
We used the music from the 'Down in the Valley' CD. 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 the handout.
In NEDM's Down in the Valley collection.
We used the music from the Down in the Valley CD. 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.

KINDERGARTEN REEL
p. 2 in the handout.
In NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird collection but just in the book, not on the CD, because the idea is that you lead this with whatever instrument you play: piano, French horn, recorder, electric guitar, whatever! Most significantly, the children learn to move up one place at the end of each figure. After doing this dance for a while, add a couple of figures (dosido, right and/or left and turn), put on any jig or reel medley and, viola! your Kindergarten students are dancing a very simple version of the Virginia Reel.

GALOPEDE
p. 3 in the handout.
In NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk collection We always do this to the specific tune 'Galopede' which is on the Chimes of Dunkirk companion CD. We often end a community dance with this dance. If you have a live band, have them play an extra C section the last time through at the end of the dance and have each of the successive top couples keep going down the middle while the rest of the dancers move up the outside. Sometimes we practice this final figure ahead of time, sometimes we don't.

SOME DANCE TEACHING TIPS

Gent/Lady dancing
Have the girls all hold hands in a circle. Boys hold hands around the outside of the girls ("surrounding" them). Boys drop hands and step back. Girls drop hands and turn around and walk into a space between two boys.

See handout p. 11 for taking hands 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. Use a lot of different imagery to help them keep the circle big in the circle left and right (keep your posture, keep the balloon filled, don't get sucked into the gravity ball in the middle, etc).

All turn and face to the right (facing counterclockwise). Boys stay where you are, and girls turn and face the other way. There's your partner. If the numbers of boys and girls are not even you might need to create a couple of same gender couples.

Teaching the promenade into a circle: 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.";

COMMENT CA VA?
(Not in notes)
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection Formation: circle of couples (not a mixer) Music: Any reel (French Canadian is nice for this.)

Exactly the same as 'La Bastringe' except for B2. Mary Alice played for this, but you can use, say, Quebeqois Reel from our NEDM Sashay the Donut CD.

When music starts, lead the students in 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 handout.
In NEDM's Down in the Valley collection. We did this as a scatter mixer.

LARRY'S MIXER
p. 3 in the handout.
This is in NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird collection. We used Mouth of the Tobique from NEDM's Any Jig or Reel CD which worked fine; you might also try, for a more elegant dancing experience, using The Coming Dawn from NEDM's Other Side of the Tracks CD.

GOING TO ALBERTA
p. 9 in the handout
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection and we used for the music the Going to Alberta cut on NEDM's Sashay the Donut CD. Marian Rose composed this dance, which 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.

LUCKY SEVEN
p. 1 in handout
In NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk collection.
We used 'The Coming Dawn' from NEDM's Other Side of the Tracks CD.

The grand right & left exercises:

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.

SASHAY THE DONUT
p. 4 in the handout.
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection Use any reels for this. I like doing it to 'Flying Tent' in NEDM's 'Other Side of the Tracks' CD. If you use this music for the dance note that you have to call pretty strongly and rhythmically in the beginning to help the dancers define the phrase, but later on the musical phrasing gets much more clear and the dance goes great with the music.

A great! dance for 4th grade and up.

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.

Here is my sequence:

  1. 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:

    Everyone repeat: May I please have this dance.
    Everyone repeat: Yes, thank you.

    They practice the answer: I ask, May I please have this dance?
    They answer, Yes, thank you.

    They practice asking: May I please have this dance?
    I answer: Yes, thank you.
  2. I demonstrate choosing a queen for a partner. Then I do it again, describing the steps:
    Step 1: the approach
    Step 2: eye contact
    Step 3: the question
    Step 4: the answer
    Step 5: I put out my hand.
    Step 6: Queen (Susan) takes my hand.
    Step 7: We hang on and walk to the music, to the top of the set.
    Step 8: I stand on King's side, Queen Susan stands on Queen's side, we take both hands to face each other, nose, toes and bellybutton.
    Step 9: We drop hands.

    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.

I made this dance up on the spot with a 2nd grade class. Since then we have discovered that it is a great dance for older elementary school children as well.

(LUNCH)

HIGHLAND GATES
p. 5 in handout.
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.

THORN ROSA
p. 7 in handout.
In NEDM's Jump Jim Joe singing games collection. We did this starting with Thorn Rosa in the middle of two concentric circles. The inside circle is the castle and the outside circle becomes the thorny hedge. You can also do it, especially with younger children, with just one circle around Thorn Rosa. Thorn Rosa is a translation of a traditional German children's song; we learned this singing game version from a Berea (Kentucky) College publication.

SASHA
p. 7 in the handout.
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection. A great dance for all ages! We are not sure of the origins of this dance: one source suggested it was a novelty dance based on a Russian pop song from the 60's. 'Ras, dva, tri' is Russian for 'ready, set, go!'

CHIMES OF DUNKIRK
p. 4 in the handout.
In NEDM's 'Chimes of Dunkirk' collection. New Hampshire's Dudley Laufman transformed a Belgian couple dance of the same name into this classic that we do at almost every community dance.

ALABAMA GAL
p. 5 in the handout In NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk collection.
We used the Alabama Gal cut from the Chimes of Dunkirk CD.
Teach this as an a cappella singing game before trying with the CD which, as you found out, goes pretty fast. With younger children I teach the cast of figure in sections. The first time through the dance finishes with just the Gents' line casting around to the left and back to place; then the whole dance ending with only the Ladies' line casting to the right and back to place; then the dance ending with both lines casting and the children taking partners' hands as they come up the middle (but no arch), then the dance ending with the BOTTOM couple making the arch while the same (exhausted) 1st couple leading the remaining dancers around under the arch, and FINALLY, the "real" way to the do dance, where the head couples finishes the sequence by leading ALL the dancers in a cast of, and the head couples make the arch for the other dancers to go under.

HASTE TO THE WEDDING
p. 4 in the handout In NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk collection.
Use the 'Haste to the Wedding' cut on the 'Chimes of Dunkirk' CD.
This is the simplest contra dance we know; a great first contra dance for, say 4th grade and up. Note that there is also a Sicilian Circle version of the dance in the same 'Chimes' collection.

DANCE PARTY
not in the handout.
You can use any reel medley on any of our CDs for this:

This a non-gender way of doing the contra dance swing that shows up in EVERY contra dance you'll do, except in contra dancing folks swing in more or less ballroom position.

I learned this non-gender grip/swing from Marianne Taylor, a tremendously gifted dance teacher and mentor to many in my generation who died just last summer.

Here's what you do:

OMAHA SPIN
by Omaha, Nebraska OASA music teachers (YOU!)
Congratulations, this is a really wonderful dance! Try it out with your students. You can do a two hand turn at the end in place of the swing if you like.

 

INTERSECTION REEL
p. 1 in the handout.
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection
Use any hot reel for this, like 'Brotherly Love' track on NEDM's 'Sashay the Donut' CD. This is a GREAT dance for high school students. Ideally you should have 5-8 couples in each set (40 - 64 dancers total), but it can also work for from 4-10 couples in each set (32 - 80 dancers total). I call it with a wireless microphone, and stand in the middle to keep the dancers from sashaying back across 'no man's land' at the beginning of B2 when they sashay to the bottom of their new sets.. Of course I get out of the way for the great quadruple sashay crossing in B1.

Note that that, because dancers on, say, the traditional 'gents' side of the set, end up on the traditional 'ladys' side of their new sets after the grand quadruple sashay crossing, this is, by definition, a gender free dance: it makes no difference which side you are on.

Although the 'X' formation utilizes the space of a room best, note that it is much easier for, say, younger children (I have done this with 4th graders) and folks at a community dance to keep the four sets oriented correctly if you make it a "+" instead of an "X" so that each of the four sets are perpendicular to one of the walls instead of pointing towards the corners of the room.

SICILIAN VOWEL DANCE
p. 4 in the handout.
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 start on the inside." Those pointing to the outside say, "I start on the outside." 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 handout
CircleWaltzMixer.pdf
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. Sometimes we do it at a community dance, and give folks the option of doing a two hand turn in the place of the short waltz at the end of the sequence.

Keep on dancing!

Best,

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon