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This page was updated
January 27, 2008

Workshops

Workshop notes

Teaching Traditional Dance and Singing Games to Children
North Texas Kodaly Educators OAKE

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon

We had a great time dancing with all of you yesterday.

Your homework is to go dancing. There is regular contra dancing in Dallas and around Texas. Here are some websites for finding the dance nearest you.

Start here:

I apologize that we never got around to mentioning doing a community dance. We think of a community dance as anything bigger than just you dancing with your single classroom sessions. It could be a party with two classes, a collaboration with the physed teacher with two or more classes, a dance party with, say, a fourth grade class where each child brings one parent or other adult, and that adult is that child's partner for the whole dance, or a 4th grade dance party where all the fourth graders bring their families, or a general dance for your whole school community.

You are probably the best caller for this event. Make sure you have a good sound system. Do the dances that your students know already, and use the same language in the community dance that you use in your classroom teaching. It is great to have live music at a community dance, but it is also fine to use recordings. If you do have live musicians, make sure they have experience playing for dancing (contra dance musicians are usually the best) and that they are familiar with any specific tunes you need, like 'Chimes of Dunkirk', Sasha', 'Alabama Gal', or 'Galopede', as well
as a repertoire of generic jigs and reels.

If you really do want someone else to call your dance, I would recommend your hiring Tina or Jan or Gay (from Corpus Christie) who were all at yesterday's workshop.

Here are notes on the dances we in yesterday's workshop:

Blaydon Races

p. 1 in handout
in NEDM's Chimes of Dunirk collection

Mary Alice played for this. Depending on the mood we want, we sometimes use 'Old Favorite' from NEDM's 'Other Side of the Tracks' CD or 'Irish Reels' from NEDM's 'Sashay the Donut' CD. Really, any jig or reel will do.

We did this is a mixer, but you can also do it with younger children without changing partners. We often call this at weddings.

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.

Goin' to Alberta

p. 9 in workshop notes
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection .

We originally learned this from Marian Rose's wonderful 'Step Lively' collection of dances. (See p. 12 in handout - Dance Resources).

Mary Alice first teaches a simple polka step; hopping from side to side. Then she has the dancers all face clockwise or counterclockwise around the circle, stick the inside arm out towards the center of the circle, and practice the polka as if dancing with a ghost partner. Then each of the dancers turns towards a partner. The dancers point inside hands towards the middle of the circle and put flats of their hand onto the flat of their partner's hand. Each dancer's other hand goes on their partner's shoulder, and, Voila! The dancers are in polka position.

If there is a big group you can have more than one couple in the center at a time.

Bo Diddley

not in the handout

Mary Alice loves doing this dance with grades K-2.

Kindergarten Reel

p. 2 in notes

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! Children learn a lot from this dance, but my favorite skill they learn is moving up one step at the end of each sequence.

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/gent, outside is the star/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.

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!'

Old Bald Eagle Square

not 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.

Lucky Seven

p. 1 in workshop handout.
In NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk collection

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.

Here are four exercises specific to the grand right and left:

  1. All facing center and putting out alternating right and left hands counting from 1-7.
  2. Doing exercise #1 but adding two steps of walking in place to each putting out of a hand,
  3. All face partner, ladies crouch, gents weave around circle going alternatingly inside and outside of the ladies.
  4. Same as #3, but gents crouch, and as ladies go alternatingly outside and inside, the gents 'assist' them by with, alternatingly, right hand and left hand.

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 goes great with the music. You can also do this dance with larger groups, in which case the dance will go across the phrasing of the music (once through the dance is more than once through the tune). You just pick up the beginning of the nearest 8 or 16 bar phrase when starting each sequence over again.

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.

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.

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?

And off you go.

Kings and Queens

p. 4 in the handout
(in the style of historic English County dances)
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection

Music: On the Danforth from NEDM's Music for Dance Series CD: Other Side of the Tracks, or On the Danforth in a slightly different version on NEDM's Sashay the Donut CD.

Before I teach the children I 'dub' each child a king or queen, and talk with them about how kings and queens have good posture, always take their time, bow simply and elegantly , always make good decisions, etc. and generally teaching it such that each child gets honored as the king and queen that they are.

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 handout

CircleWaltzMixer.pdf

In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection.

We used 'In Continental Mood' from NEDM's Sashay the Donut 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.

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