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This page was updated
August 28, 2009

Workshops

Workshop Notes

Wyoming AOSA Workshop
Friday August 21 and Saturday August 22, 2009

Dear Cheyenne Workshop teachers,

This was our first visit to your dramatically high and dry Cheyenne. We had a wonderful time with all of you - we really appreciated your enthusiastic participation in the dancing, singing and storytelling. You are great dancers
and singers!

Here below are notes on everything we did in the workshop. When possible the notes include the dances and songs we did that are not in either of the two handouts.

If you want to find out about future Amidon workshops for music teachers, or choral singing workshops for adults, check out our upcoming workshops page on our website, or, better yet, sign up on our mailing list.

We send postings out about once a month about upcoming Amidon events. Some of the Amidon e-mail postings include a "dance workshop" and
musings on art and life.

Your homework is twofold:

  1. Dance
    Go to your local contra dance. Here is a website with information on the dance closest to Cheyenne.
    http://www.dancefc.com/

    Here is a great website for finding community dances, including contra dances and English country dances anywhere in the U.S:
    http://www.thedancegypsy.com/
  2. Tell Stories
    Try telling a folktale to your students:
    You might start with some of the classics that you probably know already: Billy Goats Gruff, Three Little Pigs, Gingerbread Man, Hansel and Gretel. Or tell a story you have found in a book or picture book (but don't use the book when telling the story).

 

What We Did (With Notes)

* * FRIDAY * *

My Heart is Ready

One of our favorite instant harmony group sing alongs.

INTRODUCING SONGS WITH STORIES

Owl & Pussycat
on Amidons' Faerie's Gift CD

Fox
on Amidon's Faeire's Gift CD

PICTURE BOOKS I

handout 1 - p. 13

I Live In Music

In the Fiddle is a Song

Summertime

Anansi and His Six Sons
Mary Alice told the story and then led a dance of the story to music from Micky Hart's "Planet Drum"; handout 1 - p. 13

Tree song handout 1 - p. 3
in NEDM's Down in the Valley
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.

Highland Gates
in NEDM's Down in the Valley
This is a great dance for opening a community dance. Folks can join in the dancing as they straggle in.

Roger is Dead
in NEDM's Down in the Valley
Children will ask for this over and over again.

Comment ça va
in NEDM's Sashay the Donut
Formation: circle of couples (not a mixer)
Music: Any reel (French Canadian is nice for this).

A1: Forward and back, forward and back
A2: Circle left, circle right.
B1: Allemande left corner, dosido partner,
Allemande left corner again.
B2: Promenade partner.

Exactly the same as 'La Bastringe' except for B2.

Circassian Circle
in NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird
Formation: Circle mixer
A1: Forward and back twice
A2: Ladies forward, clap on 4th beat,
Twirl (optional) back to place.
Gents go forward, clap on 4th beat,
and come back out to elbow swing
new partner (the next one around
clockwise from previous partner.
B1: Elbow swing this new partner
(we did dosido/elbow swing).

Always start teaching this dance by having the students promenade and defining 'inside' and 'outside' (gent/lady or moon/star or whatever). I like doing this with fourth graders who have a little dance experience.

Simple Square
in NEDM's Chimes of Dukirk
"Comment ça va" is a good preparatory dance for "Simple Square". Although "Simple Square" is the easiest square in our Chimes of Dunkirk collection, there are much easier squares in our Sashay the Donut collection.

STORYTELLING

Here is a summary of my version of the story:

And here's a picture book you can get:

This story will be included on a storytelling CD Peter is releasing in a few months.

Retell in groups
Very simple, get in groups of 3-4 and retell the story. One person starts. When the teacher (leader) says "Switch" (I was giving each person a minute or less) then another person in the group picks up where the first
left off.

Acting Out Stories
Children do this quite naturally; you just set it up and, as much as possible, get out of the way. After telling a folktale I give them the homework to retell it aloud, we might go through a speed through of
the story or do a quick group map of the story or discuss the story (What was the funniest/saddest/most scary/most memorable moment?) Once they all know the story well, you are the narrator, and maybe also the musician (guitar, accordion). Pull the characters (and human props) from the 'audience' of childrensitting in a bunch in front of the 'stage'.

All the action takes place right in the middle in front of the audience. The 'actors' speak loudly so everyone can hear. If they forget what happens next you can feed them a line as the narrator: "Then Helene asked Marushka to pick her some violets."

You can use this method to create a musical performance with added instrumental music, songs and dancing, or just do it once and leave it at that.

Silver Rain SATB
in handout 2 - p. 6
in Amidons' "Beatitudes" book and CD
We like singing this with a combined childrens' and adult choirs. Have the children sing the song once through (unison melody) as the adults hum their parts; the second time through everyone sing the words. You can hear a sample of this at:

(Scroll down and click "Silver Rain".)

This is in the book and companion CD:

"Beatitudes - (25) Amidon Choral Arrangements"

DINNER

ALL SCHOOL SING

Country Life
in handout 2 - p. 4
on Amidons' All I Really Need CD
This was a classic when Mary Alice and I led a weekly all-school sing at Academy School.

I'm Growing Up
in handout 2 - p. 3
Mary Alice's instant classic. This lends itself well to making up motions.

From the Seed in the Ground
handout 2 - p. 2
I made up a dance to this dance that was inspired by Youtube videos of dance happenings in the Liverpool train station and in a Belgian train station.

Now It's Time to Go
handout 2 - p. 4
On Amidons' CD All I Really Need
Three part round. I do it first with guitar or piano, but once folks know it I like singing it a cappella.

Going to Alberta
handout 1 - p. 8
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.

Zip It Up
not in notes
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection

This works perfectly with a three-part tune: Try either the three part jig to reel Quadrille Jos Bouchard/Reel Beatrice on NEDM's Sashay the Donut CD or Reel de Rimouski on NEDM's Any Jig or Reel CD. You can also do it to a regular 2-part (AABB) jig or reel and have each time through the dance
take up 1.5 of the tune, OR you can ignore the phrasing of the tune, let the dance take its natural course, and start the forward and back at the nearest 8-bar phrase OR OR OR if you are leading this at a community dance, after calling for a while you can stop calling and let each set find their own natural rhythm. The sets will naturally get out of synch with each other: one set will be sashay while the other is poussetting. Stop the dance by calling, at the end, a partner swing for everyone.

Sicilian Vowel Dance
handout 1 - p. 10
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.

Now It's Time to Go (again)

 

* * SATURDAY * *

Blaydon Races
in NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk
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.

Old Brass Wagon
in NEDM's Down in the Valley
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
in NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird

A great first longways-formation-dance-to-music for young children. The perfect preparatory dance for . . .

Virginia Reel
in NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk
Put on your favorite jig medley and:
A1: Forward and back/One hand turn
A2: Two hand turn/dosido
B1: Top couple sashay down and up center
of the set
B2: Top couple cast alone and go down
outside of set to the bottom while
other dances move up one step.

Dance 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.

La Bastringue
in NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk
Circle of couples:
A1: Forward and back twice
A2: Circle left and right
B1: dosido/two hand turn partner
B2: promenade partner.

PICTURE BOOKS II
handout 1 - p. 13

Love Me Tender

My Father

John Audubon

ALL SCHOOL SING II

Brotherhood
in handout 2 - p. 5

From the Seed in the Ground

From the Seed DANCE!

DANCE CLASSICS

Old King Glory
in NEDM's Jump Jim Joe

A magical and mesmerizing dance for young children

Chimes of Dunkirk
in handout 2 - p. 8
in NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk
Great dance for all ages and for a community dance.

Alabama Gal
in handout 2 - p. 9
in NEDM's Chimes of Dunkirk. 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.

Choosing partners discussion
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:

  1. The approach.
  2. Eye contact.
  3. The question.
  4. The answer.
  5. King puts out his hand.
  6. Queen stands and takes King's hand.
  7. They hang on to each other's hand and walk to the top of the hall.
  8. The King stands on the King's side, the Queen on the Queen's side and they face each other, nose, toes and bellybutton,
  9. taking two hands.
  10. 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.

Kings & Queens
in handout 1 - p. 10
in NEDM's Sashay the Donut
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.

Silver Rain
SATB again
This is also a beautiful song to sing with children with guitar or piano accompaniment. Try having the children make up motions to the dance.

LUNCH

Faerie's Gift
This is on the Amidons' Faerie's Gift CD

PICTURE BOOKS III
handout 1 - p. 13

Mother Earth

Marian Anderson

First Strawberries

Chiney Doll
in handout 1 - p. 2
There is a wonderful book of this song that is sadly out of print:

Mommy, Buy Me a China Doll : Adapted from an Ozark children's song
by Harve Zemach (Adapter), Margot Zemach (Illustrator)
but I found some at:

I always introduce this song with a story, the idea of which I got from that picture book. I had always done the story with the book when I told it to 2-year-old Sam, and when we were recording Sam singing familiar songs and Mary Alice got to the Chiney Doll, Sam could not sing the song without telling the story: as far as we know, the first story he ever told.

As I mentioned at the workshop, a teacher who listened to that who knew a lot about child development said, "When Sam was grunting his way through the story it wasn't that he didn't remember the story; he knew it perfectly well. It was that he was turning the images in his head into language."

And that is what we do when we tell stories, and we listen to stories we turn the language back into images.

Children need to hear stories, they need the classic folktales as a way to help sort out their emotional lives. The archetypal characters that inhabit folktales: the kings, queens, princes, princesses, ogres, giants, witches, wise old women and men, and everyman Jacks and Marys are, according to one of my storytelling mentors, Donald Davis, all part of our own inner selves. When a prince marries a princess at the end of a folktale, Donald Davis goes on, that marriage represents our male self marrying our female self; a healthy emotional integration.

There are depths of meaning of these wonderful folktales that we will never fully plumb, but whenever we tell folktales to children, it is wonderful to see them uncover endless and often surprising new meanings.

Old Bald Eagle Square
in NEDM's Sashay the Donut

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
in handout 1 - p. 10
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 backŠ' 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.

Level III is Level II but adding an allemande right with the seventh person of the grand right and left before going into the promenade with that new partner.

First Night Quadrille
In NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird collection.
Formation: Square dance
Music:

  1. any jig or reel, or
  2. use recorded calls on NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird CD or
  3. I love calling this to "Old Time Reel Medley" on NEDM's "Sashay the Donut"

Opening

Main figure:
A1 (16) Head couples go forward and back. (8)
Same four circle left. ( 8)
A2 (16) Same four circle right. (8)
Same four right hand star. (8)
B1 (16) All allemande left corner. (8)
Give right hand to partner and begin a grand right and left. (8)
B2 (16) When you meet partner do-si-do. (8)
Promenade home. (8)

Repeat main figure for side couples
Middle break
Repeat main figure for four gents, and then for four ladies
Closing
The Opening, Middle Break and Closing can be whatever figures youíd like to do; they often include circle left and right, forward and back with a hoot, promenade, whatever.

A great dance for, say, 4th grade and up who have
some dance experience.

Teach your students Lucky Seven first so that
they already know the grand-right-and-left
figure going into this wonderful flowing
square dance.

Grumpy March
in handout 1 - p. 9
in NEDM's Sashay the Donut. We put
the "Wizard's Walk" medley on our "Sashay the Donut" CD specifically for this dance.
This is a great dance for upper elementary, middle school and high school.

I have changed one figure from the book: right after the "grumping" across/clapping figures I have everyone take hands in a long skinny circle to circle right. THEN they drop hands and skip back the other way. Remember to specifically teach the student.

Love Call Me Home
in handout 2 - p. 7
We use this a lot in our hospice singing.

CREATING AN ORIGINAL DANCE WITH YOUR STUDENTS

I start with the question: "What is a dance?"

A dance starts with a formation (or a shape):

Then there are the figures, which is, simply what the dancers do in the dance. Some obvious figures include some you do with the whole group
(let's say we're doing a circle mixer):

and figures you do just with your partner (or neighbor)

and some that are a bit of both like

It is OK to have an original figure or two in our original dance, but not too
many. Mostly you should have familiar, common figures that dances can learn quickly.

Once we (or I) decide on a formation, I simply say, "What first." and do whatever the first person suggests, in our case, "Jump!".

As the suggestions come in I might invite discussion about which suggestion to choose (if there are more than one). I try to use as many of the children's ideas as possible, and I almost always have the children try out dancing a suggested figure before discussing it.

Your job is also to facilitate the children creating a dance that is fun to do. You might make a small suggestion here and there, especially one that might help make a student's suggestion more successful and flowing.

The children can help figure out how to make the dance fit the AABB of the music. It is also an option to ignore the AABB and make up a dance that goes across the AABB pattern of the music.

Once you and your students have made up a dance, it is important to name the dance. This is the same process as making up the dance. I take in suggestions and facilitate the decision making. Sometimes we combine the words in two or three different suggestion. Sometimes we vote on two or three different name candidates. Sometimes, as happened with us, someone comes up with a suggestion so inspired that I declare it the official name by acclamation.

When students create their own dance, they really take ownership of it.

The Cheyenne Hee Haw Mixer
created on 8/22/09 in Cheyenne
by participants of the Wyoming AOSA teacher workshop.
Circle mixer
Use your favorite reel medley, like
cut 1 of Any Jig or Reel.

A1: Forward and back
All go OUT and back
A2: Grand right and left starting
with partner. Go three changes and allemande left the fourth person,
changing direction. Come back the other way by the right, left, right
(passing partner).
B1 (actually a little into B1) Seesaw
new partner.
Clap with new partner: L, R, knees-together-both
B2 Promenade new partner

Larry's Mixer
in NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird

Formation: double circle
Music: Try the cut "Old Favorite" from NEDM's "Other Side of the Tracks" CD, which is the band "Assembly", a quartet that includes our two sons Sam (fiddle) and Stefan (percussion). Also try doing this to "The Coming Dawn" from the same CD, or try "Golden Keyboard" from NEDM's "Any Jig or Reel" CD. All of these are flowing music, and I find that this dance can
have a sublime "Historic English County Dance" feel (think Jane Austen) when done to those cuts of elegant music.

A1: Dosido partner
Allemande left left-hand-person
A2: Seesaw partner
Allemande right right-hand-person
B1: Right elbow turn partner & promenade
B2: Continue promenading
Gents progress to new partner.

Circle Waltz Mixer
in handout 1 - p. 12
We used 'In Continental' Waltz from the 'Sashay' CD for the music.
This is a wonderful dance for a wedding where you can do it the original way we learned it, doing a short waltz instead of the two hand turn. In the original dance gents are the "posts" and women are the "twirlers", but it works perfectly fine in a non-gender community dance with a two hand turn. In order to make sure that this works in a community dance you:

Limit the dance to Kindergarteners and older.

Tell K-3 students that they must dance with an adult or older partner.

Start by having everyone promenade, and have the older partner promenade on the inside.

Tell all the inside (left hand) partners they are "posts" and all the outside (right hand) partners they are "twirlers".

Posts stay in place and keep their feet planted.

All look at partner and say "goodbye".

Carefully teach the first "twirl" each "Post" does with their left hand neighbor, from left to right.

Once the dancers get that twirl, the rest of the dance can go pretty smoothly.

Now It's Time to Go (again)

Keep on singing and dancing!

Bye bye for now.

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon