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This page was updated
November 20, 2007

Workshop Notes

Teaching Traditional Dance to Children

National AOSA Conference 2007 * San Jose

New England Dancing Masters
Mary Alice Amidon, Andy Davis, Peter Amidon

We really loved our dance sessions with you.  Your homework is to go dancing.  Here are some web resources for finding the dance nearest you:

http://www.thedancegypsy.com/
This is my favorite site.  It includes contra dances, English country dances and more, all across the United States.

http://www.contradancelinks.com/
This is a resource of contra dance websites

http://www.contradancelinks.com/pacific.html
This is a west coast contra dance resource.

http://www.bacds.org/
and this is specifically about the San Francisco Bay area.

Here are notes on the dances we led in the daytime workshops:

Goin' to Alberta in workshop notes
in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
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.

Lucky Seven in workshop notes
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 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 in the handout
in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
Andy did this with large circles of about 10 - 12 couples.  The sashaying of these larger groups takes longer than all of the B1, B2 music, so Andy just waited, once the sashaying was finished, for the nearest start of an 8 or
16 bar phrase.  If you do the dance with about 7 couples then the sashaying can be done in the time allotted by the B1/B2 music, so that each time through the sequence can start at the beginning of the A1 music.  

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.

Grand March from NEDM’s Sashay the Donut

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 by Peter Amidon
(in the style of historic English County dances)
in NEDM’s Sashay the Donut collection
Formation: Longways lines of couples for 7-10 couples.
Music: On the Danforth from NEDM’s Music for Dance Series CD: Other Side of the Tracks, or your favorite renaissance dance music.

A1: Hands along lines, forward, bow & back
        Right hand turn partner (palm to palm)
A2: Left hand turn partner (palm to palm)
       Gypsy (facing partner, walk once around partner,
        maintaining eye contact)
B1: Top couple sashay down and back
B2: Top couple face down take handy hand and walk
slowly to bottom of set.  Other dancers bow to them as
they pass.  Each dancer moves up one step and takes
hands along lines right after the active couple passes by.

NOTES: 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.