Sorry guys, I've really flagged in the last hour and don't think attempting practice is a good idea. Ken is delivering the swords and keys so you can get in.
Please follow through as much as possible with the email I sent earlier. Making sure everyone is happy for the crawl on Thursday and dod on Sunday.
Ffion if you could lead practice? Katherine mentioned she might not be about due to a meeting but should be there too.
Thanks all,
Becky x
Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphone
Hello all,
The cold that was threatening on Saturday seems to have won. I'm still coming to practice but won't be dancing.
People not coming: Rachel, Emma and Hannorah. Is there anyone else?
I would like to begin with some work on stepping, trying to think about our style, and any problems individuals are having.
I'd like to run new people through jubilee again looking at details and style to make it all a bit more cohesive.
Piccadilly working with jo at 4 and rachel-anne at 5.
If we can run through a Westerhope we will although I'm pretty sure we don't have the numbers!
I may well leave early, but plenty to be working on!
See you later,
Becky
Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphone
Hi All,
Please see below for info about shoes and kit. Don't worry too much about
kit just yet if you aren't yet dancing out, but I know there are quite a
few people that are in need of shoes. It might be that we can try and
negotiate some kind of discount on the soles, as a few of us need resoling
so maybe we could take them all in one go.
With shoes, it might help to try one of ours on so that you know which size
you need - usually seems to be a size down from whatever you normally take.
Just ask around on Monday if you want to try some on!
There is a spare pair of size 7's that I have been given which are free to
a good home - apparently they are wearing out a bit, but would be fine for
now. Give me a shout if you think they'd fit you and I'll bring them to a
practice.
Any questions, let me know!
Thanks,
Hannah
Shoes:
- I think the link below matches the ones we use - the old link has sold
out of sensible sizes! Once you've bought them we'll need to get the soles
put on the bottom - think this is about £20.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mens-New-Black-Leather-Capped-Oxford-Cadet-Parade…
- Alternatively it looks like the one stop Morris Shop do them with the
soles already attached for £49
https://www.onestopmorrisshop.co.uk/shop/product/rapper-shoes-stitched-toec…
- If you find something a bit cheaper anywhere, feel free to get that so
long as it looks like the same kind of shoe.
Kit - don't worry too much about this if you aren't yet dancing out:
- T-Shirt: H&M £3.99 Black short-sleeved/capped sleeves, figure-fit top
in soft, stretch jersey - basics range with round neckline (not the high
neck, the more scoopy one (technical term that);
- Skirts and petticoats are sorted by the team - should be a couple of
spares now as we've had some kit returned, though you may need to share
petticoats with someone as we may not quite have enough to go round and
still haven't found somewhere else to buy the material;
- Tights: black 40 or 60 dernier (up to you which - probably depends on
the time of year...)
Hi All,
1. Upcoming Events
2. New sign-ups!
3. Clog
1. Upcoming events:
Practice for Ffion's album launch dance this Saturday - see her
email from the other week if you are involved.
Crawl next Thursday (28th) around London Bridge - details next week.
Belles Day of Dance - 1st October. This will start at 12 at the
Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. Full details to follow next week
2. New sign-ups!
Our AGM will be 13th November instead of normal practice (day after
Thrales day).
DERT! 23-25 March in Sheffield - woop woop!
Chippenham Folk Festival 25th-28th May. See sign-up sheet for
details. If we would like to go, we need to sort out applications by 27th
October
Please check the sign-up sheet for anything else that you may not have yet
got around to updating. Appreciate that new people may not be listed in the
"no-reply" section of the sheet, but please feel free to add your name to
anything that you would like to come to)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-
XmFb8jmCeRa48IRI/edit
3. Clog - Yesterday we went through the first 3 steps of the Beginners
Waltz at Camden Clog - so we'll be learning that over the next few weeks.
If anyone feels like they would like to go over it the workshops are every
first and third Tuesday 1845-1945 in C# House.
Have a good week! (And I will eventually get around to sending an email
about kit/shoes - sorry!)
Hannah
Hello all,
As far as I know the only person I'm missing is Jo, is there anyone else I have forgotten??
We have another new person joining us tonight (Anna from Warwick) so my plan is to spend the first part giving her a go at learning Jubilee and the other 2 running through. I'd like to get Emma thinking about calling as well so she can do 1 proper, obviously if you're not happy doing that yet don't worry, I'm aware you've learnt the dance very quickly!
The rest of the practice will be working towards Belles DoD, because we need to get Westerhope and Piccadilly up to scratch for that. We have Hannorah tonight and on the day (definitely) so might ease things for Katherine and Rachel-Anne.
We might have two sets (totally jinxed it now) if so we'll try and have two things going on at once, particularly in the first half!
Thanks all,
Becky
P.s. Clog from about 7.15/7.20 😊
P.P.S. My repeated attempts to send this say they aren't working so sorry if you get it loads of times!!
Hello all,
As far as I know the only person I'm missing is Jo, is there anyone else I have forgotten??
We have another new person joining us tonight (Anna from Warwick) so my plan is to spend the first part giving her a go at learning Jubilee and the other 2 running through. I'd like to get Emma thinking about calling as well so she can do 1 proper, obviously if you're not happy doing that yet don't worry, I'm aware you've learnt the dance very quickly!
The rest of the practice will be working towards Belles DoD, because we need to get Westerhope and Piccadilly up to scratch for that. We have Hannorah tonight and on the day (definitely) so might ease things for Katherine and Rachel-Anne.
We might have two sets (totally jinxed it now) if so we'll try and have two things going on at once, particularly in the first half!
Thanks all,
Becky
P.s. Clog from about 7.15/7.20 😊
P.P.S. My repeated attempts to send this say they aren't working so sorry if you get it loads of times!!
Hello all,
As far as I know the only person I'm missing is Jo, is there anyone else I have forgotten??
We have another new person joining us tonight (Anna from Warwick) so my plan is to spend the first part giving her a go at learning Jubilee and the other 2 running through. I'd like to get Emma thinking about calling as well so she can do 1 proper, obviously if you're not happy doing that yet don't worry, I'm aware you've learnt the dance very quickly!
The rest of the practice will be working towards Belles DoD, because we need to get Westerhope and Piccadilly up to scratch for that. We have Hannorah tonight and on the day (definitely) so might ease things for Katherine and Rachel-Anne.
We might have two sets (totally jinxed it now) if so we'll try and have two things going on at once, particularly in the first half!
Thanks all,
Becky
P.s. Clog from about 7.15/7.20 😊
Hi All,
Again, not too much that's new this week. We've added the crawl dates on
for the rest of the year - please start signing up to these.
Recent confirmations:
Belles Day of Dance - 1st October, Crawl around London - Facebook page here
if you fancy it: *http://tinyurl.com/yd9dwoso <http://tinyurl.com/yd9dwoso>*
Dance around the World - Sunday 29th October - our 20 min spot will start
at 1740. Performing means that we can go to anything at the festival across
the weekend! More info to follow nearer the time.
New(ish) invites.
We've officially been invited to Thrales Day 12th November in the Knights
Templar. It's already on the sign-up sheet.
And don't forget to scroll down to C#'s Festive Gathering (17th December)
and Beverley Folk Festival (16-18th June 2018) while you're there...
Sign-up sheet is here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…
Kit - I'll send an email about this soon - watch this space!
See you Monday! Looks like the 10 mins of "clogging" as a reminder at the
start is set to continue - no need to bring clogs (unless you're
uber-keen!)
Thanks,
Hannah
Hello all,
We've been invited to Basingstoke's SetsMad event (see link for more details) from what I can see this is a weekend event where they teach all sorts of dances from all over the UK and Europe. The invitation is currently very open and asks if we could do a display/session/teaching at some point between the 22nd-24th. They want to pay us (hurrah) but obviously can't talk money until I know we have a team. I've added it to the signup sheet with an option for the 23rd or the 24th, I've negated the 22nd as it is a Friday.
It's in Cliddesden (just outside Basingstoke) so not ideal, but there are trains out of Waterloo to Basingstoke followed by buses from there to the village. From what I can tell the whole journey would take just over an hour (bus dependent).
http://www.setsmad.net/ is the site for more info. I'm 99% sure they asked us last year.
Signup sheet below - prompt answers so I can give them a yes or no answer please 😊
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…
Becky x
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…>
[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Xhwh8ZhiTZ_VD2IPS-8vvQ4Rybcon4xP7yEk776cE…]<https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…>
Ravens Sign Up Sheet<https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…>
docs.google.com
TOWER RAVENS SIGN UP SHEET 23rd September - SetsMad - Cliddesden near Basingstoke Invite to do a display/session/teach - if we have a team this is a paid gig. Y - M - N - no reply - Becky, Ffion, Hannah, Hannorah, Joanna, Kate, Katherine, Laura W, Rachel, Rachel-Anne, Reesha, Sue 24th Sep...
Basingstoke SetsMad dancers<http://www.setsmad.net/>
www.setsmad.net
Website of the Basingstoke set dancers SetsMad. ... SetsMad 11 weekend with Padraig and Roisin Mc Eneany and Rise the Dust. 22 - 24 September 2017
Hello all,
Due to rather complex circumstances I won't be bringing swords tonight so very much assuming rachel-anne still has the spares!
If for any reason you don't let me know as I can go and get them.
We should have a decent number of people but hopefully not quite 2 sets. I know we most likely don't have laura w. And there is no Hannorah, Rachel or sue. Assuming we have everyone else though.
Remember come a bit early to run through clog!
Becky xx
Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphone
Hello all,
Very little business this week:
1. Heads up that we've said no to the Setsmad invite as we didn't have a team but they've said they would be interested to have us next year, possible AGM discussion point as to if it's worth doing stuff like this.
2. for those who came to learn the clog we did a speedy runthrough about 10 mins before normal practice, this seemed to do the job as a reminder. If we can do the same thing next week and perhaps attempt to engage our brains a little in the meantime? (I definitely need more practice before it's properly sunk in).
3. Crawl on the 28th looks like a good number of people but location yet to be decided, crawl organisers perhaps discuss? I've lost track of when people have done what so obviously try and keep it fair. No immediate rush anyway!
4. Just a quick thank you for everyone's hard work and patience, a variety of new people, plus getting people up to speed with Piccadilly makes for some sitting around rather than dancing, and when you are dancing it getting quite repetitive. It's all appreicated and hopefully gets us all up to scratch soon. If you're dying of boredom or can think of a better way to do it please let me know, I'm always up for trying new things 😊
5. Next week I'm going to start off with a stepping recap for everyone so we can try and get us all aiming for the same thing and give new people a chance to have a bit of a breakdown. Please come with supportive stepping brains in gear!
Thanks,
Becky
Hello all,
1. Quick reminder, I'll be in the hall 10 mins early to try and run through the clog, if anyone else is about and wants a crack this is a good time. We'll discuss if before or after practice is better for people at business.
2. Tomorrow the people I am not expecting are Hannah, Jo, Hannorah and Rachel. If anyone else is missing please let me know. We are expecting a new member who has previously been in Warwick rapper and is now living in London - so that's exciting 😊As well as getting her introduced to Jubilee I would like to look at who we have for Westerhope and Piccadilly for the Belles day of dance. This might involve some people filling in odd numbers to get the rest of us up to speed but as a gentle intro back hopefully it should be ok!
3. Please look at the Setsmad event on the 24th September, I need an answer ASAP:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…
[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Xhwh8ZhiTZ_VD2IPS-8vvQ4Rybcon4xP7yEk776cE…]<https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…>
Ravens Sign Up Sheet<https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…>
docs.google.com
TOWER RAVENS SIGN UP SHEET 24th September - SetsMad - Cliddesden near Basingstoke (one day or other) Invite to do a display/session/teach - if we have a team this is a paid gig. Y - Katherine, Kate, Becky M - N - Hannah, Laura w no reply - Ffion, Hannorah, Joanna, Rachel, Rachel-Anne, Reesha...
See you tomorrow!
Becky
Hello all, as well as looking at the signup sheet (cough do it now cough).
Please also contemplate the clog dance we did! I'm going to head to practice 10 mins early for anyone around to run through.
Kate I don't expect you to turn up early!
Becky
P.s. Kate thanks for letting me know re. The Belles day of dance, sounds like we're fine for back ups!
Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphone
Hey all
Belles need to know by the end of the day if we can do their day of dance.
Hannorah are you still a yes? Kate can you become a yes? If not hannah do you know if Martin can fill in? Lastly Katherine if Hannorah can do it we don't need you, but if we had you we could piccadilly. Aware you'd normally be with the host team, so might want to be with them!
Thanks,
Becky
Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphone
Hi All,
Don't forget, the next practice will be 4th September as we have the bank
holiday on Monday.
If you haven't looked at the sign-up sheet in a while, and maybe even if
you have, please fill in availability for September Crawl, Bath Time,
Thrales Day, Mabel Day, C# Festive gathering, Wimborne and Beverley Folk
Festivals. I'm not around next practice, so consider yourselves free from
nagging for a couple of weeks (though you can always imagine my voice in
your head :P *creepy laugh* )
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-
XmFb8jmCeRa48IRI/edit
Laura - I think you said on Monday that you could make the 28th Crawl,
looks like the edit didn't work so I've put you as a yes.. hope that was
right!
See you soon!
Thanks,
Hannah
Hi everyone,
Just so all is clear, there will be rapper on Monday. There aren't many of
us, but we should still be able to get some good practice in. If you have
said you can make it but no longer can, please let me know so I know who to
expect.
Thanks,
Hannah
Hi all,
I'm really sorry but there's obviously something wrong with my ipad. It cut off the end of part two and, although I left it running for longer to try and mitigate that last night, it's cut off the second half of the final step again. Here's what I got: https://youtu.be/zEpghCWi_sI Hannorah, did you film it too? Would you be able to share that somehow? Sorry again!
I haven't got an editable version of Laura's poster so I'm going to have to start from scratch. I've been struggling to find a good enough photo. Anyone have any suggestions? Where's the one from that's the WhatsApp group pic? The one that's black and white with the blue accented and has the grumpy man in the background?
Ffion x
Please take a look at my blog on Welsh folk songs - caneuongwerin.wordpress.com<http://caneuongwerin.wordpress.com>
Hi All,
1. Next week
2. Sign-ups
3. AGM
1. Firstly - next week I'm hoping that we'll be able to practice (mostly to
prevent my rapper withdrawal symptoms!) Several people are in Whitby that
week, so I need to work out who is coming as to whether we'll have enough
of us. Bear in mind 28th is a bank holiday, so the practice after 21st
would be 4th September. Based on yesterday, we have definitely Yes - Me,
Jo, Kate, Rachel-Anne, Ellie. Laura - maybe (will if needed). Soo if I have
missed you off the list or you weren't there last night, please let me
know... Looking at Reesha and Ruth in particular there
2. Sign-ups - New things are Thrales Day (12th November) and Mabel Day (3rd
December - a lovely day of Cake and dancing - possibly the other way around
- in Oxford). We still have quite a lot of other events which are waiting
for some more names against them, I know some are a while away, but we do
need to let them know at some point...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…
3. AGM - based on last night, unless anyone has any particular
objections/desire to overthrow Becky, we'll put this back to being the day
after Thrales Day - so 13th November.
That's all folks!
Have a great week(s) and hopefully see some of you soon.
Hannah
Hello all,
Well done last night, another tricky session! Thank you for all the practice people had obviously put in in the meantime, it makes the whole thing so much more worth it!
Going foward, please continue to practice the dance, perhaps focussing on the second half to get it a bit more balanced with the first. When we get back in September we will discuss how to maintain it for when we can dance out. There was a brief discussion last night of those who are around doing 10 minutes prior to rapper/10 minutes after rapper just to run through the dance and make sure we can remember it. I don't want it to interfere with rapper practice so we will just have to see how it goes and perhaps it can properly be addressed at the AGM if that system isn't working. After that there is the question of clogs, but again I think we could address this at the AGM, I'm very aware this is an extra thing and not the point of Tower Ravens so we'll only do what everyone is happy to do!
***Next week*** watch this space to see if there is a team for practice next week.
I will see most of you on the 4th!
Becky
Hello all,
Same as last week please arrive promptly in order to crack on with the clog dancing. As far as I know I'm expecting everyone from last week plus Rachel-anne and I'm hoping everyone has a clear idea in their head how the dance goes, even if they can't quite do it!
I believe we have cake, gin and a thank you card for Kate so all organised.
Please remember that next week is back to rapper as normal - there is no me, Katherine or Ffion so Hannah is taking the helm for the week. As far as I know we have everyone apart from the Whitby goers (Me, Katherine, Ffion and Sue). Hannorah I'm also assuming you won't be around having done 2 in a row for the clog? If you can't make it please let Hannah know asap in case we end up having to cancel - we shouldn't do but i know we are at peak holiday season :)
The week after (28th) is the bank holiday, where there will be no practice, so the next practice is September 4th! As Hannah isn't at this one please can someone take the second set of swords from her?
See you later,
Becky
Hi All,
Not really any business this week, other than please all take a look at the
sign-up sheet and put your name where appropriate...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…
For those of you on the crawl, Libby who came along to watch and took some
videos etc to help with her research sent the following message. If people
are happy with her coming along (not sure that there should be any issues)
- I would suggest we think about this for late September after we've had a
practice or two, seeing as we have the Whitby week where there won't be as
many of us, and then there's the bank holiday. I'm going to try and find
one of the videos of us doing Piccadilly at DERT as she was interested in
that.
*"First of all a big thanks to you and the whole side for letting me tag
along and answering so many of my questions! It was all super helpful and
I’m busy at the moment writing up some of the experience in a chapter I’m
writing for a book on ‘time’ in performer training.*
*Do you think everyone would be OK for me to come along to a practice
evening? It would be great to see how you learn the dance and get to see
the steps and moves in greater detail. Also, if people were willing it
would be lovely to do short interviews with a few of the most experienced
dancers and musicians.*
*It was a really fun evening and the little videos I’ve shown to my family
are very impressive!"*
Thanks,
Hannah
Thank you all for the card and babygro! It's super cute. Too big for him
right now (it's 9-12 months), but I'm so looking forward to Arthur wearing
it next spring! The title of "Baby Raven" is an excellent touch. :)
Rachel x
Hi all,
Please do not visit the forthcoming events page on our website - it will show how one of those 'our computer has been hacked' pages which I think means someone is trying to hack your computer. I'll try and get this sorted asap.
Ffion x
Sent from my Samsung device
