Hi,

The main priority that came out of our discussions and the email responses I received is to learn a second dance asap which the team can do this summer. Beadnell is by far the easiest dance to learn as it basically only consists of 3 figures. I feel this is doable in two weeks before Leigh and definitely doable before our later summer commitments. It's also a good summer dance as it's slow and expansive.

I don't believe we're dancing at anything the same as Thrales until Thrales day, by which point we should have our funky new dance ready as our second dance. The purpose of learning a new dance tonight is for the summer dance outs, not necessarily for future dance outs and definitely not for DERT so we don't need to worry about 'competing' with Thrales. You're all very welcome to look through the online notations and youtube videos for alternative trad dances for if/when we decide to learn one for DERT. I've made notes on most of these (attached), but I don't think this is a priority for now.

Newbiggin is very over done - Cinquefoil do it as their main dance, for example, Fourth Corner do it lots as do Sallyport so there's more chance of us having a 'dance out clash' with that than with Beadnell. I believe only Thrales and Sallyport do Beadnell. Having learnt and danced out both Newbiggin and Beadnell I believe Beadnell is the easier dance to learn and perfect.

If anyone wants to watch Beadnell videos before tonight you can see Thrales here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BhZXDOWZwQ and Sallyport here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMCFl1ENnyc. Don't worry, we'll just do 2 straight eights rather than the double stepping, for now!

See you later,

Ffion x

Please take a look at my blog on Welsh folk songs - caneuongwerin.wordpress.com

Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 09:20:58 +0100
Subject: Re: [Tower Ravens] Summer plan
From: kennedy.linds@gmail.com
To: rachel.sheridan@cantab.net
CC: ffion_coch@hotmail.com; team@towerravens.org.uk

I have similar feelings about Beadnell. If we do it with our own styling, we won't be being true to the dance, but Thrales do it so damn well we'll really be competing.

I've got the nebwiggin book with me - could I ask that we consider it tonight before practice? With a little bit of editing I think we could pretty much dance it straight through without having to learn much more.

See you tonight!

Becky - bring your sewing fingers ;-)

On 16 June 2014 09:13, Rachel Sheridan <rachel.sheridan@cantab.net> wrote:

Hi,

I know I haven't been around much lately, and I know that I didn't respond to your email last week.

But I'm quite unhappy about the idea of us dancing Beadnell. I feel very strongly that it's Thrales' dance, which we shouldn't try to copy, and I also feel that it doesn't suit the style of our side at all. If a traditional dance is what came highest on the agenda, maybe a dance like Newbiggin is closer to our style of dance? And if it's about how quickly we can learn something, a very simple figure chorus would be do-able.

We also don't have a side for St Albans, so that is not a concern. The June crawl and Leigh-on-Sea are our next events.

Thanks,

Rachel

On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 10:13 PM, Ffion Mair <ffion_coch@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who sent me their thoughts about our summer priorities. It's just a shame you don't all agree with each other!! As you know, I make a plan for every week's practice but I've now attempted to create a plan for the next month, taking into account the various responses. If your name is in the plan please check your diaries asap and let me know if you're going to be on holiday that week. If your name's not on plan, obviously please still turn up!! Beadnell is by far the easiest trad dance, and I think it's easier than our circle dance, so we'll give that a go tomorrow.

See you all tomorrow,

Ffion x

16 June -
Learn Beadnell: 1) Katherine,2) Lindsey, 3) Becky, 4) Nic, 5) Sue.
Learn/recap procession: 1) Lindsey, 2) Janet, 3) Becky, 4) Nic, 5) Katherine.

Once through Jubilee with St Albans sets: 1) Ffion, 2) Janet, 3) Lindsey? 4) Hannorah/Sinead, 5) Sue/Katherine?

21 June -
St Albans - possible. 1) Ffion, 2) Janet, 3) Lindsey? 4) Hannorah/Sinead, 5) Sue/Katherine?

23 June -
Learn/Polish Beadnell: 1) Katherine,2) Lindsey, 3) Becky, 4) Nic, 5) Sue.
Once through procession: 1) Lindsey, 2) Janet, 3) Becky, 4) Nic, 5) Katherine.

Once through Jubilee with crawl sets: 1)Rachel/Ffion 2) Laura/Jo 3) Becky/Lindsey 4) Nic 5) Katherine/Kat/Sue
Once through Jubilee with Leigh set: 1) Lindsey 2) Janet 3) Becky 4) Nic/Sinead 5) Katherine/Sue

26 June -
crawl. 1)Rachel/Ffion 2) Laura/Jo 3) Becky/Lindsey 4) Nic 5) Katherine/Kat/Sue

29 June -
Leigh on Sea - confirmed. 1) Lindsey 2) Janet 3) Becky 4) Nic/Sinead 5) Katherine/Sue

30 June -
Learn Beadnell with others going to summer events: 1) Ffion 2) Janet 3) Laura 4) Hannorah 5) Kat

7 July -
I won't be there. Laura and I have a join gig that night at the Green Note, Camden, so perhaps you'd all like to come and watch. If you'd rather practice, Rachel, are you ok to lead? Jubilee - polishing Hannorah 2 and Becky 4, teaching Jo and Katherine 1.

14 July -
Polish Beadnell with the others: 1) Ffion 2) Janet 3) Laura 4) Hannorah 5) Kat
Learn/polish Jubilee: Jo and Katherine 1, Rachel 2

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