Nine.

Didn't leave work until gone 7pm last night so it was revise as opposed to gym. The ceilis I pulled out of that hat were Trip to the Cottage and Harvest Time Jig, the latter of which I failed as I called Right Hands Across and Left Hands Across, Right & Left Wheels and vice versa. Why?! There are no wheels in book one. Book one is all hands across, book two is all wheels, and book three depends on the dance. Wheels in Gates as there are wheels on a cart passing through the Gates - Hands Across in Waves as you're swimming through the sea. Anyway I also said that gent gives right hand again when performing Step & Turn with the lady on the left which he doesn't, it's a left hand. Anyway, I won't make those mistakes again.

On Trip I've got a good way to teach some of the tricky body bits now, and I've taught the opening movement and the two figures tons before so I'm fairly happy on that.

What else - I ran through all my dances in my head while trying to get to sleep, or that was the plan. I think I made it as far as my second or third set dance (after having done all my solos) before drifting off. So much less nervous this time than last year (does that make grammatical sense?), when I was still working on my hornpipe!

Crossover

Teaching Sweets and had a panic about Cross Over and Back. I know in Cross Over and Lead Around the gents pass shoulder to shoulder and I know in Circle Round and Hands Across the ladies go shoulder to shoulder. So I dithered and sent them gents left to left. OF COURSE it is gents left to left. I know this, I know I know it. Stop second guessing yourself, you're absolutely fine.

15 days.

Time for an update

It's been such a long time since my last update. I don't really have a reason for that but rest assured that the lack of updates doesn't mean a lack of work.

One of my girls bought herself some hard shoes on eBay a week or two ago, so we've spent some time on treble drills and really just showing her how to use the shoe. This has done ME the world of good as well although my foot injuries haven't thanked me. I feel like I'm gaining a bit more control over those feet and shoes, and am working out how to get the best sounds again. It's coming along.

This week I was given the chance to teach a HUGE class - well, huge by my standards. 16 dancers! It was a ceili class so we went through Sweets of May and they were fantastic, we got through the entire dance (all four figures) within about 40 minutes. So impressed. I didn't want to keep them going over the same material all night though so we moved on to Lannigan's Ball which I taught as a 16-hand. I had to spend some time teaching them the rising step as not all of them had done it before but we got through the first four movements - perhaps I'll get to finish it next week alongside the regular teacher. I didn't break sweat but it was great practice and good fun: "cotton-eyed Joe", "think speed!". Good times.

The Sweets of May
First Figure - Rings
Body - Cross Over and Back, Advance and Retire, Ringing the Bells
Second Figure - Lead Round
Body
Third Figure - See Saw
Body
Fourth Figure - Sides Under Arms
Body
Repeat Rings

Lannigan's Ball
Rings
Quarter's Hook
The Rise and Grind Step
Lead Round in Centre
Flirtation
Stack Up
Lead Round
Rings

The previous week we'd done Trip to the Cottage (although not the first figure unfortunately) so it was good to get a few dance-throughs of that into the legs. I'm confident on Cross Over and Lead Around and on the body, but I often fluff the figures when writing up exam papers. To revise!

Trip to the Cottage

I remember at my first Qualifiers, the most repeated phrase was "Team number x, dancing Trip to the Cottage". I nearly died of boredom while waiting for my results, but now that I'm actually learning it I'm a big fan. No movement names to learn is always a bonus!

Here's my attempt at typing it out from memory - I'm not aiming for perfect terminology at this point, just checking my understanding. My original work is in black - any corrections are in a tasteful shade of orange.

Cross Over and Lead ARound
All couples are holding inside hands. Tops exchange places, gents passing shoulder to shoulder and turn into places without releasing hands. Sides exchange places in the same way. Tops return to original places in same way and all dance two threes in place (8). All perform a half-lead round anticlockwise for 4 bars then tops exchange places returning to original places once more; all dance two threes in place (8). All the above is repeated with sides going first (16).

Body
Top gentleman takes inside hands with partner and lady on left. All advance to centre (diagonally across the set) and retire (4), and repeat (4). Each trio now forms a ring of three and sidesteps to the left finishing with two short threes (4), then takes the remaining gentleman into the ring between the two ladies and sidestep to the right finishing as before (4). Each ring breaks into couples who take both hands and swing around each other anticlockwise back to place (8). All the above is repeated with side gentlemen taking inside hands with partner and lady on left (24).

First Figure
Lady of 2nd tops advances towards 1st tops and takes gent's left hand in her right. 1st tops make an arch under which 2nd lady passes, gent turns under and they form an arch under which 1st lady passes, gent turns under. Top couple form a final arch under which 2nd lady and gent pass, then the 2nd gent is taken into a ring of 4 between the ladies (8). All sidestep to the right finishing with two short threes (4) then perform the following movement without releasing hands: Top couple form an arch under which 2nd tops pass. 2nd tops then turn outward under their own arch and tops pass under own arch then 2nd tops arch, falling back into a ring (4). All sidestep to the left and finish with two short threes (4) then couples take both hands and swing back to place (4). Repeated by lady of 1st tops, lady of 2nd sides and lady of 1st sides.

Second Figure
Tops advance towards each other twice, retiring each time (8). Ladies of top couples promenade between couple on left, dancing around gentleman then passing between couple on right and again dancing around the gentleman, back to place. Gents of top couples perform the same movement but dance first around lady on right then lady on left (8). Gents allow ladies to pass before them at all times. [WRONG - Couples take both hands and swing a complete circle anticlockwise back to place (8) - WRONG]. Repeated by sides.

Finish
Cross Over and Lead ARound.



I'm well pleased with that, not too many mistakes. And the best thing is that is now only have five ceilis left to learn! Four of them I'm really not worried about - Eight Hand Jig, The Three Tunes, St Patrick's Day and The Sweets of May. I've read through them and seen them danced at competitions a fair few times; I understand most parts and they should be simple enough. I am petrified of the Sixteen Hand Reel, just because there are so many people, but hopefully by the time I get round to it I will have calmed down (having already learned 29) and can devote as much time as necessary to it.

In other news, my poor little blue book has finally become detached from its cover. Sniff. It was so neat and lovely when I bought it way back in April - six months later and it's well-thumbed, scarred with accidentally creased corners, and stained with the odd bit of food or dead fly. Poor book. Need to get an industrial-sized stapler.

Next up then, the Sweets of May.