Gang --
I was going to put "Tofu Dances" in the subject line, but I thought that
might dissuade some of you from reading it.
I was thinking that tofu is a nutritious substance without a really
strong flavor of its own, and that can harmonize with a lot of different
treatments; it'll end up tasting like the dish you put it in.
Bill Olson's "Cranky Ingenuity" is a terrific dance - quick teach,
fairly low piece count, unusual enough figure (dosido as couples) that
it provides some variety in a program, useful as a first dance to let
you know the state of the crowd, useful as a last dance if you don't
have a lot of time, real teamwork with partner, adequate neighbor time.
And one of the things that's great about it is that it works with reels,
jigs, old-timey, rags, swing-dance tunes, French-Canadian tunes, Irish
polka - probably good for techno, too, although I haven't tried that.
While it has strong enough flow that dancers don't float in space
wondering what they're supposed to do yet, the transitions (other than
the closing balance-the-ring, California twirl) don't have hit precisely
to still be satisfying.
The dancers react to the music and the dance takes on the flavor of the
music. If there's some tune set the band wants to play - like, it's the
last dance and it's their showstopper - Cranky Ingenuity will likely
work out well. (It might not be the single best match possible to some
particular tune, but it's likely to be a good match, and having it handy
and walking it through in 30 seconds makes up for deficiencies.)
That's a great feature. But if I use it all the time - and worse, if
everybody uses it all the time - I'll wear it out.
What other dances have this feature?
(I think anything where the distinctive figure of the dance has short
phrases and tight timing - eg, Rory O More balances in long or short
waves; roll away across the set, catch partner and swing, Petronella
sequences, balance and square thru - is going to be disqualified. But if
you have experience that says otherwise, speak up!)
In the meantime, Happy New Year! I'm calling for an hour tonight at an
English dance and dancing for three at a contra dance; I hope you all
have agreeable New Year's Eves and 2014s full of satisfying music and dance.
-- Alan
