When there notes saying that updates have been made they are reflected in the dance instructions as they currently appear. The update notes are just added to the end so that people know that if they viewed/downloaded/printed the instructions before that date they have now changed.

Where there are updates saying that there have been corrections or clarifications of the dance instructions is it the updated version which appears? If not, how does one find them?

Sooo, I /meant/ to try the dance out right after I found it here on 8x32… and it took me just about 20 months to actually do it :)

We danced it tonight & it really *is* a lovely dance :)

BACKGROUND FOR THE TITLE OF THIS DANCE

In the USA in the 1930’s, it was believed that whatever political party won the state elections in the state of Maine would be the party that won the Presidential elections the same year. Someone came up with the saying "As Maine goes, so goes the nation."

So, the saying indicates a bellwether condition. The elections in Maine no longer predict the national elections, but the saying has proved a productive one for American journalists and for headlines.

Looking on the Internet, I see:

As Alcoa goes, so goes the U.S. recovery
As the home goes, so goes the church
As China goes, so goes the world
As Jed Lowrie goes, so goes the Boston Red Sox
As Verizon goes, so goes metered billing

THE PUN

Lee and Karen Potter live in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They built a dance floor in the basement of their home, and held a party to inaugurate the floor (and celebrate their 1st anniversary). This dance was written for the party.

Hence the pun: As Cedar Falls….. Falls is really a noun, but when you put it in this structure, it becomes a verb.

THE TEASE

We have numerous instances of cities in the United States that are so close to another city that they get hyphenated. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Fargo-Moorhead, Cedar Falls-Waterloo.

Typically, the people who live in the first of the hyphenated cities do not want to be associated with the people who live in the second hyphenated city. And vice versa.

So, I am teasing Lee and Karen by putting Waterloo in the title of the dance.

Sorry, it takes longer to explain the title than to teach the dance…

I adapted this dance as the finale for a demo dance we do to Nelson Mandela’s Welcome to the City of Glasgow. You can see a "flash mob" version of the dance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXpohSuIajY

I was looking for something that could be done by 3 or 4 couples one time through. I wanted set to and turn corners so I replaced the formation in the first 8 bars with set to and turn corners and then swapped that 8 bars with the second 8 bars so that it would flow better.

After practicing the 3 and 4 couple version, we realized that it would work for as many as 6-7 couples. In the video above we had 7 couples. Its loads of fun to dance the Schiehallion reels with lots of couples.

Great dance, lots of fun!

Patty

I don’t think "High Five" is defined in any formations list I’ve seen :-)

We tried this out this past Thursday, 01.07.2010 in a combined class with some less experienced dancers. Thus we danced this in Strathspey time. We found the dance quite interresting and because of the slower tempo we managed bars 9-32 amazingly well. Perhaps one more try in Strathspey time and then we’ll progress to Reel time.

We danced this in Santa Cruz, California on Saturday 5/30, and found bars 17-32 to be quite challenging. The "weasel reel" is not a familiar figure to us, so required close attention, and the following final eight bars were unusual too. This combination accounted for the difficulties we experienced. Still, we really liked it once we "got" it. I’d love to hear the Gordon Duncan tune, as his are always great. I used "The Wellington Reel" from the CD "12 Scottish Country Dances devised by Mervin Short" recorded by Green Ginger, which worked very well.

I used this dance at a workshop I taught last weekend in Des Moines. I think it makes a good dance to lead up to a lesson on set to & turn corners. It has a set and turn figure (but using skip change), and the inverting double triangles are a good formation to use to give people practice moving with pas de basque.

Just a note. It’s been pointed out to me that bars 9-16 are unclear. The promenade is with men passing left shoulders, i.e. CCW around the inside of the set.

Being a physicist myself I was instantly intrigued by this dance *and* it has Schiehallion Reels in it… so it should be a good one ;)

Is the Reel in Bars 25-32 a left shoulder Reel of 4? Looks like it.

I just danced it with 7 phantoms in my office (all my colleagues already went home :) ) - and I think I know what my group will have to try out next week ;)

I had a "moment" the other day with a "pass half round". I was at our advanced technique class in the west of the UK (won’t say where) being taught by a "senior" member of the RSCDS (won’t say who so as not to embarrass him!). We were dancing a new dance which had a movement in it which no-one had done before. After we’d danced it I announced "well it’s just a pass half round isn’t it" and the whole class just looked blankly at me, including the teachers and said what’s a "pass half round". It was decided that it must be something I learned when dancing many years ago with ISTD. It was. It occurs in the dance called The Pretender. I remember doing it, probably 30 years ago. Anyway I have to dance the RSCDS way now as I’m about finish taking their Part 1 Teachers Cert. (I passed the ISTD Associate about 36 years ago).

I like the idea of the Quaternary knot reels.
The first four bars of the dance though, are virtually identical to mirror set and link if one held on a little longer.I just feel this might be a slightly neater effect? Only a thought.

I would like the description of the formation "La Baratte" specific to the dance "Stanford Swing". I did it some time ago and when I went to teach it to my class as per memory (?!) they weren’t in the right place for the next part! Help!

We danced this in class in Brisbane, Queensland on Monday 23 June. It was great fun and the class really enjoyed the sameness/ difference to the dance it was based on. We did it in an 8 couple set and it worked beautifully.

Greetings from The Gap SCD class in Brisbane Australia.
We had a problem getting into position for bars 23 & 24. We couldn’t get - RS to RS to start the RH 3/4 turn. We tried to keep the reels from expanding - as reels do! but still didn’t get there

a] I am interpreting this wrongly?
b] We are getting a bit too long in the tooth!
c] There is a caveat on the dance which says - only for energetic teen-agers!

I am afraid we just did the usual 6 bar reel with corners and crossed RH to own side! In other words you could say - we managed the roiling but not the boiling!
We enjoyed the experience and it is nice to get ’set to corners and partners’ in an otherwise uncomplicated dance.
With thanks from The Gap and teacher
regards
Mary

Thanks for this dance! Our group in Montpelier VT will certainly be doing it in the coming season.

It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been to the Falls of Lana - maybe it’s time for another visit.

This looks familiar… I *think* I danced it at a ball some time ago… Münster Christmas Ball 2008?
I remember the triangle-reel part as a bit unusual at first, but fun nonetheless :)

At the end of bar 8 everyone has just turned their partners RH and are facing them, so it’s natural for the men to pass their partners RS on bar 9. On bar 12 the men are facing clockwise and continue to dance in that direction.

Similarly, the ladies are facing anticlockwise on bar 20 and continue to dance in that direction.

The original idea was that the movement within these phrases should be in one direction only, reflecting the smooth travel of a wind turbine, so a change of direction after 4 bars would spoil this effect.

Other 3 couple dances in triangular sets are McPherson’s Jig and Indian River Strathspey. A new book which will shortly be available from the Aurora dance group (www.aurorascot.org.uk) includes The Bermuda Triangle.

I am trying to list all the triangular Scottish country dances for performance purposes. So far I have only found this one and ths Wind on Loch Fyne.
By the way has anyone suggested that the men’s and ladies’ hands across in bars 9-16 and 17-24 might flow a bit better if they went the other way?
Regards, bi