Dances for the High Tea Dance 2016

The Caller

Sharon Green is, quite possibly, the kindest, most joyful person you’ll ever meet. She simply loves sharing the pleasures of dancing with other, and our weekend with her was transcendant. You will soon be able to see some of the videos of the dancing and the joy on the Dance Video Archives.

Her workshop on the dances of Fried de Metz Herman was wonderful - what a history!  Sharon brought us a wonderful story about her first encounter with Fried, who was well-known to be rather demanding and critical. When Sharon returned, downhearted, to her cabin at Pinewoods after this encounter, her cabin-mates told her "You just have to understand that Fried is Dutch, and blunt. When she said those unflattering things to you, it just meant that she likes you and wants to be your friend." 

The words "She's Dutch, and blunt, but she likes you and wants to be your friend" have now taken root in our local vocabulary and, amusingly, help us deal with the occasional critical caller or teacher.  

Sharon herself, however, is the opposite - welcoming and kind, as well as somehow powerful and commanding. She managed to create our most joyous High Tea weekend ever.

The Band

The band was the wonderful, amazing Ladies at Play, joined by our own Martha Edwards on fiddle.  Miranda Arana brought her transcendant flute playing to the weekend, this year joined by her beloved band-mates, Kathy Dagg, master of all things horizontal and plucked (guitar, mandolin, etc.) and Shanda MacDonald, funky, bluesy fiddler and kick-ass keyboard player. Martha brought her classical training and years of melodic improv to the mix, and they seemed to be constantly having fun.

The Dances

Friday Night English Country Dance

The Ramble
The Minor Spaniard (Jenny Beer)
I Care Not for These Ladies (Kitty Skrobela) [published in Hunter's Moon]
A Double Duet (Gary Roodman)
Tambourine Dance (reconstruction, Jacqueline Schwab) [published in Playford Assembly]
Well's Humour (reconstruction, Brian Wedgbury) [published in Purcell's Dancing Master]
The Pugilist (Ron Coxall) [published in Roles]
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The Upright Man (Sharon Green) [web publication]
Saturday Triad (Fried de Metz Herman [published in Serendipity]
Leather Lake House (reconstruction, Fried de Metz Herman) [published in Playford Assembly]
An Early Frost (Philippe Callens)
Barbarini's Tambourine (reconstruction, Jacqueline Schwab) [published in Playford Assembly]

Saturday Morning Workshop: The Legacy of Fried de Metz Herman

The Chocolate Equation [published in Ease & Elegance]
The Archbishop [published in Potters' Porch]
10 for the Ten Commandments [published in Ease & Elegance]
Bottoms Up
Rose of Sharon [published in Potters' Porch]
Bryon's Boutade
Winter Waltz [published in Serendipity

Saturday Afternoon Workshop: Dances from the Greenery

A Mover and Shaker (Gary Roodman) [published in Multiple Calculated Figures]
Golden Green (Philippe Callens) [web publication]
The Unknown Buccaneer (Sharon Green)  "
Familiar Quotations (Sharon Green) [New Shoots]
A Child's Christmas in Berkeley (Sharon Green) [web publication]
Little Sir Isaac (Sharon Green) [web publication]
Scotch Capers ( Sharon Green) [web publication]

Saturday Evening Ball

The Drummer (reconstruction, Charles Bolton) [Retreads]
Trip to Provence (Susan Kevra)
Doctor Bending's Serpent (Sharon Green) [web publication]
Mr. Isaac's Maggot [The Playford Ball]
Foxfire (Steve Sargent)
Juniata (Sharon Green) [web publication]
Softly Good Tummas (reconstruction, Andrew Shaw)
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Mount Hills
Key to the Cellar (CDSS News)
Mile of Smiles (Joseph Pimentel)  [The Goldcrest collection]
St. Margaret's Hill
Soulton Jigg (reconstruction, Kathryn & David Wright) [Wright's Humours]
Jaque Latin ( reconstruction, Chip Hendrickson) [