One More Time!
When I first started writing dances I never thought there would come a point where I’d written enough dances to put into a book, but here we are. Because I never started with the intention of writing a book, this book has no set theme, and is possibly quite an eclectic mix of dances, of all different styles.
Apart from two dances in this book, I have always started with a tune, and written the dance to fit. I know this doesn’t work for everybody, but for me it’s the easiest way because with the tune, I have a starting point. I have of course suggested the tunes which I have written the dances to, but I don’t mind what tunes you dance them to, as long as it fits!
Never Forgotten
Although this was the first dance I wrote, it is possibly the one with the most meaning. I wrote it a few days after my twin brother’s anniversary, who as many of you will know died very shortly after birth, but 10 weeks before I was born. The name came to me a couple of weeks later, having been struggling with what to call the dance, then all of a sudden it came to me ‘Never Forgotten’, because although I never met him, I owe my life to him and that I will never forget.
Stars to Freedom
I wrote this dance in June 2020 just as the country was staring to emerge out of the pandemic for the first time. So I was conscious not to mention ‘lockdown’ in the title, to avoid it becoming ‘one of those dances!’.
A Dance For Meg
I think I wrote this dance in January of 2020 (that year’s all a bit of a blur!). But as the title suggests, I wrote it for Alcester Contra organiser, and all round good egg, Meg Winters. She asked if I would write a dance for her after dancing ‘Never Forgotten’ at an Alcester Contra with David & Kathryn Wright calling. So of course I obliged and here is the finished result.
The People's March to the Polls
When I first heard this tune shortly after Rachel wrote it in November 2020 in honour of the U.S. presidential election result I became completely obsessed with it and was determined to write a dance to fit. It took a while, but as is often the way with these dances, once I had the idea, it only took about half an hour to actually get it written. Although the recording of the tune has not been publicly released, the notation can be found in Rachel’s tune book.
A Great Aunt's Delight
This was another one of those tunes which I heard once and was then determined to write a dance to, it just makes you want to dance! This tune hasn’t been publicly released but the dance will fit with any 32 jig. The set of English jigs on the New Dimensions CD works well as a substitute.
A Nice Piece of Fudge
This dance is exactly what it says on the tin, a fudge! I can’t even deny that it is anything else, the only mildly interesting part of the dance is the half Morris hey, but apart from that it’s pretty basic. Sometimes I do think it is nice though to do a dance which doesn’t require too much concentration, although this is when I tend to go wrong!
Blown Away
I absolutely love this tune, it’s a waltz, but quite a quick one so bear that in mind. It’s also made unusual by its structure. It’s a 48 bar tune played AABB which doesn’t seem that unusual but the As are 16 bars each whereas the Bs are only 8 bars each. I’m not going to lie, this took me an unnecessarily long amount of time to work out, but once I did, it made total sense.
The Lovely Nymph
This is another Boldwood tune which I love. It’s a waltz but has a real drive to it, so the hardest part of the dance is not rushing, there is plenty of time!
Swings & Roundabouts
I can’t remember when I wrote this dance, and to be perfectly honest there isn’t much I can say about it... so here it is!
Erik Stephenson of Crookhill
This is one of those dances which I’ve really struggled to give a title to, so ended up just naming it after the tune, which I know is lazy, but some titles come to you easily and others don’t.
Rose
I wrote this dance having just come back from a week of dancing at Halsway Manor with the wonderful Frances Richardson calling, and the equally wonderful Mollie & Ali playing. It was a mixed week of English & Scottish dancing and I finally learnt how to dance a Strathspey properly!
It seems like there are so many different types of reels/heys, from Grimstocks to Morris Heys, Sheepskins to Dolphins, the list is endless. This dance includes a reel which we don’t see all that often in English dances, the Shiehallion! It’s a cracking little move, deceptively simple, but takes a full 16 bars to complete, hence why there’s only a quarter of it in this dance!
Heys to Lichfield
This is a fairly simple dance which is lead by the 1s throughout. I really like this track on 3D’s CD and had been determined to write a dance to go alongside for a little while. Having tried for weeks with no progress, I was driving up to Lichfield to call at a wedding with Folkus Pocus, when the track came on, then I just started calling a dance to myself, and this is the outcome.
Nothing complicated in the slightest but hopefully still an enjoyable dance