Part of the plan, if such a thing exists, will be to start working on the physical stamina side of things. Knowing the dance is one thing but having the strength and agility to actually perform it to a decent standard is just as important. So at least part of the evening will be a run through of four or five dances treated as a full display, the typical twenty-minute set we will be performing during the summer. No stopping for post-mortem discussions, no extended pauses whilst we discuss who is dancing where, just get out there and hammer the floor.
This gets us some other benefits apart from the general aerobic exercise. The old hands can experiment by trying the dance from a new position, may be even take a turn at leading or calling. The intermediate levels can extend their knowledge of the repertoire while still safely sticking to “their” place, and coincidentally encouraging the old hands to shift to a “new” position. The new comers from the autumn, with only three or four dances under their feet, can also get involved and build up their own confidence as well as the confidence of the other dancers that the new comers know what they are doing.
Then of course there’s the mental exercise needed to pull out of the memory banks the full set of figures for a sequence of dances without a ten-minute lead-in to refer to notes or discuss things with your partner. Dances that were firmly fixed in the brain can become a vague memory when your hearts is pounding away and your lungs are heaving. Add a partner isn’t the friendly helpful soul who guided you through the workshop session but the dour and rather forbidding character who spends most of their time with the clique of old hands and it becomes a real test.
The hardest part of this seemingly simple exercise is to get the team to treat it as a performance. The next most difficult thing is to get them not to treat it as a performance! Confused? Let me explain. It’s a performance in that we get run the set with the minimum delay between dances and the maximum flash getting on and off. It’s not a performance in that we put inexperienced dancers in the set. It’s a performance because short of someone dying we stop for nothing. It’s a not performance because there is no audience, other than dancers with all critical faculties fully switched on. It’s a performance because the non involved team members are watching for that flying lace or twisted ankle that means they need to leap forward and take over in the set. It’s not a performance because the musicians want to alleviate their boredom with new tunes or arrangements.
Well that’s the basic plan. Fill in with some workshop time on dances that show up from the performance session as needing attention and dances that are being added to the repertoire or need teaching for the newcomers and that should see us through to the end of the evening.
Of course the plan gets modified the moment I get into the hall. The New Year has bought some new faces who have finally decided that this is the year that they are going to try Morris dancing. So it’s into public relations mode and make the introductions. Then nag the team about warming up properly. While warming up decide which set of dances can be done in the performance session using all the available dancers at least once. Then tell the team which dances are in the set, hopefully this will cut down the “dead” time between dances when an audience can drift away when you’re doing it for real. Whilst the session is running a few more dancers amble in. If they’d turned up on time the dance selection might have been a bit wider for the session. Make a note to nag everyone about time keeping – again!
Once the “performance” is over we can take five and think about things. Each dancer will have their own ideas of what they need to work on. The team leader will also have his or her particular thoughts. Which dances worked well and which need more work? What feedback is coming from the dancers, both from within the set and from the “audience”? Were there any clashes of personalities that need to be watched and if there are what can be done about them? How are the new comers settling in?
Back to the new faces who have now had a glimpse of what dancing is all about. Hopefully some of the team have been chatting to them and they are feeling a bit more at ease. We recruit all the year round since we found that saying, “Come back in the autumn” usually the same as saying “Goodbye”! So we set out to workshop our basic processional dance – again! The potential recruits are pulled up into the set and given a chance to see what a typical teaching session involves. The teams suppresses any moans at doing this yet again and patiently listen and dance as the new faces get to grips with “step-ups” and “figures”, “chains” and “arches”.
If that goes well we might have time to get a session on a new dance we are working up to performance standard or one that’s in the standard repertoire but need some work. I try and make sure that the full repertoire gets danced over the weeks of practice. Taking up a whole practice night or series of nights on one dance can get tedious and regular small doses seem to work better as a way of learning. It also ensures maximum participation for everyone at the practice.
We finish off the night with a couple of the old favourites. These are dances that we just enjoy doing and hopefully it shows. The potential recruits might just pick up on what the team gets from the hours spent in practice. Perhaps they thought dancing was just an excuse to spend a bit of time down the pub. Well we’ll make sure they know which pub some of us frequent after practice and they can try a pint. The last folk have left the hall and the lights get turned off. Next week I’ll get it right. Or if not right I’ll get it better. Wonder if any of the new faces will be back next week? Will any of them be there when spring bursts upon us? Did any of them make it to the pub. Only one way to find out – I’ll call in for a pint on the way home – just the one of course.