Terpsichore Class Schedule (2024)
Bonus Early Bird Class
Sir Midair's Dance-Teaching Delight: A Joyous Journey in Teaching Dance - Sir Midair MacCormaic
Join Sir Midair for a whirlwind adventure in dance teaching! This spirited session focuses on the vivacious Saltarello II, where you'll learn to teach with encouragement and fun.
First, we'll delve into the importance of knowing the dance like the back of your hand—or should we say, the tip of your toe? Sir Midair will share his secrets to mastering the steps, spins, and sprightly spirit of Saltarello II, ensuring you can lead with confidence and maybe a little swagger.
Then, discover how to introduce this complex dance with wit and delight, captivating your students from the first step. We'll explore techniques for keeping dancers enthralled, mixing encouragement with humility to uplift every participant. Timing is crucial in both dance and instruction. Learn to give cues that are clear, timely, and infused with a touch of whimsy, keeping everyone in perfect harmony.
Whether you're a seasoned dance master or a newcomer to the teaching scene, this class offers a chance to add joy and joie de vivre to your teaching repertoire. Lace up your dancing shoes and let Sir Midair guide you through a session as educational as it is entertaining!
Beginner-friendly Track
Beginning Dances by the Book - Baroness Gwenllyen the Minstrel, Master of the Pelican
New to dance? This class is for you! Want to learn what a great resource the Terpsichore at the Tower Guide to the Dances book is? After learning each dance we will look it up in the book and talk about all of the information provided. Dances will include Half Hannigan, Upon a Summer’s Day, Montarde Bransle, Petit Riens, and Hit or Miss.
Beginning 15th C. Italian - THL Magdalena Vogelsang
Some of the most popular beginner-friendly 15th C. Italian dances, including: Petite Rose, Rostiboli Gioioso, and Anello.
Beginning English Country Favorites - THL Christiana Galyard de Caen
Some of the most popular beginner-friendly English Country Dances, including Rufty Tufty, Heart’s Ease, Gathering Peascods, and Black Nag.
The Bransle Suite! - Yngerame Erskyne
No partner? No problem! Simple circle dances that are made even more fun with live music, including Cassandra, Pinagay Charlotte, War, and Aridan. Possibly even more dances as time permits.
Processional Dances - THL Dunstan Bramblette
Low and slow and flirty! Dances include: Black Alman, Amoroso, and Gelosia.
Intermediate English Country Track
ECD Beyond Playford - Daniel de Lincoln
Dances from 17th C sources that aren't Playford, including The Milking Payle (Lovelace) and the Boone Companion (Lovelace/Sloan).
Popular Playford - Alina of Foxwood
Three dances from Playford that have persisted in popularity. Parson’s Farewell, Picking of Sticks, and Hyde Park. For two, three and four couples - Perfect!
Casting Call for Eight - Alexander of Mistig Waetru
Not for the theatre… for the dance floor! We’ll learn two dances for eight dancers that feature casting and don’t quite follow the normal patterns of ECD: Goddesses and Lord of Carnavann’s Jegg. Time permitting, we may also slip in a cheeky Whirligig. Which is only for six, but it does cast a lot. No experience required for this class!
Dances by Request - Gwommy Anpurpaid
The site closes too early for post-ball requests to be likely. So we’re going to do them before the ball! This is also your chance to review any dances in the ball that could use an extra run-through.
Intermediate Italian Track
Pavans with Pretensions - Urraca Yriarte de Gamboa
Balletto Contentezza d’Amore and Gratia d’Amore. Both from Caroso’s Il Ballarino.
Step by step 16th C. Italian - Alina of Foxwood
Progress from simpler dances with just a few steps to some of the more popular dances with lots of fun steps - each dance repeats steps from the previous dance and adds a couple new ones. Dances include: Contra Passo, Villanella, Fedelta, Gracca Amorosa, and Bella Gioiosa (or as many of those as we can get through).
Italian Trios - Maestro Dafydd Arth
Two 15th Century Italian dances for three dancers. Belfiore is an easy follow-the-leader type dance with a feel somewhat like Petit Riens, though it does end each verse with a mildly tricking progression figure.
Vita di Cholino is an intermediate-level dance which mostly has the middle dancer moving opposite the other two, including a fun ‘zig-zag’ pattern and a ‘chain’ (hey) in the final verse. Each of the five short verses is easy enough on its own, and the chorus is strongly patterned, so the only thing raising the difficulty from easy to intermediate are transitions and the need to remember the order of the verses.
Dances from Il Papa (Please Feel Free to Do These at Home!) - Daniele da Padola & Roselyne de l'Estrangere
The 15th/16th-c. repertoire by Il Papa and friends contains important transition information between the early and late Italian repertoires, and is more than a little familiar to dancers who are comfortable with those other Italian dance forms. Period music has been uncovered which fits convincingly with some of these reconstructions. Recommended for dancers who know something about Italian steps, but adventurous beginners are welcome. We intend to teach Che Feralla and I Tromboni.
Dolce Amoroso Fuoco - Yngerame Erskyne
Lovely dance from Caroso’s Il Ballarino.
Miscellaneous Track
Original Choreographies - Maestro Dafydd Arth
Two original choreographies. Heart’s Journey is a dance for one couple, originally composed as a wedding gift. It can also be done in processional style by a line of couples, if not too closely spaced. It uses mainly basse-dance type steps, and has some figure-tracing elements similar to a figured pavan. Consider this one ‘basse-adjacent’, perhaps. In the Terpsichore book, it is included among ‘Other Dances’.
Burley Mariners is a rollicking fast-paced dance in the style of an English Country Dance, featuring a mirrored hey for couples as a main element, and a signature ‘zig-zag’ progression figure by which the current first dancer works his or her way across and diagonally down the set to the last position. The steps used will be familiar to dancers who like ECDs, but the very brisk tempo adds a bit of challenge. This one is included among the English County Dances in the Terpsichore book, since it is an original choreography in ECD style.
Dance Atrocities - Messer Sion Andreas o Wynedd
History repeats itself, and so do choreographers that keep pumping out the hits–like today’s three dances, including Diana’s Aleman, an Ungaresca, and the Grene Almain.
Dancing in Rhythm - Alexander of Mistig Waetru
Fun fact: There is a misprint in the Playford dance “Glory of the West”. But Alex (you might ask), how do we know it’s a misprint and not what was intended? Well, the short answer is music. The long answer is this class, where we will explore dancing not as something we do to music, but as a part of the music itself.
Dubious Duobus - Mistress Emma Danskona and Master Martin Bildner
A number of the more complicated or hard to interpret of the Gresley dances for two.
Troublesome Tribus - Mistress Emma Danskona and Master Martin Bildner
A number of the more complicated or hard to interpret of the Gresley dances for three.