Hints and Tips for SCD - Running a dance

See also the section on putting together a programme for the dance.

Before the dance

• Before deciding on a date, try to find out what else is happening around the time of the dance so you don't clash. If you clash with another similar event both events are likely to suffer.
• Book your band and hall well in advance - I tend to reckon about a year in advance here in Edinburgh. It can be done in less time, but be prepared for a large phone bill.
• When booking the hall, remember the band will need about an hour to set up at the start and half-an-hour to an hour to pack away at the end.
• The band needs to know the programme a couple of months in advance so they can prepare sets for the dances, look up the music for dances they don't know and so on.
• When telling the band the programme, be sure to tell them how long and what tempo each dance is (eg 4x32 reel), and if there is anything unusual about it - for instance two chords at the start. Check also that they can provide a microphone for the MC.
• This means you really need to start thinking about a programme a couple of months before that.
• It is standard to have the programme organised with a couple of fast dances (reel and jig) followed by a strathspey (or occasionally a medley including a strathspey), then a couple more fast dances and another strathspey, and so on.
• An evening of 20-or-so dances with an interval of about an hour tends to be good for a 4 hour event.
• It is better to slightly underestimate the number of dances you can get through and put in extras than to over-run and have to cut dances.
• Try to have have a light dance as the first dance or immediately after restarting (eg after dinner), unless you are prepared for strained muscles and people disappearing to study their meal again. A light dance gives people time to warm up gently, doesn't have too much setting and doesn't have everybody moving all the time.
• A couple of weeks before the dance, get in touch with the band to see whether they have any last-minute queries (and just make sure they have remembered your event).

On the night

• Make sure there is someone there to meet the band and help them carry their equipment into the hall.
• Make sure there is plenty of liquid around (including non-alcoholic liquid). We tend to have barrels full of juice from which people can help themselves.
• Make sure the band is well-supplied with liquid - they can't fetch it for themselves.
• Have an MC in charge at all times. (This need not be the same person for the whole evening, but someone should be in charge at any given point).
• The MC should announce the dances and ensure all sets are complete - calling for more couples as they are needed, then let the band know that everything is ready. The MC is also responsible for deciding whether to encore dances, cut dances, and add extras.
• Keep an eye on the time. If you have to insert an extra or cut a dance, announce this at least one dance in advance ("after the next dance we will have an extra - Bonnie Anne").
• Try to keep encores to a minimum - they should be the exception rather than the rule. If you allow too many encores too early, you are likely to end up running out of time and having to cut dances at the end. Also if you have too many encore too early people start to expect them for all dances.
• In Scotland people tend to indicate whether they want encores by whether they stay in place at the end of the dance or whether they satrt wandering off. The level of applause can be an indication, but watch out that they're not just applauding the band for a particularly good set of music for a dance they have no particular interest in repeating.
• Rather than completely cutting dances, you can do 3-couple dances in 4-couple sets (ie 8x dances) 3 times through in three-couple sets instead. Strathspeys tend to lend themselves particularly well to this.
• Make sure the band knows what you're doing, particularly if you're altering the programme.
• If there is an odd number of dancers in the bottom set, the dance can be done with a 3-couple or 5-couple set. 3-couple typically makes for a very aerobic dance; 5-couple requires 4th and 5th couple to only dance once through (each) as 1st couple; 4th couple can either go to the bottom after their turn or (which is fairer) dance again as 2nd couple. If there are two spare couple, they can either split up and one of them join the bottom of another line, thus making two 5-couple sets, or the bottom two sets can become 3-couple sets (so the couple who were number 4 in the penultimate set become number one in the final, now 3-couple set).
• If you have three extra couples, another possibility for a three-couple dance is borrowing in a seven-couple split set made of a three-couple set with a four-couple set below it. Here's how the progression works:

  		  m4   m3   m2   m1   M3   M2   M1  
  	 places   7    6    5    4    3    2    1         music
  		  w4   w3   w2   w1   W3   W2   W1
  

  • The Couples in places 1-3, in the three-couple set, never drop to start any repeat from fourth place.
  • The couples in places 4-7, in the four-couple set, never start any repeat above fourth place.
  • Both Couple 1 and couple 4 start as first couples on the first repeat.
  • On the second repeat, fives (c2) dance as third couple in the three-couple set, with C1 and C3.
  • Whenever a couple from the bottom set is standing out in fourth place, at the top of the set, that couple dances as third couple in the set above.
  • It's prudent to put beginning dancers in the three-couple set.
  [Thanks to Deborah Shaw for this description.]

Recapping the dance

If you don't provide crib sheets (sheets summarising the instructions for each dance), you will probably want to remind people how each dance goes. Here are some recommendations one Branch put together.

• Prepare beforehand! Be sure you know how the dance goes.
• If you want to dance yourself, find a partner in good time.
• Stand upright, don't slouch.
• Speak loudly, clearly, slowly, looking up towards the dancers and not down onto a sheet of paper.
• When announcing the dance:
  • Give the name of the dance, and say whether it is a jig, reel, etc and how many bars.
  • If the dance is a complex one, suitable for experienced dancers only mention this. (eg Gothenburg's Welcome.)
  • Say how many couples are needed to form a set; specify if the set is eg square or round the room.
  • The first man in each set / each line should count off the couples, to ensure the sets are complete.
• When recapping the dance:
  • It is better to read the description well than to ad lib it badly.
  • Give the dance title etc again, and say how many couples dance - eg "Highland Fair is a 32 bar jig for two couples".
  • If eg 3rd & 4th couples start the dance on opposite sides, say so and whether or not the music has two chords. (The music used for Lord Huntly's Cave does not.)
  • If the cribs are clear, most dances can be "read" almost directly from them (*). If not, write the dance out in your own words beforehand. (* Exceptions to this include dances like JB Milne, which is clearer if the last 16 bars are given first for the dancing couple and then for the supporting couples.)
  • Use pauses and intonation to indicate phrasing.
  • Where appropriate, add at the end "Repeat from second place" or "Start again with a new top couple".
  • Be brief! Give clear and precise instructions, but avoid unnecessary detail. People should know the dance; the recap is just a reminder. In formations where confusion frequently occurs, a little extra detail can be given - eg for a full Strathspey poussette, "starting from the sidelines".
  • Get it right the first time - once through only, don't recap the recap. At the end, a very brief reminder of how the dance starts can, however, be helpful.

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See also the other hints and tips sections:

• The root page
• Dance-floor etiquette
• What to wear and how
• General dancing hints and tips.
• Hints on dance technique.
• Being beginner-friendly.
• Dancing with children
• Compiling a dance programme
• Running a Dance
• Calling/Recapping (talking a dance through)
• Devising new dances
• Performing
• Hints on teaching
• Looking after your body/injuries.
• Sports Massage as it might apply to dancing.
• Where to find books, recordings, equipment, ...
• Articles by Keith Grant that will help you take care of the body you dance with. They are presented here in pdf format, and are readable with the assistance of Adobe Acrobat.
  • Dancing Our Feet Off Without Injuring Them, by Linking Our Warm-Ups to Kinetic Chains
  • Imagery, Movement, and the Dynamic Dance of Life
  • Tender Loving Care for Dancers' Legs

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This page is maintained by Ian Brockbank
ian@scottishdance.net
Edinburgh, Scotland