Dances written by Joseph

Ramsay Chase 

Teaching Notes

The story line of this dance is pretty clear:  Woman flirts with partner, man flirts back but gets cold feet and runs away, woman chases, more flirting, woman runs away, man chases, and finally they swing.  I sometimes call neighbors "interlopers" for obvious reasons.

The dance works well with dreamy jigs, and has been especially wonderful with Daron Douglas' tune, "Winter Oranges."  It also works well -- with quite a different feel -- with old time tunes, with which the phrasing of the dance tends to get loose around the chase, gypsy, and hey.  

A1.  I tell the women to focus on their partner, which sets things up.  When the men turn around, the women then chase their partners.  It is important they know to end up on the same side as their partner.  After the gypsy, telling the women to end facing into the set looking across at each other helps them get oriented.  People really want to swing their partners by this point, so I often say something about delayed gratification.  

B2.  The start of the dance comes around quickly, especially if people swing too long with their neighbors. It helps if the men are especially conscious of this so that they can help their neighbor women into the center to start again.

Notes

I wrote this dance for my partner, Fred Ramsay Todt.  The Ramsays on his mom's side are a big dancing family:  Fred's Uncle John Ramsay is emeritus director of Brasstown Folk School and the dance school at Berea College; he commissioned "Levi Jackson Rag" from Pat Shaw.  

The flirting and chasing in this dance was inspired by a Scottish country dance Fred and I have done together, which I hope is reflected in the Scottish feel of the title. 

March 30, 1999

Westaire Court 

Interlocking cross-over Morris heys:
                        1s                                                  2s
With "new" neighbors:
1-2                   cross down the center               separate up the outside
3-4                   cast up the outside                   cross down the center

With "old' neighbors:
5-6                   cross up the center                    separate down the outside
7-8                   cast down the outside               cross up the center

1-2          Set to Neighbor
3-8          Neighbors handy-hand turn 1 1/2  
                (1s inside center, 2s separating up outside; W by L, M by R)

1-4           Partner 2-hand turn once around, open facing new Neighbors
5-8           Circle left once around with new Neighbors

Teaching Notes

For teaching purposes, the Morris heys in A1 can also be broken up into two larger pieces instead of four, i.e. two double 1/2-figure 8s, the first in the current minor set and the second in the "old" minor set. The 1s can think of their role as a 1/2-figure 8 down through the 2s, followed by a 1/2-figure 8 up through their "old" 2s. The 2s do the inverse of this, as they would in two double 1/2-figure 8s. At the end of all this, dancers are back home, facing their current neighbor.

Dancers near the top and the bottom of the set will find it helpful to dance with ghost couples. Similarly, those standing out will want to be ready to dance with “old” neighbors as needed. 

These heys are not actually as difficult as they sound, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how easily dancers learn them. The difficulty comes when 1s become 2s and vice-versa. Somehow, the inverse role is unintuitive. One astute dancer suggested she had trouble in the new role until she figured out the 1s sequence: down-up-up-down. Until they figure it out, new 1s seem to want to go down the center and then continue going down the outside. I have watched very experienced dancers do this with great confidence, even in the face of oncoming traffic. The same likely happens at the bottom for new 2s. 

Though I do not explicitly mention it, it is useful to realize that the path a dancer traces while doing this hey is simply an oval. If this question arises, I respond with a simple "yes."

The transition from the hand turn to the rights and lefts at the end of A2 can be very satisfying for the 1s if the 2s help provide some umph as the 1s turn to face across to their partner. 

Notes

The dance was inspired by Debbie Jackson's great tune of the same name and by Marge Cramton and Ray Bantle, for whom both the tune and the dance are dedicated. All three are pillars of the Michigan dance community, and are among the nicest people I know. Their shared generousness of spirit is a role model for me.

March 2009