This is our last Folk Dance Friday! Today we will be dancing to an aboriginal song from Australia called Marrayilyil. I learned this dance at a workshop many years ago, from an awesome teacher named Michelle Quigg. I have always taught it to my students since then and it is always a favorite!! This week we will be dancing to the Rarotongan folk song, Hoe Ana. This song comes from the islands west of Tahiti, also called the Cook Islands. This dance is in a very different style than our previous dances. Watch the video and following along to see how it is different! Diu Xie is a folk song that comes from the Chinese people of Tibetan descent. It was brought to North America by the Tibetan Song and Dance Ensemble from Gansu when they performed it at the Heritage '95 International festival in Quebec. It was then passed on to the international folk dance community. You will need 2 scarves for this dance. The scarves emulate the VERY long sleeves that the dancers would traditionally wear while performing this dance. If you don't have scarves, you can use a washcloth, hand towel, dish towel, or even a pair of long socks! This week, we will be dancing to a Germany melody called Zigeunerpolka. We have three more Folk Dance Fridays left after this. Ryan, Mr. Verity, and I each chose a song, and we are excited that we will be using some very different music and steps for our last three dances. Don't forget to keep checking back for more fun folk dancing in June! This week, we are dancing to a song from Israel called Erev Shel Shoshanim. This piece of music is a Hebrew love song that is often played at Jewish weddings. In English, the title translates to Evening of Roses. This dance may be a little tricky for Miller Avenue (there are a couple of new traveling steps), but give it a try and let me know how it goes! This week we will be dancing to a Scottish folk song called Peat Fire Flame. Watch the video for an explanation of what a peat fire is, as well as a short history of the song! This Friday's dance is called Les Saluts. It is a French Canadian song and is actually originally part of a much longer dance called Le Saratoga. In Canada, this type of song is known as a quadrille. A quadrille is a little bit like the square dance in America, but there can be more than 8 dancers and they do not need to be in a square formation. Les Saluts uses a fermata towards the end of each repetition of the theme. A fermata is a musical marking that directs the musicians to hold a note for longer than the written length. The musicians or conductor get to decide exactly how long! See if you can anticipate how long the fermata will be each time through the dance! This week's dance comes from America and it is called Big Circle Dance. The music we will be using is the Gaspé Reel, a French Canadian fiddle tune performed by Jean Carignan. A well known Canadian fiddler from Quebec, Carignan was once called "the greatest fiddler in North America." This week's dance is called Te Ve Orez. This traditional folk dance comes from Israel and the title translates as "Tea and Rice." In this dance, we will combine some of the steps we have been working on, along with reviewing/learning how to sashay! This week's dance is from the United States! However, it is called Irish Stew, and we will be dancing it to a traditional Irish tune called The Rakes of Mallow. This song has existed in a variety of adaptations for more than 250 years. It has even been used in several movies, such as Rudy and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow! See if you recognize it! |