Sequential introduction to partner or contra dancing,
in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Commonwealth of Australia.
CD with booklet - $25.00 - inc. GST

The Shenanigans Band's 'Federation Special' is a step by step introduction to partner or contra dancing. Released in 2001, the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Australian nation, the dances reflect many of the styles whose influence can be seen in Australian 'Bush Dancing'. These include American, Western European, English, Irish, and Scottish. Because of their common heritage, partner dances around the world share many of the same dance moves or 'figures'. In this collection only eight figures variously combine to make many different dances. The key to successful partner dancing is familiarity with the figures. We recommend introducing easier dances first, so that only one or two new figures need be learned per dance. One might think of this process as students gradually acquiring a movement 'vocabulary'. Partner dancers are usually guided by the 'calls' of a dance caller. Many tracks on the CD are repeated with dance calls included. Teachers may use these tracks to practice timing the calls, or as an aid when introducing the dance. Reduce the number of calls as the dancers become familiar with the dance. The dance booklet offers simple and advanced versions of many of the dances. It is advisable to use material which is challenging enough to be interesting, but not so difficult as to discourage a particular group. Choosing the easy or advanced version will help teachers to maintain the group's interest. Page 17 of the booklet provides recommendations for creating new dances with the movement vocabulary introduced in this collection. I hope you enjoy this collection of partner dances. - Gary King, 2001.

CONTENTS including Traditional & Educational Contexts

(CD & dance booklet, released 2001. # 3 of Shenanigans New Millennium Series)

.	Dance	Country
1.	Les Saluts	Canadian
2.	Littles to the Centre	American
3.	Feder Mikkel	Danish
4.	Feder Mikkel (with calls)	Danish
5.	The Noble Duke of York (Long set version)	New English
6.	The Noble Duke of York (Eight couple set version)	New English
7.	Progressive Sicilian	English/American
8.	Progressive Sicilian (with calls)	English/American
9.	Lancaster Barn Dance Mixer	American
10.	Lancaster Barn Dance Mixer (with calls)	American
11.	Haymakers Jig	English / Australian
12.	Haymakers Jig (with calls)	English / Australian
13.	Strip the Willow	Scottish
14.	Virginia Reel	American
15.	Virginia Reel (with calls)	American

Review by Christoph Maubach The musical arrangements on the Federation Special make this dance music come alive through sprite music making and through clarity of musical organisation. The dance descriptions are clear and understandable. The music and other production aspects of the Audio CDs can be utilised when working towards learning outcomes in the field of movement and dance, just as we learn to do in Orff training courses. The partner dances are sequential and offer new dances in additon to the standard Australian Bush Dances which are found on Best of Shenanigans CD 2 (Bush Dances of New Holland).

Review by Sara Glenie This is a collection of new and interesting partner dances with exciting music and detailed and clear notes. As well as a dance resource the music is very useful for warmup activities in various metres. Traditional dance rhythms used include Jig (tracks 1, 7, 11) March (track 5), Reel (track 9) a medley of these three (track 14) and the uniquely Irish 9/8 metre of the Slip Jig (track 13). The dances are carefully chosen to gradualy introduce the various standard figures of partner dancing. Feder Mikkel, for example, has a figure called "peeling the banan" which is a simple form of the cast-off. Virginia Reel combines elements which can be first introduced in Haymakers Jig and Strip the Willow. Some of the dances are visually interesting for when a performance item is required, such as Les Saluts which changes from two to one circles as if by magic, also Feder Mikkel, Noble Duke of York, Virginia Reel, and Haymakers Jig. Partner dances are easy to combine in sequences too, eg using coloured T shirts or ribbons on elastic around the wrists to create colour coding which looks interesting as the patterns change. I find the social aspect of partner dances is valuable for team building, as children work with and get to know children they might not otherwise play with. There are mixer dances suitable for any level in the collection. Grade four enjoyed the challenge of the moving on in the right direction in Lancaster Barn Dance Mixer. I did Littles to the Centre even with my Grade Ones, and Grade three loved it - they always ask for it. They really enjoyed the element of chance with finding a new partner, and I discoverd that they actually wanted me to tell them "The girls and boys have to have to dance with each other, choose the closest person to you". After dancing to the CD several times anther week we accompanied our dancing by singing the words. The recorder esemble then learned to play it in three parts, while the rest of the class played chime bars (two chords) and rhythmic percussion.

Folk Dance in Education

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