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It is hard to find words that are sufficiently complimentary to commend all of you for your dancing and playing yesterday.
Though the audience was predictably small, due to conditons beyond our control, the response from those present and
from a surprising number of far-flung ex Thistles and friends has been very positive indeed.
The choice of costumes was good, making you look cool, though you were anything but, and all of you managed to
surmount your discomfort and focus on the dancing, with excellent results. I am sure that with cooler weather there
would have been a higher level of energy, but mentally you held it all together; the arms were good throughout,
the eye contact was there, the covering, including that between sets, was very good and the music, as ever, our inspiration and delight.
I was pleased with the choreography, overall; there was plenty of variety to hold the attention of the audience and the use of the stage was mostly pretty good.
Thank you all for working so hard and even managing to smile through the heat miasma.
The adjudication set was little short of perfection. All those rehearsals really paid off. They held Red Thistles' reputation high!
Of course the judges found things that could be improved; that is their job and they were amazingly thorough.
Of course we can improve, but that set can now dance a complex medley with confidence and will have learned more than choreography in the process.
They have also discovered what it takes for Red Thistle to be able to produce a complex half hour performance AND an adjudication set;
self motivation and the willingness to put in the necessary rehearsal time, that cannot be found in class.
I hope you will all enjoy watching the videos, and when you have seen them a sufficient number of times for pure enjoyment, watch with your own
critical eye to see if you can find places where your own dancing can be upgraded and perhaps areas for the whole group to work on. I am open to suggestions.
Well done everyone. Cooler weather is coming!
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I thought it would be useful to summarize these whilst i can still remember at least some of them. I was impressed by the judges’ thoroughness and attention to detail, whilst still keeping the big picture in mind. They also paid you the (deserved) compliment of placing you in a very advanced category from which level much is expected.
They were absolutely right that the set for the strathspey was too small. (I had to restrain myself from jumping up and telling you to make it bigger) and that certainly has the effect of making the dance look sluggish. I do not think the music is the problem because I have seen it danced to that music many times when it has looked strong and full of movement.
The set grew considerably for the jig because you absolutely needed the space and it added life and energy to the dancing immediately. Then unfortunately , you shank it down again for “The Thornes ….
and it suffered from looking cramped.
Lesson to ta e away:- Set size matters. be very conscious of it.
This same lack of space probably aided at least some of you who still lack a plie in the strathspey and therefore are not able to produce the beautiful strong, flowing movement it should be.
The judges noted the lack of it!
Men’s posture.
I did point out on Thursday that the ladies tend to make the men look bad because their posture is really good. Men we need to work on that combination “Cocky Scot” & "Military man” feeling.
I was a shame that one or two bad arm movements caught their eye as most of the arms were very good.
They were also right that one couple was a little late bringing the arms into allemande position after the offset ladies' chain. Please watch any videos that are sent out and you will see how these
small imperfections catch the eye. The better the dancing overall, the more the liitle faults show up!
The twist in the upper body for strathspey circles is always a little hard for some people. The group should work on it.
Those were the principal things that I recall. I felt they were quite sincere about their enjoyment of your performance , and given the extreme
HI! I would like to add my thanks to the entire group and to John for the videos!! I thought the country medleys looked especially nice, the music was awesome, and the highland group did a great job. BIG thanks to the ladies who did both country and highland--I was a bit worried for you in the heat, but you came across calm, cool, and collected. Thanks, too, to Bridget and Samantha for doing a fine job with their dances. I see some room for general technique improvement in the group, so we'll be working on that when we come back from break (we'll probably go back to the basics and work on the Fling). We also need to work…