ARTICLES
index.
OTHER DANCE AND MUSIC PAGES
CIRCLE
DANCE & MUSIC main page.
EVENTS
page for details of local dance groups, dance days, residentials, etc.
LINKS for many other Circle and
Folk Dance and international music sites.
LYRICS to some Circle and International
Folk dances
IRREGULAR RHYTHMS from Eastern Europe,
Armenia, Turkey - an adaptation of my drumming or instrumentalists'
workshop handout, with beat count and names of some dances for a variety
of rhythms for 5/16 to 22/8.
This article first appeared in Grapevine, Summer 1994
DANCE TEACHERS' QUALIFICATIONS - THE POINTS SYSTEM
What qualifies a circle dancer to call themselves a teacher is a matter of ongoing controversy. This paper suggests a way forward. In the long term the solution must be the establishment of a professional body for circle dance teachers, which can control accreditation of training courses and set appropriate standards for assessment. Meanwhile, inclusion in Grapevine Teachers' Listings should no longer be on a self-select basis. Emerging teachers will continue to be eligible for self-select listing, but transition to the full teachers list (to be known as "The Approved List", or just "The List") will be by practical and oral examination by a panel of no less than three and no more than five teachers, each of at least five years experience.
This "group of wise men" - or, rather, "wise women"? - will be elected annually by postal ballot from the current teachers list by the Network (as represented by those whose Grapevine subscriptions are current at the date of the election). Elections will be by single transferable vote, with an option to reject any or all of the candidates. To be allowed to present themselves for examination by the panel, emerging teachers must amass at least 400 points according to the following allotments. Candidates for The List must be able to provide written evidence of their points total where appropriate.
POINTS |
Experience
|
|
1. for each year since running of first group
|
100
|
2.
for each hour's teaching time (it will be necessary to keep an accurate log for this, with signatures of the organiser of each session, or,
if a self-organised session, of the most experienced dancer in the group) |
1
|
Visits to Findhorn |
|
1. completion of Teacher Training Course |
1000 |
2.
attendance on other dance weeks, per week
|
100
|
3.
non-dance weeks, per week
|
50
|
4.
Findhorn residents, flat-rate (on top of points for dance weeks)
|
250
|
Size of repertoire; per dance
|
1
|
variations to dances, each
|
½
|
Size of tape collection; alternative methods of assessment
|
|
1. per tape; C90
|
18
|
C60
|
12
|
(This arguably overvalues longer dances, e.g. 30
minute versions of The Shepherds' Dance, Sandansko Oro, Banish Misfortune,
Frunze, etc.)
|
|
2.
per separate piece of recorded music |
1
|
- exception; each different piece of music for Misir Lou, Winds On The
Tor, and Lesnoto will only be worth
|
½
|
- exception;
each different piece of music for Misir Lou in excess of 15 will receive a deduction of |
5
|
Ability; can do
|
|
The Shepherd's Dance
|
1
|
Ambee Dageets, remaining in line of dance on turns
|
3
|
Chekassia Kfula
|
4
|
Winds On The Tor, including the knee bends
|
10
|
Hora de la Risipiti, per different version
|
15
|
Hora Miresei, without going the wrong way
|
20
|
Ograzdensko Horo
|
25
|
Mombar, with windscreen-wipers
and head movements
|
35
|
Daronee, hands unjoined with full arm movements
|
47
|
Bu?imiš
|
50
|
Horiblesko Horo, full six-part version in 17/8 time, high W-hold with pumping arms, including double back-flip and scissor-kicks; deduction for showing off
|
19
|
Knowledge of traditional cultures; can accurately pronounce and spell Crnogorka, Potrculka, Eench Eemanae, Shoofly and Rose of Raby
|
10
|
Sacred aspects;
|
|
can maintain silence at end of dance for as long as you want without opening eyes to see if everyone else has already
got eyes open and is looking bored or impatient
|
50
|
can accurately pronounce and spell Lughnasadh
|
10
|
Practicalities; always remembering to cover the hole in the centre-cloth caused by vigorous scraping-off of candle wax
|
10
|
Dancing with children; can do this without losing temper
|
55
|
Presented in peas and light by Paul Boizot.
Alternative spellings or transliterations;
Hora Miresei is often incorrectly spelled
Hora Miresii or Hora Miresi
Bu?imiš; Bucimis, buchimish, bucimish, bucimus.
AFTERWORD This article is a little dated
now (October 2008), if only in its reference to playing music from tapes rather than
CDs, mp3's, laptops, etc. Minidiscs have been and perhaps gone again. The principle remains, however, which is to poke fun at the idea of
formalising what was - and is - a very informal network. (Yes, in case
you had not realised, this article is not serious).
Since I wrote it I
have had to get an adult teaching qualification in order to allow me to
continue teaching subjects I had already been teaching for years, and much of
the content did not impress me. I have also had to come to grips with
teaching Circle Dance for the WEA (Workers
Educational Association), and the attendant paperwork - learning
outcomes, enrolment forms a mile long, etc. There are now also other Circle Dance teacher training courses, including one by Judy King which
is spoken highly of. I have myself taken the useful SIFD (Society for
International Folk Dance) teacher training course. But thankfully nobody
is yet seriously proposing that you have to take a course - let alone
one full of intellectual hogwash about learning theories - or get a qualification
in order to be allowed to teach Circle Dance. I hope that
is how things remain!
Page
last updated 17.11.08
BACK
TO TOP
All content on this site COPYRIGHT Paul Boizot 2002-2014 unless otherwise stated, either on the visible
webpage or in HTML.
My address from 30.04.12 is 14 Holly Bank Grove, York YO24 4EA, U.K.
contact me on: 01904 621510
info@paulboizot.co.uk
This website is best viewed at a screen resolution of 800 x 600
pixels - at 640 x 480 everything will look bigger,
at 1024 x 768 you may need a magnifying glass. I have tested
it on Opera 7.11, Netscape 6.2 and Internet Explorer 6. It may
not display properly in older browsers that do not support CSS
(Cascading Style Sheets) - it will lack text formatting,
background colours, etc.