How to Salty Dog Rag, Please
Jim Mullany
As a transplanted DC dancer/caller, I have fond memories of dancing the
Salty Dog Rag down in the basement of Concordia Church manys the Friday night,
way back before I knew there were decent dance floors, Becketts formations,
or set bands for dances. Which is by way of saying it was a long time ago.
I'd like to try to teach this dance this weekend at the Santa Fe dance, but
my memory of the second half of the dance is a bit fuzzy.
As I recall the first half involves a neat set of raggy hop steps with partner
in front crossed arm promenade. That I recall. The second half, it seems to me
was just a kind of right arm, overhand balance (kinda like allemande right
position) and then spinning away, clapping hands, and then turning a raggy
right allemande with a hop step.
Is anyone here familiar enough with this dance to let me know if my memory
serves? Any pointers on teaching it?
Thanks for any help anyone can give.
Jim Mullany
Sandia Park, NM
be...@scn.org
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Albert Joy
dance in the basement of the Concordia Church on Friday nights!
Now the salty dog rag goes like this:
1st part -- right behind right hop and left behind left hop
gent holds his lady in a promenade position with the hands in
front. and the step goes: a. step with the right foot, b. put
the left foot behind the right, c. step again with the right foot
and d. hop on the right foot lifting the left so that you can e.
step with the left foot and e. then put the right foot behind
the left and f. step again with the left foot and g. hop on the
left foot. (the result is a sideways movement to the right
followed bye a sideways to the left.
2nd part --- step hop step hop step hop step hop
still holding in the promenade position hands in front move
forward with right foot first step hop, step hop, step hop, step
hop. (this is like a simple version of the second part of a
schottische)
IMPORTANT... at the end of this change hand grip from promenade
to holding inside (right) hands and face each other as though you
were going to pull through as in a right and left through
3rd part -- one two three kick one two three clap
(this is difficult to describe)
holding right hands walk by your partner with a right, left,
right, kick (left foot). Since you've been holding hands and
have passed by each other, your right arms are stretched somewhat
behind you and so you can do the second section which
is....pulling on your arms and letting go to get a snapping
effect turn singly clockwise one turn and clap. This turn will
take you back to the position
you were in when you started this part (the 3rd part). As the
first section was in 4 counts so this section is also
4th and final part -- again step hop, step hop, step hop step hop
This is like the 2nd part however instead of promenade position
this is done holding right hands and going in a circle. end
facing around the hall and in promenade position to begin the
dance again.
Jim I hope this helps. I have such fond memories of friday night
dances in DC and of the dancers there.
As far as teaching it. The secret is the music. YOu really need
a rag time tune.
good luck
Albert Joy
Bristol Vermont
aj...@sage.uvm.edu
Gldancer
>dance in the basement of the Concordia Church on Friday nights!<
Aha! We are coming out of the woodwork! I,too, learned to contra dance at
Concordia Church! I wonder how many of us are on-line? By the way,
thanks for the instructions on Salty Dog Rag - it happens to be one of my
favorite dances.
Gloria "Only the iguana knows for sure"
Jo Rihan
>Is anyone here familiar enough with this dance to let me know if my memory
>serves? Any pointers on teaching it?
lots snipped, before and after
Only one way to teach it, as with many couple dances - demonstrate it
slowly, describe what you are doing if you have to, then start the
music, dance it and hope that people will join in. Obviously the more
people who already know it the better!
Salty Dog Rag was popular over here (the UK) for a while, and I never
saw it taught any other way. Likewise we have a fairly complicated
waltz (Rosa, written by Gorden Potts) which has become popular over
the past 3 or 4 years having been 'taught' by that way.
Cheers
Jo
-------------------------------------------------
ri...@tcp.co.uk
http://www.tcp.co.uk/~rihan
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Leslie K. Hyll
>
>As a transplanted DC dancer/caller, I have fond memories of dancing the
>Salty Dog Rag down in the basement of Concordia Church manys the Friday night,
>way back before I knew there were decent dance floors, Becketts formations,
>or set bands for dances. Which is by way of saying it was a long time ago.
>I'd like to try to teach this dance this weekend at the Santa Fe dance, but
>my memory of the second half of the dance is a bit fuzzy.
>
>As I recall the first half involves a neat set of raggy hop steps with partner
>in front crossed arm promenade. That I recall. The second half, it seems to me
>was just a kind of right arm, overhand balance (kinda like allemande right
>position) and then spinning away, clapping hands, and then turning a raggy
>right allemande with a hop step.
>
>serves? Any pointers on teaching it?
>
When teaching Salty Dog Rag, I always break it down to its most basic
step -- a schottish. The whole dance (ignoring what the hands and arms
are doing, and direction of dance) is just a schottish, as in
1, 2, 3, hop; 1, 2, 3, hop; step-hop, step-hop, step-hop, step-hop.
OR
R, L, R, hop; L, R, L, hop; R-hop, L-hop, R-hop, L-hop.
and it repeats itself the whole dance. So this is what I teach first
without worrying about the pattern of the dance. Once the dancers
understand the basic schottish, and that they can do the steps in a
myriad of directions, then it's time to teach the pattern of SDR.
Part I, grapevines and travel
In promenade postion,
grapevine R (R, L behind, R, hop)
grapevine L (L, R behind, L, hop)
travel forward (4 step-hops)
Repeat Part I
Part II, cross, solo turn, R-hand turn
cross (R, L, R, hop):
keeping LEFT hands joined (drop R hands)
Man moves to his RIGHT, while pulling the lady across (in front of him
such that she ends up facing reverse line of direction inside of the
circle, Man is outside of the circle facing LOD. (*** see my soapbox note
on this below ***)
solo turn (L, R, L, hop):
partners pull toward each other with that joined left hand, drop hands,
and cross back to own side making a full turn over the left shoulder,
woman crossing in front of the man, and on last beat clap and catch right
hands on the other side. (I teach this without the turn first, by having
them crossover back to their own side and change hands. That way they
see where they're supposed to end up.)
R-hand turn (4 step-hops):
right hand turn once around (note that man should be on inside of circle
facing LOD, and woman on outside of circle facing RLOD)
Repeat Part II, but on cross BOTH the man and the woman are moving to
their own Right, changing hands from right hands joined to left hands
joined and changing sides, woman always facing reverse LOD. At end of
R-hand turn, woman turns in to man to go back to promenade position and
begin dance over.
SOAPBOX NOTES:
This dance of course has been a part of the folk process, being modified
and added to over the years for various reasons. I believe it was first
published in the late 40's/early 50's in *Sets In Order* square dance
magazine. I can look for the issue if anyone is interested. If anyone
knows of an earlier publication of this dance, I would like to hear about
it. I have seen many, many variations all over the country.
MORE SOAPBOX NOTES:
With regard to the crossing over in Part II, you will note that I have
the man and woman begin with a cross over. I believe this to be the
original choreography and is what I prefer. However, instead, most
people leave left hands joined and back away from each other, the result
leaves the woman on the outside facing LOD, man on inside facing reverse
LOD. The problem with this is that it leaves the woman on the inside at
the end of the sequence, forcing an extra half-turn that there really
isn't time for to get the woman on the outside and into promenade
position.
So that's my 2-cents worth. The choice is left to the reader as to how
he/she wants to execute the dance.
Leslie
--
Folk Dancing in Dayton, Ohio:
Miami Valley Folk Dancers (International) | Bagatelle (French)
Zivio! (Yugoslav) | Liederkranz Volktanzer (German)
WSU (International Class)
usd4...@interramp.com
included many a dance in Brattleboro VT. Salty Dog Rag was a popular
couples dance along with Gay Gordons, hambo, schottische, waltz etc.
Fond memories of these dances during the regular weekly dances as well as
in the wee hours of dawn dances.
Mary Beth Goodman
Mark Bluemel
<detailed dance notation snipped>
My version is similar - try this to "Shortnin' Bread", taken as a bouncy, not
too fast, hornpipe.
Formation: Couples in a promenade hold, either in a circle, facing anti-clock
or freely around the room
A1: Two sliding steps forward and to the right
(4 bars)Two sliding steps forward and to the left
Four Hop steps forward
A2: Heel-and-Toe Right foot
Heel-and-Toe Left foot
Put feet apart; then together (jumping to do these movements!)
Right forward forward; Right leg crossed over Left
Four Hops steps forward
B1: As Albert's (but I'll put it in in case you miss Alberts)
Face partner, release Left hand
Holding Right hands, take three steps forward, passing Right shoulders
then kick out
Come backwards in to two steps, release hands , turn, jump and clap
Right hand turn in 4 hop steps.
B2: As B1
I (sort of) sing a call for this (to Shortnin' Bread)
Right and Right and Left and Left and
One hop two hop three hop four hop
Right foot, left foot, apart, together, in front, across
One hop two hop three hop four hop
one two three kick, one two turn clap
One hop two hop three hop four hop
one two three kick, one two turn clap
One hop two hop three hop four hop
As Albert says it's hard to describe - I usually demonstrate ...
--
Mark Bluemel Unix/Oracle Trainer and Consultant
My opinions are my own, but I'll share them
All solutions to problems are offered "as is"
and without warranty - you have been warned :-)
Theodore Y. Ts'o
(Mark Bluemel) writes:
>My version is similar - try this to "Shortnin' Bread", taken as a bouncy, not
>too fast, hornpipe.
Just for yuks, here's yet another version of Salty Dog Rag, as it's
currently being done on Sunday Nights at the MIT Folk Dance Club. It's
quite interesting to see the different variations!!
>Formation: Couples in a promenade hold, either in a circle, facing
>anti-clockwise or freely around the room
>
>A1: Two sliding steps forward and to the right
> Two sliding steps forward and to the left
> Four Hop steps forward
>
>A2: Heel-and-Toe Right foot
> Heel-and-Toe Left foot
> Put feet apart; then together (jumping to do these movements!)
> Right forward forward; Right leg crossed over Left
> Four Hops steps forward
>
>B1: As Albert's (but I'll put it in in case you miss Alberts)
> Face partner, release Left hand
> Holding Right hands, take three steps forward, passing Right
> shoulders then kick out
> Come backwards in to two steps, release hands , turn, jump and clap
> Right hand turn in 4 hop steps.
>B2: As B1
The way it's generally done at Sunday night dancing at the MIT FDC, A1
is done twice, then B1 and B2, and then A2 is done twice, and then B1
and B2.
A1 is also slightly different as follows:
beats description
1..4 Moving 45 degrees to the right, step right, together, right, touch
5..8 Moving 45 degrees to the left, step left, together, left, touch
9..16 Zig-zaging 45 degrees alternatively to the right and then to the left,
step right, touch, left, touch, right, touch, left, touch.
By touch I mean bring the right (or left) foot together so it touches
the left (or right) foot, but don't transfer weight onto it, because
you're about to step to the right (or to the left). The steps should be
done smoothly, in almost a gliding fashion.
A2 is also slightly different as well:
beats description
1..2 Touch forward with the right heel (and then bring your foot back)
3..4 Touch forward with the left heel (and then bring your foot back)
5..6 Putting weight on your toes, turn both heels out, then back in.
7..8 Touch with the right heel, then cross the right leg over the left.
9..16 Zig-zaging 45 degrees alternatively to the right and then to the left,
step right, touch, left, touch, right, touch, left, touch.
At the end of B1 and B2, when we do the right hand turn, the left hand
is raised up and shaken during the turn; we also take 4 slow steps
instead of the 4 hop steps.
As others have said, this is a dance which is much easier to teach by
example than to actually explain using words. Perhaps this explains why
there are so many different variations. Although the footwork is
slightly different, the general character of the dance remains the same.
Definitely the folk process at work! I wonder if anyone has traced how
the Salty Dog Rag has evolved over the years, and as it's been
transplanted across various different communities?
- Ted