Driving To Iowa; Waltzing To Iowa

I popped Greg Brown into my car's tape player and got on the Interstate to head to Iowa.

Greg Brown was appropriate music for my trip because one of his songs has become an anthem for the state of Iowa:

               Home in the midst of the corn, 

               The middle of the U.S.A. 

               Here's where I was born, 

               And here's where I'm goin' to stay. 

That was the first verse; then Greg sang the chorus: 

              Iowa, Iowa, 

              Winter, spring, summer, and fall. 

              Come and see, come dance with me, 

              To the beautiful Iowa Waltz.

I had written a few Scottish country dances, and when I heard Greg Brown sing "come dance with me", I knew I had to compose another one: a dance in waltz time celebrating Iowa.  The dance took form in my head while I was driving.

When I arrived at my friend's house in Ames, Iowa, I rang the doorbell, entered, pointed to the living room, and asked her to try out the dance with me.  She polished some rough edges, and I wrote the dance down.

The Central Iowa Scottish Country Dancers like my dance.  So much so that they always make it the opening dance on the program for their annual ball.

            We take care of our own; take care of our young, 

            Make hay while the sun shines. 

            Growing our crops, singing our songs, 

            And planting until harvest time.

My dance is called Waltzing To Iowa, and I never expected it to be popular outside the borders of Iowa.  Then an Iowa dancer took my dance to Australia, and said that the dancers Down Under really liked it.

I am not sure how the dance started to spread after that. 

An email showed up in my inbox from someone I did not know.  It was a woman in New Mexico, and she had a question about my dance.  How did somebody in New Mexico know about Waltzing To Iowa?  It is on YouTube.

On YouTube?  Waltzing To Iowa is on YouTube?  I logged on and watched a group of young people in Erie, Pennsylvania, dance it.  Oh, no!  They got the dance wrong; their version had an awkward turn in it.  

Then I found another YouTube video.  This time it was Palo Alto, California.  They must have been inspired by the dancers in Erie, because they had an awkward turn; California got the dance wrong.

A third video showed another group of dancers who got the dance wrong.

I quickly emailed the woman in New Mexico the real instructions for Waltzing To Iowa, in hopes that New Mexico would get the dance right.

My dance has gone viral, but it has gone viral with an error in it.  How will I ever get it back?  

The Internet also told me that it has been danced in Cambridge, England, in November 2012, and my heart sank.  There was no YouTube video, but I can only assume that the viral version crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and Great Britain got the dance wrong.

I will see what I can do about damage control, but I am afraid that Waltzing To Iowa has waltzed off on its own.

- . - .- . - . - . 

Greg Brown's song, The Iowa Waltz, sung as a nice duet (3 minutes): 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgNy9IwwY2Y

My dance, Waltzing To Iowa, on YouTube, with an awkward turn (4 minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idxzI7FhZR0

- . - .- . - . - . 

HERE ARE THE CORRECT DANCE INSTRUCTIONS:

WALTZING TO IOWA

A 32-bar Waltz for couples in a circle.

Couples facing center of circle, nearer hands joined.

  1 -  4    Waltz towards center of circle with nearer hands joined for two bars and retire for two bars.

  5 -  8    Turn toward partner to face out of the circle and waltz away from center with nearer hands joined for two bars and retire for two bars.  Finish facing partner.

  9 - 12   Gypsy with partner, dancing around each other back to place, keeping eye contact but no hands joined.

13 - 16   Right hand turn with partner.

17 - 18   Retaining right hands with partner, link left hands with neighbor to form a large circle with men facing in and women facing out; everyone balances right and left.

19 - 20   Change places with neighbor using the left hand.

21 - 22   Retaining left hands with neighbor, link right hands with new person to form a large circle with men facing out and women facing in; everyone balances right and left.

23 - 24   Turn neighbor with left hand halfway.  Finish facing partner.

25 - 28   Dance back-to-back with partner.

29 - 32   Pass partner by the right shoulder; turn new partner with two hands to face center of circle, nearer hands joined.

   

Dance written by Doug Schneider in 1993.

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com

As Cedar Falls, So Falls Waterloo

I received an email from Iain Boyd, who lives in New Zealand. 

I had written a Scottish country dance and posted it on the Internet.  Iain had seen the dance, liked it, and wanted to teach it in his dance class.  However, he was sure that his fellow New Zealanders would appreciate an explanation of the dance title.

The dance was written for Lee and Karen Potter, who were celebrating their first anniversary by unveiling a new dance floor they had installed in their house on the banks of the Cedar River in Cedar Falls, Iowa. 

The dance title: “As Cedar Falls, So Falls Waterloo”.

Explaining my title to a New Zealander seemed formidable, but I gave it a try:

DEAR IAIN:

In the USA in the 1930's, it was believed that whatever political party won the state elections in the state of Maine would be the party that won the Presidential elections the same year. Someone came up with the saying "As Maine goes, so goes the nation."

So, the structure “as goes, so goes” indicates a bellwether condition.  The state elections in Maine no longer predict the national elections, but the saying has proved a productive one for American journalists and for headlines.

Looking on the Internet, I see:

     As Alcoa goes, so goes the U.S. recovery
     As China goes, so goes the world
     As Jed Lowrie goes, so goes the Boston Red Sox
     As Verizon goes, so goes metered billing

Using the “as goes, so goes” structure, the dance title contains a pun.  Lee and Karen Potter live in Cedar Falls.  Falls is really a noun, but when you put it in the structure, it becomes a verb.

The dance title also contains a tease.  In the USA, we have numerous instances of cities in the United States that are so close to another city that they get hyphenated. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Fargo-Moorhead, Cedar Falls-Waterloo.

Typically, the people who live in the first of the hyphenated cities do not want to be associated with the people who live in the second hyphenated city. And vice versa.

So, I was teasing Lee and Karen by putting Waterloo in the title of the dance.

Sorry, Iain, it takes much longer to explain the title of the dance than to teach it...

 

SINCERELY YOURS,

Doug Schneider

PS: the dance instructions are on the Internet at http://blog.lib.umn.edu/ldfs/8x32/2010/09/250273.html

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com