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