Glad to hear you are going to try the dance Ladydetemps. The theme throughout this thread has been in favour of learning the dance. In my band we have always decided what music we will learn for which dance. We may use a particular set for several different dances but then we play it differently. Everyone in the band must know the dance. That is they must have read and understood the dance. We will have danced it through to the music chosen during practice to see that it fits, (fortunately we have ladies in the band, four or five hairy folk blokes dancing together doesn't bear thinking about. errm morris?) Besides the rhythm there are points to lift dancers, stop them, tell them the end is nigh and a new phrase will be starting. When we work with new callers we ask for a set list and often have to explain why as so many band's attitude is "32 reel governor, certainly" Hornpipes are possibly the easiest to get wrong and it follows that schottishe's are best matched to the particular dance.
