DRAFT: Last Revised on February 25, 2018 © Teachers' Association (Canada) Index of John Drewry's Dances
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Index of John Drewry's Dances DRAFT: Last Revised on February 25, 2018 © Teachers' Association (Canada) Index of John Drewry's Dances FORWARD John Drewry was born on the 14th of July 1923 in Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. Sadly, he died on the 18th of June 2014 in Aberdeen. He was 90 years old. John's legacy includes a collection of dances that number more than 800, which he bequeathed the copyright to Teachers' Association (Canada) (hereafter referred to as TAC). TAC's first action has been to create a comprehensive list of all dances written by John Drewry. Our second action will be to prepare, for sale, all of the dances in digital format. As you can imagine, this is a huge undertaking with more than 800 dances on the list, so it will take some time. Our aim is have each dance available individually, as part of a collection of dances from a particular source, and finally, as the complete collection. A project of this size and scope does not happen at the hands of only one person. The TAC executive would like to thank everyone who has had a hand in organizing, printing, cross checking, providing missing copies of dances, and of course, all of the typing. We would especially like to thank Barbara Johnston, Fiona Miller, Mary Murray, Ron Wallace and Vicky Zeltins for their work on this project so far. There will be many more opportunities for more people to get involved as time goes by and requests will go out by email or through TACTalk at the appropriate time. Sincerely, Sharon Barker And now, a few words from John Drewry himself: How I Started Devising Scottish Country Dances It all began with Flora (No, not Marge!). Flora was a member of our Dancing Class who had elastic legs which stretched remarkably when pulled ever so gently. Flora was not actually her name - just another leg-pull - and its use occasioned loud shouts of "You know that is not my name!". Ian, who had christened her "Flora", suspected that she secretly enjoyed the attention and quoted Queen Gertrude - "The lady doth protest too much, methinks". "But to our tale:-" it was decided that we should make up a dance for Flora - just another leg-pull. After several attempts by various people, my reel was chosen; it was taught, without a name, to the class by Liz our teacher, who then, at the end, announced that we had just danced "Flora's Rant". The results can be imagined! That dance has faded into history - I no longer even remember how it went - but the seed had been sown and started to grow. Dances began to appear. For some reason, which I cannot myself explain, I seem to have the ability to imagine new movements in dances. This may be related to a facility for geometry which I had at school often getting 100% marks in exams. Page 2 of 40 Index of John Drewry's Dances The first dance of any lasting value I devised was "A Trip to Tobermory" - a 24-bar strathspey - which I had printed on a leaflet. Liz took copies to St. Andrews (I had not advanced that far in those days) and gave one to Miss Milligan. A year or so later, this dance appeared on Younger Hall programmes at the Summer School and I felt that I had arrived! In the meantime I had become a member of the Carlisle and Border Branch and, when I had produced a set of reasonably interesting dances, friends in the Branch organised a session to try them out. They were so enthusiastic that they encouraged me to produce a booklet of the best of the dances and the "Bon Accord Book" was the result. The first copies were duplicated by stencil (not printed) and I painted a design of a white rose and heather on pale blue card for the first hundred covers. Sometimes ideas came to me with remarkable speed - for example:- "The Bonnie Lass of Bon Accord" was devised in about ten minutes while listening to a Jimmy Blair recording of the music. (the recording had no initial chord - hence the 8-bar introduction to the dance). The dance "Bratach Bana" was inspired by listening to the tune on the radio while I was camping on the shores of Loch Sunart near Strontian - I walked it through alone on the smooth sand. Occasionally I have woken up in the middle of the night with a complete dance in my head - this has happened spontaneously without my intending to make up a dance before going to sleep. Very soon after I started devising dances, I met Hugh Foss who gave me tremendous encouragement. He supplied me with blank sheets and Lettraset stencils for setting out the music for the Bon Accord Book. This was a slow procedure - I think it took about twelve hours to prepare each tune. The dance "Bon Accord" was devised in imitation of a Foss "fugue". It needed special music because it began with two twelve-bar phrases. Miss Winnie Carnie of Glasgow was kind enough to compose two tunes for the dance and the second had a quotation from "The Bonnie Lass of Bon Accord" in it. Miss Allie Anderson took a liking to the dance and it was included in the programme for "An Edinburgh Fancy" in 1966 ("A Trip to Tobermory" was also in the same programme). Since then, The programmes for "An Edinburgh Fancy" have almost all contained at least one of my dances, which I take as a great compliment. I moved to Aberdeen in 1965 and the "Drewry" collection has grown and grown until it now numbers over four hundred dances. Many of them have been devised to satisfy requests and others for me to take with me when I have been invited to teach in far away places. (I do not always feel able to respond to some requests, like the one from a lassie who wanted a dance to show her boy-friend how much she loved him). From the humble beginnings of "Flora's Rant" in Cumberland, the dances have spread over the whole of the Scottish Country Dancing world and have resulted in my visiting many interesting places and forming many good and lasting friendships. Page 3 of 40 Index of John Drewry's Dances Codes (Abbreviations) Used for Book Sources Code Book Title Published By Year 2003 New Dances by John Drewry 2003 John Drewry 2003 2004 New Dances by John Drewry 2004 John Drewry 2004 2005 New Dances by John Drewry 2005 John Drewry 2005 20ND 20 New Dances by John Drewry 1999-2000 John Drewry 2000 2DWM Two Dances with Music Bradford Reel Club 7PL2 A Book of Seven (Plus Two) Paul Bond 9 for 90 RSCDS Aberdeen Branch 90th AB90 Anniversary RSCDS Aberdeen Branch 2015 ABCL An Aberdeen Collection RSCDS Aberdeen Branch 2000 AU83 Autumn Collection 1983 John Drewry 1983 AU84 Autumn Collection 1984 John Drewry 1984 AU86 Autumn Collection 1986 John Drewry 1986 AUSB The Australian Book John Drewry 1995 BFDL Bradford Leaflet BK23 Book 23 Royal Scottish Country Dance Society BK31 Book 31 Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 1983 BK33 Book 33 Royal Scottish Country Dance Society BK35 Book 35 Royal Scottish Country Dance Society BK38 Book 38 Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 1994 BK42 Book 42 Royal Scottish Country Dance Society BK43 Book 43 Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 2003 BKLO Leaflet Dances 1964-1998 and Other Dances Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 2014 BKLT Leaflet Dances With Music Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 2001 BNK1 The Bankhead Book Part 1 John Drewry 1992 BNK2 The Bankhead Book Part 2 John Drewry 1992 BNK3 The Bankhead Book Part 3 John Drewry 1993 BNK4 The Bankhead Book Part 4 John Drewry 1994 BNK5 The Bankhead Book Part 5 John Drewry 1995 BNK6 The Bankhead Book Part 6 John Drewry The Bon Accord Book of Scottish Country BONA Dances John Drewry 1968 BROD The Brodie Book John Drewry 1994 BRUN New Brunswick Collection Fredricton SCD Group 1984 Scottish Country Dances Books 19 to 24 CB19 (Combined A5 edition) Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 2012 Scottish Country Dances Books 31 to 38 CB31 (Combined A5 edition) Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 2017 CHBL Cherry Blossom Book John Drewry 1998 RSCDS Saint John (Newfoundland) CIRC All Around the Circle Branch Page 4 of 40 Index of John Drewry's Dances Codes (Abbreviations) Used for Book Sources Code Book Title Published By Year CNDN The Canadian Book of Scottish Country Dances John Drewry/RSCDS Toronto Branch 1977 A Guide to Scottish Country Dancing (ex- Collins)/Collins Pocket Reference: Scottish Country Dancing/Collins Little Books: Scottish Royal Scottish Country Dance COLL Dance Society/HarperCollins 1996 CROY Croydon & District 1989 RSCDS Croydon & District Branch 1989 The Deeside Book of Scottish Country Dances DEE1 Part 1 John Drewry 1981 The Deeside Book of Scottish Country Dances DEE2 Part 2 John Drewry 1981 DGFT Dancing Forth Too RSCDS Edinburgh Branch DMDD Diamond Jubilee 1925-1985 RSCDS Dundee Branch DONS The Donside Book of Scottish Country Dances John Drewry 1990 David Rorie Society Song, Dance and Fiddle DROR Music David Rorie Society 1985 EDIN Edinburgh Fancy Leaflet GLEN Gleneagles Gold Collection Simon Scott 2013 GRB2 The Greenburn Book Volume II John Drewry 2000 GRB3 The Greenburn Book 3 John Drewry 2000 GRBN The Greenburn Book John Drewry 1998 HAML Hamilton Silver Anniversary Collection RSCDS Hamilton (Ont.) Branch HCV1 Highlander Collection Vol 1 Highlander Music 2008 INVC Inverclyde Foursome RSCDS West Renfrewshire Assoc.