The Green Light – English Country Dance
This is a longways English country dance called The Green Light. The tune is Evergreen, by Jon Berger, who kindly asked me if I was interested in writing a dance to his tune. (Thanks for thinking of me, Jon!) Both the tune and the dance are written in honor of Sharon Green: Caller, teacher, choreographer, organizer, and dancer of English country dance and other forms who has done a tremendous amount to promote dancing in and across communities around the world. The dance premiered at the CDSS Lifetime Contribution Award in Sharon’s honor, on April 28, 2024. I’m honored to have written this dance for my friend Sharon.
It’s so lovely to find friends who support you and respect what you do. I consider myself lucky to discover more people who seem to admire what I’m doing with my dances, and who encourage me to do more. It’s an honor! One such person has even been sending me tunes to work with. Jon Berger and Kalia Kliban have both been so supportive of my choreography, and Jon has already sent me at least three tunes he thought I might like to work with. The first was Steppy Downs, which I loved. The second is this one.
In late February 2024, Jon reached out to me and asked if I knew Sharon Green. Of course I do, I said. Not only does everyone in ECD know her, she’s been a friend and supporter since I was in my 20s at least. She also hired me to teach clogging at the True Brit dance weekend she ran in 1992. Anyway, Jon said that he had a tune that he wrote for Sharon and her husband David Green, after David’s passing in 2022, and wondered if I’d like to write a dance to it. He named it Evergreen, after Sharon, David, and Michael Siemon’s Greenery. Jon also said there’s a chance it could be taught at the Lifetime Contribution Award celebration they were planning for Sharon. Of course I jumped at the opportunity.
The dance took some time and revision to come together — including scratching my original idea completely and starting over again, doing more research on Sharon so I could better capture what I wanted the dance to say. The beauty of having a deadline, of course, is that I was forced to pull the dance together quicker, and I’m so grateful for my dance community for letting me add quick testing sessions after dances and during breaks, so that I didn’t have to wait for the next Dance Kitchen. I think they enjoyed comparing the different versions and seeing how the dance slowly came together. It was fun!
I did in fact debut the dance at Sharon’s wonderful LCA Celebration in Albany, CA, in the end of April 2024. I also made a fancy version of the instructions — with a beautiful title designed by Alex Bradley — and gave it to Sharon. She seemed overwhelmed and was of course the center of attention so I didn’t have much time to talk with her, though I did get one dance with her (for another dance, not mine). I think she was pleased. The dance has actually changed slightly since that debut, with a different figure in B 7-8. The rest is the same.
Oh, and the title changed! I had called the dance Evergreen because of the name of the tune, obviously, and because it’s a perfect title, but it was brought to my attention that there was already a dance by that name by my friend Orly Krasner — Again! You may recall I had the same problem with The Artful Dodsons. Ugh, titles are so hard! Alex and I brainstormed a bit and came up with The Green Light, which I think is pretty nice for Sharon, who shines her brightness and positivity on all of us, allowing and encouraging us to move forward. (I hope that’s not too corny.) 🙂
Thanks so much to Kalia, who organized the LCA event and invited me to participate, and of course to Jon for sharing his tune. Huge thanks to both of them also for their support. I’m so grateful.
Fancy titles by Alex Bradley.
The Green Light
An English Country Dance by Renée Camus
© April 12, 2024
Tune: Evergreen, by Jon Berger, 2022
Duple-minor longways
Easy-Intermediate
AB (8,9)
B-flat
4/4 (four steps per measure) (quarter = ~92)
| A | 1 | Partners “Two Cousins” siding: Partners begin swirly siding with L-shoulder, then curve in to meet R-shoulder to R-shoulder, taking hands low. |
| 2 | Partners set toward each other and away (stay close). | |
| 3-4 | Partners R-hand turn (low and close) 3/4 to change sides, then turn single left to the sideline (end in each other’s place, facing neighbor). | |
| 5-8 | Neighbors repeat: “Two Cousins” siding (starting L-shoulder), set toward each other and away, R-hand turn 3/4, and turn single L to end in each other’s place, facing in (all end progressed and crossed over). | |
| B | 1-2 | Partners back to back (R-shoulder), ending in one long wavy line down the center of the set (partner in L-hand, corner in R-hand). |
| 3-4 | Set forward and back (bar 3), then partners trade places, ending in a line of 4 facing up (bar 4). | |
| 5-6 | Line of 4 lead up a double and back, bending the line. | |
| 7-8 | Circle L once round, then… | |
| 9 | Turn single L. |
Teaching Notes:
- A 4: Dancers starting as 1st corners turn 11⁄4 to face neighbor (in A 5), while dancers starting as 2nd corners only turn 1⁄4 to face neighbor.
- B 3-4: From the wavy line, 1s L-hand turn halfway to change places and face up in the center WHILE 2s pull by L-hand to change places across the set, looping onto the end of the line of 4.
See more of my English country dance choreographies.