We received 204 votes in 25 responses to our second micro-survey, your favourite bush dances. This survey is now closed, so these are the final results.
The 204 votes were spread over a surprisingly diverse range of dances, and even counting dances was a bit difficult. For example various versions of the Pride of Erin were nominated, progressive, "all different prides of erin", Irish etc. As well as showing the variants, I added a total of all Pride of Erin responses, and this category came out as the front-runner by a nose, with 10 votes. The Maxina came in second with 9 votes followed by Australian Ladies on 7 and then in alphabetical order on 6 votes:
Arkansas Traveller
Gypsy Tap
Lancers, The
Posties Jig
But the voting was close and the main message is that we have a fantastic diversity of bush dancers and their favourite bush dances, and that is a great thing. The bush dancing scene has certainly come a long way since the 1970's.
The questions were:
Q1. Please list your favourite bush dances in order, maximum 10 dances.
Q2. Please indicate your bush dancing experience level as you see it:
A) Beginner
B) Intermediate
C) Experienced
D) Retired (Experienced but for whatever reason, no longer an active bush dancer)
E) Other (please describe)
The responses in full are shown as favourites{experience}, with numbering and [our comments] added:
Q1 {Q2}
1. 1)Less boisterous gallops and such, 2) less couples dances.{A}
2. Australian dances such as 1)Alberts and 2)Lancers3) Dances that aren't couples such three facing three because there aren't enough men{B}
3. 1)Merrilyn 2)Evening Three-Step 3)Virginia Reel 4)Australian Ladies 5)Borrodale Express 6)Numeralla Jig 7)Dashing White Sergeant 8)Gossamer 9)The Drongo 10)any other dances that need an odd number of dancers{B/C}
4. 1)any couples dances 2)any waltzes 3)Postie's Jig 4)Arkansas Traveller{xperienced}
5. 1)all different prides of erin 2)more quadrilles, 3)federation reel, 4)federation waltz, 5)thrushes nest, 6)pam gainsford delight, 7)ithica polka, 8)polka quadrille{experienced}
6. 1) Arkansas Traveller 2) Levi Jackson Rag 3) Eightsome Reel 4) Sweets of May 5) Tivoli Galop Quadrille 6) Pride of Erin 7) Maxina 8) Parma Waltz 9) Gypsy Tap 10) New Parliament House Jig {C}
7. 1, Posties's jig 2. Arkansas Traveller 3. Frangapani Waltz 4. Silver City Reel 5. Federation Waltz 6. Varosvienna 7. Princess Polka 8. Tivoli Gallop Quadrile 9. Dashing White Sargeant{c}
8. 1)Parma Waltz, 2)Gates Of Moye, 3)Australian Ladies, 4)Numerall Jog, 5)Evening 3 step, 6)Gypsy tap 7)Buffalo Gals, 8)Queen of Sheba, 9)Swing Waltz, 10)Maxina{C}
9. 1)Alberts 2)Australian ladies 3)Blackwattle Reel 4)Blaydon Races 5)Contra dances (any) 6)Country Bumpkin 7)Eightsome Reel 8)Gay Gordons{C}
10. 1) Posties Jig 2) Eightsome Reel 3) Love 'Em & Leave 'Em 4) Frangipani Waltz, 5) Sweets of May, 6) Lancers 7) Dashing White Sergeant, 8) Levi Jackson Rag, 9) Merry Widow Waltz, 10) Gypsy Tap. {C}
11. Real bush dances the Bushwhackers do e.g. 1)Opera Reel 2)Smith St Shuffle (Zorba) 3)Flying Pieman 4)Waves of Bondi 5)Drongo 6)The Backstep 7)Madmans Woodpile 8)Ned's Last Dance 9)Stockyards 10)Kangaroo Hop{D}
12. 1)Levi Jackson's Rag 2)Love 'em & leave 'em 3)Stour County Quadrille 4)Waltz Country Dance 5)Virginia Reel 6)Turn of the Tide 7)Marching through Georgia 8)Swing Waltz 9)Gates of Moy 10)Barn Dance{Dancer looking for some variety}
13. 1)Highland scottische, 2)Gypsy tap, 3)Palmer waltzx, 4)Palais glide, 5)Moonlight saunter, 6)Prid of Erin progressive, 7)Eightsome reel, 8)Valetta, 9)Charmaine, 10)La bomba These are dances they did in the bush near Rochester when I was younger and they still do them. Theres lots more but that’s 10. They are done the country way, not the ballroom way for competition.{E (still active but not very much bush dancing because it's not really bush dancing it's mostly colonial.}
14. 1)waterfall waltz 2)Margaret waltz 3)The Lancers 4)Soldiers joy 5)Pride of Erin 6)Three Sea Captains 7)Maxina 8)Virginia Reel/Marching through Georgia (? includes strip willow?){C}
15. 1)Australian Ladies 2)New Parliament House Jig 3)Love 'Em and Leave 'Em 4)Arkansas Traveller 5)Southern Cross 6)T.A.G. 7)CHOGM Pentrille 8)Posties Jig 9)Armstrong's Waltz{C - Experienced}
16. 1)Posties, 2)Love em and leave em, 3)Levi Jackson, 4)Waves of tory, 5)Waterfall waltz, Some Lucy Stockdale dances, 7)Sydney bushies,8)Pride of erin progressive, 9)gay gordons,10)Lancers.{C}
17. 1)The Lancers 2)Marie's Wedding 3)Australian Ladies 4)Banner Waltz 5)Queen of Sheba 6)Love em & Leave em 7)Waltz Cotillion 8)Symmetrical Force 9)Levi Jackson Rag{Intermediate}
18. 1)Swing wWaltz 2)Maxina 3)Pride of Erin (Northern Ireland version) 4)Heilan' Man's Umbrella 5)Waterfall Waltz 6)Queen of Sheba 7)Australian Ladies 8)Mairie's Wedding 9)New Parliamnen House jig 1)Banner Waltz{B}
19. 1)Gates of Moy 2)Australian Ladies 3)Eightsome reel 4)Buffalo Gals 5)Charmaine 6)Virginia Reel 7)Numerella Jig 8)Lloyd Melhuishs Birthday Dance 9)John Carolls dance about building a roof 10)Other dances by members - there are lots{C}
20. 1)Swing Waltz 2)Pride of Erin 3)Valette Waltz 4)Gypsy Tap 5)Maxina{B}
21. 1)Pride of Erin 2)Waltz Cotillion 3)Maxina 4)Seige of Ennis{D}
22. 1)royal irish quadrille 2)maxina 3)victory waltz 4)irish pride of erin 5)varsovianna 6)lancers 7)king geo square 8)federation waltz 9)queen of sheba{experienced}
23. 1)Swing Waltz 2)Margaret's Waltz 3)Postie's Jig 4)Victory Waltz 5)Soldier's Joy 6)Maxina 7)Pride of Erin 8)Circle Waltz 9)Waterfall Waltz 10)Arkansas Traveller{Intermediate}
24. 1)Numeralla Jig 2)Dashing White Sergeant{c}
25. 1) Barn dance, 2Maxina, 3)Gypsy tap, 4)Circassian circle. 5)Any slow, simple dance with the exception of the birthday candle one.{}
Summary of Responses:
COUNT
10 Pride of Erin [Total]
9 Maxina
7 Australian Ladies
6 Arkansas Traveller
6 Gypsy Tap
6 Lancers, The
6 Posties Jig
5 Eightsome Reel
5 Levi Jackson Rag
5 Pride of Erin
5 Swing Waltz
4 Dashing White Sergeant
4 Love 'em & Leave 'em
4 Numeralla Jig
4 Queen of Sheba
4 Virginia Reel
4 Waterfall Waltz
3 Federation Waltz
3 Gates of Moy
3 Gay Gordons / Madmans Woodpile
3 New Parliament House Jig
3 Parma Waltz
2 Alberts, The
2 Banner Waltz
2 Barn Dance
2 Buffalo Gals
2 Charmaine
2 Drongo, The
2 Evening Three-Step
2 Frangipani Waltz
2 Margaret's Waltz
2 Marie's Wedding
2 Odd-number Dances
2 Pride of Erin Progressive
2 Soldier's Joy
2 Sweets of May
2 Tivoli Galop Quadrille
2 Valetta Waltz
2 Varsovienna
2 Victory Waltz
2 Waltz Cotillion
2 Waves of Tory / Bondi
1 Armstrong's Waltz
1 Black Wattle Reel
1 Blaydon Races
1 Borrodale Express
1 CHOGM Pentrille
1 Circle Waltz
1 Contra Dances (any)
1 Country Bumpkin
1 Couples Dances
1 Federation Reel
1 Flying Pieman
1 Galopede / Backstep, The
1 Gossamer
1 Heilan' Man's Umbrella
1 Highland Scottische
1 Ithica Polka
1 Kangaroo Hop
1 King George Square
1 La Bomba
1 Lloyd Melhuishs Birthday Dance
1 Marching Through Georgia
1 Member-written dances
1 Merrilyn
1 Merry Widow Waltz
1 Moonlight Saunter
1 Ned's Last Dance
1 Oxo Reel / Opera Reel
1 Palais Glide
1 Pam Gainsford's Delight
1 Polka Quadrille
1 Pride of Erin, Irish
1 Pride of Erin, N.Ireland
1 Prides of Erin, all diff
1 Princess Polka
1 Quadrilles
1 Raising the Roof
1 Royal Irish Quadrille
1 Seige of Ennis
1 Silver City Reel
1 Slow, Simple
1 Smith St Shuffle (Zorba)
1 Southern Cross
1 Stockyards
1 Stour County Quadrille
1 Sydney Bushies
1 Symmetrical Force
1 T.A.G.
1 Three Sea Captains
1 Thrushes Nest
1 Turn of the Tide
1 Waltz Country Dance
1 Waltzes
1 Circassian Circle
LESS
1 Gallops, boisterous
1 Couples Dances
204 TOTAL VOTES
[Updated 18 April 2011 LC]
