Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Dancing With The Stars, Part II

Our First Pot Luck
on the IOM!

We arrived at the Ceilidh Barn Dance and Pot Luck Supper a bit apprehensive at what we'd find. Could we Ceilidh dance? Would our pot luck offering of store-bought cheese twists pass muster? Taking deep breaths and glancing at each other, Hunt opened the curtain covering the doorway, and we stepped inside. Music and laughter filled the room. So far, so good.

We found one of the people in charge, and I asked where to put our food. She replied with a worried look, "You brought food?" "Isn't this a pot luck?" I replied with an even worried-er look. "No, this is a hot pot." Well, I did get the pot part right at least. And it could have been far worse, like if we'd brought food that couldn't be discretely hidden under a pew. So we discretely hid our cheese twists under a pew and covered them with a coat for good measure, and we didn't mention the war until much later in the evening.

 


Two 
Cowpokes



In the center of the large church happy children ran around wearing cowboy hats and toting pistols and bouncing balloons. It was marvelous. The pews had been pushed aside and were lining the perimeter and filled with adults talking and laughing. Most of the adults were in their 30's but there were older adults, too. Many of them wore western-style shirts and jeans.

 

 


The Calor Gas Band was already playing when we arrived. What shall I say? They were tremendous! They played traditional Manx music, Celtic music, and all kinds of well-known old-time songs ("Smile, Smile, Smile" for example), in their Manx Celtic style.


 
 

The Calor Gas Band

 

  

 

The music stopped, and the caller announced that it was time to form a large circle with the men in the inside facing their partners. When he began teaching what we know in Texas as the "Patta' Cake Polka," I knew we were home free. We could Ceilidh dance--at least at this level. Their version began in slow motion nearly, and it worked up to a breakneck speed with everyone zooming around the circle. Such fun. And we actually danced one dance called "Cumberland Basket," which has a wonderful and exciting "basket" move: 


Since we paired up with an older couple and since Hunt neglected to wear a kilt, we simplified this move thus: Head couples come to center of square, men taking two hands, women taking two hands. All circle running clockwise and screaming, "BASKET!"  

I am surprised this couple joined in on our running and screaming, but they did, and and it was hilarious: part mayhem, part madcap, total fun!

The hot pot meal was mid-evening and was, by definition, a 1-pot affair, this one a beef stew with carrots and potatoes and thick, dark gravy. Delicious, plentiful, and very hot! In addition we had mushy peas (which look like green peas that are mashed into a thick, gruel-like consistency with small, recognizable pieces remaining) which were quite good. Hard rolls and butter. Naturally Hunt broke the rules and sneaked a few cheese twists from under the pew to eat with his hot pot.

Then more dancing. More fun conversations with the residents of Man (including the vicar and his wife who hail from America!) And suddenly our Cinderella evening ended so we gathered our cheese twists and stole away into the night, smiling all the way home.

 

 

2 comments:

  1. Sounds wonderful! We must need to speed up our Patta'cake Polka. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. An excellent idea, Katie! And we could take it one step further and speed up the Virginia Reel and Levi Jackson Rag. We'll separate the goats from the sheep!

    ReplyDelete