Dance A Trip to Bavaria 6712

The dance has been dated 1960 by an original handwritten copy of this dance by James MacGregor-Brown owned by Stephen Webb.

It should perhaps be added that the title of this dance was originally “Eine Reise nach Bayern”.

There is quite some discussion on details. Do 3c and 4c face up from bar 17 or only when they start setting? Does 1c switch sides RH or BH on bar 30? There were over 280 posts on “strathspey” Mailing List from the mid-1990s to recently. The deviser’s original says “face across till you start setting” and “RH”, but many local traditions keep to “face up from bar 17” and “BH”.

In a Strathspey “Q&A” from 2011 (see the URL below) the deviser says:

You asked me about a leaflet copy of A Trip to Bavaria. I could not refer you to one, as I have never published it in anything other than the Collins book and the companion video, in which, as I believe I may have mentioned, it is danced to the original tune; that is to say, mine. However, I’m delighted that the group [i.e. TACBooks], to whose site you referred me, makes it available to others who may enjoy the dance. Their leaflet does, as you point out, call for a two-handed turn.

Just a word on that:

Being, as they call it, “a full certificate teacher”, when “grooming” dancers for theatrical presentations, I use my original deft almost surreptitious one, i.e., RIGHT hand turn. Ideally the turn should be tight and fully effected, in the middle of the set, so that the impression is given to the audience, of a preferably unnoticed “correction“ of side, for couple number one.

HOWEVER…

This nicety is not called for, when we are dancing just for pleasure and delight – what better reason!? So, as I have already recommended, dancers should dance ‘that bit’ in whatever way they like best.

There is also a discussion on the tune.

The deviser wrote a tune “A Trip to Bavaria / Eine Reise nach Bayern”, but he has not replied to requests (in 2011) for the notes or for a publication where it can be found. The deviser does not approve of the now mostly used tune “The Remmerts of Herford”.

For details see http://qa.strathspey.org/questions/5/whats-the-name-of-the-tune-for-a-trip-to-bavaria

Eric Ferguson, 2012.