Steampunk Dances (the Abney Park set)
• Airship Pirates (quadrille)
• Overboard (circle mixer)
• Wanderlust (troika circle mixer)
  
  Other Dances
• Masha Poka! (circle mixer with waltz)

• Airship Pirates (quadrille)
  Music: "Airship Pirate" by Abney Park
  Inspired by nineteenth-century quadrille figures that reminded me of interlocking gears and other machinery.
  
  
• Overboard (circle mixer)
  In memory of Paula Montrie
  Music: "Throw Them Overboard" by Abney Park (requires editing for more repeats)
  This dance was designed to teach to people who don't have any couple dance skills but can be talked through figures. The figures are mostly nineteenth-century-inspired.
  
  
• Wanderlust (troika circle mixer), November 2019
  Music: "Wanderlust" by Abney Park (requires editing for more repeats)
  This dance requires good figure skills (including heys) but no real couple dance experience, though there is a brief (8b) segment of 1910s-style Pomander Walk which requires briefly taking closed ballroom hold. It was written originally for the dancers of Kyiv, Ukraine. The figures are my response to the numerous Russian troika mixers that have as their progression either the gentleman walking forward to the next two ladies or the ladies walking forward to the next gentleman. I wanted a more interesting progression, so I hid it inside some heys!

• Masha Poka! (Bye, Masha!) ~ circle mixer with waltz ~ February 2020
  This is an adaptation of the Welsh circle mixer "Farewell Marian" or "Ffarwel Marian" composed by Gwyn Williams in the 1950s. The original, danced with varying degrees of success, may be seen here and here. Some background and a good description may be found on Colin Hume's website.
  
  Personally, I find "Farewell Marian" unbalanced - the opening section with eight (!!!) sideways slides in the first sixteen bars is rather dull for experienced dancers, but, as can be seen on those videos, the final eight bars of waltz are difficult for beginners. In my adaptation, I've retained the original progression but complicated the first part and shortened the number of consecutive waltz turns required to try to make it work for a wide range of dancers. The opening S-curves were inspired by sixteenth century Italian dances.
  
  I created this in Moscow, so the official name is the Russian version, pronounced "MAH-shuh pah-KAH". "Bye, Masha!" is the direct English translation. The name is a play on the name of the original dance ("Masha" is a Russian nickname for "Maria"), the tendency in Russia for "Masha" to be used as a sort of generic girl's name, and the repeated partner-changes (bye!) in the dance.
  
  Music
  Any slow (~120bpm) waltz with a 32-bar repeat structure; originally danced to "Captain O'Kane's" by The Atomic City Rhythm Rascals off the album The Split Tree Recordings - The Waltzes.
  
  Formation
  A circle of couples facing line of dance; gentlemen stand to the left of their partners and start the dance by putting their backs to the center of the circle and turning slightly to the right
  
  Figures
  4b All ladies leave partners and progress counter-clockwise around the outside of the circle, moving forward two places to second gentleman after partner). Gentlemen don't move.
  4b Taking left hands (high) with this gentleman, make a half-turn to put the ladies in the center; all turn single to the right
  4b All gentlemen progress counter-clockwise around the outside of the circle to their own partners. Ladies don't move.
  4b Taking left hands (high), partners make a half-turn to put the gentlemen in the center; all turn single to the right
  
  4b Taking right hands (high), partners balance forward and back, then make a half-turn (maybe a bit more than half) to bring the ladies to the center and get everyone aimed toward their left diagonal
  4b Taking left hands (high) with the person on their left diagonal, balance forward and back, then make a half-turn, the lady turning under the gentleman's arm, coming into a closed ballroom hold
  4b One complete turn of waltz (2b) followed by two sideways slide-closes (2b)
  4b One complete turn of waltz (2b) followed by the gentleman raising his left arm and the lady turning clockwise under it and curling outward ready to restart the dance
  
  Watch points
  (1) dancers traveling around the outside should pace themselves for a just-in-time arrival at the end of four bars
  (2) remember: no balances on the two left-hand turns in the first section!
  (3) turn single is not a spot-turn; use the six steps and make it a beautiful curved movement
  (4) the circle tends to shrink; don't let the gentlemen back up at the end or there will be no space in the center for the turns single
  
  Special note
  Masha Poka! also works just fine to polka music, becoming Masha Poka Polka! (Sorry, sorry...but it really does work!)

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