News from June 2007

Farewell to Chandi McCracken

Occurred June 02, 2007 (Permalink)

A thirty-two bar strathspey for three couples, with pictures! Written by Darrick Wong for the 100th Annual Portland Rose Festival and premiered June 2nd, 2007.

This dance is written to mark the occasion of Chandi McCracken finishing school in Portland, Oregon and moving back to Minnesota. A quick explanation of the symbolism of the dance: The first 8 bars have the dancers making figure 8s on the dance floor. Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word "prosper"; though Chandi is not Chinese, the author of this dance is, and writes the number 8 just like the track that first couple makes in this figure! The second figure has the first couple dancing beneath arches made by the other two couples in the dance, alluding to the many bridges in Portland along the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. La Barratte was selected for the third figure because Chandi likes it, and he final figure of the dance is colloquially named "hello-goodbye setting", the meaning of which should be fairly self-evident.

Movie Clip of Farewell to Chandi McCracken

Occurred June 13, 2007 (Permalink)

Now posted as a movie thanks to Mrs. Shaylor!

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