Post class review...
I definitely had a good time but...
Having even one more player would be nice... I'll be talking to they guy's in the band to see if someone... ANYONE can make it next week...
In reference to Bubudi's good advice...
Yes, starting from parts was key, especially during the warmup where the energy level was lower, but increasing. The philosophy of "play the part till it varies itself" was very handy.
While this was my first West-African dance class, I did accompany a modern dance class for over a year and a half. And I've worked with dancers many times before in different settings. So, much of the pacing and "subservience" to the dance was pretty automatic. However...
I walked into a dance that they had been working on for a while, so no opportunity to fit the techniques to the dance while they were working on it... it was 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 GO! There was some agreement to language, she called the dance "soli" and the first few dance steps matched the traditional solo that I know. However some of the dance steps had strange count lengths that didn't quite make sense. It took a few runs to get the right modification to match the changeups.
Fortunately I only left them hanging in a chauffage once (I really thought there was one more step... really!) Otherwise I was able to match the flow pretty well.
My biggest "take away" for soloing without accompaniment in this setting...
Solo techniques that do not end on or point to the down beat are very tricky! More than once I had to cover for leaving out the pulse on some important beats. (where the dununs would have obviously taken over; sounds great when they are there, not so much when they are not.) It forced me to be a lot "busier" than I would have normally liked. Lots of fill-in touches, extra bases on the pulse and what not.
Another thing that I knew from experience that worked nicely. Stay away from up beat chauf. until near the end of the routine (obvious in the musical pacing, but might not be obvious to all) let the dancers get into the pulse for a while before you mess with it. But by the end, a nice TSS with occasional rolls will make them really happy!
I do not have enough experience with dancers to know how "traditional" the dance was, however I did get the impression that this was more ballet style than traditional. Mostly from talking with the teacher and with one dance that she taught with recorded accompaniment (sounded like soboninkun, but she spelled it differently and her pronunciation was different as well... just slightly) the recording sounded like a 4/4 version of S. but without the swing and less upbeat oriented.
Anyway, in the end I had a great time and made a great contact with a dancer. Hope to work with her more in the future. Thanks for listening.
C