Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 04:28:04 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 13:30:15 +0100 From: Antony Heywood Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Wa' is me To: ECD Mailing List Message-ID: <199801011227.NAA24295-AT- IAEhv.nl> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit There is a dance in the American Purcell Playford book called _Wa' is me, What mun I do!_ which we did during a Christmas Course here in the Netherlands. People asked what the title meant. We *think* it means Woe is me, what must I do but can anyone throw any more light on it please. The source of the dance is given as Playford 1696 and Walsh 1718 and the music is *attributed* to Purcell although as Nicolas Broadbridge does not include it in his very complete collection, I have my doubts about that. The NVS Christmas Course was very successful. The first report can be read on the NVS Website http://www.iae.nl/users/antony/ and the first pictures will appear in about a week - as soon as I can get them scanned. Antony Heywood ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 07:43:19 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 10:43:11 -0500 (EST) From: Will Linden Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Wa' is me To: ECD Mailing List Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Thu, 1 Jan 1998, Antony Heywood wrote: > There is a dance in the American Purcell Playford book called _Wa' is me, > What mun I do!_ which we did during a Christmas Course here in the > Netherlands. People asked what the title meant. We *think* it means Woe is > me, what must I do but can anyone throw any more light on it please. That is (more or less) Scots for "Woe is me, what must I do?" I suspect that, as often, the "title" refers to an original song text for the tune. Will Linden wlinden-AT- panix.com http://www.panix.com/~wlinden/ Magic Code: MAS/GD S++ W++ N+ PWM++ Ds/r+ A-> a++ C+ G- QO++ 666 Y ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 08:31:55 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 11:31:36 -0500 From: mls-AT- panix.com (Michael Siemon) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Wa' is me To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:43 AM 1/1/98, Will Linden wrote: >On Thu, 1 Jan 1998, Antony Heywood wrote: > >> There is a dance in the American Purcell Playford book called _Wa' is me, >> What mun I do!_ which we did during a Christmas Course here in the >> Netherlands. People asked what the title meant. We *think* it means Woe is >> me, what must I do but can anyone throw any more light on it please. > That is (more or less) Scots for "Woe is me, what must I do?" > I suspect that, as often, the "title" refers to an original song text > for the tune. Yes; Christine Helwig says that it is a drinking song, and I believe Kittie Keller noted that it (the text) can be found in _Pills to Purge Melancholy_. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 11:52:25 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 14:50:07 -0500 (EST) From: Capersall Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 97-12-31 15:01:43 EST, JohnBerni-AT- AOL.COM writes: << a Pakistani friend of mine who misquoted Kipling: "Mine not to reason why, Mine but to do and die." >> Or perhaps he was misquoting Tennyson (Charge of the Light Brigade). Art Munisteri ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 18:20:56 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 21:15:38 -0500 From: "Hanny D. Budnick" <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: manners To: Blind.Copy.Receiver-AT- compuserve.com Message-ID: <199801012120_MC2-2DC0-CFA3-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Amen to that, Steve! _-AT- _ {)/' /\ /\_._,<_/ ' \ /_\ /> /< Hanny ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 18:20:58 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 21:15:45 -0500 From: "Hanny D. Budnick" <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: definitions To: Blind.Copy.Receiver-AT- compuserve.com Message-ID: <199801012120_MC2-2DC0-CFA5-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit That's why Goethe supposedly said that 'dance is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire'..... _-AT- _ {)/' /\ /\_._,<_/ ' \ /_\ /> /< Hanny ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 18:21:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 21:15:41 -0500 From: "Hanny D. Budnick" <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Copyrights and using recordings for To: Blind.Copy.Receiver-AT- compuserve.com Message-ID: <199801012120_MC2-2DC0-CFA4-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Alan, I disagree with you about the use of recordings vs. 'live music is always better'. Not all bands - or motley consorts - are doing ECD tunes justice. A rotating group of musicians who need to know the tunes four to six weeks in advance and apparently never rehearse together make for a so-so rendition of what has glorious potential, as proven by any number of recordings. Add to that the need (because of the musicians) to cast in stone the program several weeks ahead, and thereby making no allowances for the seven newcomers that may come on a given night, and you have lost any flexibility to address different layers of experience. An additional thought: there are English country dances which are well known in the international folk dance communities, and recorded tunes are the music of their reality. Knowledge of ECD is limited to the repertoire which has been recorded on vinyl or mylar. No record, no dance. Period. If we insist on 'live music only', there is a possibility - only a possibility, mind you - that misinterpretation of dynamics sets in which only recorded music can prevent/cure. I've seen the 'recorded music only' change to live music by recruitment of musicians and facilitation (including lots of rehearsals with them!) of live music. And this was not limited to the ECD group! There are an increasing number of bands who competently play international dance tunes with just the right flavor. Alas, that's happening at special events, not at your regular weekly dance. I'd trade 'just adequate' live music for a professional recording any day! In the early years - up to the early sixties for sure - there were very few groups who could dance without records. Exceptions were Pinewoods, NYC and Boston and perhaps others. New dancers would never have been able to learn ECD (or even found out about its existence) had it been linked inseparably to live music. It is in our best interest to persuade the good music makers and good ensembles to make recordings which can be danced to by all who are not blessed with their own good house band, or who only occasionally insert an English dance into the international mix, or who want to have a few friends over to the house for some informal dancing. _-AT- _ {)/' /\ /\_._,<_/ ' \ /_\ /> /< Hanny ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 05:37:06 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 08:36:05 -0400 From: "Howard A. Markham" Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34ACDF33.1DA9F81E-AT- mitre.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <0005E1BD.1618-AT- bowne.com> I like the definition, but I wonder whether it is too broad. I'm thinking of the use of sea chanteys and other work songs to synchronize group labor, and the use of fife, drums, bagpipes, brass bands for the marching of military units. Perhaps "artistic or recreational movement to music", if work and military marches are to be excluded. But some may prefer to include them. Martin Fager wrote: > > > > I go for a simple, open definition of dance: movement to music. > For me, this covers it. Anything added to this is not definition, but > description or elaboration. The only possible exception I can think of > is the occasional modern dance piece I have seen in which the performers > move to spoken word, or in silence. Modern dancers do of course look to > expand boundaries and definitions. This is much of what makes that > particular form/genre/idiom/style (?!) interesting to me. I have on > occasion broken into spontaneous dancing by myself (usually when alone) > when no music is being played, but when I do this, there is music > playing in my head (who needs a Walkman?) and this fits into my > definition. This definition would also cover unaccompanied tap or > clogging, as the dancer(s) would also be making the music. > > Marty Fager (speaking only for myself, of course) > > -- Howard ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 16:26:19 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 13:53:43 -0500 (EST) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: definitions To: Blind.Copy.Receiver-AT- compuserve.com, ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801021853.NAA26033-AT- staff2.cso.uiuc.edu> Hanny D. Budnick <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com> writes: >That's why Goethe supposedly said that 'dance is the vertical expression of >a horizontal desire'..... In my quote list I have that attributed to George Bernard Shaw. Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jonathan Sivier |Q: How many angels can dance on the | | j-sivier-AT- uiuc.edu | head of a pin? | | Flight Simulation Lab |A: It depends on what dance you call. | | Beckman Institute | | | 405 N. Mathews | SWMDG - Single White Male | | Urbana, IL 61801 | Dance Gypsy | | Work: 217/244-1923 | | | Home: 217/359-8225 | Have shoes, will dance. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Home page URL: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~j-sivier | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 17:57:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 13:21:53 -0500 (EST) From: "Daniel J. Walkowitz" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801021821.NAA22624-AT- is2.nyu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I think, Marty, as you note, your definition creates a related definitional problem of what is music. Your basic dictionary definition of dance avoids this by defining it as a succession of rthymic or patterned movements. This, then, covers the birds, bees and dancing to John Cage's "Silence." And Happy New Year to all. Danny Walkowitz >> I go for a simple, open definition of dance: movement to music. >> For me, this covers it. Anything added to this is not definition, but >> description or elaboration. The only possible exception I can think of >> is the occasional modern dance piece I have seen in which the performers >> move to spoken word, or in silence. Modern dancers do of course look to >> expand boundaries and definitions. This is much of what makes that >> particular form/genre/idiom/style (?!) interesting to me. I have on >> occasion broken into spontaneous dancing by myself (usually when alone) >> when no music is being played, but when I do this, there is music >> playing in my head (who needs a Walkman?) and this fits into my >> definition. This definition would also cover unaccompanied tap or >> clogging, as the dancer(s) would also be making the music. >> >> Marty Fager (speaking only for myself, of course) >> >> > >-- >Howard > > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 17:57:09 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 10:46:33 -0800 (PST) From: "Paul J. Stamler" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 2 Jan 1998, Howard A. Markham wrote: > I like the definition, but I wonder whether it is too broad. I'm thinking of > the use of sea chanteys and other work songs to synchronize group labor, and > the use of fife, drums, bagpipes, brass bands for the marching of military > units. Perhaps "artistic or recreational movement to music", if work and > military marches are to be excluded. But some may prefer to include them. I'd make that "artistic, recreational or religious". Peace. Paul ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 18:02:17 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 20:01:38 -0600 (CST) From: annel-AT- ix.netcom.com Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dance or die To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981221553641-AT- > MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii We know that dancing--however one defines it--can bring such blessings as friendships, self-expression, and joy to life. And, as the NY Times recently reported (12/28/97), it can literally be a life-saver: Stranded Skier Dances Away a Cold Night On the Slopes LAYTON, Utah, Dec. 27 (AP) -- When Karen Hartley found herself stranded in freezing temperatures and mountain snow as night fell on Christmas Eve, she knew it was either dance or die. So by herself, she danced in the dark, remembering tunes to guide her steps, until dawn, when rescuers spotted her from a search helicopter. She was unhurt, and spent Christmas Day in a hot tub. Ms. Hartley, a 33-year-old computer software developer, had wandered out of bounds at the Powder Mountain ski area on Wednesday and spent more than 18 hours cold and alone on the mountain. The temperatures were in the single digits. "The best thing I could think of was to keep my brain occupied by playing music in my head and dancing to it to keep warm," Ms. Hartley said on Friday. "I went through all the old disco songs, show tunes, popular and current stuff, Christmas tunes and even camp songs I'd ever known. I sang and danced all night long, from about 6:30 P.M to dawn. It was the only way I could think of to keep warm." Ms. Hartley became stranded when she skied down the resort's ungroomed powder area. She reached the bottom around 3:30 P.M. and planned to ride back to the top of the mountain in a vehicle called a snowcat, but it was not running. Ms. Hartley said she hollered for help for a couple of hours before finally deciding that she was not going to be heard. She thought about trying to hike back up the mountain but was too tired to make the steep climb through deep snow. "Besides, I figured, the ski patrol would see my car still in the lot and come looking for me," Ms. Hartley said. About 7 P.M. she ate the lone candy bar she had with her, still thinking someone would find her. "Not exactly the Christmas celebration I had in mind," she said. After dancing all night, Ms. Hartley started the steep climb up. Around 9 A.M., she heard a helicopter "and thought, 'That's my ride.'" Anne Lowenthal, who dances mostly in and around NY ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 19:06:45 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 13:41:59 -0800 From: "Michael J. O'Connor" Subject: Definitions (short) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34AD5F27.538E-AT- erols.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <6fe621ec.34aaa060-AT- aol.com> Oops! I forgot that I wanted to add that the other approach, to refer once again back to something Barbara mentioned a few months ago, is the one Potter Stewart offered in a separate opinion when the Supreme Court was struggling to decide on a definition of pornography, "I know it when I see it." Perhaps this is just a variant of "The music will tell you."? Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 19:08:36 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 13:33:02 -0800 From: "Michael J. O'Connor" Subject: Definitions (longish) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34AD5D0D.6122-AT- erols.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <6fe621ec.34aaa060-AT- aol.com> > John Ramsay in St Louis responded to Mike who asked did anyone ever ask "Why?"? John: I apologize. From a desire to be brief I was unclear. What I intended by my question was more on the order of Why, what is the purpose for which we should prepare such a group of definitions (you asked for five), and how do you intend for them to be used? At least with nouns, a definition will include many members of a class and lead to discussion, at the least, about which items should be excluded from the class. A related article from yesterday's paper is pertinent here: the NY Times bridge column asks: "Is bridge a sport? That is not a trivial academic question, for on it hinges a matter of great importance to bridge players: the eventual inclusion of bridge in the Olympic Games. "The International Olympic Committee has for many years [yes, Y E A R S] been trying to define 'sport,' and its first vice president ... is pressing for a definition that includes the word intellectual." I recall reading some months ago an article indicating surprise that the IOC could be considering including dancing (dancing, mind you!) as an olympic sport. I think there was an overtone of disapproval there, similar to that which bruited about when ice dancing was included. At least the IOC has a particular reason for its definitional efforts, using its definition to determine what activities to include/exclude in or from future Olympics. Some time ago, I took advantage of a telemarketing offer for free dance lessons from the neighborhood Arthur Murray Studio to clear up a question I had about waltzing. The instructor gave me the answer, but in the course of discussion expressed her opinion that I would do fine "for s*o*c*i*a*l dancing." Clearly social dancing was a far, far different definitional category from what she taught (competition ballroom dancing), and equally clearly it was just one small step above total disregard, even utter disdain. If I may make an inference, perhaps the reason why you wanted your classes to engage in this exercise was to engage them in these boundary issues so they could see the choices that need to be made for exclusion or inclusion and the different possible approaches that can be taken. A platonist can imagine that there is one perfect definition out there somewhere, but I think it's all about choices, and if you have a reason why you are struggling for a definition, that will influence the choices you make. If you don't have a reason why, there is no touchstone to guide you and the effort devolves into an endless (at least unil people get tired of it) series of debates. Marty proposes a broad definition, and Howard promptly notes, whoops, that's too broad for me, citing specifics. As I recall, Gene started this with a different broad definition, and Julia chimed in with a parameter or two to narrow it. All are right, if the purpose is to think more broadly about what dance is. And if the purpose is to give a basis for analyzing dance genres, then somebody has to make some definitional decisions that are grounded in what it is they want to analyze, and what they don't want to. Snoopy used, on occasion, to burst into spontaneous dances of what seemed to be pure joy (I do wish I could find my old sweatshirt of him doing so to the caption "To Dance Is To Live!" Does anyone know Charles Schultz?). I'm not sure whether Snoopy, like Marty, had an internal voice that provided him musical accompaniment. Nor whether football players who exhibit dance-like movement in the end zone after a touchdown have similar internal voices, but maybe that's dance, too. Or maybe it's just a separate category, dances for joy, like revival meeting dances of religious ecstasy, football dances of celebration. Or maybe all are outside the boundaries and are only dance-like movement. To return to one of Barbara's topics of discussion with (I'm sorry, I've quite forgotten who, but you're an erstwhile and occasionally present baker), James Beard once said: "One of the phrases I loathe most is 'gourmet cooking.' What gourmet cooking is I will never know. There is fabulous cooking, good cooking, mediocre cooking, and bad cooking, and I'm convinced that some people can never rise above bad, probably because they really don't like to cook. [Ahhh, remember perpetual beginner dancers??] It is the urge to get into the kitchen and the delight of making something work out that makes for good cooking." In a sense, Beard comes out about where John's classes do. Let's not continue analyzing it, let's just go have some fun doing it. I didn't realize when I started this that I would wind up here. I don't mean to suggest the list should abandon its discussion -- far from it. Several have noted that they find the discussion interesting and stimulating, and I agree fully. But the limits of such discussion are, I think, that without a clear purpose, a why, to the exercise, there is never any basis for saying that my desire to include dances for joy is any better than your desire (not you, John) to exclude them because they're not structured, say, or for some other reason. Are there any linguists out there? If, like Gene and Marty, we essay a broad definition, someone can always think of a specific that it includes that they think would be better excluded. The other route is an absolutely exhaustive listing of everything that anyone thinks should qualify as dance, which then gets debated item-by-item. No, the real point to your exercise, John, and to the discussion on this list, seems to be the process, which is intellectually stimulating and exciting in and of itself. Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 21:44:39 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 00:44:30 -0500 (EST) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 2 Jan 1998, Daniel J. Walkowitz wrote: > I think, Marty, as you note, your definition creates a related definitional > problem of what is music. Your basic dictionary definition of dance avoids > this by defining it as a succession of rthymic or patterned movements. > This, then, covers the birds, bees and dancing to John Cage's "Silence." Not to be nit-picky, but "Silence" is the name of a book by Cage, not a musical composition. Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Jan 1998 21:48:27 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 00:48:15 -0500 From: mls-AT- panix.com (Michael Siemon) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 12:44 AM 1/3/98, Dawn Culbertson wrote: >On Fri, 2 Jan 1998, Daniel J. Walkowitz wrote: >Not to be nit-picky, but "Silence" is the name of a book by Cage, not a >musical composition. Danny may be thinking of that ever-recurrent whipping-boy, 4'33" -- it *would* be interesting to try to choreograph this, I think. :-) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 02:55:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 02:55:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01IRXAPUZRO29GVVG9-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII MLS wrote: Danny may be thinking of that ever-recurrent whipping-boy, 4'33" -- it *would* be interesting to try to choreograph this, I think. :-) The one time I went to the Marlboro Morris Ale, the 'skit' theme was dances to unexpected music. Our own team did a Common Market Morris, involving a tarantella and a polka; the Marlboro Men did the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, in tutus, but what I will not soon forget was one of the awesome Mr. Jorrock's men performing a beautiful jig to 4'33", accompanied by a fiddler who remained ready throughout, but never touched bow to strings. This does perhaps suggest the subjectivity of 'the music will tell you what to do.' -- Alan =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 06:21:29 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 08:21:01 -0600 (CST) From: annel-AT- ix.netcom.com Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981392547741-AT- > MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Michael Siemon writes that it would be interesting to choreograph Cage's 4'33". Jose Limon went way beyond that in "The Winged," originally choreographed to 50 minutes of silence. A couple of weeks before the premiere, in 1966, Limon had a change of heart, deciding that nobody would have the stamina to sit through such a piece, so he put together a tape of sounds, including some music, to accompany the dance. Still, it did not find a secure place in the company's repertory and was performed only in part after Limon's death, in 1972. Recently, Jon Magnussen was commissioned by Juilliard to set the entire ballet to a new score. I saw the production two years ago. In the program notes, Magnussen writes of how the process of composing to an already existing dance pushed him to think about the meaning of "movement-to-sound-in-time." The fact that "The Winged" was originally simply movement-in-time of course goes only part way toward defining it as dance. BTW, maybe that dawn-dancing skier was wearing one of those Snoopy sweatshirts, captioned "To Dance is to Live!" Anne Lowenthal ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 06:39:33 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 08:39:18 -0600 (CST) From: annel-AT- ix.netcom.com Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dancing to silence, II To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981394337719169-AT- > MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii From: annel To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Date: 01/03/98 09:25:52 This is a re-post, since my signature seems not to have made it through the ether the first time: Michael Siemon writes that it would be interesting to choreograph Cage's 4'33". Jose Limon went way beyond that in "The Winged," originally choreographed to 50 minutes of silence. A couple of weeks before the premiere, in 1966, Limon had a change of heart, deciding that nobody would have the stamina to sit through such a piece, so he put together a tape of sounds, including some music, to accompany the dance. Still, it did not find a secure place in the company's repertory and was performed only in part after Limon's death, in 1972. Recently, Jon Magnussen was commissioned by Juilliard to set the entire ballet to a new score. I saw the production two years ago. In the program notes, Magnussen writes of how the process of composing to an already existing dance pushed him to think about the meaning of "movement-to-sound-in-time." The fact that "The Winged" was originally simply movement-in-time of course goes only part way toward defining it as dance. BTW, maybe that dawn-dancing skier was wearing one of those Snoopy sweatshirts, captioned "To Dance is to Live!" Anne Lowenthal ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 07:41:45 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 16:43:56 +0100 From: Antony Heywood Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dancing and painting To: ECD Mailing List Message-ID: <199801031541.QAA05660-AT- IAEhv.nl> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The next summer dance camp of the Dutch Folk Dance Society (NVS) has as its theme PAINTING. Can anyone suggest suitable dances or music or songs to use to reflect that theme? The dance sorts that will be on offer are English Country (incl. NE Contra), Morris and Western Square. There will also be sessions for musicians and singers. Not to mention painting sessions and other extra mural activities. The dates? 18th to 25th July 1998 and the teachers include Nicolas Broadbridge. Why not come and join us? Details will be published on our website http://www.iae.nl/users/antony/ probably around Easter but you can always e-mail me privately with questions if you are thinking of coming and want more details. Antony Heywood antony-AT- iae.nl ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 07:51:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 10:48:18 -0500 From: "Hanny D. Budnick" <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: definitions To: Blind.Copy.Receiver-AT- compuserve.com Message-ID: <199801031051_MC2-2DE8-36A8-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Could it be possible that two great minds came up with the same bon mots? Or, that each nation/language wants to credit one of 'their own' with them? Doesn't really matter to me WHO said it, and I think that - at gut - it is a profound observation. Hanny ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 09:01:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 12:01:03 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: horizontal desire To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII It seems that the authorship in question might be resolved by a touch of scholarship. How about some references? Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 09:58:31 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 12:58:22 -0500 (EST) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801031758.MAA13599-AT- staff1.cso.uiuc.edu> mls-AT- panix.com (Michael Siemon) wrote: >On Fri, 2 Jan 1998, Daniel J. Walkowitz wrote: >>Not to be nit-picky, but "Silence" is the name of a book by Cage, not a >>musical composition. >Danny may be thinking of that ever-recurrent whipping-boy, 4'33" -- >it *would* be interesting to try to choreograph this, I think. :-) If the music and dance are to be reflections of one another then I think having the dancers sit perfectly still for 4 minutes and 33 seconds would be the appropriate choreography. ;-) Back on the topic of definitions. Perhaps it might be a good idea to begin to put together a FAQ for the mailing list. It could be made available on the archive site and a pointer to it could be posted to the list occasionally. This way we won't have recurring discussions on the same topics. This could include Julia's definitions of words like form and genre as well as brief descriptions of the basic ECD figures. These descriptions could include all the variations of the figures (as well as the names of figures). So for siding the list could have curvy siding (Sharp) and siding- to-a-line (Shaw) as well as any other variations that are thought to have been done back in the Good Old Days (TM). If one variation is thought to be closer to the original then that can be highlighted in the description. There are some figures where different words refer to the same figure, such as hands-across, star and mill. I think a glossary such as this might be very useful, both for the discussions on this list and as a reference for new dancers and list subscribers. Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jonathan Sivier |Q: How many angels can dance on the | | j-sivier-AT- uiuc.edu | head of a pin? | | Flight Simulation Lab |A: It depends on what dance you call. | | Beckman Institute | | | 405 N. Mathews | SWMDG - Single White Male | | Urbana, IL 61801 | Dance Gypsy | | Work: 217/244-1923 | | | Home: 217/359-8225 | Have shoes, will dance. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Home page URL: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~j-sivier | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 10:07:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 13:07:01 -0500 (EST) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: horizontal desire To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801031807.NAA14618-AT- staff1.cso.uiuc.edu> The reference I have is "New Statesman", 23 March, 1962. Jonathan ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 10:24:29 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 13:24:18 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: horizontal desire To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 3 Jan 1998, Jonathan Sivier wrote: > The reference I have is "New Statesman", 23 March, 1962. > > Jonathan That is what I found, too; but with G.B. Shaw's death in 1950, it cannot have been a direct quote. It would be interesting to know what the "New Statesman" says by way of attribution. Eric ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 13:46:55 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 00:56:52 -0600 From: Charlene Charette Subject: comparing Playford editions To: English Country Dance List Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34ADE134.57E1-AT- flash.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Does anyone know if there exists a comparison of the changes to the dances between Playford editions? I believe this was done for the music, but has it been done for the text? If not, does anyone think there's a need for such a thing? I've been considering the project for myself (for giggles and grins), but I'd rather not undertake something that's already been done. OTOH, if it hasn't been done, is this something anyone else would be interested in? Thanks, --Charlene ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 17:55:14 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Jan 1998 20:54:33 -0500 (EST) From: JohnBerni Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Definitions To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <21c6f092.34aeebdb-AT- aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Ramsay in St Louis responds to: In a message dated 1/2/98 9:10:52 PM, Mike Connor wrote: <> Yes, intellectually stimulating and exciting, but also valuable (necessary) for successful communication. Mike is quite right to observe that definitions depend on <> and that the why <>. I did not want my students to fall into the trap of failing to communicate because of preconceptions nor of ignorance. Preconceptions and ignorance are usually the basis of prejudice. By realizing that there are many definitions of dance and no one universal definition, it is easier to see how carefully we must listen to others to understand what they are saying and how honestly we must monitor our own preconceptions. One of my desires is to help people communicate and this requires listening with an open mind. Too often academic education leaves minds closed. And that is my stereotype for the day! Fortunately, we can communicate in other ways-- such as DANCE, defined with words or not! ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 18:42:16 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 21:41:11 -0500 From: Gene Murrow Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE:Dancing to silence To: ECD ECD Message-ID: <199801042142_MC2-2E0A-DCF9-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Here's a thought-provoking story at the intersection of two recent active= threads on this list. It was told to Susan and me by Buffy Miller, principal dancer with the Eliot Feld Ballet. A few years ago, Mr. Feld choreographed a ballet for his Company to Richa= rd Strauss' "Four Last Songs" (a beautiful setting of 4 songs for solo soprano and orchestra, contemplating the end of life. Strauss' last work= ). After weeks of rehearsal, and just a few days before the premiere performance, representatives of the estate of Richard Strauss (which continued to hold the copyright) refused permission for use of the music!= = According to Buffty, Mr. Feld and the Company were committed to the piece= , and decided to go forward. At the performance, the audience was told th= at permission to use the music was denied, so they should *imagine* the musi= c. The entire work was then danced in silence. Now try to imagine this piece of art-- as an audience member, or as a dancer. Got me to wondering... how would a longways set of experienced country dancers do with, say, Jack's Maggot, or Miss deJersey's Memorial,= without music. Would it hang together? Which in turn raises the issue of how dancers learn and execute dance. = Ballet dancers, and other theatrical dancers, learn their routines by counting (1,2,3,turn, 4,5, hold, and... ). But eventually they internali= ze the movement in "movement memory," and, in such cases as the 4 Last Songs= , can execute an entire work with this kinetic memory minus music. We teachers of ECD discourage counting (a "received wisdom" that I am not entirely sure is wise in all cases), encouraging the dancers to respond t= o the music. Quite a different view of the art. Of course the purpose of ballet and theater dance is peformance-- presentation and enjoyment by others (the audience), while the purpose of ECD is social-- responding to= music and each other, for our own enjoyment. Would it be worthwhile or f= un to focus more on "learning the movement" itself? I would think that's closer to the 17th and 18th C. conception (where an element of showing one's stuff was an important part of the whole enterprise). = Just wondering... Gene Murrow P.S. IMHO, the best performance on CD of the 4 Last Songs is by Felicity Lott and the Scottish National Orchestra under N. Jarve. = ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 20:07:23 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 23:07:14 -0500 From: swartell-AT- cas.org (Sue Wartell ext. 3387) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: "First footing" To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: swartell-AT- cas.org Message-ID: <9801042307.AA10607-AT- cas.org> Regarding "first-footing", Eric asked: >I'm wondering how widespread this custom is, so I'm asking how many others >have experienced some form of this custom. > >As Fried describes it in "Potters Porch": "A dark-haired man, bearing a >green sprig,should be the first in the New Year to cross the threshold." I was very surprised when I first heard of this as a Scottish custom. When I was a small child in southeastern Pennsylvania in the 1950's, we had an older Pennsylvania Dutch family living next door, and the man of that family would visit each apartment on our floor EARLY on New Year's day, bearing a bottle of some spirit (whiskey I think, but I was much too young to be sure I remember that correctly). Although he was no longer dark-haired (he was in his late 60's), he felt he qualified because he once had been. I always thought this was one of the many German/Pennsylvania Dutch customs/superstitions which were still a major feature of daily life for that family, and to a lesser extent, for many of the people I knew. I don't know if this was a tradition that got adopted from the English/Scots immigrants in the American melting pot, or if it was one that came from Germany with the early settlers. I do know that the older "Dutch" folk I knew loved their "traditions" (or superstitions, if you will) and I can actually believe that they might have picked up a new one that sounded good to them! Sue Wartell Columbus, OH P.S. The Pennsylvania Dutch were not from Holland, but from Germany, and arrived in Pennsylvania early in the history of the colony. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 21:12:01 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 22:22:14 -0600 From: Charlene Charette Subject: Whirligig To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B05FF6.B71-AT- flash.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <349FFF2B.D4389F21-AT- mitre.org> Howard A. Markham wrote: > (An aside on the running step: I found it to be the perfect way to keep up in > the furiously fast Whirley Gig called by Colin Hume last summer at Pinewoods. > It also seemed the natural step when we demonstrated Step Stately at Early > Music Week a couple of years ago--our 4-couple set used about 1/4 of the C# > floor area.) The recording we use for Whirligig is quite fast and I often am teaching it in my living room (which is large for a living room, but small for a dance hall). I find forcing the dancers to keep the set tight actually helps in teaching this dance; it's easier for me to teach when the dancers can't spread out too much. As for the step, I often find myself using a skip change -- works for me, even in such a tight space. --Charlene ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 21:12:18 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 22:41:02 -0600 From: Charlene Charette Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B0645E.2A38-AT- flash.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <199801042142_MC2-2E0A-DCF9-AT- compuserve.com> Gene Murrow wrote: > Now try to imagine this piece of art-- as an audience member, or as a > dancer. Got me to wondering... how would a longways set of experienced > country dancers do with, say, Jack's Maggot, or Miss deJersey's Memorial, > without music. Would it hang together? I've taught dances where I've had the dancers run through it without the music. It works fine as long as I tap out a beat to get everyone started at the right speed. --Charlene ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 21:54:00 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 00:55:16 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE:Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >A few years ago, Mr. Feld choreographed a ballet for his Company to Richard >Strauss' "Four Last Songs" > refused permission for use of the music! >According to Buffy, Mr. Feld and the Company were committed to the piece, >and decided to go forward. At the performance, the audience was told that >permission to use the music was denied, so they should *imagine* the music. > The entire work was then danced in silence. Those guys must have been good. That's hard music. > >Now try to imagine this piece of art-- as an audience member, or as a >dancer. Got me to wondering... how would a longways set of experienced >country dancers do with, say, Jack's Maggot, or Miss deJersey's Memorial, >without music. Would it hang together? Well, we end up singing. The core problem is that people have differing tempi in their heads at the start and we need someone to set a tempo for all of us. Even after that, some of us will speed up and some stay in tempo so after a while the thing comes apart. Now I'm only talking a run-through, like for dem at NEFFA or somesuch. Not an actual rehearsed performance which might be done silently. Every once in a while, when we're all lined up in the craft room door and we can't find any Bare Necessities and the act before us is nearly finished, there's this moment of mild panic. What if......? But that large a group is subject to some of the same problems of a band, some people have metronomes in their rib cages and some have uh, metronomes that can be influenced by circumstance. The dances have the same array, I'm quite certain. Like a choir getting excited and going sharp, or being nervous and going flat. > >Which in turn raises the issue of how dancers learn and execute dance. >Ballet dancers, and other theatrical dancers, learn their routines by >counting (1,2,3,turn, 4,5, hold, and... ). But eventually they internalize >the movement in "movement memory," and, in such cases as the 4 Last Songs, >can execute an entire work with this kinetic memory minus music. We >teachers of ECD discourage counting (a "received wisdom" that I am not >entirely sure is wise in all cases), encouraging the dancers to respond to >the music. Quite a different view of the art. Of course the purpose of >ballet and theater dance is peformance-- presentation and enjoyment by >others (the audience), while the purpose of ECD is social-- responding to >music and each other, for our own enjoyment. Would it be worthwhile or fun >to focus more on "learning the movement" itself? I would think that's >closer to the 17th and 18th C. conception (where an element of showing >one's stuff was an important part of the whole enterprise). And so we come to T'ai Ch'i. But is the _movement_ what we're learning, really? Or are we there, and to hearken to another thread, not to master the style, but to achieve sufficient facility to enjoy each other and the conjunction of the music and the choreography? In fact, I see this as what Sharp was after, performance, yes, but not historic reconstruction. As I understand his motivation he was after accessibility and sociability. I experience the dancing I do in Boston as an outgrowth of Sharp's work as conveyed to us through two generations of fine ladies, the first of which sat at the table with the inventor. I don't see what I do there as having much to do with historic accuracy, and I don't want it to, because I don't want to dance that way. I don't want rules, classes, restrictive clothing, fancy footwork at the expense of interaction with others. I want the freedom from that so I only have to split my attention three ways - towards the music, towards the other dancers and towards the sequence of figures. The other and most wonderful part of what is happening in Boston is the slow but inexorable change in the style and repertoire. Yes, we did begin tilted over far enough that we'd fall on our faces if we were shot from behind, back when Lily Conant led the dance. Even Genny recommended that posture, but danced with a modification of it, as does Helene. And we have not degenerated into a trudge or stride yet, and I hope we don't ever get there because neither of those is my idea of the right style for our dancing. A dance walk is what we use, what I understand Sharp to have advocated albeit with somewhat different posture from 1998, and what I hope continues. When it turns into a stride, it will be walking briskly but not dancing. When it becomes a trudge it's time to go take a nap, or for the leader to come and help one get a sense of the style of movement (or maybe to go lose 60 pounds!). Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader, weaver/spinner No matter which side of the fence you're on, the grass will always turn brown if you don't water it. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 04:36:04 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 14:38:48 +0100 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Re: dancing and Politics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B0E268.6DBF-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: Elise van der Ven sure was an important person in the Dutch folk dance revival. But she was not the only one at all. Think of Anna Sanson-Catz and Line Tiggers, amongst others. But she definitely was the most important one in spreading English dancing in the Netherlands. In the 1930s, Flemish leaders and dancers went dancing to the Meihof and brought the English dances back to Belgium. I like Stephen's contributions to "politics and folk dancing" a lot. A very interesting topic, indeed, and much more influential as we may believe. For example, folk dancing in Flanders in some way is still divided in two big groups/ideologies both of which go back to the 1930s. Philippe Callens Antwerp, Belgium ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 07:35:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 10:35:06 -0500 (EST) From: Stephen D Corrsin Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: dark haired men, thresholds etc To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII For anyone interested in English "calendar customs," see Ronald Hutton, "Stations of the Sun: A history of the ritual year in Britain" (1996), or his earlier "Rise and Fall of Merry England... 1400-1700," or "Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles." Excellent surveys of what is known, and often more important *not* known about these sorts of topics. (Big chunk of stuff on "first over the threshold" new year's customs, for instance, which is why I bring this up.) Not really involved with country dancing, however. Still, very informative, and I expect many people on this list are interested in such things. Steve Corrsin ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 10:01:13 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 13:01:02 -0500 (EST) From: walkowit-AT- is2.nyu.edu (Daniel J. Walkowitz) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801051801.NAA25643-AT- is2.nyu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" There are a couple of dances in the international repetoire where the person running the evening will turn off the sound on a recording in the middle of the dance. It is great fun (and a challenge) to hold the dance together to be in place when the music is turned back on. Usually works fine and does help folks learn the pacing. Danny Walkowitz >Gene Murrow wrote: > >> Now try to imagine this piece of art-- as an audience member, or as a >> dancer. Got me to wondering... how would a longways set of experienced >> country dancers do with, say, Jack's Maggot, or Miss deJersey's Memorial, >> without music. Would it hang together? > >I've taught dances where I've had the dancers run through it without the >music. It works fine as long as I tap out a beat to get everyone >started at the right speed. > >--Charlene > > > > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 11:32:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 11:32:47 -0800 (PST) From: rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu (Emma Rushton) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE:Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >>Now try to imagine this piece of art-- as an audience member, or as a >>dancer. Got me to wondering... how would a longways set of experienced >>country dancers do with, say, Jack's Maggot, or Miss deJersey's Memorial, >>without music. Would it hang together? > >Well, we end up singing. The core problem is that people have differing >tempi in their heads at the start and we need someone to set a tempo for >all of us. Even after that, some of us will speed up and some stay in >tempo so after a while the thing comes apart. How many of the readers of this list were dancing at the contra dance workshop at Sidmouth this summer, where the rain flooded dance tents and caused several power cuts? The power only went off during one dance; the whole floor spontaneously burst into song (it was Alexander's Rag Time Band if I remember rightly) and kept on dancing. The caller was reduced to conducting. The far end of the hall did get out of synchrony with the front, where some of us could hear Chris Dewhurst on accordion, but it wasn't too far out, because when the power came on again we all shook back down together. A memorable experience in an altogether memorable Sidmouth! Emma Emma Rushton, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South, 1400 East Salt Lake City, UT 84112 phone (801) 585-9425, fax (801) 581-4668 "time is fun when you're having flies" - Kermit the Frog ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 11:37:53 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 11:37:47 -0800 (PST) From: rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu (Emma Rushton) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: next dance To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hallo everybody, this is to remind you that there will be English Country Dancing this Thursday, the 8th Jan. As usual, we will be at St Paul's Episcopal Church on 261 South, 900 East, at 7.30. For more details, phone me at (801) 359-1590, or email rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu Hope to see you there! Emma Emma Rushton, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South, 1400 East Salt Lake City, UT 84112 phone (801) 585-9425, fax (801) 581-4668 "time is fun when you're having flies" - Kermit the Frog ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 11:48:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 14:48:31 -0500 (EST) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801051948.OAA13455-AT- staff1.cso.uiuc.edu> walkowit-AT- is2.nyu.edu (Daniel J. Walkowitz) writes: >There are a couple of dances in the international repetoire where the person >running the evening will turn off the sound on a recording in the middle of >the dance. It is great fun (and a challenge) to hold the dance together to >be in place when the music is turned back on. Usually works fine and does >help folks learn the pacing. This is also seen occasionally in contra dancing. The band will stop playing for 8 bars and the dancers will keep dancing with just the sound of their feet keeping time. Then the band will come back in, usually to a big cheer. Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jonathan Sivier |Q: How many angels can dance on the | | j-sivier-AT- uiuc.edu | head of a pin? | | Flight Simulation Lab |A: It depends on what dance you call. | | Beckman Institute | | | 405 N. Mathews | SWMDG - Single White Male | | Urbana, IL 61801 | Dance Gypsy | | Work: 217/244-1923 | | | Home: 217/359-8225 | Have shoes, will dance. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Home page URL: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~j-sivier | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 12:07:56 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 15:02:47 -0800 From: Laurie Anderson Subject: FAQ? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B16697.1C5A-AT- mica.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Would someone please guide me to this list's FAQ or instructions for subscribing/unsubscribing? Sorry to post to the entire list. Thank you, Laurie Anderson Baltimore, MD landerso-AT- mica.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 12:29:53 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 12:29:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: FAQ? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01IS0N9W55GG9GWCV2-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII From: Laurie Anderson >Would someone please guide me to this list's FAQ or instructions for >subscribing/unsubscribing? Sorry to post to the entire list. I'm replying to the whole list since people tend to forget this kind of info. To get the instructions for messing with your subscription, send a mail message with the body HELP to ECD-REQUEST-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu To subscribe, use the same address and send SUBSCRIBE "my name here" To unsubscribe, use the same address and send UNSUBSCRIBE If an account has already been closed and you want to unsubscribe from a different account, send off-list mail to me, winston-AT- ssrl.slac.stanford.edu. [The instructions you get when you send the HELP message are a trifle ambiguous, because they're trying to be correct for messages sent to the listname-request address and to the MXserver address. Use the ECD-REQUEST address and don't put the name of the list in your commands; thus, if you want to set an account to not get mail but still be able to post, you send SET NOMAIL rather than SET ECD NOMAIL as you might think from reading the documentation.] -- Alan PS: I've thought on and off about a FAQ for this list, but in fact it seems to me that we don't actually have many Frequently Asked Questions. If someone wants to take charge of developing a FAQ, and I agree with the contents, I'll be happy to make it accessible from the archive page. =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 12:57:06 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 12:56:57 -0800 (PST) From: rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu (Emma Rushton) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: oops To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" oops! I didn't mean to send this to the ECD discussion group (though you are all most welcome, I must say!) I should pay more attention to who messages are going to, clearly. >Hallo everybody, this is to remind you that there will be English Country >Dancing this Thursday, the 8th Jan. > >As usual, we will be at St Paul's Episcopal Church on 261 South, 900 >East, at 7.30. > >For more details, phone me at (801) 359-1590, or email rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu > >Hope to see you there! Emma Rushton, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South, 1400 East Salt Lake City, UT 84112 phone (801) 585-9425, fax (801) 581-4668 "time is fun when you're having flies" - Kermit the Frog ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 20:57:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 20:42:08 -0800 (PST) From: "Paul J. Stamler" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 3 Jan 1998, Jonathan Sivier wrote: > If the music and dance are to be reflections of one another then I think > having the dancers sit perfectly still for 4 minutes and 33 seconds would > be the appropriate choreography. ;-) Not necessarily. The original piece, 4'33", was in fact choreographed; the pianist was instructed to sit in three different positions, with precise instructions in the score on when to shift. These are the three movements of the piece. (All of the preceding is serious; I'm not making it up.) I had the opportunity to witness a performance of 4'33" several years ago, and it was an astonishing experience, in all seriousness; the silence of the performer makes your ears tune in to all the sound in the hall -- papers rustling, air conditioning sounds, eventually even your own breathing. It opens your ears to the sounds in which we're awash. I was taping the concert for radio presentation, and alas, 4'33" didn't come across in the changed medium; the faint sound textures in the almost-silent hall weren't picked up, even by good professional recording equipment. Cage knew what he was doing. And it wasn't a joke. (The choreography may have been, but then again it may have been a deliberate device to keep an audience's attention from completely drifting.) Peace. Paul ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 21:25:00 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 21:22:40 -0800 From: metis-AT- mcs.mcs.csuhayward.edu Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801060522.VAA04741-AT- seki.mcs> > > dancer. Got me to wondering... how would a longways set of experienced > > country dancers do with, say, Jack's Maggot, or Miss deJersey's Memorial, > > without music. Would it hang together? > > I've taught dances where I've had the dancers run through it without the > music. It works fine as long as I tap out a beat to get everyone > started at the right speed. > > --Charlene Assuming I knew the tune, I would find Gene's scenario much easier to handle than I would dancing something I just learned without the music. I would hear the tune in my head and it would direct my dancing, helping me find ends of phrases and letting my feet enjoy the right kind of step. Far beyond it just being more pleasurable to dance to music, the tune is an active part of my learning any dance. When I try to recall a dance, it's basically impossible for me without recalling the tune first (or simultaneously). But I gather that for others this is not the case. I find myself getting annoyed at teachers who underutilize the music (be it live or recorded), and greatly appreciate those who play a bit of the tune (and preferably once through) before even starting to teach a dance. In contradancing it rarely matters: I can hum my favorite 32 bar hornpipe or dorky jig to myself as during the talk through, but in English it's dangerous to try to second guess the meter or phrase length. Knowing that up front is a big help. So here's a plea to English callers: Play the tune early and often! Tom Tom Roby Department of Math & CS troby-AT- mcs.csuhayward.edu California State University [Fax] 510-885-4169 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd. [Off] 510-885-2691 Hayward, CA 94542-3092 http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~troby ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 23:39:31 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 02:39:22 -0500 (EST) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style [Cage & Dance?] To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 5 Jan 1998, Paul J. Stamler wrote: > The original piece, 4'33", was in fact choreographed; > the pianist was instructed to sit in three different positions, with > precise instructions in the score on when to shift. These are the three > movements of the piece. (All of the preceding is serious; I'm not making > it up.) > The actual "score" for 4'33" has no instructions; it's basically little more than a vertical line. The choreography as such was devised by pianist David Tudor, to whom the piece is dedicated & who played the premiere. Actually, to be picky, 4'33" is not for a specific instrument or ensemble but for any number of players. > I had the opportunity to witness a performance of 4'33" several years > ago, and it was an astonishing experience, in all seriousness; > Cage knew what he was doing. And it wasn't a joke. Agreed. (It's interesting to read this discussion here, by the way; I'm also on a Cage mailing list, and never imagined the discussion there would tie in to a discussion here!) Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 03:28:03 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 13:32:01 +0100 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Re: comparing Playford editions To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B22441.5BC9-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <34ADE134.57E1-AT- flash.net> You may have heard of "The Assembly", Tom Cook's work. In that work, unpublished though, he compared all English country dances published between 1651 and 1730 (The Dancing Master, Walsh, Bray, ...). Rich Galloway has a copy of that most important work -- and he is on this list. Presumably others, too. Philippe Callens ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 06:13:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: Peter.Fricke-AT- noaa.gov Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 09:09:58 -0500 From: Peter Fricke Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re[2]: "First footing" To: swartell-AT- cas.org (IPM Return requested), ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (IPM Return requested) Message-ID: <05F3A34B23B36009*/c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=GOV+NOAA/o=CCNMFS/s=Fricke/g=Peter/-AT- MHS> My experiences of first footings in England were in Northumberland and Durham in the 1960's in the rural areas of Kielder, the South Tyne valley, Brancepeth and Hexham. I was not aware of first footings in rural Lincolnshire (Lindsey) when I was a boy in the 1940's and early '50's. In Northumbria the tradition was to first attend the bonfire lighting in the village at midnight (in Allenheads, there was a procession through the town of young men carrying lighted pitch barrels on their heads led by a motley town band before the bonfire lighting) and then to go to each of the outlying farms in turn. Each individual would offer presents of bread, coal and salt to the farm family (and usually beer and/or whiskey) as good-luck tokens for the coming year. New Year "breakfast" buffets would be provided for the visitors, and there was usually singing, music and stepping dances (rants and clog) in the farm kitchens. The revelry usually lasted until dawn or the time of morning milking (whichever came first). Peter Fricke ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 06:22:13 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 08:20:17 -0600 (CST) From: FORBES-AT- GEORGE.BAKERU.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: comparing Playford editions To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <980106082017.558-AT- GEORGE.BAKERU.EDU> I think Tom Cook's work is also available from the CDSS Archives housed, I believe, at the University of New Hampshire. My copy is missing one of the preliminary pages. Whoever copied it forgot to install the '2-sided' copying function in the early pages. For a comparison of the advertising in John Playford's work you might want to consider Peter Munstedt's Ph.D. dissertation on the works of John (only). A later Bibliographic study has been made of the publications of Henry Playford. I think Harvard has a microfiche copy they will sell you. But check it out quickly. The latter pages are somewhat blurry when you try to copy them out to 8 1/2 x 11. Forbes/Baker University ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 06:33:04 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 09:32:53 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: ECD Style [Definition, "What Is Dance?"] To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 5 Jan 1998, Paul J. Stamler wrote: [snip] > Not necessarily. The original piece, 4'33", was in fact choreographed; > the pianist was instructed to sit in three different positions, with > precise instructions in the score on when to shift. These are the three > movements of the piece. Hmmmmm... wouldn't that be _two_ movements? (;-^) Eric ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 08:55:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 12:54:48 -0800 From: "Michael J. O'Connor" Subject: Dancing to Silence To: ECD List Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B29A17.2443-AT- erols.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A dance review by Jack Anderson in today's _New York Times_ of a piece entitled "Unfinished Symphony," by Yoshiko Chuma in collaboration with the School of Hard Knocks (the full review should be available at www.nytimes.com), notes: "No instruments accompanied one long dance. Yet silence did not prevail, for the dancers made a kind of music of their own with the thudding of their feet and their exhalations of breath. Dancing produces sound, the sequence implied. "So, too, other incidents suggested that the motions involved in making music can be viewed as dances. "String players let their arms sweep over their instruments. Pianists' fingers raced up and down the keys. Ms. Chuma occasionally stood in front of the cast and soulfully waved her arms like a flamboyant conductor. Artful disharmony always resulted." For those in the New York area, "Unfinished Symphony" will be repeated at St. Mark's Church (10th Street at 2nd Ave.) in the East Village from Thursday through Sunday this week. The comment about dancers producing sound calls to mind an hilariously dry comment at a dance some while ago; after announcing that the next move was (as I recall) two chassee steps, she instructed, "That's: 'Step, scrape; step, scrape,' or at least that's usually how it's done." Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 09:13:46 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 11:11:50 -0600 (CST) From: FORBES-AT- GEORGE.BAKERU.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Dancing to Silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <980106111150.42e-AT- GEORGE.BAKERU.EDU> Our Old Castle Dancers perform a version of the "Kentucky Running Set" without any accompanying music. I'll skip the historical stuff readers can find in Sharp's "Country Dance Book" Part 5. But I would note that there are a number of 4-beat and 8-beat movement patterns. A couple of examples "Partner Swing" (3, 4) "Corner Swing" (3, 4) "Promenade your partner round that ring" (5, 6, 7, 8) Readers will remember that the numbers represent silent beats). Without music, the dance can be quite impressive for only the 'slap' of the feet on the performing surface drives the dance along. This presents a number of interesting challengers to our young dancers, not the least being the need to keep the tempo up and steady. Forbes/Muso and occasional caller when needed/Old Castle Morris and Garland Team ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 09:28:14 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 13:27:13 -0800 From: "Michael J. O'Connor" Subject: Silence To: ECD List Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B2A1B1.35F-AT- erols.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Has anyone seen Twyla Tharp's "The Fugue," a 1970 work performed without music on an amplified stage? Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 09:32:56 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 13:31:59 -0800 From: "Michael J. O'Connor" Subject: Re: Dancing to Silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B2A2CF.632D-AT- erols.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <34B29A17.2443-AT- erols.com> Michael J. O'Connor wrote: > The comment about dancers producing sound calls to mind an hilariously > dry comment at a dance some while ago; after announcing that the next > move was (as I recall) two chassee steps, she instructed, "That's: > 'Step, scrape; step, scrape,' or at least that's usually how it's done." Regrettably, I forgot to attribute the instruction to Helene Cornelius. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 10:22:21 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 13:22:39 -0500 From: Martin.Fager-AT- bowne.com (Martin Fager) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Silence To: ECD List , "Michael J. O'Connor" Message-ID: <00061982.1618-AT- bowne.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I've seen it twice over the years. In addition to the amplified footfalls, the dancers (there are three) slap their thighs a lot, often as a prelude to (launching of?) movement. Marty Fager ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Silence Author: "Michael J. O'Connor" at Internet-Express Date: 1/6/98 1:27 PM Has anyone seen Twyla Tharp's "The Fugue," a 1970 work performed without music on an amplified stage? Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 17:36:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 17:36:23 -0800 From: Laurie Buchanan Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Gene Morrow wrote: > dancer. Got me to wondering... how would a longways set of experienced > country dancers do with, say, Jack's Maggot, or Miss deJersey's Memorial, > without music. Would it hang together? This reminds me of a contra experience at Glen Echo Park (Washington, DC) sometime in the early 80s. My memory is very sketchy, but it was something like this: The Capital Quickstep Quadrille Orchestra had made a demo tape and someone from the band (Steve Hickman?) was being interviewed live on a radio show airing shortly before the start of a regular dance. The word was spread that their taped version of Chorus Jig would be played at the end of the interview and so we brought our "Walkmen" and earphones and plugged in. There was a set of about a dozen couples and we appeared to be dancing in silence, yet we were all listening to our own personal music. As people came into the hall, more joined the set without any music and just danced to the silence. This wasn't a good test of "would it hang together?", since we were not all dancing to silence, but when I took off my headphones to experience dancing to the silence, it was rather awesome. Also, some people who were listening to the music were humming or doodling along with it very flatly and probably unconsciously. Thanks for the nudge to that memory. Anyone else on the list remember this? Rich? Mary Kay? Laurie Buchanan Eugene, OR ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 11:54:52 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 20:53:18 +0100 From: martin.sheffield-AT- wanadoo.fr (M Sheffield) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: new member To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Thanks to those of you who sent the info allowing me to sign up here (David M, Laurie A, Bill R, and, of course, Alan W. Looks like it worked ! Martin S, in Grenoble, France. Martin, Grenoble, France. ------------------ http://perso.wanadoo.fr/scots.in.france This web site has been revised: ...in.france/scd.htm -- Scottish Country Dance items, ...in.france/cycle.htm -- cycling, and urban transport items (mainly links), ...in.france/dances.htm -- a sampler of new dances, ...in.france/books.htm -- list of SCD booklets, ...in.france/CDlist.htm -- a selection of SCD recordings, ...in.france/calendar.htm -- SCD events in France, ...in.france/groups.htm -- SCD clubs in France. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 12:00:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 15:03:41 +0000 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dancing and painting To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801071944.OAA04505-AT- ns.kreative.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > The next summer dance camp of the Dutch Folk Dance Society (NVS) has > as its theme PAINTING. Can anyone suggest suitable dances or music > or songs to use to reflect that theme? The dance sorts that will be > on offer are English Country (incl. NE Contra), Morris and Western > Square. There will also be sessions for musicians and singers. Not > to mention painting sessions and other extra mural activities. Painted Chamber jumps to mind. A challenging dance, not for beginners, though. An interpretation is published in 2 Barns, vol. 3. However, you might want to do your own reconstruction from the Dancing Master (7th through 18th editions of vol. 1) or Walsh (1718). The original text sure sounds to me like it's saying the dance is improper. Makes the dance less challenging that way, too. You also might use dances with colors, such as Red House or Black Nag et al. ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 12:00:44 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 15:03:41 +0000 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801071944.OAA04512-AT- ns.kreative.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT There is a wonderful idiom in Spanish for a dance without music, baile seco [dancing dry]. ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 14:33:06 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 17:25:55 -0500 From: Mary K Friday Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Welsh Country Dancing -- ?? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <9801078842.AA884212325-AT- smtp-gw1.census.gov> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable A belated response -- I was unavailable when the thread was active= ,=20 but I have a story that has just amused me so much: =20 About 10 years ago, a dancing friend and I noticed an item in the = FSGW=20 (Folklore Society of Greater Washington) for Welsh country dancing= on=20 a Sunday afternoon at the British Embassy. We went, out of simple= =20 curiosity. It turned out that there is a Welsh Society, which mee= ts=20 (monthly, I believe) at the Embassy. My recollection is that the = dances were fairly simple (perhaps aimed at the type and level of = the=20 group, basically a one-night stand for non-dancers) and similar=20= =0A (figures and progressions) to English country dances. At the=20= =0A conclusion of the afternoon, we overheard one member saying to = another, "That was so much fun! Let's do it again next year!" =20 We, of course, nearly fell about laughing, as we were planning to = go=20 to the FSGW weekly dance to do it again THAT NIGHT. =20 I have the impression that they may, indeed, "do it" annually (the= =20 hotbed of twmpath dancing in the Eastern U.S.?). I'm sorry that I= =20 have no idea who led the dances (or even whether the music was liv= e or=20 recorded). Mary Kay Friday Washington, D.C. ______________________________ Reply Separator ________________________= _________ Subject: Welsh Country Dancing -- ?? Author: at SMTP-GATEWAY Date: 12/16/97 9:03 AM =2E =2E =2E Oh, yes -- anyone know where the hotbed of twmpath dancing is in the = Eastern U.S.? Mike O'Connor =20 = ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 22:21:20 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 22:48:22 -0600 From: Charlene Charette Subject: Re: comparing Playford editions To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B45A96.1C3B-AT- flash.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <34ADE134.57E1-AT- flash.net> <34B22441.5BC9-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> Philippe Callens wrote: > > You may have heard of "The Assembly", Tom Cook's work. In that work, > unpublished though, he compared all English country dances published > between 1651 and 1730 (The Dancing Master, Walsh, Bray, ...). What sort of comparison did he do? There are lots of ways to organize this sort of project. --Charlene ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 22:21:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 22:52:51 -0600 From: Charlene Charette Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B45BA2.1487-AT- flash.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <199801060522.VAA04741-AT- seki.mcs> metis-AT- mcs.mcs.csuhayward.edu wrote: > > I've taught dances where I've had the dancers run through it without the > > music. It works fine as long as I tap out a beat to get everyone > > started at the right speed. > > > > --Charlene [snip] > I find myself getting annoyed at teachers who underutilize the music (be > it live or recorded), and greatly appreciate those who play a bit of the > tune (and preferably once through) before even starting to teach a > dance. In contradancing it rarely matters: I can hum my favorite 32 bar Agreed. I do like to play the tune before teaching a dance. But I also like to do several walkthroughs without music while teaching. I usually do this only for the small number of dancers I get to my house on a weekly basis (6-20). When I'm teaching large groups I teach quite differently. --Charlene ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 22:32:57 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 01:34:19 -0500 From: Mary Beth Goodman Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Ok - I finally got to throw my two pence in here. The ice dancers Torville and Dean had a routine a couple of years ago that had a prolonged opening sequence of just them, skating, no music. There was a small click at the beginning to cue them to start and then it was just the sounds of their skates on the ice. It was really beautiful to watch. [and what an achievement and marvel - they had to be at a certain point when the music finally kicked in!] I often practice dancing using my walkman and tapes or just the music in my head or no music and just counting and figure it must look pretty darn weird to the casual observer... And finally a tale from my husband. He started out his dancing by belonging to a performing group run by Burt Schwartz in Detroit. Ron always tells me this tale and starts by saying how hard they practiced - that they would really learn the dances and then rip them apart and make them performance pieces with a lot of fine tuning and detailing. Apparently some thought Burt was really a hard task master. But he made them do the dance so many times and would make them do it sometimes without music, because you just never know what might happen. They got a big gig - dancing at the Democratic Convention when it was there. The big day comes and they're up on this big outside stage/platform. Waiting for the music. There's something - but it's just loud noise. Apparently the music got totally distorted going through the sound system and into that large outside space. But they did it anyway - a Kentucky running set, no music, done for - as Ron tells it - a totally oblivious crowd of politicos. Mary Beth <-- ok - it was 3 pence ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 07:26:18 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 10:26:09 -0500 (EST) From: Stephen D Corrsin Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: dancing without music To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII This reminds me of a couple of stories. First, my wife the professional musician has often said that professional dancers (i.e., ballet, modern dance) are notorious for not listening to the music; rather for counting. (I should add, they are notorious with musicians for doing that.) Second, once I was at the Lincoln Center Dance Division Library. I wanted to photocopy an article, which included several pieces of music. That same day, the neighboring Music Division had refused to let me photocopy another article from a journal in their collection, which had complete pieces of music in it, saying that this might violate copyright laws. (This was several years ago; I don't think I'd have a problem now.) Being a good citizen and a librarian to boot, in asking for permission from the Dance Division librarian, I pointed out the music included. She said, "Go ahead. We're dancers, we don't care about music." QED. Steve Corrsin ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 13:52:20 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 22:51:18 +0100 From: martin.sheffield-AT- wanadoo.fr (M Sheffield) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: (Welsh) Country Dancing -- ?? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > "That was so much fun! Let's do it again next year!" > > We, of course, nearly fell about laughing, as we were planning to go > to the FSGW weekly dance to do it again THAT NIGHT. > It does seem strange to regular dancers that others can join in just once a year and be satisfied. I have been asked to MC a ceili/barn dance evening year after year for two different organizations here, where everyone joins in enthusiastically and always wants more -- but not before the following year. These events have produced precisely ONE new member for my weekly club/classes, otherwise, never the twain shall meet. Martin, Grenoble, France. ------------------ http://perso.wanadoo.fr/scots.in.france ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 18:50:53 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 21:52:14 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: The Prez on the Beach To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sometimes my lists overlap >Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 18:43:24 -0800 (PST) >Subject: The Prez on the Beach >Sender: NPPA Discussion List >To: NPPA-L-AT- CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU > >Just to add fuel to the fire.... > >Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts, co-hosts of "This Week," said on CNN >tonight that they believe the infamous AFP photo was allowed to "happen" >by the White House. > >Sam, stating that "he knows something about the Secret Service," >explained that the agency knows where every photographer is at every >moment, and that a road-block leading to the beach was blocked on >one-day, but was "miracuously" unblocked the next. > >He also said that the Secret Service informed the White House staff of >the presence of the media, and they were fully aware that photos were >being taken, as was the president. > >Cokie said that she has been married a lot longer than the Clintons, and >would never dance on the beach, especially when no music was playing. > >Larry King elaborated that the photo may have been the White House's >answer to the Paula Jones case, showing the Clintons as a >happily-married and loving couple. >-- > >SO, if this was a staged photo-op, why all of the fuss? Did it backfire >when the incident was shown to have paparazzi overtones? >These are rhetorical questions, so feel free to blow them off. > >Granted, I've never covered the Clintons, but I did shoot the 1996 >Republican Convention and from my limited experience with high-level >politics, nobody in the media sneezes without the party cronies knowing >about it. > >Michael R. Brown >Freelance Photojournalist >photog-AT- i-star.com >brnmike-AT- hotmail.com < >"Never let school get in the way of your education." > --Mark Twain > > >______________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader, weaver/spinner No matter which side of the fence you're on, the grass will always turn brown if you don't water it. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 12:38:23 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 15:36:00 -0500 From: Anne Marie Edden Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: ECD with Gene Murrow Tonight To: ecd-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <2F888B3101FC4600-AT- GRUZENSAMTON.COM> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT This is a reminder to all in the NYC area that tonight (Friday, January 9) CD*NY will sponsor an experienced English Country Dance from 8pm to 10:45. The caller will be Gene Murrow. Musicians will be John Austin, Cara Friedman and Cynthia Simonoff. Location is Duane Metropolitain Church, 201 W 13th St -AT- 7th Ave, NYC. Admission: $7 members, $9 non-members Bring your clean, soft-bottomed, non-street shoes! Bring edible goodies to share! PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS DANCE IS -NOT- LISTED ON OUR CALENDAR. See you all there tonight! Annie Edden ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 18:02:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 21:01:55 -0500 (EST) From: "Priscilla M. Burrage" Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII nOn Wed, 7 Jan 1998, Rich Galloway wrote: > There is a wonderful idiom in Spanish for a dance without music, > > baile seco [dancing dry]. Just had some lessons in Mexican dancing, and the class was taught in Spanish. The teacher had a neat way to avoid the four syllable Spanish word for 'left.' He called it the bad (mal) foot. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Priscilla Burrage Vermont US (pburrage-AT- zoo.uvm.edu) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 09:00:50 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 11:58:14 -0500 From: "Hanny D. Budnick" <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Kissing dances To: Blind.Copy.Receiver-AT- compuserve.com Message-ID: <199801101200_MC2-2EBA-AED4-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Occasionally I use 'All in a garden green' with an ECD group. It's in the first Playford edition of 1651. Is anyone aware of other 'kissing dances'? Hanny ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 11:13:25 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 14:07:54 -0500 From: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Valentine's Day (a dance) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980110.140913.4798.0.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> Hi- I'm looking for the instructions to a dance called Valentine's Day. I have the music. It's in Barnes. According to the index, the instructions can be found in Country Dance and Song#3 1970 or with the recording PE205 "Next Dance is..." I am leading a dance in North Jersey tomorrow (Sun, Jan 11), and since it is the first dance of the new year, I am preparing a program to "dance around the year" with dances from seasons, holidays, etc. Any ideas? Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 11:23:36 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 14:19:54 -0500 From: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980110.141955.4798.2.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> Hi- I am looking for the instructions to "All Saint's Day", a neat little dance set to "The Chestnut". It is not in the index. Can anyone help? Can anyone think of any other dances for fall holidays or about Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 12:18:02 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 15:18:58 +0000 From: Mary E Jones Subject: Re: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B79161.57C9-AT- javanet.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <19980110.141955.4798.2.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> MARTHA C DAVEY wrote: > > Hi- > I am looking for the instructions to "All Saint's Day", a neat little > dance set to "The Chestnut". Martha, and all - "All Saints' Day" (version taught by George Fogg) David Ashwell, 1975 Music: "Doves Figary" (The Chestnut) A BB ad lib A 1st corners right-hand turn while 2nd corners cross over behind their partners into each other's place; repeat with 2nd corners turning by the left hand and the 1st corners crossing over. [End progressed and Improper.] B1 All fall back a double, forward, cross (passing right), turn right into a no-hands circle, 1st woman leading to a line of four across the room (1W-2W-2M-1M). B2 Line lead forward a double, fall back into longways lines; 1's cross and go below while 2's lead up and cross over. This is published in the CDSS News, #99, March/April 1991. The News also published the orignal text: A1 1st M & 2nd W give R. hands & turn once around...at same time the 1st W & 2nd M across set into Partners place, the 2nd M moves Up, & 1st W moves Down into each others place. A2 1st W & 2nd M give L. hands and turn as 1st M & 2nd W cross set & move Up or Down the set to change places. (All are now progressed & improper.) B1 All fall back and double, & come forward, changing sides with partner (R. Shoulder) over to correct side, & immediately turn into a circle left, Indian file (i.e. no hands), 1st W leading 2nd W, 2nd M & 1st M into a line of 4, facing up. B2 Lines Forward, & back, 2's swinging 1's in to meet above them. 1st couple cast down one place, 2's lead up. All 1/2 turn Partners. Good luck - Mary Jones Amherst, MA ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 12:45:03 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 15:34:43 -0800 From: Stephanie Smith Subject: News about Glen Echo Park - Spanish Ballroom To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B80593.4D3E-AT- ix.netcom.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <19980110.141955.4798.2.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> <34B79161.57C9-AT- javanet.com> I know more than a few of you on this list have danced at the Spanish Ballroom, and as one of many concerned dancers in the Washington D.C. area, I wanted to share this with you. Thanks. Stephanie ************************************************************ To dance associations/enthusiasts nationwide: Many of you have visited the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park, MD, near DC. You may have heard that the future of the ballroom is in question. We're hoping that you will help spread the word about what's happening and show your support for this national treasure. We're trying to get as many dancers as possible to attend the first review meeting on February 3rd. I realize that those of you in Charlottesville or Philadelphia or NY will probably not venture to Glen Echo during the week. But anything you can do will help. Following is a message about what's happening and how people can help. Would you please post it on your sites and newsletters, announce it at your dances, and distribute the message through your list serves if you have them? Thanks so much. Janice Saylor, Washington Swing Dance Committee, and Stephanie Smith, Folklore Society of Greater Washington. *********************************************************** Important Notice about Glen Echo Park and the Spanish Ballroom As many of you know, the National Park Service is developing a management plan for Glen Echo Park. The results of this management plan could affect the current use of the Ballroom. The continued use of the Spanish Ballroom for dancing is NOT guaranteed. We need to let the park service know that we value this national treasure. The first milestone in this procedure is February 3. At that time, the park service will have a "cafeteria" style meeting at which the several different options for management of park will be presented. There will be a number of "stations" in the hall with the options displayed and flip charts available for recording public comments and ideas. Each station will be staffed by a park service person who has been involved with the internal process to date. Here's how you can help: 1. Show up at the meeting and make your views known. We're hoping that the dance community will come in droves to give a very visual message to the park service. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 3 at 6:00 PM, at the Clara Barton Recreation Center, 7425 MacArthur Boulevard, Cabin John -- just down the road from the Ballroom, towards Great Falls. 2. If you can't make it to the meeting, call that day. Say that you wanted to come to the meeting but were unable to. Tell them that you want to be put on the mailing list to be kept apprised of developments. The phone number is: 703/285-1924 3. Write the park service. Tell them your personal history and experience with the park (you wanted to see where your parents met; you live in some other country or state, but always make sure that you come to the ballroom when you're in town; you've taken lessons at Glen Echo; you rode the carousel when you were a child ....). You get the picture. Make it very personal. You don't want to lose this national living history treasure. Send your letter to Superintendent Audrey Calhoun, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Turkey Run Headquarters, McLean, VA 22101. Send the letter to your congressional representative also. 4. Spread the word. Make sure that anyone you know in the dance community who may have the slightest possibility of visiting the park knows about these developments. Ask them to participate. And a special note to out-of-towners. It's extremely important that you let the park service know that you want to keep this national treasure for its intended purpose -- dancing (not exhibits or company picnics). We know that the Ballroom has been visited by people from all over the world. Please write. If you wish to continue dancing at Glen Echo it's important that you make your views known now. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 13:51:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 16:51:25 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Kissing dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable It's not officially a kissing dance, and it's not ECD either, but I love = the=0Apre-AIDS-era tradition of doing Rory O'More with kisses on the bala= nces. =0A=97Carl Friedman=0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 15:47:32 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 18:48:55 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Valentine's Day (a dance) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hi- > I'm looking for the instructions to a dance called Valentine's >Day. I have the music. It's in Barnes. >According to the index, the instructions can be found in Country Dance >and Song#3 1970 or with the recording PE205 "Next Dance is..." It's also in Choice Morsels, one of Fried's books. My instructions go: (spacious duple minor set) A: 1s lead up & bk, while 2s lead down & bk A: Men lead out & bk, while Ladies lead out & bk. B: 1st crnrs x, 2nd crnrs x, fall bk on the the line, advance and pass thru by right B: orig 1 crnrs meet in mid & turn their back on each other, orig 2nd crnrs the same, all clap and cast out to place, all circle all the way around Have fun. Let us know how it comes out. Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader, weaver/spinner No matter which side of the fence you're on, the grass will always turn brown if you don't water it. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 16:05:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 16:04:59 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: Kissing dances To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01IS7UD6TKBS9GYLEW-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Hanny asked about kissing dances. _The Playford Ball_ notes that Sharp's reconstruction removed the kissing from "Epping Forest". I have tried calling it with the kissing for a historical recreationist group. The timing works fine, but people were sure embarrassed about doing it; most were more comfortable with men kissing women's hands than cheeks or lips. (Of course, I didn't warn them it was going to be a kissing dance when they took partners.) So, count Epping Forest as a kissing dance if you go back to the original, but think carefully before introducing kissing dances. And let us know how it goes! -- Alan =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 20:11:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 23:10:06 -0500 From: Gene Murrow Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: POSSIBLY Incomplete Message: Dance, music, and ECD To: ECD ECD Message-ID: <199801102310_MC2-2ED5-5C48-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable (This is a late-night, meandering attempt to get some thoughts down in writing... You've been warned). I got a good laugh from Steve Corrsin's post of two examples of performan= ce dancers' indifference to music. Not to worry... when I played in various= professional free-lance orchestras for a few pro and semi-pro ballet companies (in my profligate youth), I was chagrined at the indifference o= f the musicians to the dance. I recall some heated pinochle games among th= e wind players in the orchestra pit during the most poignant moments. QPQ= (quid pro quo). Which only serves to illustrate a wonderful and appreciated feature of ou= r favorite form (oops, I mean genre) of dance-- the intimate connection between movement and music. There are good technical reasons why this is= so (IMHO): ECD choreography is repetitive and is (often) prompted, so there's brain capacity available to listen to and enjoy the music, and to= let the music set the tempo and serve as a reminder of what to do. Balle= t choreography, on the other hand, is so complex, lengthy, and non-repetiti= ve that the movement must be entirely and precisely learned and internalized= =2E = Its execution requires extreme concentration (think of your state of mind= when first learning/doing a very complicated new figure). Thus the learning by counting, and the "indifference" to the melodic and rhythmic cues of the music. (Of course the great talent of the very best dancers allows them to express the content of the music as well). Looking in the= other direction, the best "realization" of the music for ECD occurs when there are dancers moving to the music-- there's a real synergy that improves the performance of the music. Just ask any ECD musician who's tried to record, in a studio, music for dancing. Playing ballet music, OTOH, in an orchestra without dancers is not considered a problem; indeed= , not having those gorgeous duck-walking ballerinas around is an advantage!= (see paragraph 1 above ;-) ) What's remarkable is that, while other social dance genres (e.g. couple dancing) also involve a direct, "real-time," relationship between dancer and musician, "Playford" or "historical-style" ECD goes further and makes= a strong connection between particular choreography and a particular tune. One can waltz, schottische, jitterbug, electric boogie, or polka to any appropriate tune, but there's only one Miss DeJersey's Memorial, or Orlea= ns Baffled, or St. Martin's Lane (to pick a few easy examples). Just like ballet! We even talk about "story lines" in the best dances, and experience the dances differently based on the shape and affect given the= music by the band-- all of which I think is appropriate. Within the EFDSS= in the 50's, revisionist criticisms of Sharp's legacy were leveled at his= postulate that these "little ballets" (as they were called by some) were folk dances. = So we get the best of both... a dynamic interplay of music and movement t= o be fully enjoyed by both musician and dancer as it's happening, and the aethetic appreciat ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 07:29:58 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 16:16:41 +0100 From: Antony Heywood Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Kissing dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801111529.QAA01038-AT- IAEhv.nl> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The Maid in the Moon and Kettledrum are also kissing dances. The Maid in the Moon was published by Sharp with the tune All in a Garden Green and it works quite well with that tune. But try it to its original tune which is the same tune as Valentine Day and if the band can play a pause on each of the appropriate notes in the B-music, the kissers can have a good smacker! Incidentally, with the original tune, you have to leave out the set and turn singles in the introductions. Hasn't any reader ever wondered why in The Maid in the Moon, the first two stars are right hand stars and the last one a left hand star. Think whom the next person is to be kissed and it all becomes obvious! Antony Heywood with memories of Summer Dance Camp 1985 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 10:19:35 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 10:19:07 -0800 (PST) From: bestockp-AT- oz.net Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Valentine's Day (a dance) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hi- > I'm looking for the instructions to a dance called Valentine's >Day. I have the music. It's in Barnes. >According to the index, the instructions can be found in Country Dance >and Song#3 1970 or with the recording PE205 "Next Dance is..." >I am leading a dance in North Jersey tomorrow (Sun, Jan 11), and since it >is the first dance of the new year, I am preparing a program to "dance >around the year" >with dances from seasons, holidays, etc. Any ideas? > >Martha Davey >25-14 37 ST, >Astoria, NY 11103 >(718)278-4389 MARTHA, HOW ABOUT SOME OF THESE? In the Fields of Frost and Snow Female Saylor (Tune is an Xmas Carol, Masters in this Hall) Easter Morn Easter Thursday All Saint's Day Gathering Peascods or Sellenger's Round (dances for the first of May) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 12:56:06 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 15:51:27 -0500 From: "Hanny D. Budnick" <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Welsh CD listing To: Blind.Copy.Receiver-AT- compuserve.com Message-ID: <199801111555_MC2-2EEE-3BF0-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Alan, Si=E2n does not know the procedure to get onto the list. Will you please tell her? Thanks, Hanny -- Forwarded Message -- Sb: Re: Welsh CD listing = Fm: Sibn Frick 73642,2074 Welsh Folk Dance Classes taught by Sia^n Frick, certificated WFDS teacher, on Sundays, 2-4.30 p.m. at Rehoboth Chapel, Main Street, Delta, PA (January 11 only), then at Slate Ridge Presbyterian Church, Chestnut Street, Delta, PA, January 18 to March 15, 1998 (weather permitting). Two hours of dancing, followed by a Te Bach (Welsh tea). We will be preparing dances for display at the *Hwyrnos*, an evening of Welsh food and entertainment on March 21, 1998 in Delta, and other Welsh or Celtic events. No need to bring a partner, and no experience is necessary. Further information from Sia^n Frick, sianfrick-AT- compuserve.com or (302) 368-2318. Carpool available from Newark, Delaware. In response to Mary Kay Friday, the St. David's Society of Washington used to meet at the British Embassy but unfortunately is no longer allowed to, and their annual folk dance afternoon has been discontinued. If you went in 1987, that was me calling the dances, with music by Sue Richards' band Peascods Gathering. I also trained a small group to perform a couple of more interesting dances during the afternoon. As you gathered, the members of the Society are not dancers, so it had to be on the Twmpath level, easy dances suitable for audience participation. In spite of announcements and encouragement, the Welsh societies in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, etc. have not been responsive to my offers over the years to teach Welsh folk dance on a regular basis, partly because the members tend to be older and partly because the Welsh tradition handed down by their grandparents who emigrated to America in the last century was that to be Welsh, you went to chapel 3 times on Sunday and sang in choirs, and it was sinful to dance. Some of us are trying very hard to educate them about 20th century Wales and the existence of Welsh folk music and dance, etc., and it is gradually bearing fruit. Fortunately Rehoboth Welsh Choir is a lively group, and some of us plus some new people (not Welsh-connected) are having a terrific time learning the social and display dances to perform. It's great to do the dances on a regular basis again, after my previous team Dawnswyr y Tract Cymreig (The Welsh Tract Dancers) in Newark, DE had to disband owing to health problems. It's a common problem in the U.S., people start teams but the Welsh don't support them and other dancers have so much else to choose from. So all you English dancers, come and join us in Delta! It's easy to get to from I-95, just over an hour from Washington I believe, and a pretty drive near the Susquehanna River. Mary Kay, your name seems familiar, have we met somewhere? Hwyl (All the best), Sia^n Frick ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 19:45:34 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 22:44:17 -0500 From: Gene Murrow Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dance, music, and ECD II To: ECD ECD Message-ID: <199801112245_MC2-2EEB-D817-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable From Gene Murrow: Computer glitch truncated my last posting. Here's the= last paragraph in full... = So we get the best of both... a dynamic interplay of music and movement t= o be fully enjoyed by both musician and dancer as it's happening, and the aethetic appreciation of a unique work of art, created by an artist (Mr. Isaac, Henry Purcell, Colin, Fried, Gary, et. al.) that we participate in= re-creating. Well worth the price of admission on a Friday night... Gene Murrow Too tired to dance, too awake to sleep. = ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 21:04:41 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 00:24:22 -0500 From: Faina Riftina Subject: Re: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34B9A906.22CE-AT- is3.nyu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: Emily L. Ferguson wrote: > But is the _movement_ what we're learning, really? Or are we there, and to > hearken to another thread, not to master the style, but to achieve > sufficient facility to enjoy each other and the conjunction of the music > and the choreography? In fact, I see this as what Sharp was after, > performance, yes, but not historic reconstruction. As I understand his > motivation he was after accessibility and sociability. > > I experience the dancing I do in Boston as an outgrowth of Sharp's work as > conveyed to us through two generations of fine ladies, the first of which > sat at the table with the inventor. I don't see what I do there as having > much to do with historic accuracy, and I don't want it to, because I don't > want to dance that way. I don't want rules, classes, restrictive clothing, > fancy footwork at the expense of interaction with others. I want the > freedom from that so I only have to split my attention three ways - towards > the music, towards the other dancers and towards the sequence of figures. > > The other and most wonderful part of what is happening in Boston is the > slow but inexorable change in the style and repertoire. Yes, we did begin > tilted over far enough that we'd fall on our faces if we were shot from > behind, back when Lily Conant led the dance. Even Genny recommended that > posture, but danced with a modification of it, as does Helene. And we have > not degenerated into a trudge or stride yet, and I hope we don't ever get > there because neither of those is my idea of the right style for our > dancing. > > A dance walk is what we use, what I understand Sharp to have advocated > albeit with somewhat different posture from 1998, and what I hope > continues. When it turns into a stride, it will be walking briskly but not > dancing. When it becomes a trudge it's time to go take a nap, or for the > leader to come and help one get a sense of the style of movement... Excellently said! I couldn't agree more. I attended Gene's Amherst Assembly and learned a great deal from it. I am grateful for the many historical insights into English Country dancing that a long line of researchers, beginning with Sharp himself, has given us. But we are moderns, and in my view we'll gain the greatest pleasure and reward from this activity if we dance as such.--Paul Ross ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 22:27:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 01:17:19 -0500 From: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Valentine's Day (a dance) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980112.012355.3478.1.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> References: Hi-, Vicky, et al, I did the following program: 1) New Year's Day in the Morning 2) Valentines Day 3) Spring 4) Easter Thursday 5) The Tweenty-ninth of May 6) Upon a Summer's Day 7) Halloween Triad 8) All Saint's Day 9) In the Fields in Frost and Snow 10)Sellinger's Round Sellinger's round can also be used as a New Year's dance (The beginning of the World is an alternate title). So it completed the cycle. I also had these other possibiliies Female Sayler Drive the Cold Winter Away December Waltz Spring Garden Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 On Sun, 11 Jan 1998 10:19:07 -0800 (PST) bestockp-AT- oz.net writes: >>Hi- >> I'm looking for the instructions to a dance called >Valentine's >>Day. I have the music. It's in Barnes. >>According to the index, the instructions can be found in Country >Dance >>and Song#3 1970 or with the recording PE205 "Next Dance is..." >>I am leading a dance in North Jersey tomorrow (Sun, Jan 11), and >since it >>is the first dance of the new year, I am preparing a program to >"dance >>around the year" >>with dances from seasons, holidays, etc. Any ideas? >> >>Martha Davey >>25-14 37 ST, >>Astoria, NY 11103 >>(718)278-4389 > > >MARTHA, > >HOW ABOUT SOME OF THESE? > >In the Fields of Frost and Snow >Female Saylor (Tune is an Xmas Carol, Masters in this Hall) >Easter Morn >Easter Thursday >All Saint's Day >Gathering Peascods or Sellenger's Round (dances for the first of May) > > > > > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 04:08:28 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 14:12:13 +0100 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Re: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BA16AD.AA5-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <19980110.141955.4798.2.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> For fall/autumn related dances, try "Sixteenth of November" by Charles Bolton; it is in one of his books and is a fine dance. Several years ago, I wrote a dance called "The First of October". Are you interested in that one (it is simple)? You can also try Fried's "Rainy Day Triad" in case you run out of appropriate titles. Philippe Callens ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 04:40:41 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 14:44:26 +0100 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Re: Kissing dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BA1E3A.12F5-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: Carl Friedman wrote: "It's not officially a kissing dance, and it's not ECD either, but I love the pre-AIDS-era tradition of doing Rory O'More with kisses on the balances." Luckily you can't get AIDS from kissing. Moreover I feel we can miss such statements like hell on this list. Philippe Callens ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 06:24:31 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 09:25:33 -0500 From: Martin.Fager-AT- bowne.com (Martin Fager) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Valentine's Day (a dance) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU, marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Message-ID: <00067288.1618-AT- bowne.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Martha, How about Jenny Beer's dance, "Now Is The Month Of Maying"? According to Jenny, she clearly views it as a seasonal dance, and for that reason didn't want to call it at Duane Hall last Tuesday (to my disappointment, as I haven't danced it yet.) Marty Fager ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Valentine's Day (a dance) Author: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) at Internet-Express Date: 1/10/98 2:07 PM Hi- I'm looking for the instructions to a dance called Valentine's Day. I have the music. It's in Barnes. According to the index, the instructions can be found in Country Dance and Song#3 1970 or with the recording PE205 "Next Dance is..." I am leading a dance in North Jersey tomorrow (Sun, Jan 11), and since it is the first dance of the new year, I am preparing a program to "dance around the year" with dances from seasons, holidays, etc. Any ideas? Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 06:45:21 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 09:45:07 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Philippe Callens wrote: [snip] > Several years ago, I wrote a dance called "The First of October". Are > you interested in that one (it is simple)? Sure -- let's have it! Eric Arnold Ann Arbor P.S. Ben Bolker had a nice solution to the problem of transferring notation over the net -- he has a tune up on his web page ("Katydids") in .gif format, which can be printed out and played from. Perhaps that would be a good way to propogate public-domain tunes. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 07:00:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 09:53:05 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Re: Kissing dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =0AIn a message dated 1/12/98 12:42:10 PM, you wrote:=0A=0A>Carl Friedman= wrote:=0A>"It's not officially a kissing dance, and it's not ECD either,= but I=0A>love the pre-AIDS-era tradition of doing Rory O'More with kisse= s on the=0A>balances."=0A>=0A>Luckily you can't get AIDS from kissing. Mo= reover I feel we can miss=0A>such statements like hell on this list.=0A>P= hilippe Callens=0A=0APhilippe,=0AYou apparently misunderstood my statemen= t. As a physician who treats AIDS=0Apatients I am fully aware of how it i= s and isn't transmitted. Unfortunately,=0Athe tradition of kissing in Ror= y O'More that was done regularly here in=0ABaltimore when I started danci= ng 20 years ago disappeared, and the clear=0Areason is the fear of transm= itting disease, and the obviously feared disease=0Ais HIV/AIDS. Sorry if = mentioning this offended you or anyone else on the list.=0A=97Carl Friedm= an=0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 07:07:20 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 10:07:05 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Valentine's Day (a dance) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Martha -- that's a nice list, and I like your idea of celebrating the entire year in a single dance. It brings to mind some other topics that might be celebrated in an evening of dance, such as: Houses (e.g. Hunsdon House, Red House, etc.) Trips Gardens Whether there's sufficient variety in these categories to make up a whole program, I haven't attempted to establish, but it seems like a reasonable exercise. Other possible topics? Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 07:26:28 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 16:26:16 +0100 ("MET) From: Tom Goodale Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Eric Arnold wrote: > > > On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Philippe Callens wrote: > > [snip] > > > Several years ago, I wrote a dance called "The First of October". Are > > you interested in that one (it is simple)? > > Sure -- let's have it! > > Eric Arnold > Ann Arbor > > > P.S. Ben Bolker had a nice solution to the problem of transferring > notation over the net -- he has a tune up on his web page ("Katydids") in > .gif format, which can be printed out and played from. Perhaps that would > be a good way to propogate public-domain tunes. > ABC format is pretty good. It also has the advantage that you can convert it to MIDI (well, ok, sometimes 8-), and can also be played directly on several platforms. There're also a vast number of tunes in this format already. Tom ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 07:44:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 10:43:58 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Tom Goodale wrote: [on the subject of transmitting music notation over the net] > ABC format is pretty good. [snip...] What is ABC format? Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 08:21:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 17:21:22 +0100 ("MET) From: Tom Goodale Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: ABC To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Probably the best place to get info is http://www.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/ To quote the first paragraph from this page... begin-quote abc is a language designed to notate tunes in an ascii format. It was designed primarily for folk and traditional tunes of Western European origin (such as Irish, English and Scottish) which can be written on one stave in standard classical notation. However, it is extendible to many other types of music. Since its introduction at the end of 1991 it has become very popular and there now exist several PC and UNIX based tools which can read abc notation and either process it into staff notation or play it through the speakers of a computer. end-quote Have fun, Tom On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Eric Arnold wrote: > > > On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Tom Goodale wrote: > > [on the subject of transmitting music notation over the net] > > > ABC format is pretty good. [snip...] > > What is ABC format? > > Eric Arnold > Ann Arbor > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 09:04:45 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 12:06:46 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Praetzel Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: All Saints Dayt To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801121706.MAA25025-AT- sca.UWaterloo.CA> Content-Type: text > [on the subject of transmitting music notation over the net] > > > ABC format is pretty good. [snip...] > > What is ABC format? It is a quick 'n' dirty music notation format that is in text. I've rejected it from the usefull set of software because it is only good for 1 part music and doesn't have any support for much notation. ie I'm trying to collection & make available multi-part music arrangements. I am currently using Noteworthy Composer for Winblows 95; but like all Vinblows Chunks 95 garbageware; it involves copous amounts of pointing and clicking and then even more pointing and clicking. There is an excellent package in the works right now and it is called LilyPond. It is mainly intended for Linux/Unix environments but there is no reason why it could not be compiled for MS DOG or Vindoze 1895. It is under development and I have not had a chance to test it in a while. It's main attractions was that it used all text music files and could be converted to MIDI or PS or GIF or other image formats. My main interest is that it should be easy enough to set up a small script to rip thru a collection of hundreds of songs; suck out hte melodies and make a dance music melody booklet for recorder (or whatever). To do that with Microjunk Winblows Chunks 95 is painfull at best (not to mention that you'll wear the mouse out with all of that pointing and clicking). There was an ABC web page on the web somewhere. Go ahead and use it if you like. The one nice thing about all text music files is that it would be easy to write a script to convert from ABC to LilyPond formats; while you are up a tree if you use the typical music software because they use their own binary formats that they keep secret. I'm currently hacking the Noteworthy format since I've got well over 200 pieces of 4 or 5 part music as well as all of 1651 Playford. If you have Linux/Unix or even Winblows and want to try LilyPond the main web page is in Europe but I've setup a mirror on my machine in http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/~praetzel/lilypond or if you are in Europe check out: Han-Wen Nienhuys, hanwen-AT- stack.nl | LilyPond - The GNU Project music typesetter http://www.stack.nl/~hanwen | http://www.stack.nl/~hanwen/lilypond/ If you are going to do much music work; consider the future. You can't use MIDI to transfer from one music program to another because you'll loose nearly all of the notation. If you really want to spend money then there are packages that work on Mac/Dos/... and they are actual quasi-profession publishing packages. - Eric Praetzel, http://sca.uwaterloo.ca ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 09:26:33 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 12:08:01 -0500 From: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980112.122201.3494.1.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> References: <19980110.141955.4798.2.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> <34BA16AD.AA5-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> On Mon, 12 Jan 1998 14:12:13 +0100 Philippe Callens writes: >For fall/autumn related dances, try "Sixteenth of November" by Charles >Bolton; it is in one of his books and is a fine dance. Which book? >Several years ago, I wrote a dance called "The First of October". Are >you interested in that one (it is simple)? >Philippe Callens > That would be nice. What is the music? Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 09:35:55 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 12:31:53 -0500 From: "Hanny D. Budnick" <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Kissing dances To: Blind.Copy.Receiver-AT- compuserve.com Message-ID: <199801121235_MC2-2F05-8B29-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Rich, I have M. Dean-Smith's annotated facsimile. Staines Morris contains 'salute', it's no Sharp modification. Where do I find 'An old man......'? I'm primarily interested in the historical dances, not modern choreographies. Hanny ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 15:06:08 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 18:03:18 -0500 (EST) From: JohnBerni Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: The evolution of country dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 1/11/98 11:07:40 PM, you wrote: <> Response from John Ramsay in St Louis... Have you seen Amistad? The climax in its development comes in the statement by Cinque and reiterated in less precise terms by John Quincy Adams, something to the effect that, "I am the entire reason for the existence of my ancestors." Yes, Paul, we gain when we dance what has been give to us. Without us, our predecessors in country dance have no meaning. They are nothing in themselves and it is impossible to recreate their time to dance. Today it is our turn. But, as we dance, our predecessors come alive, albeit in modern dress. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 15:15:59 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 18:03:15 -0500 (EST) From: JohnBerni Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Kissing dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <987dd6f2.34baa134-AT- aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From John Ramsay in St Louis... The Epping Forest is a Playford kissing dance, published between 1670-1690 (see Keller and Shimer The Playford Ball p. 31). There are others but I have not the time nor the inclination to search them out. Balance the Star, a dance coreographed in my living room in Berea in 1973 by the McLain family and introduced to Christmas School a few days later, has a moment for a "mistletoe kiss" to your opposite between the do-si-dos. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 15:53:07 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 15:56:38 -0800 (PST) From: Barbara Ruth Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The evolution of country dance To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980112235638.20984.rocketmail-AT- web2.rocketmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ---JohnBerni wrote: > > In a message dated 1/11/98 11:07:40 PM, you wrote: > > < that a long line of researchers, beginning with Sharp himself, has given us. > But we are > moderns, and in my view we'll gain the greatest pleasure and reward from this > activity if we dance as such.--Paul Ross > >> > > Response from John Ramsay in St Louis... > > Have you seen Amistad? The climax in its development comes in the statement > by Cinque and reiterated in less precise terms by John Quincy Adams, something > to the effect that, "I am the entire reason for the existence of my > ancestors." Yes, Paul, we gain when we dance what has been give to us. > Without us, our predecessors in country dance have no meaning. They are > nothing in themselves and it is impossible to recreate their time to dance. > Today it is our turn. But, as we dance, our predecessors come alive, albeit > in modern dress. I don't think I buy the "Without us our predecessors have no meaning" line, although I like the idea of them coming alive in some sense, embodied in us. I think the dances of our predecessors had plenty of meaning for them in their own time, and it would not have been one whit diminished if we were not now doing our own versions today. There is a lot to be said for regarding the past with respect and keeping in mind our part in a continuation of life and tradition, the cultural viewpoint behind the scenes from the movie you cite. But at the same time, I think we can put too much emphasis on permanence as a value in itself, forgetting that was is transient can also be beautiful, precious and meaningful in its own time. I don't believe that any individual life is meaningless because it comes to an end, even though an individual may not leave anything that lasts long afterward, either genetically or in achievement. Few, very few, of us are Shakespeares to leave behind work that will continue to enthrall others centuries after our death, and the world is sufficiently populated that preserving our species by reproducing is no longer an essential matter for as many of us as are able. The meaning of an individual's life comes out of how it is passed while that person lives and touches other people's lives in that moment, and the same I believe is true of our dancing. I don't know if Englsih dancing will be alive in 300 years, but if Gene Murrow is wrong and it is not, that makes it no degree less delightful to me as I dance today. Although I do think the people of the 23rd century will be missing out on a lot of fun. (Just imagine the possibilities inherent in conducting a Ball on a holo-deck!) Barbara Ruth _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free -AT- yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 19:37:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 19:36:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: seeking introductory writeups on English dance To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01ISAU9P28GY9GWCV2-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Folks -- Has anyone ever seen a one-side-of-a-sheet-of-paper explanation of English country dance that would convey anything useful to someone who's never done it, seen it, or done contra or squares? In November I went cruising the web looking for some kind of explanation of what this stuff _is_ (for an article for the Humboldt Folklife Society Newsletter to explain what I was supposed to be doing there in December) and didn't really find anything that wasn't either fairly scholarly or based on a comparison with contra dance. (CDNY has a nice page on style and how it differs from contra style, but I don't think it would have meant anything to me if I'd never seen English dance.) It would be nice to, for example, have this kind of explanation up on our local organization's web site so that people cruising by could get some idea of what were talking about. Or, if the explanation already exists somewhere else on the web, we could link to it. If you have such an explanation, and would be willing, please share it with the rest of us by posting either the explanation or a URL here to the list. If not, maybe the ECD Group Mind can come up with something good. Thanks, -- Alan =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 20:21:04 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 23:20:49 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Kissing dances (re-post) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable This came out garbled in its first trip through cyberspace, so I'll try= =0Aposting it again:=0A=0AIn a message dated 1/12/98 12:42:10 PM, Phillip= pe Callens wrote:=0A=0A>Carl Friedman wrote:=0A=0A>"It's not officially a= kissing dance, and it's not ECD either, but I=0A>love the pre-AIDS-era t= radition of doing Rory O'More with kisses on the=0A>balances."=0A>=0A=0A>= Luckily you can't get AIDS from kissing. Moreover I feel we can miss=0A>s= uch statements like hell on this list.=0A>Philippe Callens=0A=0A=0A=0APhi= lippe,=0A=0AYou apparently misunderstood my statement. As a physician who= treats AIDS=0Apatients I am fully aware of how it is and isn't transmitt= ed. Unfortunately,=0Athe tradition of kissing in Rory O'More that was don= e regularly here in=0ABaltimore when I started dancing 20 years ago disap= peared, and the clear=0Areason is the fear of transmitting disease, and t= he obviously feared disease=0Ais HIV/AIDS. Sorry if mentioning this offen= ded you or anyone else on the list.=0A=0A=97Carl Friedman=0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 21:16:53 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 00:16:40 -0500 (EST) From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: seeking introductory writeups on English dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801130516.AAA29391-AT- mail1.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Alan, I was wondering whether, with some editing [and with proper permissions, of course], Linda Wolfe's NY Times article might serve as a starting point for such an introductory sheet. She begins with the assumption that her readers have seen the dancing in the Jane Austen films, and that allows her to be very specific in her descriptions without having to explain *everything* from word one. And she does a wonderful job of conveying the sociability of ECD and of our dance community in general. See you in Seattle? Cheers, Sharon Green ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 21:21:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 00:23:18 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >For fall/autumn related dances, try "Sixteenth of November" by Charles >Bolton; it is in one of his books and is a fine dance. >Several years ago, I wrote a dance called "The First of October". Are >you interested in that one (it is simple)? >You can also try Fried's "Rainy Day Triad" in case you run out of >appropriate titles. > >Philippe Callens You're not just going to tell Martha how your dance goes are you, Phillippe? You're going to tell the whole list, aren't you Phillippe? Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader, weaver/spinner No matter which side of the fence you're on, the grass will always turn brown if you don't water it. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 22:35:21 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 01:37:51 +0000 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The evolution of country dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801130618.BAA09465-AT- ns.kreative.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > Response from John Ramsay in St Louis... > > Have you seen Amistad? The climax in its development comes in the > statement by Cinque and reiterated in less precise terms by John > Quincy Adams, something to the effect that, "I am the entire reason > for the existence of my ancestors." Yes, Paul, we gain when we > dance what has been give to us. Without us, our predecessors in > country dance have no meaning. They are nothing in themselves and > it is impossible to recreate their time to dance. Today it is our > turn. But, as we dance, our predecessors come alive, albeit in > modern dress. John, You did it again. You express so elegantly what I feel every time we dance. That connection with our predecessors and the very real sense that they dance with us is why I care so passionately about the history of our dance form (ehr, genre or whatever), even though I have no desire to emulate how they may have danced. ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 22:35:26 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 01:37:51 +0000 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Kissing dances To: "Hanny D. Budnick" <74031.77-AT- compuserve.com>, ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801130618.BAA09479-AT- ns.kreative.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > I have M. Dean-Smith's annotated facsimile. Staines Morris contains > 'salute', it's no Sharp modification. Isn't that what I said? Sharp uses the word "honour," but Playford says "salute." I'm fairly certain "salute" meant a kiss given as a form of greeting. > Where do I find 'An old man......'? It's in Frank Van Cleef's _Twenty Four Country Dances from the Playford Editions_. It is, of course, in Playford also. > I'm primarily interested in the historical dances, not modern > choreographies. If you have the Dean-Smith Playford, you should be able to find plenty. The only kissing dances I can recall after the first (1651) edition of Playford are "Maid in the Moon," "Epping Forest" and "Joan Sanderson or the Cushion Dance." I can't recall where Joan Sanderson is published, but I believe I've seen it in a book of play party dances. "Joan Sanderson" is of considerable interest as being perhaps the only dance published by Playford that survived into the 20th century. Some of us will recognize it as a game used at kids birthday parties. It's somewhat a combination of spin the bottle and musical chairs. We just hated it, but the parents thought it was cute. On the other hand, it's probably where I first made the connection that dancing could be a "safe" way for a shy person to interact with the opposite sex. ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 23:14:03 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 02:13:51 -0500 (EST) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Eric Arnold wrote: > Martha -- that's a nice list, and I like your idea of celebrating the > entire year in a single dance. It brings to mind some other topics that > might be celebrated in an evening of dance, such as: > > Houses (e.g. Hunsdon House, Red House, etc.) > Trips > Gardens > > Whether there's sufficient variety in these categories to make up a whole > program, I haven't attempted to establish, but it seems like a reasonable > exercise. > > Other possible topics? I've actually called two evenings of "topical" dances in Baltimore during 1995-96. One was an April Fool's Day dance that included The Comical Fellow, John the Madman, & Merry Andrew. The other was a Christmas dance that included Dargeson (the tune is associated with an English ballad "Hey for Christmas"), Drive the Cold Winter Away, Chestnut, & Pine Needles. I can give you the complete lists if you want. There was also some talk of doing a May dance with dances having names either tied in with spring or flowers, but it never happened. However, a tentative list was drawn up for that too. Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 09:23:31 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 12:24:50 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The evolution of country dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >---JohnBerni wrote: >> >> In a message dated 1/11/98 11:07:40 PM, you wrote: >> >> <> that a long line of researchers, beginning with Sharp himself, has given us. >> But we are moderns, and in my view we'll gain the greatest pleasure and >>reward >>from this activity if we dance as such.--Paul Ross >> >> >> >> Response from John Ramsay in St Louis... >> >> Have you seen Amistad? The climax in its development comes in the statement >> by Cinque and reiterated in less precise terms by John Quincy Adams, >>something >> to the effect that, "I am the entire reason for the existence of my >> ancestors." Yes, Paul, we gain when we dance what has been given to us. >> Without us, our predecessors in country dance have no meaning. They are >> nothing in themselves and it is impossible to recreate their time to dance. > > Then Barbara Ruth says: >I like the idea of them coming alive in some sense, embodied in us. I think I can agree with this. But like Barbara, I'm also deeply bothered by the arrogance I experience in the quote by John above. Somehow it's hard for me to think of any humanbeing being "the reason for the existence of" his/her ancestors. Wow! The age, in which someone might think this, is so foreign to ours I can hardly imagine it and I'm not exactly short on training in history. In addition John's comment "it is impossible to recreate their time to dance" may be seriously far from truth, since I think Julia might have some comments to weigh in on that subject. Certainly, as a lover of Bach from childhood, beginning with the wondrous, but totally in"authentic", performances of the mid-20th century (Stokowski, Klemperer, et al.) and following through to the present enormously informed and absolutely vital, intensely alive "historically informed" performances of today, I think it may be possible to say that some portion of our culture is coming very close to the "recreat(ion) of their time to" play. But I would like to amplify on my original post, to which Paul was responding, and propose that the thing we are doing with our completely re-created manner of doing those dances is making our own "folk" tradition, in so far as that I understand "folk" to include some implication of the unidentifiable author. Obviously some one or group of people created the songs and dances we think of as "folk", but the identity of the person who created has been lost. Only the creation remains. Our reworking of the material, especially in our constant reworking of the style of movement, and also our reworking of the actual performance of the figures (for example with the changes happening with siding now in our dancing) is a fine, to me, example of the "folk process" at work in what we do. Even though we can point to some of the figures responsible for these changes in our style, the actual changes do not happen at any specific moment, nor can only one person be identified as the one who enforced the change upon all of us. So these things are gradual. And it is just as likely that changes of the same sort were gradual even under the watchful eyes of dancing masters back when whoever created the dances was actually on the floor doing them. It seems to me to be in the nature of group activities that some participants can be pointed to as creators, some get lost in poor documentation or lost documentation, but all, or all the regulars, add something continuously. In the meantime I'm back to studying the mysteries of manually controlled fill flash. Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader, weaver/spinner No matter which side of the fence you're on, the grass will always turn brown if you don't water it. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 09:23:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 12:25:08 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I did an entire evening of dances based on 3 once - triples, 3 cpls both round and longways, waltzes and 3/2s. Gobs of material. Another dance I did was one which honored Boston personalities - Fried made up a dance for Chris Walker, Claudio made one for Helene years ago and one for Art C. also, there was a dance for Lisa Greenleaf in one of Fried's collections. Lots of others, too. A little less material there, but enough. Also trips - trips to everywhere. You could nearly circumnavigate the globe in English Country Dance! Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader, weaver/spinner No matter which side of the fence you're on, the grass will always turn brown if you don't water it. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 09:51:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 12:49:07 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <6232108f.34bba914-AT- aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon, but I have generally found that = an=0Aevening of dances chosen for their titles is far more fun for the ca= ller than=0Afor the dancers. I would urge caution in choosing programs in= this manner. =0A=97Carl Friedman=0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 10:09:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 13:02:49 -0500 From: Martin.Fager-AT- bowne.com (Martin Fager) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re[2]: Dance topics (and themes) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU, Dawn Culbertson Message-ID: <00068F10.1618-AT- bowne.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Some years ago at the Heritage Festival in Philadelphia, Liz Snowden called a session of English dances that all contained a "Jacks Maggot" hey. Despite the common figure, the dances were quite varied in other ways, and it was a very enjoyable program. Marty Fager On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Eric Arnold wrote: > Martha -- that's a nice list, and I like your idea of celebrating the > entire year in a single dance. It brings to mind some other topics that > might be celebrated in an evening of dance, such as: > > Houses (e.g. Hunsdon House, Red House, etc.) > Trips > Gardens > > Other possible topics? On 1/13/98 Dawn Culbertson wrote: I've actually called two evenings of "topical" dances in Baltimore during 1995-96. One was an April Fool's Day dance that included The Comical Fellow, John the Madman, & Merry Andrew. The other was a Christmas dance... ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 10:37:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 13:36:44 -0500 From: bec-AT- pobox.com Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801131836.NAA06963-AT- sunspot.excalib.com> >I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon, but I have generally found that = >an=0Aevening of dances chosen for their titles is far more fun for the ca= >ller than=0Afor the dancers. I would urge caution in choosing programs in= > this manner. =0A=97Carl Friedman=0A Thank you, Carl, for saying this. I was reluctant to stick my neck out, but I have got to second this. Not being a caller, I don't know how much fun it is for a caller to choose such a program, but as a dancer, I know I loathe dancing it. We had a spate of "theme nights" in Baltimore at one time -- a New Year's Day theme, the inevitable (*sigh*) Valentine's Day theme, an Easter Theme, I think there was even a Tax Day theme for April 15 for pity's sake -- and it got to the point that if I knew it was a theme night I just didn't attend. Because usually what you got were dances that *no one* recognised because they were so obscure, and so infrequently done that the caller might not even really know the dance well enough to call it. And as someone far more experienced than I (a caller) once said, "There's a *reason* dances fall into disuse." Thankfully, "theme night" withered away and died an unmourned death. I personally would actively avoid any dance I knew was built around a theme unless there were a published list of dances, AND they were just too good to miss. In my experience, that's not bloody likely. Just my $.02. YMMV. bec ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 11:55:19 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 11:50:42 -0800 (PST) From: "Paul J. Stamler" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The evolution of country dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 13 Jan 1998, Emily L. Ferguson wrote: > In addition John's comment "it is impossible to recreate their time to > dance" may be seriously far from truth, since I think Julia might have some > comments to weigh in on that subject. Certainly, as a lover of Bach from > childhood, beginning with the wondrous, but totally in"authentic", > performances of the mid-20th century (Stokowski, Klemperer, et al.) and > following through to the present enormously informed and absolutely vital, > intensely alive "historically informed" performances of today, I think it > may be possible to say that some portion of our culture is coming very > close to the "recreat(ion) of their time to" play. Without wanting to put words in John's mouth, my interpretation of this comment is that we cannot recreate the social setting, attitudes and beliefs, mindsets or class backgrounds of the dances as they were done originally, even if we could perfectly reconstruct the movements and sounds. (Which, to a great extent, is what I understand your point to be as well. If my understandings are right, I agree with both of you.) Peace. Paul ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 12:06:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 15:06:21 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Bec and Carl point out hazards with "theme" dances; my own experience as a dancer, as well as the reports here, confirm that they can be good or bad, and perhaps what some will enjoy, others will loathe. Having a theme, of course, doesn't relieve the leader from the usual considerations of good programming. One difficulty with many "themes" is that the dances themselves have essentially nothing to do with the themes. But what may not be realized by dancers who are not close to the process of ECD programming is that many dances will have unpublicized themes -- some sort of unifying current which runs through the bulk of the selections. Very often it will relate to a teaching point -- certain figures will reappear in different contexts, or certain deliberate variety will be established for some purpose or other -- perhaps certain geometrical aspects will be sought out, or dances with flow, or with punctuation, and the leader may choose to let these effects work subtly rather than overtly, to avoid making it seem like a "lesson". We know that some "theme" evenings have been highly successful -- for example, the Jane Austen theme done by Beverly Francis-- and it is typical for themes to be invoked at dance weekends or camps which offer many dance events in a short time. Perhaps our tolerance of "themes" is related to the frequency with which we dance. I remember clearly, back in the '60's when the New York Pro Musica would tour, and in college towns such as Ann Arbor they would put on single concerts, and they'd always be a potpourri of a little bit of this and that from all over Europe, and from medieval up to the beginning of the baroque. Then, as early music began to catch on and Ann Arbor became a regional center of sorts for this interest, we managed to snare a whole weekend of their talents, and they put on three concerts, and they had THEMES! The differnce was enormous -- I can still remember quite a bit about those themes (one, in particular, I remember well -- music from the court of Lorenzo di Medici), and the programs suddenly made much more sense. So I suspect that it is the quality of the leadership, rather than the presence or absence of the theme, that really matters. Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 12:22:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 15:22:09 -0500 (EST) From: walkowit-AT- is2.nyu.edu (Daniel J. Walkowitz) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The evolution of country dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801132022.PAA19924-AT- is2.nyu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I must be dense but the meaning of being "modern" and dancing ECD in a "modern manner" is not self-evident to me. Can anyone enlighten me? Danny > >In a message dated 1/11/98 11:07:40 PM, you wrote: > ><that a long line of researchers, beginning with Sharp himself, has given us. >But we are >moderns, and in my view we'll gain the greatest pleasure and reward from this >activity if we dance as such.--Paul Ross >>> > >Response from John Ramsay in St Louis... > >Have you seen Amistad? The climax in its development comes in the statement >by Cinque and reiterated in less precise terms by John Quincy Adams, something >to the effect that, "I am the entire reason for the existence of my >ancestors." Yes, Paul, we gain when we dance what has been give to us. >Without us, our predecessors in country dance have no meaning. They are >nothing in themselves and it is impossible to recreate their time to dance. >Today it is our turn. But, as we dance, our predecessors come alive, albeit >in modern dress. > > > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 14:04:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 17:04:27 -0500 (EST) From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801132204.RAA01223-AT- mail2.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable At 12:49 PM 1/13/98 -0500, Carl Friedman wrote: >I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon, but I have generally found that an >evening of dances chosen for their titles is far more fun for the caller= than >for the dancers. I would urge caution in choosing programs in this manner.= =20 >=97Carl Friedman > > Re Carl's posting (and bec's comment as well), here's my take on theme evenings.=20 There are real advantages: they allow some extra playfulness in the evening [Halloween & Mardi Gras costume fun], perhaps some special refreshments [Twelfth Night cakes, Shrove Tuesday pancakes, May wine]. They also encourage callers to explore the repertoire. And if the caller's really happy with a new dance she's found, that delight may well show up in her teaching. All this is good. The chief disadvantage to theme nights is that the caller can get so caught up in his desire to present this particular program that he loses sight of what is IMHO his chief goal: crafting a program that will bring joy to the dancers who show up that evening. I get twitchy when a caller seems to be ignoring the needs of the crowd in order to bring off some theoretical grand effect. If, in order to make the evening work for the folks that turn up, the caller abandons the theme and wings it with an entirely different set of dances, that's fine with me. I like flexibility. The key for me in theme programming is that whatever dances you choose are worth dancing. And that to me means musically exciting. Imagine a House & Gardens night with Leather Lake House, Red House, Freeford Gardens, Mulberry Garden, Dunant House Waltz, Kelsterne Gardens, Walpole Cottage, Whimbleton House, Well Hall. Or a Ladies' Day theme with the Lass of Richmond Hill, Mary & Dorothy, Maiden Lane, Helene's Night Out, First Lady, Mrs. Savage's Whim, The Dancing Wife, Faithless Nancy Dawson, Gigue for Genny, Saint Margaret's Hill, Shrewsbury Lasses, Miss Sayer's Allemande. Every one of them's a winner, and there are lots more. So you _can_ do this sort of thing successfully--you just can't do it too often [even good gimmicks get old], and you can't put the program ahead of the dancers' having fun. Here endeth the sermon--put it down to the side-effects of living on the grounds of an Episcopal seminary! Sharon Green [faithful adherent of the Fried Herman school of multiple-programming] ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 14:21:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 17:19:08 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =0AIn a message dated 1/13/98 10:06:55 PM, you wrote:=0A=0A>Re Carl's pos= ting (and bec's comment as well), here's my take on theme=0A>=0A>evenings= . =0A>=0A>=0A>=0A>There are real advantages: they allow some extra playfu= lness in the evening=0A>=0A>[Halloween & Mardi Gras costume fun], perhaps= some special refreshments=0A>=0A>[Twelfth Night cakes, Shrove Tuesday pa= ncakes, May wine]. They also=0A>=0A>encourage callers to explore the rep= ertoire. And if the caller's really=0A>=0A>happy with a new dance she's = found, that delight may well show up in her=0A>=0A>teaching. All this is= good.=0A>=0A>=0A>=0A>The chief disadvantage to theme nights is that the = caller can get so caught=0A>=0A>up in his desire to present this particul= ar program that he loses sight of=0A>=0A>what is IMHO his chief goal: cra= fting a program that will bring joy to the=0A>=0A>dancers who show up tha= t evening. I get twitchy when a caller seems to be=0A>=0A>ignoring the n= eeds of the crowd in order to bring off some theoretical grand=0A>=0A>eff= ect. If, in order to make the evening work for the folks that turn up,= =0A>=0A>the caller abandons the theme and wings it with an entirely diffe= rent set of=0A>=0A>dances, that's fine with me. I like flexibility.=0A>= =0A>=0A>=0A>The key for me in theme programming is that whatever dances y= ou choose are=0A>=0A>worth dancing. And that to me means musically excit= ing. Imagine a House &=0A>=0A>Gardens night with Leather Lake House, Red= House, Freeford Gardens, Mulberry=0A>=0A>Garden, Dunant House Waltz, Kel= sterne Gardens, Walpole Cottage, Whimbleton=0A>=0A>House, Well Hall. Or = a Ladies' Day theme with the Lass of Richmond Hill,=0A>=0A>Mary & Dorothy= , Maiden Lane, Helene's Night Out, First Lady, Mrs. Savage's=0A>=0A>Whim,= The Dancing Wife, Faithless Nancy Dawson, Gigue for Genny, Saint=0A>=0A>= Margaret's Hill, Shrewsbury Lasses, Miss Sayer's Allemande. Every one of= =0A>=0A>them's a winner, and there are lots more. So you _can_ do this s= ort of=0A>=0A>thing successfully--you just can't do it too often [even go= od gimmicks get=0A>=0A>old], and you can't put the program ahead of the d= ancers' having fun.=0A>=0A=0ACan't argue with that. But remember that mos= t dancers don't care what the=0Adance is called, as long as it's a good d= ance, and that the dance itself=0Ararely has anything whatsoever to do wi= th the theme in question. =0A=97Carl=0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 15:01:18 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 17:58:56 -0500 From: mary.k.friday-AT- ccmail.census.gov Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re[2]: Dancing to silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <9801138847.AA884732445-AT- smtp-gw1.census.gov> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Yes, Laurie, I was there, and I remember it well and fondly. One of the most exciting dance experiences I ever had was at a contra dance in Northfield, Mass., probably 10 years ago. At one point in the evening (clearly, after the rhythms and feel had been established), the band dropped out, and we kept dancing. Silence (well, except for the footfalls -- and people were wearing soft-soled shoes, so it wasn't "CLOMP! CLOMP! CLOMP!" but "swish! swish! swish!") reigned for one whole cycle of the tune and dance. As we started into the second cycle, I think the caller said (softly), "You can keep dancing if you want." We did, for another (second) cycle. At the beginning of the next round, the band came back in -- and everyone was together. Very exhilarating. Mary Kay Friday Washington, D.C. ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Dancing to silence Author: at SMTP-GATEWAY Date: 1/6/98 5:36 PM This reminds me of a contra experience at Glen Echo Park (Washington, DC) sometime in the early 80s. Anyone else on the list remember this? Rich? Mary Kay? Laurie Buchanan Eugene, OR ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 15:43:42 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 15:40:58 -0800 (PST) From: Barbara Ruth Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The evolution of country dance, life and eternity To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980113234058.13525.rocketmail-AT- attach1.rocketmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ---"Emily L. Ferguson" wrote: > > >> Response from John Ramsay in St Louis... > >> > >> Have you seen Amistad? The climax in its development comes in the statement > >> by Cinque and reiterated in less precise terms by John Quincy Adams, > >>something > >> to the effect that, "I am the entire reason for the existence of my > >> ancestors." Yes, Paul, we gain when we dance what has been given to us. > >> Without us, our predecessors in country dance have no meaning. They are > >> nothing in themselves and it is impossible to recreate their time to dance. > > > > > Then Barbara Ruth says: > > >I like the idea of them coming alive in some sense, embodied in us. > > > I think I can agree with this. But like Barbara, I'm also deeply bothered > by the arrogance I experience in the quote by John above. Somehow it's > hard for me to think of any humanbeing being "the reason for the existence > of" his/her ancestors. Just to clarify my objection has nothing to do with any perception of arrogance. The character in the film John cites comes from a culture where his statement makes perfect sense and, having been trained in anthropology, without knowing the specifics I can understand the context of it. Cinque belongs to a culture in which membership in a lineage, a specific bloodline is a major part an individual's identity, and where his ancestors, although no longer alive in the flesh, still have a real existence and a presence in his life. In such a system, one's ancestors do (or are believed to) aid one in the course of one's life, but the relationship is generally reciprocal. In return, the living are obligated to honor the ancestors. And one of the chief duties is to continue the lineage - to procreate. In that sense, Cinque is the reason for his ancestors' existence, because if he dies the lineage comes to an end. And despite being very distant in time and geography, that's a sense that I think many people hera and now can still identify with, although in different terms. How many times do we hear of people wanting for a child, or grandchild in order "to carry on the family name." We sense life in future generations in much the same way, we just don't extend that sense of aliveness backwards to past generations (although I'm not sure how many of us that holds for - I think there are any number of people who interact with their dead loved ones and believe that these look out for them on earth). I think that all human beings have a need to feel connected to some kind of immortality. Otherwise the knowledge of our own individual transience and fear of death are overwhelming and makes our lives seem meaninglessness. So attach ourselves to something unending in our religious beliefs, whether it's an eternal diety or an unending series of generations in which we are linked. I don't think there is anything wrong or arrogant in holding any of those kinds of beliefs. I just don't think they apply to dance. And, as a thorough-going materialist (in the Darwinian sense), my own personal belief being that _this_ is it, the whole show, no encores, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil there just ain't anywhere else to go (in all likelihood that is - I'm also willing to concede that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy, and the universe being a queerer place than we can suppose*, I'm not arrogant enough to think I actually _know_ anything), anyway, personally believing that life is short and then it's over, I have a stake in finding beauty and meaning in the transient and ephemeral. Thus, I say that the joy each generation has found in English dance is sufficient to make it's existence meaningful, whether it continues or not. Which is not to say that our experience of dancing is not enriched by it having a history that we know of and study. I think knowing that history does provide us with a sense of connectedness with the generations who have danced in the past and through that sense of connection a sense of being a part of the human race, something grander than our individual selves. Nor does it mean that I don't think we should be doing everything in our power to preserve and hand on our dances to future generations. But not because it matters to us whether those generations dance it or not. We'll be long dead in 300 years, and I for one don't expect to know what's going on in ECD development. Rather because if they lose it those generations will be missing out on a lot of fun. We have the dances only because people in our past (and present) created them, wrote them down and did the work of finding them, researching and reclaiming them. It is merely our obligation as good, though short-term, citizens of this planet, to make the effort to pass them on in good condition to those who will come after. Barbara Ruth * The entire quote is from the great British biologis, J.B.S. Haldane who said "The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." The single best summing up of the limitations of our human mind in confronting existence. And with that I am off to go see _Alien Resurrection_. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free -AT- yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 16:39:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 19:34:14 -0500 (EST) From: Mary2dance Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <2e48678d.34bc0808-AT- aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On 1/13/98 9:25 AM ECD List wrote: > >Also trips - trips to everywhere. You could nearly circumnavigate the >globe in English Country Dance! > > Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts As a matter of fact, that's what we're planning for the SF Bay Area Playford Ball this year. At the risk of driving some of you away (oops! at least we've posted the list of dances, and although some are unusual, most are well known) our theme is A Journey and we've got a number of Trips (O'er Tweed, Amsterdam, Paris and Tunbridge) and some that suggest places: Dunham Oaks, Miss de Jersey and Wakefield Hunt. There are other dances on the program that don't suggest places to me at all, so maybe the program will pass muster with those who don't care for themes. Wait till you see our decorations! Mary Luckhardt ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 20:01:57 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 23:01:40 -0500 (EST) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 13 Jan 1998, Sharon Green wrote: > There are real advantages: they allow some extra playfulness in the evening > [Halloween & Mardi Gras costume fun], perhaps some special refreshments > [Twelfth Night cakes, Shrove Tuesday pancakes, May wine]. They also > encourage callers to explore the repertoire. And if the caller's really > happy with a new dance she's found, that delight may well show up in her > teaching. All this is good. > > The chief disadvantage to theme nights is that the caller can get so caught > up in his desire to present this particular program that he loses sight of > what is IMHO his chief goal: crafting a program that will bring joy to the > dancers who show up that evening. The key for me in theme programming is that whatever dances you choose are worth dancing. > > Here endeth the sermon To which I can only add: Amen! (Actually, I'd like to add another thing - Bec implied that putting together an evening of theme dances can be an excuse for self-indulgence on the caller's part. That's true in a worst-case scenario. But if the caller is genuinely trying to put together an evening of dances built around a common theme that are enjoyable to dance and provide a good balance of easy and hard, familiar & unfamiliar, etc., it can prove to be quite a lot of hard work on the caller's part!) Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 23:53:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 09:57:37 +0100 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Re: All Saints Day To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BC7E01.6B68-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <19980110.141955.4798.2.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> <34BA16AD.AA5-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> <19980112.122201.3494.1.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> Charles Bolton's "Sixteenth of November" is in his collection "Courtesy turns" Philippe Callens ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 00:06:56 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 10:10:45 +0100 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Houses/gardens To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BC8115.542C-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: Eric Arnold suggested houses/trips for a theme evening. I had made such a list a while ago, so here it is for all of you. Sion House - Oakleigh House - Knole Park - Trip to Castle Howard - Ludlow Castle - Blenheim Pond - Halsway Sicilian - Gone for a Burton - Nonesuch (II) - Apley House - Hunsdon House - Buckingham House - Cottey House - Devonshire House - Wallingford House - Edinborough Castle - Hombey House - Dunham Oaks - Shandy Hall - Thornton Hall - Well Hall - Freeford Gardens - Dunant House Waltz - Hyde Park - Kelsterne Gardens - Greenwich Park - Shawbury Park - Red House Philippe Callens ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 03:32:56 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 13:36:44 +0100 From: Philippe Callens Subject: First of October To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BCB15C.B96-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <19980110.141955.4798.2.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> <34BA16AD.AA5-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> <19980112.122201.3494.1.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> <34BC7E01.6B68-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> Several people requested this next dance. So here it is. THE FIRST OF OCTOBER English country dance by Philippe Callens (Antwerp, Belgium) to the tune of "Bonaparte crossing the Rhine" (which can be found in Fried de Mets Herman's The Naked Truth (p. 24) and also in The Fiddler's Fakebook). If you have to rely on recor-ded music, the tune can be found on the Hold the Mustard album (vinyl), which is no longer available. Formation: longways, duple minor. A1 1-4 Joining hands along the lines, all forward to meet a double and fall back. 5-8 Partners cross over, passing right shoulder. A2 1-4 Joining hands again, all forward to meet a double and fall back. 5-8 Partners turn two-hands once around, finishing in the centre of the set (do not go back to the lines), all improper. B1 1-2 Partners set. 3-4 All turn single to the right into ... 5-6 Right-hand star, halfway around. 7-8 All turn single to the left into progressed places. B2 1-8 Ones figure eight up through the twos (skip change of step). This dance was written on September 13, 1989, for use at the first dance of the season of my Mortsel Sunday afternoon series, to be held on October 1 that year. It is an easy longways that doesn't offer any particular difficulty; I find it works well as the first dance of an evening. It has been published in AADS News (Nov. 1990). ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 08:16:35 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:14:58 -0500 From: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dance topics-Halloween To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980114.111459.4550.0.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> Here's a program that Bertha Hatvary and I did for Halloween, 1996 As you can see, we bent the names of many dances to fit the occasion. The week before, we made a contest during the dance for people to identify the actual dances from their parodied names in the list of potential dances. There were a few real names (Black Nag) plus the name of a collection (Maggot Pie) that had to be identified. The first team to turn in a complete list of correct names and identify those with their real names plus the collection had a say as to which dance they actually wanted on the program. Here's the list as I remember it: 1) Knole Memorial Park 2) Black Nag 3) Scare Necessities 4) Goblin Bay 5) Bones Transported or Quite Buried Away 6) Black Jack O' Lantern 7) Booing Mairi 8) Miss de Jersey's Memorial Park 9) Once a Fright 10) Mad Goblin 11) The Shade Shrieked Out at the Window 12) A Ghoul's Best Fiend 13) I Scare Not for These Shades 14) Ghoul Howl 15) The Ghostman 16) Chilled Grave (I was particularly proud of #5) Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 08:22:09 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:21:42 -0500 From: "Roger W. Broseus, CHP, Ph.D." Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: seeking introductory writeups on English dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19980114112142.006a5804-AT- just.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii At 07:36 PM 1/12/98 -0700, you wrote: >Folks -- > >Has anyone ever seen a one-side-of-a-sheet-of-paper explanation of English >country dance that would convey anything useful to someone who's never done it, >seen it, or done contra or squares? [snip] Alan: in response to your request and at the suggestion of Rich Galloway, I post below some relevant materials. This material appears on the back of fliers for our weekly ECD series; it is meant to meet the need flagged by Alan as well as to help attract new dancers. Interposed between the first and second paragraph is a list of events that is updated from time-to-time. Other things appear too, e.g., the FSGW logo, etc. Both the front and back of the flyer were composed with WordPerfect. It can be emailed as an attachment if someone out there wants to take a look at the ‘real thing,' with formatting, etc. Constructive criticisms are welcome. Best regards, -- Roger __ _ _________________ _ _______________________________________________ /__) _,___, _ _ /_) Contra dancing fanatic, English country / \__(_) (_/_(/__/(_ /__). dance aficionado. Superfluous disclaimer: _/_ Email: my opinions are mine. Kindly direct non- {AT=-AT- } (/ IDo AT exist.com constructive comments to /dev/null. ___________________________________________________________________________ The FSGW's English country dance offers something for everyone. Wonderful, centuries-old dances have been revived and, supplemented by dances written by contemporary choreographers, have grown in popularity among dancers in the metropolitan Washington/Baltimore area as well as other locales. Calling is done by a core of experienced callers which is expanding and supplemented by appearances of special, out-of-town guest callers. The cadre of musicians who play the music, beautiful and unique to each dance, is without parallel in the folk music scene. Eclectics may well appreciate the wide variety of instruments heard at the dances, e.g., accordion, bassoon, cello, concertina, fiddle, flute, guitar, harp, penny whistle, piano, oboe, and recorder. Come and participate in this renewal of traditional dances that extend back over generations as well as the new dances composed in recent years by those who would continue this lively tradition. Dance on a fine wood floor with friendly folk. Enjoy the climate controlled facilities in the Glen Echo town hall as well as light refreshments and socializing. [current and continuing events] English Country Dance Explained English country dances have roots going back to the mid 1500s. It is likely that they were danced in the country homes and estates of the gentry of those times. Many of the old dances remain with us today, thanks to the efforts of publisher John Playford in 1651; Playford's name is commonly associated with the English country dance form, which continues to be enjoyed along with the music that is unique to each dance. Over the years, many dances have been added to the repertoire by modern choreographers such as Colin Hume, Fried Herman, and Pat Shaw. English country dances are typically danced in sets of two or three couples. They tend to be walking dances and are easy to learn, requiring little ‘foot work.' The figures danced in contra and even square dances likely derived from English country dances. Dance callers and musicians come from all walks of life and keep folk traditions alive. As in years of yore, dances are typically social affairs enjoyed by a divers population of people. Checkout the FSGW's web site at www.fsgw.org for information on dances, concerts, and more ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 08:28:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 08:25:46 -0800 (PST) From: Barbara Ruth Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Houses/gardens To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980114162546.1521.rocketmail-AT- attach1.rocketmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii ---Philippe Callens wrote: > > Eric Arnold suggested houses/trips for a theme evening. I had made such > a list a while ago, so here it is for all of you. > > Sion House - Oakleigh House - Knole Park - Trip to Castle Howard - > Ludlow Castle - Blenheim Pond - Halsway Sicilian - Gone for a Burton - > Nonesuch (II) - Apley House - Hunsdon House - Buckingham House - Cottey > House - Devonshire House - Wallingford House - Edinborough Castle - > Hombey House - Dunham Oaks - Shandy Hall - Thornton Hall - Well Hall - > Freeford Gardens - Dunant House Waltz - Hyde Park - Kelsterne Gardens - > Greenwich Park - Shawbury Park - Red House How about Elverton Grove? Surely if you have gardens and parks, a grove can fit in. I also distinctly remember the question of water as a theme for somebody's English in the pool party, though I have to admit I don't remember who that was. Barbara Ruth _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free -AT- yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 09:00:46 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:00:22 -0600 (CST) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Houses/gardens To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801141700.LAA20625-AT- staff1.cso.uiuc.edu> Barbara Ruth writes: >I also distinctly remember the question of water as a theme for >somebody's English in the pool party, though I have to admit I don't >remember who that was. That was me some time back. The Central Illinois English Dancers have held 2 annual pool parties with dances in the pool. Here is the list of dances from that discussion. They included dances whose names had watery conotations as well as dances which might work well in the pool. We found that dances with dips and dives in them were popular. Bare Necessities Trip to Paris Waves of Tory Faithless Nancy Dawson ("She's true to the rest of the Navy too") The Dressed Ship Waterfall Waltz Waters of Holland Dover Pier Auretti's Dutch Skipper The Boatman Handel with Care (to the bourree from Handel's "Water Music") If All the World Were Paper ("and all the sea were ink") Jamaica Long Pond (!) Portsmouth Wood Duck (which is pushing it, but hey) The Three Sea Captains Pool's Hole La Matelotte The Bath Bobbing Joe Row Well Ye Mariners Up Tails All Well Hall. The Punchbowl. Dr. Fauster's Tumblers Drops of Brandy Round Pond Bath Carnival Sackett's Harbour the Archbishop The Housatonic The Old Mill Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jonathan Sivier |Q: How many angels can dance on the | | j-sivier-AT- uiuc.edu | head of a pin? | | Flight Simulation Lab |A: It depends on what dance you call. | | Beckman Institute | | | 405 N. Mathews | SWMDG - Single White Male | | Urbana, IL 61801 | Dance Gypsy | | Work: 217/244-1923 | | | Home: 217/359-8225 | Have shoes, will dance. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Home page URL: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~j-sivier | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 09:01:08 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 09:00:16 -0800 (PST) From: bestockp-AT- oz.net Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Many people responding to this thread talk about the music cutting out and people singing or tapping feet to keep the beat. But that's not dancing in silence. Mary Kay Friday talks about the exilaration of dancing in silence when the music cut out once at a dance. Its a thrill I've had often, and one I'd like to share with you. Real dancing in silence is a magical and sublime experience well known by modern and ballet dancers, and by several kinds of folk dancers. So here goes. Before you get huffy about how great music is, I'll tell you that I was a music major in college, play two instruments, and am very tuned in to the music when I dance. I respond not only to the beat, but to the quality, timbre, the spaces, the energy, the changes in harmony, the differences from one round to another. So no, I'm not against music. It was the glorious music that drew me into English dance in the first place. But dancing in silence is for a whole other purpose, that purpose being to bond with other dancers. Music talks to your rational, orderly, computer brain. You use that part of the brain for learning patterns and sequences and people who are good at that are drawn to ECD more than those who are stronger in other modes. Dancing in silence is like going to another planet, having an out of body experience, achieving nirvana. I hope when you're done reading this, you'll want to try it, even though most of you reading this are computer-heads (stronger in the left brain, good at math and patterns) and may not really understand what I'm talking about. In my former life, before ECD became my favorite recreation, I was a Balkan dance teacher. I performed for 20 years in Balkan companies-- Mandala in Boston, Balkanske Igre in Chicago, and Koleda and Radost in Seattle. There are lots of silent dances from the Balkan region, and ethnochoreologists tell us they are very ancient. The people don't necessarily stomp or sing to keep the beat-- they are truly silent. And they dance perfectly together. Other dances from this region are not silent, but are done without any beat, in free rhythm, and without any dance structure-- the leader improvises and everyone in the line dances exactly the same thing at the same time. The computer won't help you here-- you use your eyes, your muscles, your kinesthetic sense and, well, magic. These dances are done in absolute unison, even though the dancers have no idea what is coming next or when its coming. Instead of dancing to music, the musician follows the lead dancer playing strong beats exactly as the strong movements occur--the "following" is not after the movement-- it occurs exactly with it, accompanies it. To do this everyone-- drummer, dancrs, all have to tune in completely to the leader, breathing together, never anticipating, but letting his movements move you. One of the most thrilling experiences I've ever had in performing, was dancing a Bosnian silent dance for 5 couples. The tempo changes frequently, starting slowly, building up to a faster pace, stopping, starting again, building over a longer time, abrupt stop and long pause, slow beginning again accellerating very quickly to the exit. When we worked on dancing it in the Radost Folk Ensemble, we developed a 6th sense about when the movement would start, how fast it would accellerate. Staying together is made even more challenging by the fact that the women look down and away from the circle and cannot see the other dancers. You simply have to learn to use kinesthetic sense as a means of staying together without visual cues and without musical cues. The bonding that took place working on the dance, and the power of the piece itself comes from the silence, and the magic of total, flawles ensemble that comes from within and not from the external source of the music. We BREATHED together. We paused together, we took another breath and abruptly, without warning or signal, began again together. I lived inside the skin of 9 other dancers when I did that piece. Each dancer gives up something of him/herself to the circle. You allow the circle to be you. It takes tremendous trust of the other dancers and a willingness to shed your ego. You merge with your partner, you stop being an individual dancer and become a tenth of a circle. This is an experience few English dancers get, because they live in the other side of the brain -- the rational, logical sequential side--when they dance. Good dancers tune in to the music, but without music you have to tune in to the other dancers to stay together. I think this is why Mary Kay found it so exilarating. You have to watch and feel the inner music, and breathe together. Something else happens. Not only is the timing perfectly together, but the shapes of the movements and the energy behind them become more alike, personal styles blend into a common style, the hands rise for the two hand turn as though mirror images of each other, and the two hand turn opening into the circle four is so together an outsider would think it was rehearsed. The emotional experience of dancing THAT together with others is amazingly wonderful. I think too few dancers get this experience. Even after I stopped teaching modern dance I continued to incorporate things I learned in modern to help build ensemble in my folk dance classes. I'd have my folk dancers play mirror image games in silence until an outside observer couldn't tell who was leading, who following-- not only the shape of the movement but the energy matched so completely. You can't build ensemble only from the outside by telling people "Mary lift your right leg two inches higher" and "George, drop your right shoulder just a shade more on the chukni step." You'd spend all your time talking, and it would still never be perfect. George and Mary will blend with the group a lot faster and more completely if they tune in to the rest of the line and compromise on the difference between the size step they would have taken on their own, and the size step everyone else is taking until they are moving exactly together. My middle school advanced class, where kids age 11-14 of greatly varied heights made the circle, all took the same size steps no matter how long or short their legs. I didn't have to say anything about it, it was automatic, growing out of middle schoolers' natural urge to tune in more to the peer group than the teacher, and the need to feel part of a group. First they became a village. Then the dancing became as one. The reward for this was the powerful sense of bonding that occured. I learn sequential stuff well, but I've also learned how to shut off the rational side of my brain when I want to use the special skills of the right side of the brain. It takes a special effort-- tremendous concentration for me, and I have to have absolute silence, because words, or chatter, or music put me back on the other side of the brain, thinking, which is not what I want when I'm directing a rehearsal and trying to see the whole stage at once. With the right brain I can see every detail of the whole stage, and anything anyone is doing that is different jumps out of the picture like a red X in a page of black and white printing.What I see is a glitch in a particular spot on the brain's screen, a visual image, not a person. I know where the glitch happened, but not by whom, and a conscious process of translation-- switching back to the other side-- has to happen before I can identify who is standing in the spot where the glitch was in order to tell them what I saw When I'm learning a new style, I go into this visual-kinesthetic mode, and there I can duplicate movement exactly as it occurs, simultaneously with the model, but when I'm done, I have no memory of the sequence. Some people live in that part of the brain most of the time, but I have to work at shutting off the computer in the other half of my head to get there. If I follow the model often enough, the style I'm doing passively, pulled by invisible strings coming form the model, becaomes ingrained in my muscles. Ask me what foot it starts on, I will start danicng, and look down to see. Thats the moment of swtiching back to the computer. My body knew the answer, and taught it to my computer. Most dancers in english and contra dance are very good computers, and if they spend most of their life in that rational, good-at-sequences part of the brain they are possibly not tuning in to other dancers, learning to move in synchrony, matching movements to create the sense of perfect unity-- that's done by their other brain, the side they don't trust as well. If each dancer individually follows the music, dances what he or she feels if the right sized step, the right amount of bounce on the setting step, the group loses the exhilaration of being perfectly in tune non-verbally with other people-- the magic of unison movement I learned to love in Balkan dance, that Mary Kay caught a glimpse of once when the music stopped and everyone staying together. Its a terrific source of bonding between people, but because the type of dancing we do (ECD) is so rational/spatial, it draws a majority of people who are strong on that side of the brain, and often are weak at visual and kinesthetic cues from others. I think it would be a great experience for this community to stop the music, just temporarily, just for practice, and dance to each other instead! You would find yourself setting to your corner differently each time, depending on how that corner set to you. You would set TOGETHER, and that would create a magical connection between you that hadn't been there before. This can happen to music, of course, and does. Every Well Hall I dance is a shadow of the ultimate Well Hall that six couples did after lunch one year at Lady of the Lake. We danced exactly together, breathing together, hearing the music together-- it was the ultimate group-dance experience. Its just easier to use visual and kinesthetic clues if you aren't depending on the musical cues to keep you together. Instead of thinking, you listen to the other dancer with your eyes. Instead of having each person responding individually to the music, each person starts responding to each other person, connecting with the foursome, the line, the whole room. The rewards are the great dancing that emerges, and the powerful sense of community and connection that develops with everyone in the set. Vicky Bestock ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 10:28:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 13:27:38 -0500 (EST) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Wed, 14 Jan 1998, Jonathan Sivier wrote: > That was me some time back. The Central Illinois English Dancers have > held 2 annual pool parties with dances in the pool. Here is the list of > dances from that discussion. They included dances whose names had watery > conotations as well as dances which might work well in the pool. We found > that dances with dips and dives in them were popular. Dances IN THE POOL? That I'd like to see! Am I impossible naive, or is this sort of thing popular elsewhere? (Shades of Esther Williams!) Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu (BTW, the "bobbing" referred to in Bobbing Joe, aka Bobbing Joan, is not of the aquatic variety...) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:37:32 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 13:37:18 -0600 (CST) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801141937.NAA17626-AT- staff1.cso.uiuc.edu> Dawn Culbertson writes: >Dances IN THE POOL? That I'd like to see! Am I impossible naive, or is >this sort of thing popular elsewhere? (Shades of Esther Williams!) We danced in the shallow end and since the pool is a lap pool it is nealy all shallow end. Some allowances had to be made of course. The tempo had to be slowed down a lot, and we had to have frequent breaks for the band to jump in the pool and cool off. :-) Some figures ended up being changed a little, but by and large it works out very well. >(BTW, the "bobbing" referred to in Bobbing Joe, aka Bobbing Joan, is not >of the aquatic variety...) May I ask what "bobbing" does refer to then? Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jonathan Sivier |Q: How many angels can dance on the | | j-sivier-AT- uiuc.edu | head of a pin? | | Flight Simulation Lab |A: It depends on what dance you call. | | Beckman Institute | | | 405 N. Mathews | SWMDG - Single White Male | | Urbana, IL 61801 | Dance Gypsy | | Work: 217/244-1923 | | | Home: 217/359-8225 | Have shoes, will dance. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Home page URL: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~j-sivier | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 21:14:29 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 00:17:01 +0000 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Houses/gardens To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801150457.XAA01607-AT- ns.kreative.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > Eric Arnold suggested houses/trips for a theme evening. I had made > such a list a while ago, so here it is for all of you. > > Sion House - Oakleigh House - Knole Park - Trip to Castle Howard - > Ludlow Castle - Blenheim Pond - Halsway Sicilian - Gone for a Burton > - Nonesuch (II) - Apley House - Hunsdon House - Buckingham House - > Cottey House - Devonshire House - Wallingford House - Edinborough > Castle - Hombey House - Dunham Oaks - Shandy Hall - Thornton Hall - > Well Hall - Freeford Gardens - Dunant House Waltz - Hyde Park - > Kelsterne Gardens - Greenwich Park - Shawbury Park - Red House Some other houses are: Slaughter House Ormond House Bartlett House Parnham House The Corner House Somerset House Hatfield House Watlington House Whimbleton House Kendall House . . . and surely others. And that doesn't count halls, mansions, shanties, cottages, cabins, camps, courts or castles or any of the Halsway dances. Plus, some you might not expect are building names. E.g. Nonesuch or Jog On. Even before this tread got started, I had been mentally listing house dances. I just called a "house theme" night last week. I hadn't intended it that way, but I changed a couple things on the fly, saw a tread developing and decided to go with the flow. Of course there is some better than average material there. One could put together a house and home theme evening that even Bec wouldn't object to. ;-) ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 21:42:44 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 00:45:17 +0000 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The evolution of country dance, life and eternity To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801150526.AAA02542-AT- ns.kreative.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Barbara, thank you for explaining further the meaning of the quote from Cinque in John's message. I read John's comments pretty much the way you explain them and had been shocked that anyone could have found them arrogant. Strange how a few simple words can take on such different meanings to people in different contexts. Barbara Ruth went on to say: > I think that all human beings have a need to feel connected to > some kind of immortality. Otherwise the knowledge of our own > individual transience and fear of death are overwhelming and makes > our lives seem meaninglessness. So attach ourselves to something > unending in our religious beliefs, whether it's an eternal deity or > an unending series of generations in which we are linked. I don't > think there is anything wrong or arrogant in holding any of those > kinds of beliefs. I just don't think they apply to dance. > . . . [snip] > Thus, I say that the joy each generation has found in English > dance is sufficient to make it's existence meaningful, whether it > continues or not. I don't feel a quest for immortality, either my own or to preserve some part of the mortality of our predecessors. I certainly agree that we should dance for the present joy of it. But, I do sense a connectiveness with dancers past and future. To me, we are not merely dancing in an isolated set. It's more like we are in a minor set of long line of dancers stretching through time. (Although, to keep the analogy, it would have a strange progression with dancers dropping out and others joining in the middle of the longways set.) Although the analogy is far from perfect, the sense we have of dancing as part of an entire longways set is very much the sense I feel that we are dancing in a long continuum with our predecessors and our successors. It's a very powerful feeling. ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 22:24:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 01:22:15 -0500 From: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: marthaCD: Dance topics-Halloween(possibly second posting) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980115.012227.4310.1.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> To All- I sent this out yesterday, but I never received it back from the list. I'm not sure it got through so I'm sending it again. Here's a program that Bertha Hatvary and I did for Halloween, 1996 As you can see, we bent the names of many dances to fit the occasion. The week before, we made a contest during the dance for people to identify the actual dances from their parodied names in the list of potential dances. There were a few real names (Black Nag) plus the name of a collection (Maggot Pie) that had to be identified. The first team to turn in a complete list of correct names and identify those with their real names plus the collection had a say as to which dance they actually wanted on the program. Here's the list as I remember it: 1) Knole Memorial Park 2) Black Nag 3) Scare Necessities 4) Goblin Bay 5) Bones Transported or Quite Buried Away 6) Black Jack O' Lantern 7) Booing Mairi 8) Miss de Jersey's Memorial Park 9) Once a Fright 10) Mad Goblin 11) The Shade Shrieked Out at the Window 12) A Ghoul's Best Fiend 13) I Scare Not for These Shades 14) Ghoul Howl 15) The Ghostman 16) Chilled Grave (I was particularly proud of #5) Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 23:46:25 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 02:46:10 -0500 (EST) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Wed, 14 Jan 1998, Jonathan Sivier wrote: > >(BTW, the "bobbing" referred to in Bobbing Joe, aka Bobbing Joan, is not > >of the aquatic variety...) > > May I ask what "bobbing" does refer to then? The tune for Bobbing Joe was actually a ballad (a broadside ballad, I think) called Bobbing Joan, & the refrain went: "The bobbin' Joan, the bobbin' Joan, oh can thou dance the bobbin' Joan?" "Bobbin' Joan" was a euphemism for - er - making whoopee. (Incidentally, in the novel "Tom Jones" it was cited as being one of Squire Western's favorite tunes.) Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 06:10:29 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 10:09:27 -0800 From: "Michael J. O'Connor" Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BE50D6.2CAB-AT- erols.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <199801131836.NAA06963-AT- sunspot.excalib.com> bec-AT- pobox.com wrote: > > >I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon, but I have generally found > >that an evening of dances chosen for their titles is far more fun for > >the caller than for the dancers. I would urge caution in choosing > >programs in this manner. Carl Friedman > Thank you, Carl, for saying this. I was reluctant to stick my > neck out, but I have got to second this. Not being a caller, I > don't know how much fun it is for a caller to choose such a > program, but as a dancer, I know I loathe dancing it. We had a > spate of "theme nights" in Baltimore at one time -- a New Year's > Day theme, the inevitable (*sigh*) Valentine's Day theme, an Easter > Theme, I think there was even a Tax Day theme for April 15 for > pity's sake -- and it got to the point that if I knew it was a > theme night I just didn't attend. Because usually what you got > were dances that *no one* recognised because they were so obscure, > and so infrequently done that the caller might not even really know > the dance well enough to call it. And as someone far more experienced > than I (a caller) once said, "There's a *reason* dances fall into > disuse." Thankfully, "theme night" withered away and died an > unmourned death. Steph: When I read this, I wondered if the caller quoted was you? But given some of Mary Kay's programs last year, I take is bec isjust being tactful in saying that the nights withered away? And who is bec? > Just my $.02. YMMV. Any idea what YMMV means? Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 06:38:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 10:37:53 -0800 From: "Michael J. O'Connor" Subject: OOPS! Please DELETE prior message To: ECD List Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BE5781.268C-AT- erols.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To the List: I just made a mistake attempting to re-mail bec's recent message about theme nights with comments to a friend; in doing so I forgot to delete the ECD List from the "Mail To" box. I apologize to the List. Also, as I mentioned two names in my comments, I apologize to them for bringing their names into this public forum and ask the List to ignore the message, if that can be done. In the silver lining department, it may be worth noting that my error illustrates the need for caution in re-mailing List postings. Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 16:03:53 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 19:03:01 -0500 From: bec-AT- pobox.com Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Houses/gardens To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801160003.TAA27023-AT- sunspot.excalib.com> >Even before this tread got started, I had been mentally listing >house dances. I just called a "house theme" night last week. I >hadn't intended it that way, but I changed a couple things on the >fly, saw a tread developing and decided to go with the flow. Of >course there is some better than average material there. One could >put together a house and home theme evening that even Bec wouldn't >object to. ;-) oh, i'm sure i could find *something* objectionable. :-) seriously, though, the point to notice here is that the dance name theme pool from which draw for something like this is *large*. it's easy to avoid dreck. the narrower the topic -- once again, Tax Day comes to mind -- the less material available, and almost inevitably the worse the program. let me also point out here that my theme dance objection is to the *dance name* theme. just because the dance *name* is related in some way to whatever the topic du jour is -- groundhog day, or arbor day, or whatever -- doesn't mean that it's worth dancing, or that a bunch of disparate dances with only their titles in common hang together as a program. to my knowledge, i have never attended a theme dance where the theme was dance-related; and i'm more than willing to try something like that -- i probably *would* enjoy it. bec ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 17:17:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 20:18:20 +0000 From: Mary E Jones Subject: Egregious Advertising To: ECD List Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BE6F0C.130A-AT- javanet.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The Amherst Area English Country Dancers present: An Advanced Dance For Experienced Dancers Feb. 8th Munson Library in South Amherst, MA 2-5 pm. Caller: Sue Dupre Musicians: Larry Wallach, Van Kaynor, Doug Creighton For more information, directions, questions: email Mary Jones: mjones-AT- javanet ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 17:28:24 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 20:29:05 +0000 From: Mary E Jones Subject: Re: Egregious Advertising To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34BE7192.AE-AT- javanet.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <34BE6F0C.130A-AT- javanet.com> Mary E Jones didn't finish her email address: > email Mary Jones: mjones-AT- javanet.com Duh. Mary (Post- and Pre- ) Jones Amherst, MA ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 20:28:14 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 23:25:19 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Test message (please ignore) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Testing. Ignore this message. Just trying to see if AOL fixed my e-mail formatting as promised. Carl ECD......sorry if you opened this. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 20:43:14 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 23:41:13 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Test message (please ignore) (2) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <6a428b3b.34bee4eb-AT- aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =0AIn a message dated 1/15/98 11:28:51 PM, you wrote:=0A=0A>Testing. Igno= re this message. Just trying to see if AOL fixed my e-mail=0A>formatting = as promised.=0A>=0A>Carl=0A>=0A>ECD......sorry if you opened this. =0A=0A= Sorry to post again, but need to see if this is really working with respo= nses=0Aas well as with original. =0A=0A=0A=0A=0AChecking spacing - shoul= d have 5 lines above this. And several spaces=0Abefore "and." =0A= =0AThis should do it. If this comes out ok, they fixed it!!=0A=0A=0A=97CS= F =0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 06:21:07 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 09:20:43 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Test message #3 (please ignore) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =0AIn a message dated 1/16/98 4:28:51 AM, you wrote:=0A=0A>Testing. Ignor= e this message. Just trying to see if AOL fixed my e-mail=0A>formatting a= s promised.=0A>=0A>Carl=0A>=0A>ECD......sorry if you opened this. =0A=0AT= ake 3...=0A=0AShould be a space above this sentence. And no gibberish.=0A= =0AAnd proper qouting. =0A=0AI hope this will be the last test message. A= OL said they would be fixing it=0Alast night.=0A=0A=97CSF=0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 07:49:42 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 09:49:24 -0600 (CST) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Houses/gardens To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801161549.JAA00400-AT- staff1.cso.uiuc.edu> bec-AT- pobox.com writes: >let me also point out here that my theme dance objection is to the >*dance name* theme. just because the dance *name* is related in >some way to whatever the topic du jour is -- groundhog day, or >arbor day, or whatever -- doesn't mean that it's worth dancing, >or that a bunch of disparate dances with only their titles in >common hang together as a program. to my knowledge, i have never >attended a theme dance where the theme was dance-related; and >i'm more than willing to try something like that -- i probably >*would* enjoy it. Many times when I'm preparing the program for a dance I will have a theme in mind, usually dance related, and I'm sure many other callers do the same. For instance I recall one dance last year when most of the dances in the program had hey's of various sorts in them, starting with simple ones at the beginning and progressing to more complex ones. I may have mentioned that this was the theme for the dance, but it certainly wasn't billed as "Hey Night" or anything. I don't think every dance in the evening has to fit the pattern for it to be a theme dance, just have several dances that share some common element. This is especially true if the theme is dance related. You don't want to have the same figure repeated in every dance. Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jonathan Sivier |Q: How many angels can dance on the | | j-sivier-AT- uiuc.edu | head of a pin? | | Flight Simulation Lab |A: It depends on what dance you call. | | Beckman Institute | | | 405 N. Mathews | SWMDG - Single White Male | | Urbana, IL 61801 | Dance Gypsy | | Work: 217/244-1923 | | | Home: 217/359-8225 | Have shoes, will dance. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Home page URL: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~j-sivier | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 15:59:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 18:53:49 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Just another test message - please ignore To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Testing again. Doubt that AOL has fixed my problem but this is just a tes= t. =0A=0AThere should be a line of space above and below this sentence.= =0A=0AThere should be no gibberish. Sorry to any ECD readers who opened t= his=0Amessage. I may need to send more such messages - please do not both= er to open=0Athem. I'm trying to fix the e-mail problem. =0A=0A=97Carl=0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 16:05:44 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 19:02:14 -0500 (EST) From: CF1125 Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Just another test message - please ignore To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <48b78ce2.34bff508-AT- aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =0AIn a message dated 1/17/98 12:00:26 AM, you wrote:=0A=0A>Testing again= . Doubt that AOL has fixed my problem but this is just a test. =0A>=0A>Th= ere should be a line of space above and below this sentence.=0A>=0A>There= should be no gibberish. Sorry to any ECD readers who opened this=0A>mess= age. I may need to send more such messages - please do not bother to open= =0A>them. I'm trying to fix the e-mail problem. =0A>=0A>=97Carl=0A>=0A>= =0A=0A=0AThey obviously didn't fix the formatting; let's see what happens= with a reply.=0ASorry to take up space on your e-mail in-box. =0A=0A= =0A=97Carl=0A ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 16:09:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 19:09:41 -0500 From: mls-AT- panix.com (Michael Siemon) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Just another test message - please ignore To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable At 7:02 PM 1/16/98, CF1125 wrote: >In a message dated 1/17/98 12:00:26 AM, you wrote:>Testing again. Doubt >that AOL has fixed my problem but this is just a test. >>There should be >a line of space above and below this sentence.>>There should be no >gibberish. Sorry to any ECD readers who opened this>message. I may need >to send more such messages - please do not bother to open>them. I'm >trying to fix the e-mail problem. >>=97Carl>>They obviously didn't >fix the formatting; let's see what happens with a reply.Sorry to take up >space on your e-mail in-box. =97Carl Look; whoever you are. What you are doing is insanse. Please stop it. If you are having troubles with AOL, stop annoying the rest of the universe in your attempts to resove the issue. You might consider, for example, junking AOL. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 17:58:59 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 20:59:26 -0500 From: mls-AT- panix.com (Michael Siemon) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Apology: I blew it big time To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" My profound apologies to the list, for managing to broadcast what was meant to be a private protest -- thereby adding my own noise on top of what I objected to (without, in my case, any excuse in a troublesome ISP situation that I needed help with.) I will add to the noise level this one more bit, in abject chagrin, with thanks to those who have (more successfully than my attempt!) pointed out my error. Sorry about that. Michael ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 11:56:28 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 13:54:22 -0600 (CST) From: FORBES-AT- GEORGE.BAKERU.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <980117135422.2057-AT- GEORGE.BAKERU.EDU> Names of dances are fine, but the proof, in virtually everything dance, is on the floor. Forbes ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 12:18:51 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 15:18:37 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 17 Jan 1998 FORBES-AT- GEORGE.BAKERU.EDU wrote: > Names of dances are fine, but the proof, in virtually everything dance, is > on the floor. That the names have essentially nothing to do with the dance choreography automatically makes them poorly qualified by themselves to form the basis of a dance program. But as a filter to sieve out a subset of the 3000+ dances accessable through modern editions or the roughly 27000 extant historically-published dances, to obtain a fresh selection from which to cull a program or two, it can make a lot of sense as well as be fun, since a lot of the names do have some meaningful historical connection to something dance-related; and while many dancers perhaps *really* don't care about these details, the few that do are perhaps more likely to get seriously involved in some aspect of dance research or leadership when they discover connections to other things that may intrigue them. Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 10:55:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 12:55:31 -0600 (CST) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dance topics To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801181855.MAA25906-AT- staff2.cso.uiuc.edu> FORBES-AT- GEORGE.BAKERU.EDU writes: >Names of dances are fine, but the proof, in virtually everything dance, is >on the floor. So, you're saying that "the proof is in the footing"? ;-) Sorry, I couldn't resist. Jonathan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jonathan Sivier |Q: How many angels can dance on the | | j-sivier-AT- uiuc.edu | head of a pin? | | Flight Simulation Lab |A: It depends on what dance you call. | | Beckman Institute | | | 405 N. Mathews | SWMDG - Single White Male | | Urbana, IL 61801 | Dance Gypsy | | Work: 217/244-1923 | | | Home: 217/359-8225 | Have shoes, will dance. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Home page URL: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~j-sivier | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 14:29:52 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 22:18:05 +0000 From: bob-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <885161904.2018370.0-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk> Vicky Bestock wrote: > Many people responding to this thread talk about the music cutting out and > people singing or tapping feet to keep the beat. But that's not dancing in > silence. Mary Kay Friday talks about the exilaration of dancing in silence > when the music cut out once at a dance. Its a thrill I've had often, and > one I'd like to share with you. Real dancing in silence is a magical and > sublime experience well known by modern and ballet dancers, and by several > kinds of folk dancers. So here goes. *Lots of very interesting stuff snipped* Since no one else has mentioned this yet I just wanted to say that this was one of the most thought provoking pieces I've read on this or any other mailing list / newsgroup. This doesn't necessarily mean I agree with every word, in fact I don't know how much of it I agree with yet, I'm still working through it and turning things over in my brain but it is certainly making me think. In a lot of ways I'm a typical left-brained computer programmer and dancing is my escape from that. I don't know that I've ever had quite the intensity of experience that Vicky describes but I think I've experienced enough of it to at least recognise its existance. Anyway, sorry for the fact that there's nothing terribly coherent in this post but I just wanted to acknowledge Vicky's post and say that it struck a chord with me. Bob ---------------------------------------------------------- -- Bob Archer bob-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 17:23:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 20:21:33 -0500 From: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: campers week To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980118.202134.3358.0.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> Please forgive this intrusion onto the list for some non-ECD business. It's for a good cause. I am compiling and distributuing a list of e-mail addresses of and for all those who feel they are a part of the Pinewoods Camp Campers' Week community. The names of those who were there this past summer who wanted to be on the list are already there. If you would like your name to be added and to receive a copy of the list: *PLEASE RESPOND PRIVATELY* to me marthacd-AT- juno.com Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 04:38:14 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 04:37:29 -0800 (PST) From: bestockp-AT- oz.net Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Bob Archer wrote: >Since no one else has mentioned this yet I just wanted to say that >this was one of the most thought provoking pieces I've read on this >or any other mailing list / newsgroup. This doesn't necessarily mean >I agree with every word, in fact I don't know how much of it I agree >with yet, I'm still working through it and turning things over in my >brain but it is certainly making me think. Hi Bob, Thanks so much for your response! Very few people did respond to this post so I wondered if it was too long so that no one had the time to read it, or if it was too alien a concept so that no one knew what I was talking about. It is reasuring to know that at least one confessed computer prgrammer is finding it food for thought! I'd be interested to hear what you come up with. As callers do you think we can somehow help create this experience for people who haven't had a glimpse of it? Vicky ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 08:08:06 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 11:07:33 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hi Vicky and Bob, (sort of strange to address a letter to two so widely separated, but of course this is really intended for everyone on the mailing list -- so here goes:) Bob, I feel very much the same as you do, except that in a sense I was still reeling under the impact and thinking about the concept and how to incorporate it into my teaching, so I hadn't come to the point of being able to give Vicky the credit due. And what you said didn't seem at all incoherent to me. Vicky, your ideas and the description of your experiences opened up a whole new avenue for thought (...oops, left-brain activity again (8-) ) for me, and connected several related concepts in such a refreshing, powerful new way that I felt (and feel ... aaah! right brain!) put me on the brink of a new understanding of the problems (ooow, back to the left -- or is it? Perhaps it is both...). What developed parenthetically above perhaps illustrates that perhaps we are dealing with an issue of communication between the two halves of the brain. Vicky's contribution for me was to point out the very mechanical, left-brain quality of music, and the execution of the very geometrical figures of ECD to it, and how that related, or didn't relate, to the idea of people dancing with each other. With all of our wisdom about dance being music made visible, and music being dance made audible, perhaps we lost sight of the fact that dance is in its essential nature a visual thing. But vision is powerfully connected to both sides of the brain, with roughly equal numbers of pathways in the optic nerve bundle from each eye to each half, so vision has the potential to play a very powerful role in both sides of the joint problem of dancing with each other and dancing with the music. All of this comes to me as I was preparing to teach a workshop entitled "Hearing the music, not the caller" which had as its objective to get the dancers to take responsibility for learning the moves in the first two or three rounds of the dance, so that the caller could then shut up, and the feeling/expectation was that then, after a few more rounds, the dancers would have internalized this enough that they could begin to connect up visually and start to dance with each other, having established synchrony with the music. This is sort of how I think I approach a dance. For me, the caller's voice seems intrusive and disruptive, and perhaps the hardest thing about learning to call dances was to holler out instructions over the music, and not even at the "right" time, but early... What I hear Vicky saying is that the fitting of the dance to the music is a mechanical problem which interferes with and makes more difficult the most desirable goal of *really* dancing *with* other people. It seemed that the caller, not the music, provided the glue which kept folks together as a whole, at least when things were stressed a bit. And no doubt this is true, because dances sometimes fall apart or become very rough with just the music and no calls, and the corrective action of introducing a few calls as reminders generally is a successful remedy. Having achieved from time to time somthing akin to the dance nirvana that Vicky described from her dancing-in-silence experience from occasional regular dance events with music, I have had as a goal in my own teaching to try to foster the conditions that are conducive to that happening. I have felt that the enthusiasm for this type of dance would build in proportion to the number of local dancers who had experienced this sort of high, and I feel that it is much easier for newer dancers to advance to the point where this kind of experience becomes possible when they are dancing with a good proportion of more experienced folk, especially if the more experienced folk themselves have had this experience. And I feel that Vicky's remarks have given me an insight which is highly relevant and which I hope will lead to greater understanding of the problem of teaching these things. Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 15:32:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 18:29:25 -0500 From: The Dupre Family Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dancing in silence To: 'ECD List' Message-ID: <01BD2508.401C3B40-AT- ppp25.nerc.com> To the list: I seem to be having trouble successfully delivering this - if you receive it more than once, I apologize. Vicky, I didn't respond to your posting about dancing in silence but I've been thinking and thinking about it. In fact, I snipped your posting out and have it tucked away in my archives. I have nothing especially interesting to add to the discussion at this point, but what I'm considering is how I can design the use of dancing in silence to promote awareness of each other in the performing teams - a molly team and a longsword team - for which I'm foreman. Oh, yes, it touched a chord (but can a posting about silence be said to touch a chord?!). Sue Dupre Lawrenceville, NJ dupre-AT- nerc1.nerc.com ph: (609)844-0459 dupre-AT- nerc.com ph: (609) 844-0459 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 18:41:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 22:45:17 -0400 From: gaff-AT- neu.edu (Terence Gaffney) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Boston Playford Ball To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Sharon, I'm writing to ask for a favor. Helene decided that she wanted to use some of Fried's dances for our Playford ball this year. I would like to put the directions for all the dances on the program on our web site. I also plan to enable dancers to ask Barbara Finney about unclear points in the directions. Anyway, I was hoping that you would ask Fried if it was alright to put up the directions for her dances which we would be doing. They would be available for about five weeks, then I would take them off again. Thanks very much. I hope I see you at the Ball this year. Best, Terry Gaffney ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 18:51:37 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 22:55:01 -0400 From: gaff-AT- neu.edu (Terence Gaffney) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: seeking introductory writeups on English dance To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I apologize to the list and to Sharon Green for mailing what was meant to be a personal message to the whole list. I suppose it's an object lesson in the danger of the reply feature and late nights. Best, Terry Gaffney ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 23:19:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 01:18:34 -0600 From: Charlene Charette Subject: Re: dancing without music To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34C44FCA.7798-AT- flash.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: Stephen D Corrsin wrote: > Being a good citizen and a librarian to boot, in asking for permission > from the Dance Division librarian, I pointed out the music included. She > said, "Go ahead. We're dancers, we don't care about music." Getting caught up after running an event. We had a group of dancers that decided to learn Whirligig for a demo. We had two practices to learn the dance. We dance it over and over again for 3 hours straight. At the time, if you had asked me to hum the tune I couldn't. I was too busy counting and trying to remember where I was supposed be and when . --Charlene ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 03:11:01 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 06:06:42 -0500 From: rherman-AT- igc.org (L. Russell Herman, Jr.) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Winter Solstice To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Winter Solstice is a dance for five couples (four in a square plus one in the middle). Who devised it? When? Where is it published? Am I correct in thinking there isn't a specific tune for it? If so, what tune do you recommend? With thanks, -- Russell Herman --------------------------------------------------------------------- L. Russell Herman, Jr. Raleigh, North Carolina, USA --------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 14:34:17 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 17:33:51 -0500 (EST) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Winter Solstice To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 20 Jan 1998, L. Russell Herman, Jr. wrote: > Winter Solstice is a dance for five couples (four in a square plus one in > the middle). > > Who devised it? > When? > Where is it published? > Am I correct in thinking there isn't a specific tune for it? > If so, what tune do you recommend? > I checked my index & couldn't find any information about the dance, unfortunately. But that unusual formation is also used in Colin Hume's dance "The Bunch of Fives." Since both Hume and Pat Shaw often use forms outside the typical longways-set-square ones, you could check books of their dances to see if it could be in there. Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 14:41:58 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 14:39:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: Winter Solstice To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01ISLQBYXLJM9QV034-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Dawn wrote: >On Tue, 20 Jan 1998, L. Russell Herman, Jr. wrote: >> Winter Solstice is a dance for five couples (four in a square plus one in >> the middle). > >> Who devised it? >> When? >> Where is it published? >> Am I correct in thinking there isn't a specific tune for it? >> If so, what tune do you recommend? >> >I checked my index & couldn't find any information about the dance, >unfortunately. But that unusual formation is also used in Colin Hume's >dance "The Bunch of Fives." Since both Hume and Pat Shaw often use forms >outside the typical longways-set-square ones, you could check books of >their dances to see if it could be in there. >Dawn Culbertson >dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu I haven't actually seen or done this dance, but I have a vague memory of discussion on this list sometime back which says the dance is by Wendy Crouch, was originally done to "Early One Morning", and now has a tune of its own. Can't be more specific than that, and can't guarantee that I'm correct, either. Hope this at least jogs the memory of someone who actually knows something. -- Alan =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 14:53:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 14:53:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: Winter Solstice To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01ISLQNQA26M9QV02N-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII I wrote: >I haven't actually seen or done this dance, but I have a vague memory of >discussion on this list sometime back which says the dance is by Wendy >Crouch, was originally done to "Early One Morning", and now has a tune of >its own. Can't be more specific than that, and can't guarantee that I'm >correct, either. >Hope this at least jogs the memory of someone who actually knows something. This succeeded in jogging my own memory. Emily Ferguson posted the dance description and a later correction; Colin Hume indicated that it now has its own tune, which he then 'hoped to publish' in _English Folk Dance & Song_. I got this information by going to the ECD archive page: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~winston/ecd.html clicking the archive link, and then entering "Morning" as the search string. This produces four messages, of which the last contains the corrected dance description. None of them will give you the new tune, though. (I don't give the description here because of some confused feelings about copyright combined with intellectual freedom. No, really. I don't want to repost dance descriptions without permission of the author or the original poster, but I don't want to purge posts from the archive unless they are obviously present by mistake, so the dance description remains available through the archive even though I feel a little funny about it. In general I would have no problem with rerunning a post to the same list, with proper attribution.) -- Alan =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 17:31:02 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 20:25:49 -0500 (EST) From: Mary2dance Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Fwd: Folk dancing in Belgium and Holland To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <6508427d.34c54e9f-AT- aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Perhaps Phillipe can help out my dancing friend? Thanks, Mary Luckhardt ---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ---------------- Date: 01/20 8:48 AM Received: 01/20 9:45 AM From: komai-AT- platinum.com To: SFFMC (Harmony) List, harmony-AT- idiom.com BCC: Mary Luckhardt, Mary2dance-AT- aol.com From: komai-AT- platinum.com Reply-to: komai-AT- platinum.com To: harmony-AT- idiom.com I plan to vacation in Holland and Belgium for two weeks in May. Anyone on the Harmony mailing list have contacts for folk dance groups in either of those two countries? Thanks a lot for your help! Dale Komai ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 21:26:09 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 00:27:41 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Winter Solstice To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >I got this information by going to the ECD archive page: > > http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~winston/ecd.html > The archives are right. Someone in Boston knows the correct tune. I'm going there tomorrrow night. I'll try to find out about it. We tried it with the desired tune and didn't care for it, even though it was what the author wanted. So we still do it to Early One Morning. Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader, weaver/spinner No matter which side of the fence you're on, the grass will always turn brown if you don't water it. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 02:47:39 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 10:47:07 +0000 (BRITAIN) From: HUGH-AT- SDL.UG.EDS.COM Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Winter Solstice To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01ISMWJ0ZIEQ000TWN-AT- SDL.UG.EDS.COM> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Winter Solstice was published in English Dance and Song, Autumn 1996 edition; along with a tune by David Dean. (As has been said earlier, people generally did it to "Early one morning" before the tune was written for the dance.) Hugh Stewart ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 05:03:46 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 07:03:50 -0600 From: Mike Mudrey Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Winter Solstice To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980121070350.007d6610-AT- madison.tds.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Quick reminder for Early one Morning when used as the signature tune for Winter Solstice...the tune sequence is 5XAABB. There is at least one recording of 7XAAB that causes some problems with those who dance a particular figure to a particular melody sequence, and then one has an extra B to wonder about! mm Mike Mudrey New Glarus, Wisconsin mgmudrey-AT- madison.tds.net ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 07:25:58 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 10:22:40 -0500 From: Gene Murrow Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Boston Playford Ball To: "INTERNET:ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU" Message-ID: <199801211023_MC2-3026-678-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dear Terry and ECD list, Just as well that you posted your request to publish directions to Fried'= s dances to be done at the Boston Playford Ball on the Boston Centre's web site. It's a practical application of some of the copyright and fair use= issues we've discussed. My recommendation is that the Boston Centre ask Fried directly, and indicate that you would like to pay her a royalty for the use of the danc= e directions (already published in books for sale) on the web for the convenience of your Ball registrants. Perhaps $15 per dance might be in order. Just a thought... Gene Murrow ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 08:56:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 17:40:53 +0100 From: Antony Heywood Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Folk dancing in Belgium and Holland To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: komai-AT- platinum.com Message-ID: <199801211656.RAA11074-AT- IAEhv.nl> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mary Luckhardt wrote: > Perhaps Phillipe can help out my dancing friend? > Dale Komai's message: > I plan to vacation in Holland and Belgium for two weeks in May. Anyone on > the Harmony mailing list have contacts for folk dance groups in either of > those two countries? Thanks a lot for your help! You can find English and American Folk Dance activities on the Home Pages of the NVS (for the Netherlands) at http://www.iae.nl/users/antony/ and the AADS (for Belgium) at http://www.club.innet.be If you haven't got access to the web, e-mail me privately and I'll e-mail details. Antony Heywood ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 09:09:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 12:09:49 -0500 (EST) From: walkowit-AT- is2.nyu.edu (Daniel J. Walkowitz) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801211709.MAA23699-AT- is2.nyu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The workshop title reminded me of the waltz workshops I have run on "dancing without knowing the steps" which try to emphasize dancing with the whole body. I am always frustrated by folks who dance looking at their feet and neither hear the music nor dance with their whole body (and its relationship to their partner(s), set and line(s). I sometimes take a few minutes to review an elementary Lamaze exercise that allows people to become aware of all their muscles, etc. Such dancing with the music and with your whole body is akin to what happens when good dancers join an international line dance even though they may not yet know all the steps and manage to participate without (unduly) disturbing the dancers on either side of them. The high I think we get (or at least I get) from dancing begins with the whole body involved, not just the feet. Danny Walkowitz >All of this comes to me as I was preparing to teach a workshop entitled >"Hearing the music, not the caller" which had as its objective to get the >dancers to take responsibility for learning the moves in the first two or >three rounds of the dance, so that the caller could then shut up, and the >feeling/expectation was that then, after a few more rounds, the dancers >would have internalized this enough that they could begin to connect up >visually and start to dance with each other, having established synchrony >with the music. This is sort of how I think I approach a dance. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 23:49:39 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 02:49:33 -0500 (EST) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: More on dancing in silence To: EngDance list Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII This is taken from the most recent edition of the ISAM (Institute for Studies in American Music) newsletter. It's from an article called "Remembering John Cage" by Richard Winslow of Wesleyan University: "Cage was, of course, music director for the Merce Cunningham Dance Co., For which he used a great deal of his own compositions. Once in the mid-1960s I met him for dinner following a rehearsal for a Cunningham performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He was exhilarated because union problems had pervented any music from being used during the rehearsal, and the dancers had moved in total silence. "Oh, it was so beautiful," he said. "I almost wish the performance would go on that way." Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 17:00:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 19:58:55 -0800 From: Jim Mieczkowski Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Rinewoods 1998 To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <34CC09FF.173D-AT- snet.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <01BBDB21.1E4D3280-AT- dupre.nerc.com> Dear Bob, We were wondering when the summer schedule will be out for Pinewoods. We are especially interested in a rumor that we heard about Polish Dance. Please let us know. Thanks very much! Cathy and Jim ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 07:32:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 10:29:20 -0500 From: "Gary M. Roodman" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: "Fair Use" of Recently-Composed Dances To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980126102920.006c0bc8-AT- mailbox.cc.binghamton.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear English Country Dancers, I have read with interest the continuing discussion about respecting intellectual property and giving proper credit in the use of recently-composed English country dances. As one who has written a few of the newer country dances that, I am pleased to say, are being danced, I have been trying to figure out how I feel about the issue. It has taken me a while, but here are a few things I have concluded so far: The most important thing to me, by far, is to see my dances out there being enjoyed. It is especially nice to see the dances included on Ball programs. With regard to credit, I would like to be acknowledged as author when a dance of mine is used. Whenever instructions for one of my dances are reproduced (e.g. in a Ball program booklet or on the web), I would like to see a citation to the published source included. Whenever a leader uses more than one dance from one of my books, it would be nice if (s)he would buy the book. Formal request for permission to use a dance is not too important to me. Payment of an honorarium/royalty is not necessary. I should emphasize that I am speaking here only for myself regarding my own dances. There is a lot of room for differing opinions. In particular, the composers of modern tunes that go with the dances may have different views. NOTICE: I reserve the right to not agree with myself later, but at the moment these seimi-rules feel very comfortable to me. Gary ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 09:07:30 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 12:56:33 +0000 From: bob-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <885833496.209202.0-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk> Vicky Bestock wrote: > It is reasuring to know that at least one confessed computer prgrammer is > finding it food for thought! I'd be interested to hear what you come up > with. As callers do you think we can somehow help create this experience > for people who haven't had a glimpse of it? Vicky Oh no, I'm "out" now as a self confessed computer programmer :-) ( I only do it because they bribe me, honestly). I've been thinking a lot about "magic" dance moments over the past few days ( not just dancing in silence but other moments when everything seems to have been perfect - dance, dancers, music (or lack of), atmosphere etc.). I don't know what callers can do to help create this experience. Certainly most of the magic moments I've been involved in in one way or another have just come out of the blue. Perhaps the biggest skill is for the caller to be aware that a magic moment is imminent and do nothing to stop it from happening. This usually involves the caller shutting up and letting the dancers and the music get on with it. I was leading the band at a local club last week and, just as part of our normal rise and fall in volume, we were playing one turn through quietly. I had the whole "dancing in silence" discussion running through my head at the time so tried playing the next time through even more quietly. I briefly considered stopping the music completely but looking at the floor realised the the dance was only just holding itself together as it was, losing the music would have caused it to fall apart entirely. Bob ---------------------------------------------------------- -- Bob Archer bob-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 09:41:36 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 13:05:20 +0000 From: bob-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <885833501.209204.0-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk> Daniel J. Walkowitz wrote: > The workshop title reminded me of the waltz workshops I have run on "dancing > without knowing the steps" which try to emphasize dancing with the whole > body. I am always frustrated by folks who dance looking at their feet and > neither hear the music nor dance with their whole body (and its relationship > to their partner(s), set and line(s). I sometimes take a few minutes to > review an elementary Lamaze exercise that allows people to become aware of > all their muscles, etc. Such dancing with the music and with your whole > body is akin to what happens when good dancers join an international line > dance even though they may not yet know all the steps and manage to > participate without (unduly) disturbing the dancers on either side of them. > The high I think we get (or at least I get) from dancing begins with the > whole body involved, not just the feet. I'd love to know more about this Lamaze excercise. Is it possible to give a short summary to the group or maybe recommend a book on the subject? I have run a workshop called "Dancing with the music" a few times where the whole point of the workshop is to get people listening to the music. The workshop consists mostly of exercises designed to encourage people to pick up the link between the music and the dance. I've run the workshop about four times now with mixed results. I've had some very positive feedback but was also requested _not_ to run it at one day of dance I called at. I'm not sure whether this was because people attending the day of dance had already been to the workshop or whether they really didn't want that sort of workshop. In the end I ran a "mini-dance" and everyone seemed quite happy about that. Hmm, this is crying out for another thread "How to stop workshops just being mini-dances" or something like that. Bob ---------------------------------------------------------- -- Bob Archer bob-AT- hottub.demon.co.uk ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 11:59:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 14:59:39 -0500 (EST) From: walkowit-AT- is2.nyu.edu (Daniel J. Walkowitz) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801261959.OAA21730-AT- is2.nyu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Bob, There must be some [more] recent parent than I who can supply a book reference. I went thru the Lamaze birth classes over 27 years ago! Lamaze is basically a series of breathing exercises coordinated with muscle relaxing. I focus on asking the group to become self-conscious of various groups of muscles in turn -- say, neck and shoulders, facial, back, arms and try to relax each in turn. The awareness of the muscles (and tension in them) is a starting point to get people to being aware of using them as they dance for posture, gesture, poise and grace so that the dancing is more than moving the feet as a series of steps. We then work with the music to try to express it through our whole bodies. Waltzing is especially wonderful for this as you can 'feel' the music even as you dance in place (even without a partner). I am confident others can speak with more authority about Lamaze, rather than my use of elelments of it. Danny >I'd love to know more about this Lamaze excercise. Is it possible to >give a short summary to the group or maybe recommend a book on the >subject? ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 21:58:27 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 00:58:17 -0500 (EST) From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Feb. 4th Princeton Dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199801270558.AAA29839-AT- mail1.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear One & All, The February 4th Princeton NJ English Country Dance, band & caller TBA, is TBA no longer. [My E-mail finally caught up with me...] Caller: Sharon Green [me] Band [in alphabetical order] Roger Davidson Michael Lemonick Louise Topp McClure Paul Prestopino [And with that lineup in store for me, how I'm going to be able to stop bouncing up and down in my seat and be a properly attentive alternate at jury duty tomorrow _I_ don't know. Michael Lemonick played for the very first Princeton open mike night I called at 2-3 years ago. Louise McClure--well, she and Margaret Ann Martin made English music *happen* at Princeton from Day One. Roger Davidson--composer of Dunant House Waltz, Trip to Ilford, etc.--has been a mainstay of CD*NY's English dance scene, staff pianist at the NVS Christmas course in Holland; back in grade school, he was taught piano and English country dance by Phil Merrill & May Gadd. And Paul Prestopino--where do I begin? Wow!] Anyway, as you can see, I been blessed with a super band, and now I get to pick some great tunes for them to have fun with. And I hope as many of you as can will come on down to Suzanne Patterson Center [behind Princeton Borough Hall, near intersection of Rtes 206 and 27 (Nassau Street)], at 8pm on Wednesday, 2/4. Hugs for as many as will-- Sharon Green [floating on combined caller-high and post-Seattle-Ball euphoria] ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 07:32:08 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 10:31:57 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Danny, Your description of what you do is probably much more relevant to the rest of us dancers than the Lamaze method, whether the current version or the version you learned from (I also went through those classes many years ago, but don't remember the details nearly so well as you do). I find your latest post on this subject to be of particular interest as I face the multiple issues of moving to the music, dancing with each other, accomodating new dancers while keeping the interest and enthusiasm of the more experienced dancers, and raising dance skills at all levels of participation. Several posts have contributed significantly to the thoughts developing in my mind. Bruce Hamilton's comments last summer about "Punching through the ceiling" and some of the ideas that sprung from it, in particular addressing first the issues that are within onesself that affect one's dancing, identified among other things the tension that one feels from various sources, and what one can do about them. Vicky added to it with her stunning post about dancing in silence, and how the music itself could be a distraction from the goal of dancing to and with each other, and could create a tension which might be the greater in the more artistically-oriented among us, so this was an aspect that the more logically oriented, computer-nerdy types (like me...) might very well not pick up on in our attempts to teach. And now Danny draws on his Lamaze experience to approach both the tension and the motion-to-music problems, and it all begins to fit together into a larger idea, all of it directly related to what I am trying to put together in my first season of being really and completely in charge of our local ECD program. And now the responsibility to turn it all into a coherent, interesting, and successful lies upon my shoulders, and with it comes the stress and the tension... (8-|> So I hope that the resulting code is re-entrant, because I'll be in as much need of it as the dancers will! Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 07:46:23 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 10:46:14 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: "Fair Use" of Recently-Composed Dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Dear Gary, Thank you for your statement of your position regarding the use of your dance compositions. I admire and appreciate your generosity. I would be interested to know, too, what you feel is fair use of those of your publications which are currently out of print. This is a subject of frequent concern, since many dance books which are of great interest to dance leaders are not currently available, but remain protected by copyright, and newer leaders, in particular, have great difficulty in building up a good personal library even though they are willing to buy anything (and everything!) that is available. I realize, of course, that your opinion is your own and is not to be taken as representing other holders of copyrights to out-of-print material, but I am interested to know what you think about this. Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 09:54:35 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 13:04:53 -0500 From: Gary Roodman Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: "Fair Use" of Recently-Composed Dances To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980127130453.007103dc-AT- mailbox.cc.binghamton.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Eric, Your question about appropriate use of out-of-print materials is a hard one. For publications of mine that are out of print, I would say that duplicating copies is OK. BUT I am pleased to say that everything of mine is now IN print, including the first _Calculated Figures_ which had been out of print for several years. CDSS now has them for sale. So at least for the moment, everyone using my dances should be able to get the books. But your question is a good one which I may have to face again in the future. Thanks for your note. Gary At 10:46 AM 1/27/98 -0500, you wrote: >Dear Gary, > >Thank you for your statement of your position regarding the use of your >dance compositions. I admire and appreciate your generosity. > >I would be interested to know, too, what you feel is fair use of those of >your publications which are currently out of print. This is a subject of >frequent concern, since many dance books which are of great interest to >dance leaders are not currently available, but remain protected by >copyright, and newer leaders, in particular, have great difficulty in >building up a good personal library even though they are willing to buy >anything (and everything!) that is available. > >I realize, of course, that your opinion is your own and is not to be taken >as representing other holders of copyrights to out-of-print material, but >I am interested to know what you think about this. > >Eric Arnold > Ann Arbor > > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 11:35:39 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 14:35:29 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: "Fair Use" of Recently-Composed Dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Dear Gary, On Tue, 27 Jan 1998, Gary Roodman wrote: > BUT I am pleased to say that everything of mine is now IN print, including > the first _Calculated Figures_ which had been out of print for several > years. CDSS now has them for sale. So at least for the moment, everyone > using my dances should be able to get the books. But your question is a > good one which I may have to face again in the future. This is indeed welcome news! If only some others that I can think of would be persuaded to follow your example... Eric ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 17:20:46 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: bolker-AT- phoenix.Princeton.EDU Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 20:19:57 -0500 (EST) From: Susie Lorand Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Feb. 4th Princeton Dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 27 Jan 1998, Sharon Green wrote: > The February 4th Princeton NJ English Country Dance [caller's enthusiastic comments about stellar group of musicians snipped :-) ] > .....I hope as many of you > as can will come on down to Suzanne Patterson Center [behind Princeton > Borough Hall, near intersection of Rtes 206 and 27 (Nassau Street)], at 8pm > on Wednesday, 2/4. for those of you on the web who would like detailed directions, see http://eno.princeton.edu/~ben/pcd/main.html and please note that the dance hall is walking distance from a train station with connections to new york and philadelphia, as well as to various new jersey bus lines. for those driving from the south/southwest via I-95, please note that there's bridge work being done on princeton pike near quaker road at some times of day or night. you may want to use route 206 instead. see you there! susie lorand princeton, n.j. dancer & musician ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 21:19:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 00:15:07 -0800 From: stepstately-AT- juno.com (Ellie Hansen & Bob Erenburg) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: NY Playford Ball To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19980128.001611.3910.3.stepstately-AT- juno.com> Registrations for the April 18, 1998, NY Playford Ball are being accepted. If you need a flyer, let us know and we'll send one out to you. Ellie Hansen/Bob Erenburg, Registrars _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 14:01:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 17:02:54 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re[2]: The Ball -- or -- Rhododendron To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Did we ever find out how the Ball - or - Rhododendron, goes? I must have missed it, if we did. If not could someone post it? Thanks. Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader, weaver/spinner No matter which side of the fence you're on, the grass will always turn brown if you don't water it. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 17:19:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 10:20:15 -0500 (EST) From: David.Millstone-AT- VALLEY.NET (David Millstone) Subject: Re: ECD Digest V1 #316 To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <2056044-AT- lyme.VALLEY.NET> --- You wrote: Registrations for the April 18, 1998, NY Playford Ball are being accepted. If you need a flyer, let us know and we'll send one out to you. Ellie Hansen/Bob Erenburg, Registrars --- end of quote --- I'd love one. Thanks. David Millstone 176 Farnum Hill Lebanon, NH 03766 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 22:37:25 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 01:39:04 -0500 From: Erna-Lynne Bogue Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34D2C704.68A5-AT- ix.netcom.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: Many years ago, when I still dance Morris, we once tried a notion of rehearsing the dance in silence: no bells, no music. We were working hard on keeping a constant pace. I'm not sure where we got the idea, but we realized that dancing to the music we could hear was 'reactive' because we had to hear and respond. If we could internalize the music, hearing it as we moved, we would then be able to all dance. It was an amazingly frustrating, and ultimately very helpful thing to do from a performance perspective. It took many times of having the music back to get our internal sense of the pace synchronized. I never have had the experience of the movement and the dance weaving themselves together *so* copmletely as I did with the dance we rehearsed that way. It was as though each of us was playing the music with our bodies while our musician danced the tune in his squeezebox. Erna-Lynne -------------------------------- Erna-Lynne Bogue / Ann Arbor MI -------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 23:31:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 23:31:00 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: excellent sample ECD description To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01IT07EWIFD49UN4ZY-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Folks -- In response to my request on the list a couple of weeks ago, Joyce Crouch has sent me a copy of an excellent writeup of ECD for people who don't know what it is. This was written by Linda Repasky, who, Joyce says, has no qualms about sharing it, but didn't know how to get it out off her disk and onto the mailing list. It was written to be passed out at a demo performed in Amherst at a local History Day. So here's the text; _something_ means that "something" is italicized; SOMETHING is bold. Thanks, Joyce and Linda! (I'd still like to see any others that any of you have.) ============================================ (Head) WHAT IS ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCING? You say you've never heard of English Country Dancing? You're in good company, since many people are unfamiliar with it. But if you've watched _Pride and Prejudice_ on tv, or seen _Sense and Sensibility_ or _Emma_ at the movies, you have indeed seen it. But fear not - English Country Dancing (ECD) is not the obscure relic you might think it to be! While this traditional form of dance has been around for several hundred years, it's still thriving today. New England - and especially the Amherst area - is a hotbed of English country dancing. WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE ECD SO MUCH? For many, it's the music - hauntingly beautiful tunes that make the heart swell. Some dance tunes are taken from old ballads and political satire; others come from classical music and operas. This gives ECD music tremendous variety; sometimes sweet and melodic, sometimes melancholy, and sometimes absolutely driven with a pulsating beat. All local dances feature live music, played by many of the area's most accomplished musicians. Others love ECD for the grace and elegance with which you glide as you dance. At times, you simply get swept away as you become one with the music. Many people love the beautiful patterns that you create as you dance and weave. Through it all, there's an indefinable quality to ECD that makes it energizing, mesmerizing, and just plain fun. ECD IS NOT HARD TO LEARN. If you can walk and know the difference between left and right, you already have much of the basic knowledge you'll need. Most of the movements are based simply on a walking or skipping step. Dancers move in a number of specific "figures", sometimes holding hands, sometimes by themselves. Each dance is prompted by a caller, o that each figure and movement is called in time to the music; you don't need to rely on your memory alone to know what to do. BEGINNERS ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED AT ALL REGULAR LOCAL DANCES. Partners are not necessary; you can come by yourself and be assured of dancing throughout the evening, since our tradition is to change partners for each dance. Local dances are social and friendly, and the atmosphere is informal. No special clothing is needed, other than clean, soft-soled shoes or sneakers. Interested in coming to try a bit of dancing, or simply to watch before you take the plunge? Hee's where to find ECD in the Amherst area. [Bullet list of local dances] For more information [numbers] ============================================================================ =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 00:13:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 00:13:41 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: (long) ECD/contra history article; comments? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01IT098WE21K9UN4ZY-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Folks -- This is an article I wrote for the Humboldt Folklife Society newsletter when they wanted to know what this ECD stuff was and where it came from. This is as historically-correct as I could make it, but I'd appreciate comments both on correctness and on tone; I'm thinking of putting it up on my ECD page. Thanks, -- Alan =============================================================================== There are written references to English Country Dance going as far back as the 1400s, but the first published dance descriptions and tunes we have are in publisher John Playford's collection, "The English Country Dancing Master", first printed in 1651, going through many different editions over the next hundred and thirty years. (There was a lively trade in pirated editions of Playford, as well as other country dance collections.) English Country dancing went to North America with the colonists. In New England especially, country dance was extremely popular through the early 1800s. Americans eagerly awaited new dance books from England; they also wrote their own dances and published their own books. Country dance, of essentially the English style, was popular throughout Europe. Beethoven and Mozart wrote country dance music. The popularity of the quadrilles, spreading from France in the early 1800s, eroded the appeal of country dancing in fashionable urban areas - both in the US and England, but the death blow came with the couple-dancing/ballroom dance crazes. When the polka swept across Europe in 1844, it legitimized the waltz in polite society, and subsequent dance fashions changed social dance in the cities almost completely into couple dances. Country dancing retreated to, well, the country. Americans kept on country dancing in Appalachia, and in small New England towns; quadrilles spawned square dances in the Midwest. In England, country dancing became the province of the villages exclusively, and most villages had only a few dances which they'd do at all their celebrations. English and American Country dance were cut off; dancing masters no longer travelled between the countries, there was no trade in books. Not surprisingly, the two dance forms diverged considerably. (But some connections are still very evident. "Sir Roger de Coverly," which Dickens mentions in "A Christmas Carol", is essentially the same dance as the "Virginia Reel.") ECD was essentially dead by the beginning of this century, while contra dance and square dance was still alive, if in hiding. Ethnomusicologist Cecil Sharp and his followers collected extant country dances from villages, then turned to printed sources to develop a large repertoire of English Country dances. He started a revival movement, published new books of country dance, founded the English Folk Dance & Song Society, and brought ECD back into the cities, making it again a living tradition. In the 90 or so years of the revival, ECD has been researched; more authentic reconstruction of historical dances have been done, and people have written many new dances. [The style we use today is Sharp's style, even when later research has disclosed that it was not historically correct.] Sharp came over to the US in the 'teens, and did some ethnomusicological research. He reported on the "Kentucky Running Set" dances, contras where there no musical instruments and rhythm was provided by body percussion. He collected other dances, and provided the impetus for founding the Country Dancd & Song Society, which has done a lot of good work in promoting English, Contra, and ritual dance. [I'll leave out Lloyd Shaw's revival of square dancing in the 30s and 40s, which seems to have spawned the "club squares" movement, because I don't know that much about it.] The big folk revival of the sixties and seventies brought traditional dance and music to the fore again, and contra dancing came back to the cities, starting in New England but spreading throughout the US, and even back to England, where dance clubs often dance ECD and contra together in a single evening. Differences in English and Contra: Music ----- Modern contra dances are usually done to medleys of jigs and reels, chosen by the band. The same dance might be done on different evenings to three different sets of three different tunes each, all of them in 2/4, 4/4, or 6/8 time, each tune played for thirty-two bars per time through the dance. Tempos are usually pretty consistent throughout the evening, generally pretty fast. English dances are usually written to go with specific tunes, so you get the same tune each time. There's more variety in meter; some dances are in waltz time, polka time, minuet time, or other options, although the dances are still done with a simple walking step. The tempo may vary widely from dance to dance, from very slow to very fast. The English dancer is encouraged to "dance to the phrase of the music", starting and finishing figures when the music says to do it. This is a good idea in contra dancing, too, but sometimes difficult -- and impossible in Southern squares, which are danced unphrased. Formations ---------- Contras are usually done with partners across from each other in long lines. Many English dances use this formation, but there are also three, four, five couple set dances, some in circles, squares, or other formations. Figures ------- English has a wider variety of figures than contra dance does. You'll see heys-for-three more often than heys-for-four. Two hand turns are much more frequent than partner swings. There's a lot more emphasis on eye contact than on physical contact, which makes flirting a bit subtler, but just as much fun. [This bit made sense in context, but doesn't in a general-purpose article.] My program is intended, first, to be fun for everyone, and second, to show some of the range of English dancing. There'll be fast and slow dances, romantic ones and bouncy ones, in a variety of formations. =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 07:50:03 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 10:47:44 -0500 From: Mary Beth Goodman Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: dancing in silence To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" References: At 1:39 AM -0500 1/31/98, Erna-Lynne Bogue wrote: >Many years ago, when I still dance Morris, we once tried a notion of >rehearsing the dance in silence: no bells, no music. We were working >hard on keeping a constant pace. When I convinced my former team that they should try dancing in clogs in rehearsal, (maybe that's why they considered clogs dangerous?), everyone was astonished at how the footwork seemed to gel. The sound of the footfalls unified everyone, even those people who were normally off a bit. And it pointed out that there was something other than the music to listen to! Mary Beth Goodman <-- still ranting ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 08:04:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 31 Jan 98 15:47:52 From: Raymond Wright Subject: Re: (long) ECD/contra history article; comments? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <93-AT- belldans.demon.co.uk> It is a very interesting article. May I suggest that you say more about the current ECD scene in England. Whilst Playford has a following, a lot of dancers go to "Ceilidhs" where the music is traditional, or based upon the tradition, with a greater emphasis on rythm. I do not dance the Playford dances, unless they are used at a Ceilidh, but I do still take part in English Country Dance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Raymond Wright EMail raymond-AT- belldans.demon.co.uk | | Morris Dancer, Caller and Bell-Ringer --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 23:05:19 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 23:14:05 -0800 From: Pettengill Family Subject: Clapping midst hands across ... To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <34D420BD.1455-AT- proaxis.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <01IT07EWIFD49UN4ZY-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> Does anyone have any thoughts on when it's appropriate - or, even fun - to clap between the right hands across and left hands back? I have always put two claps in there with Indian Queen. Now I am wondering if my dancers will feel embarassed if they do this in someone else's class when no one else does!! don