Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 00:00:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 03:00:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: =A= A petition to censure and move on (fwd) To: silence list , LuteNet , EngDance list , Sue Jarek-Glidden Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 09:31:42 -0400 (EDT) From: "Janet L. Maher" Reply-To: Baltimore To: ArtMobile-AT- charm.net Subject: =A= A petition to censure and move on (fwd) ----------------------------------------------------------- (previously forwarded list deleted) Subject: A petition to censure and move on Now that the Starr report is out, and the worst is known, I've been hoping that congress would take swift action and then move on with the business of the country. But it seems our representatives are settling down for a long process, and I'm not sure I can stand it. Worse, I'm not sure the country can stand it. I'm helping launch an Internet campaign to tell our representatives that we've had enough. The President should receive censure from the Congress and we should all move on. And the independent counsel investigation should end. It's time for the public interest to come first, and for our representatives to show real leadership. Will you help? Just go to http://www.moveon.org to sign the petition. It only takes a minute. And then if you send a message on to your friends and colleagues, the ball will really get rolling. It's up to us. Please feel free to forward this message to anyone you think would be interested. __________________________________ Maggie Macnab Macnab Design Visual Communication http://www.macnabdesign.com/macnab/ 505.242.6159 vox 505.242.7710 fax =======(Baltimore - ArtMobile-AT- Charm.Net - balt.arts)======= ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 06:30:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 09:30:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Calling at balls To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Wed, 30 Sep 1998, Arthur Munisteri wrote: [ snip ] I know that the Scottish dances aren't > that much simpler than the ones we do; can it be that Scottish dancers > are all that much smarter than ECD dancers? No -- it's that they eat oats, while the English dancers feed oats to their horses (to paraphrase an old Scottish joke). Eric ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 06:37:27 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 09:37:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Arnold Subject: Re: Calling at balls 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 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Wed, 30 Sep 1998, Emma Rushton wrote: [quote from Art Munisteri snipped out] > Many Scottish dances are a lot more complicated than most duple longways > English dances. But then, the Scots as a rule don't do longways dances, so that's a bit like comparing apples & bananas (a longways fruit). Do you think that the Scottish dances are also more complicated than the typical ECD set dance? Eric Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 07:11:06 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 07:08:13 -0700 (PDT) From: Lyrl Ahern Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: New Haven ball To: barbararuth-AT- rocketmail.com, ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981001140814.7191.rocketmail-AT- send1e.yahoomail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Barbara--- Glad to hear the "Providence" ball is being revived. I never got to it but heard lots of good things about it. As editor of the Boston CDS News, I hope you will send me a notice by November 1st, when I begin the next article of the newsletter. Even a tentative notice is okay, with phone number and email for inquiries. Thanks. ---Lyrl _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free -AT- yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 09:21:37 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 09:21:27 -0700 (PDT) From: rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu (Emma Rushton) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Calling at balls To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT >But then, the Scots as a rule don't do longways dances, so that's a bit >like comparing apples & bananas (a longways fruit). Do you think that the >Scottish dances are also more complicated than the typical ECD set dance? > >Eric Arnold > Ann Arbor If you tell me what's a typical ECD set dance, I'll tell you whether I think Scottish dances are more complicated, if you also tell me what's a typical Scottish dance! :-) It depends enormously on who's teaching, and for what group of dancers. I was just comparing the most common dance formation in both types of dance, and I do think that many Scottish 3 couple dances are more complicated than most English longways duple. It's hardly suprising, since there is one more couple involved, and three rather than two parts to learn, and you know you are going to do all three parts. Now I expect someone will tell me that English set dances are more common than longways....... Emma - Emma Rushton, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South, 1400 East Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0840 (801) 585-1926 (office) (801) 585-9425 (lab) (801) 581-4668 (fax) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 11:24:42 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 14:21:57 -0005 From: Arthur Munisteri Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Calling at balls To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981001182107.GPFU7427-AT- newmicronpc> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Yes, in Scottish longways the fourth couple usually gets to watch first -- a circumstance for which I was very grateful indeed on that night at Pinewoods; & even more grateful to the couple in the set who offered to switch with me & my partner. That dance characteristic saved one idiot from making a fool of himself that one occasion, but, of course, it isn't relied on by any appreciable number of dancers. If it were, you'd often find yourself in a set with two couples squabbling over the fourth spot. Which reminds me of another issue. Why don't more ECD balls, or even just routine dances in large halls, break the long lines for dances that offer special treats to the ones? Is this something that doesn't come up because so few occasions present us with that many dancers at one time, or do a substantial number of dancers really not like to break the line? (I plan on broaching the subject here in NYC to see what the sentiment is.) And I certainly agree with Rich Galloway that it's very difficult indeed to keep track of the talk-through while trying -- and failing --to walk it. Which I suppose is why most callers will adjust their talk-through when they see dancers trying to walk it. I don't know about Eric's comment that the Scots don't do so many longways dances as ECD. My recollection is that by far most of them were longways when I was doing them regularly (about ten years ago was my last venture). Does anyone know (care?) whether there's a significant difference among geographical areas? But I think there's no question that a banana is a longways fruit. Art Munisteri NYC ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 12:07:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:07:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Harmonica Boy Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Calling at balls To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Arthur Munisteri wrote: > I don't know about Eric's comment that the Scots don't do so many > longways dances as ECD. My recollection is that by far most of them > were longways when I was doing them regularly (about ten years ago > was my last venture). Does anyone know (care?) whether there's a > significant difference among geographical areas? But I think there's > no question that a banana is a longways fruit. i'm confuzzled as to what you mean by a "scottish longways dance". unless you mean "longways set" as opposed to "square set" ... dances like the "buchan eightsome" (and other eightsome, sixteensome, etc) dances tend to be in round sets, though the vast majority of scottish dances are four couple longways set dances with three (sometimes two, sometimes all four) couples dancing at a time. but terminology-wise, i don't think i've ever heard the word "longways" when referring to scottish dancing, since it's the default, whereas in english, where there are more options for set formation, the term is used to eliminate ambiguity. --will Will's Hole in the Web http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~quale Folk Dance Club's Page http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~quale/dance "Faith manages." -- Delenn ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 12:33:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 20:32:33 +0100 From: Michael Barraclough Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Scottish Dances (was Calling at balls) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <001701bded72$3d1e6a20$14802ed4-AT- michael> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Eric Arnold wrote: But then, the Scots as a rule don't do longways dances, so that's a bit like comparing apples & bananas (a longways fruit). Do you think that the Scottish dances are also more complicated than the typical ECD set dance? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- Difficult to be polite about this Eric - that's exactly what the Scots do. With the exception of a few quadrille and reel based dances the Scots repertoire is longways triple minor dances done by 4 couples. The fact that only 4 couples are used is down to the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society who recreated "Scottish Country Dancing" in this form. The dances done in this manner are almost all taken from earlier books of country dances which were triple minors. As an aside, I understand that a considerable number of the interpretations are not historically correct. This is not my area of expertise but there is an American who I met some time ago over here in the UK who was researching this. Naturally his message was not well received by the RSCDS. Even more annoying to the Scots is the fact that these dances are really English Country Dances. In the late seventeenth century "mixt" dancing was illegal in Scotland and when the moral barrier was finally broken the Scots were to be found dancing dances both published in London and in like manner etc. This would not have been possible if it was a distinct art form. Over time certain figures have developed in Scotland which do not seem to have travelled as far south as London although dances with these figures were collected in the twentieth century in northern England. From an academic perspective one can of course say much the same thing about the American Contra - ie that it was based on the English Country Dance but developed its own specific figures. In fact a generic pattern emerged such that Scottish dances were constructed to a formula of 16 bars + down the middle and back, poussette and American dances of 16 bars + down the middle and back, rights and lefts. Whilst the way Scottish Country Dance is performed is highly stylised these days it is interesting to observe lingering elements of baroque dance technique in it. This would definitely have been part of English Country Dance in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries but had effectively disappeared by the time Cecil Sharp came along and recreated "Playford". End of lecture!! Michael Barraclough http://www.tgis.co.uk/home/mab ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 12:36:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:36:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Calling at balls To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Arthur Munisteri wrote: > I don't know about Eric's comment that the Scots don't do so many > longways dances as ECD. My recollection is that by far most of them > were longways when I was doing them regularly (about ten years ago > was my last venture). I was actually thinking of longways "for as many as will" as opposed to sets, in any formation including longways, for a definite number of people. Sorry for the confusion. Eric ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 13:32:17 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 13:32:08 -0700 (PDT) From: rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu (Emma Rushton) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors and Scottish Dances To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT >With the exception of a few quadrille and reel based dances the Scots >repertoire is longways triple minor dances done by 4 couples. The fact that >only 4 couples are used is down to the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society >who recreated "Scottish Country Dancing" in this form. I think the RSCDS did Scottish dancing a favour here. While there is nothing like the heady experience of dancing down a longways triple minor as 1st couple, there is also nothing like the frustration of starting at the bottom of a triple minor, bouncing in and out of the set for a while, making your way almost to the top, and then hearing the caller say "last time". I suppose I'm saying that the Scottish method is a lot fairer. Less exhilaration, less frustration. However, the fact that Scottish 3-couple dances for a 4 couple set were originally triple minors, does explain why the 2nd progression to the bottom of the set, is often a pretty bad fudge. For instance, when the old 4th couple have to be instantly active as thirds at the same time as stepping up. Of course the same could be said for those English dances which are triple minors converted to 3-couple set dances. Now why have some triple minors been converted to 3-couple set dances, and some not? Why do we do Fandango as a 3-couple dance, but not Hambleton's Round O or The Bishop? Don't get me wrong - I _love_ triple minors, but we rarely get to do them because people find the progression so complicated, especially at the ends, and there is a lot of standing out. Emma - Emma Rushton, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South, 1400 East Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0840 (801) 585-1926 (office) (801) 585-9425 (lab) (801) 581-4668 (fax) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 14:38:52 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 14:35:00 -0700 (PDT) From: Paul and Victoria Bestock Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Calling at balls To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT >Art wrote: > >> What irritates me is when the program announces that there will be >> only a talk-through and minimal calling, but some dancers begin >> walking through the dance during the talk-through and the caller >> automatically adjusts to them. This practice, I think, slows down >> the pace of the ball significantly,(snip) For those with maps in their brains a talk-through works, but for those with the maps in their feet, it just doesn't. If dancers start walking thought the dance, it is probably because they are kinesthetic learners who don't get much, if anything, out of a talk through-- they need to feel the dance to remember it Since dancing one repetition of a dance generally takes about 40 seconds, and a talk through doesn't save more than a few seconds over that, isn't it worth the few extra seconds to get EVERYBODY feeling secure with the dance and not just the left-brained half of the room? Vicky Bestock ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:18:24 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:18:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: Triple minors and Scottish Dances To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01J2GKGO6ZL08WWMNJ-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Emma Rushton writes: Now why have some triple minors been converted to 3-couple set dances, and some not? Why do we do Fandango as a 3-couple dance, but not Hambleton's Round O or The Bishop? Here's an assortment of related answers: Because that's what the reconstructor happened to choose to do, driven by his (usually) own aesthetics and the tastes of the groups he used as guinea pigs. Because we dancers are there to dance, not just to pass time with music playing, and not very much to socialize during the dance. (At some points in English history, at least, the time two young people stood up together on the dance floor was the only unchaperoned time alone they were going to get. It's not surprising that they'd have no problem with dances where the third couple just stands there chatting, or with the rule that you don't start dancing until the original top couple work their way down to your place.) Because we have no patience and many of us are in relatively poor physical condition. Nowadays, we don't usually like just standing there, so there's an impetus to fix up triple minors in which the threes do little or nothing into either 3-couple dances (eg, Shrewsbury Lasses) or duple minors, which may reach outside the minor set for what the threes would have done (eg, Sun Assembly). [In the case of Shrewsbury Lasses, I seem to recall Bentley's noting that the repetition of the B music and the threes repeating what the ones did were added. Without that, as a triple minor, it seems that neither the 2s (be honored, turn two hands), or the 3s (circle once round with the 1s) have very much to do in the dance.] Also, we aren't willing to run individual dances for half an hour at a time. Triple minors take a long time to get through anyway; if the figures are much over 32 measures, the wait to be ones becomes just too long for modern tastes, and the dance will probably be converted to 3-couple. Fandango is 64 bars, and just about half of it is solos (duets?) for the ones, so the twos and threes would tend to find it frustrating as they wait to get to dance. Also, when there's skipping and slipping, we often don't want to do it very many times. I think you'll generally find that the dances that we commonly do as triple minor longways have these features: The twos and threes keep fairly busy, the sequence doesn't run much longer than 32 bars, the tunes are killer (like Trip to Kilburn, The Young Widow, Hambleton's Round-O, The Bishop) so you don't mind hearing them over and over, and it's generally dance-walk rather than skipping, slipping, or other tiring stepping. Without these qualities, a dance is a fix-up candidate. -- 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: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:35:23 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:35:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: Scottish Dances (was Calling at balls) To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01J2GLS7JE8Q8WWMNJ-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Michael Barraclough wrote [in an excellent post that's very much one of the kinds of thing I'd like to see on this list] From an academic perspective one can of course say much the same thing about the American Contra - ie that it was based on the English Country Dance but developed its own specific figures. In fact a generic pattern emerged such that Scottish dances were constructed to a formula of 16 bars + down the middle and back, poussette and American dances of 16 bars + down the middle and back, rights and lefts. So Long Odds and Knole Park are Scottish-style dances? I hadn't been quite aware of that, although I'd certainly seen that as we get to the end of the 18th century, we get an awful lot of down-the-middle-and-back, cast off, R&L or poussette, or circle right and left. (The waltz-round in Northdown Waltz was originally a poussette, which makes it another of this form.) And the canonical Early American dance seems to be right hand star, left hands back, down the middle and back and cast off, four changes of R&L. I found myself this July teaching an Early American workshop with 27 people, of whom ten had never done country dancing before, so I needed to get figures and progression across to them. My first three dances were: Yankee Doodle (RH*,LH*, Down-the-middle-and-back-and-cast-off) Love in a Village (RH*,LH*,DTM&B&CO,R&L) Young Widow (RH*,LH*,DTM&B&CO,set in lines of three, circle six, 2s & 3s face, set in lines of two, 2 changes of R&L). At this point they had the idea, so I put in a cotillion. Whilst the way Scottish Country Dance is performed is highly stylised these days it is interesting to observe lingering elements of baroque dance technique in it. This would definitely have been part of English Country Dance in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries but had effectively disappeared by the time Cecil Sharp came along and recreated "Playford". I've taken Regency quadrille lessons from SF Bay Area vintage dance instructors Richard Powers and Stan Isaacs. (Isaacs works from an 1815 French text, I believe.) The footwork described in the Regency resources is very, very similar to RSCDS footwork. (Okay, no strathspeys, and an assortment of weird setting steps (including something that an RSCDS dancer told me was now the standard first half of strathspey setting), but otherwise more similar than anything else I've ever seen. Since these resources date from roughly the same time as some of the English dances adapted by RSCDS (isn't "Flowers of Edinburgh" 1797), I suspect these may have influenced RSCDS dance. I have no proof, of course, and haven't heard much about the founding of RSCDS. -- 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: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:36:02 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:35:53 -0700 (PDT) From: rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu (Emma Rushton) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors and Scottish Dances To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT >Emma Rushton writes: > > Now why have some triple minors been converted to 3-couple set dances, and > some not? Why do we do Fandango as a 3-couple dance, but not Hambleton's > Round O or The Bishop? > >Here's an assortment of related answers: Good answers, Alan. Thanks! Emma - Emma Rushton, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South, 1400 East Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0840 (801) 585-1926 (office) (801) 585-9425 (lab) (801) 581-4668 (fax) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:57:07 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 23:55:49 +0100 From: Michael Barraclough Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Scottish Dances (was Calling at balls) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <000001bded8e$a1cdcd00$25802ed4-AT- michael> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Alan Winston wrote: So Long Odds and Knole Park are Scottish-style dances? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Not necessarily. My comments are statistically based and cannot be applied to individual dances. In addition as time has gone by mobility of both people and the printed word has increased substantially. The following scenario highlights the problem. Dance (triple minor) written and published 1750 in Edinburgh. Owner of book "migrates" to southern England c1800 and takes book with him. Late nineteenth century, a school mistress comes across the book of dances in the equivalent of a garage/jumble sale, works out (not perfectly) how to do the dance and gets the school children to dance it. People enjoy it and 40 years later Cecil Sharp comes across it still being danced in a Dorsetshire village where he is informed "we've always danced this dance". The dance is then published in the Country Dance Book in one of the "Traditional Dances" volumes. Q. Is this an eighteenth, nineteenth or twentieth century dance? Q. Is this an English Country Dance or a Scottish Country Dance? Q. Is this a traditional dance? If you care to reply directly to me (mab-AT- tgis.co.uk) I will collate the responses and post the results. Michael Barraclough http://www.tgis.co.uk/home/mab ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 16:11:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 19:10:54 -0400 (EDT) From: Will Linden Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: =A= A petition to censure and move on (fwd) To: Dawn Culbertson CC: silence list , LuteNet , EngDance list , Sue Jarek-Glidden Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT This has NOTHING to do with the EC Dance list, unless I missed the Political Correctness oath on the way in. If I started posting about things I consider important issues, I would be jumped on hard and fast. Keep damned politics off this list!!!!!! 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 Oct 1998 16:19:04 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 16:18:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: =A= A petition to censure and move on (fwd) To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01J2GNQ9H0RM8WWMNJ-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Folks -- In the early days of this list, I posted that people should let me (the list owner) take care of this kind of thing. [It's extremely tedious when somebody posts something off-topic and 63 other people jump on them for it.] I thought I'd put that into the "list add" message, but I just checked and found out that I'd forgotten to, so I will take care of that. [For the latest version of the "list add" message, you can always check the ECD home page at http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~winston/ecd.htmlx ] In general, though, if somebody posts something off-topic, just delete it. _I_ will let the offender know it was a bad idea. The other two-hundred-odd subscribers don't need to know that _you_ thought it was a bad idea. 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: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 18:33:19 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 21:19:07 -0400 From: franch-AT- juno.com (Michael S Franch) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Calling at balls To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981001.213331.6606.0.franch-AT- juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: One of the communications in the discussion which began about calling at balls and evolved into a symposium on Scottish dancing, referred to "an old Scottish joke" about oats. This in fact was the uncomplimentary definition in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary (1755), in which he defines oats as "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." Boswell commented in his Life of Dr. Johnson (1791) that "It was pleasant to me to find, that 'oats,' the 'food of horses,' were so much used as the food of the people in Dr. Johnson's own town." He also quoted Johnson as confessing, "I won that by my definition of oats I meant to vex them (the Scotch)." The above from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 14th ed. (1968) --Mike Franch, Baltimore, Md. ___________________________________________________________________ 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: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 21:00:08 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 23:59:44 +0001 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Scottish Dances (was Calling at balls) To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199810020354.XAA14981-AT- ns.kreative.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > The fact that only 4 couples are used is down to the Royal Scottish > Country Dance Society who recreated "Scottish Country Dancing" in > this form. Although the RSCDS chose to adopt the 4-couple longways, an historical basis exists in the French contredanse anglaise of the second half of the 18th century. We know that the French influence had some cultural influence on Scotland. I haven't seen any evidence that the Scots adopted French dances or even that they ever danced in 4- couple sets. But then, I haven't looked either. > The dances done in this manner are almost all taken from earlier > books of country dances which were triple minors. As an aside, I > understand that a considerable number of the interpretations are > not historically correct. We can hardly find fault with that. We don't dance ECDs anything close to the way they would have been danced historically. We make no pretense of recreating the stepping that would have been done then and ECD interpretters routinely take liberties in reconstructing dances. I, for one, am more than pleased with the result. ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 07:00:55 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 10:00:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Calling at balls To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Michael S Franch wrote: > One of the communications in the discussion which began about calling at > balls and evolved into a symposium on Scottish dancing, referred to "an > old Scottish joke" about oats. This in fact was the uncomplimentary > definition in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary (1755), in which he defines > oats as "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in > Scotland supports the people." Thanks, Michael, for this insight. The joke I was thinking of wasn't that old, and has the tables turned, and perhaps derived from Johnson's definition. I heard it first from a Scottish relative, and it goes something like this: An Englishman and a Scotsman were travelling by train through the English countryside on their way to Scotland, and were boasting of the merits of their respective countries while doing their best to put the other down. The Englishman, noticing a field with some fine-looking horses, said "Why, in Scotland you eat oats! That's what we feed to our horses!" "Aye" said the Scot. "That's why England has the best horses and Scotland has the best men!" Eric Arnold Ann Arbor resident, English Country dancer, and half-Scot. (I did eat oatmeal for breakfast!) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 07:19:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 10:19:29 -0400 (EDT) From: David.Millstone-AT- VALLEY.NET (David Millstone) Subject: Learning Dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <4818073-AT- lyme.VALLEY.NET> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Vicky Bestock wrote: For those with maps in their brains a talk-through works, but for those with the maps in their feet, it just doesn't. If dancers start walking thought the dance, it is probably because they are kinesthetic learners who don't get much, if anything, out of a talk through-- they need to feel the dance to remember it --- end of quote --- Vicky noted one key difference in ways that we learn dances. I tend to visualize a dance from above, as though I'm perched on a chandelier seeing the patterns trace themselves on the floor. (Whether this way of looking at things developed because I also call dances, or whether I call dances because this is how I look at things is one of those questions I leave for further contemplation.) My wife, on the other hand, visualizes dances from her eye-level perspective as though she is moving through the figures, weaving this way and that, seeing her partner appear and then disappear. The talkthrough / walkthrough combination meets both our needs. David "But which way is up?" Millstone Lebanon, NH ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 07:44:13 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 09:44:01 -0500 (CDT) From: Jonathan Sivier Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors and Scottish Dances To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199810021444.JAA24877-AT- staff1.cso.uiuc.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing writes: > > Emma Rushton writes: > > Now why have some triple minors been converted to 3-couple set dances, and > some not? Why do we do Fandango as a 3-couple dance, but not Hambleton's > Round O or The Bishop? > > Here's an assortment of related answers: > > Because that's what the reconstructor happened to choose to do, driven by > his (usually) own aesthetics and the tastes of the groups he used as guinea > pigs. > > Because we dancers are there to dance, not just to pass time with music > playing, and not very much to socialize during the dance. (At some points > in English history, at least, the time two young people stood up together > on the dance floor was the only unchaperoned time alone they were going to > get. It's not surprising that they'd have no problem with dances where the > third couple just stands there chatting, or with the rule that you don't > start dancing until the original top couple work their way down to your > place.) This discussion got me thinking about which came first, the 3 couple dance (i.e. Black Nag, Picking Up Sticks, etc.) or the triple minor longways. Also why so many of the longways dances (nearly all) from the Playford era (and after) are triple minors with very few duple minors. Alan's answer above may answer this. However it occured to me that if longways dances with minor sets were a later development (I'm assuming this is so) then part of the reason that so many were triple minors is that there were many 3 couple dances to model them on, but only a few 2 couple dances. Therefore triple minors predominated over duple minors. It was then a much later development to realize that couples outside of your current minor set could be used to do the figures that require 3 couples in a duple minor set and so some triple minors could be folded into duple minors, when the various pressures that Alan mentions came into play. Is any of this likely or am I totally mistaken? Any other ideas? 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 Oct 1998 11:36:27 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 11:38:15 -0700 From: Michael Richardson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Alan Winston wrote: >>Emma Rushton writes: >> >> Now why have some triple minors been converted to 3-couple set dances, and >> some not? Why do we do Fandango as a 3-couple dance, but not Hambleton's >> Round O or The Bishop? >> >Here's an assortment of related answers: I suspect that you're right, Alan. However, there's no reason why one can't do these busy dances as 3 couple set dances. Hambleton's, for example, makes a *wonderful* 3 couple dance, with amazing patterns of progression. We stumbled across this fact late one night at a camp when the spirit was willing, but the flesh was down to only 6 dancers and 1 musician. We **really**, **really**, **really** wanted to do Hambleton's, so we tried it, and loved the result. There's no question that going to a 3 cpl set this makes a busy dance even busier for the 2's and 3's! Cheers, Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 17:07:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 20:07:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Columbus Day Weekend in NYC To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199810030007.UAA15234-AT- mail2.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Country Dance*New York is delighted to announce two great English country dances in New York City this coming weekend. Friday, 9 October, Bruce Hamilton from California will lead an English country dance for all at Metropolitan Duane Church, 201 West 13th Street, just off 7th Avenue, Manhattan. Doors open at 7:30; dance begins at 8:00pm. Admission is $8 for members of CD*NY (and for CDSS and EFDSS members more than 50 miles from home) and $10 for others. Saturday, 10 October, the members of Bruce's callers' workshop will lead an English country dance for all at Metropolitan Duane. The dance is highly newcomer-friendly; it will be preceded by an introductory workshop led by Bruce starting circa 7:00-7:15; doors open at 6:45. Participating dance leaders include CD*NY's Paul Ross [ECD leader for the 1999 Dance Flurry], New York apprentices Elizabeth Freedman, Irv Kass, Carl Levine, Carol Martinez, and Danny Walkowitz, Cincinnati's Diane DePuydt, and Washington DC's Mary Kay Friday. Same admission prices apply. Music for both dances will be provided by Gene Murrow and friends. It should be super. Looking forward to seeing as many of you as will-- Sharon Green ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 18:38:02 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 21:35:30 -0700 From: Stephanie Smith Subject: Trip to Amsterdam To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <3615A992.1620-AT- ix.netcom.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <4818073-AT- lyme.VALLEY.NET> Hi all, I was trying to find Philippe Callens' dance "Trip to Amsterdam" in the CDSS news and don't seem to find it. (I'm missing an issue here or there.) I wonder if any of you -- or Philippe -- could point me in the right direction. Thanks! Stephanie Smith glenecho-AT- ix.netcom.com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 03 Oct 1998 07:24:07 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Oct 1998 10:23:50 -0400 (EDT) From: julia s sutton Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors and Scottish Dances 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 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Jonathan, This is all very interesting speculation, but based on what we now have in evidence, speculation is all it can be. Establishing history by logical thought usually comes to a dead end, I'm afraid. Julia Sutton On Fri, 2 Oct 1998, Jonathan Sivier wrote: > Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing writes: > > > > Emma Rushton writes: > > > > Now why have some triple minors been converted to 3-couple set dances, and > > some not? Why do we do Fandango as a 3-couple dance, but not Hambleton's > > Round O or The Bishop? > > > > Here's an assortment of related answers: > > > > Because that's what the reconstructor happened to choose to do, driven by > > his (usually) own aesthetics and the tastes of the groups he used as guinea > > pigs. > > > > Because we dancers are there to dance, not just to pass time with music > > playing, and not very much to socialize during the dance. (At some points > > in English history, at least, the time two young people stood up together > > on the dance floor was the only unchaperoned time alone they were going to > > get. It's not surprising that they'd have no problem with dances where the > > third couple just stands there chatting, or with the rule that you don't > > start dancing until the original top couple work their way down to your > > place.) > > This discussion got me thinking about which came first, the 3 couple dance > (i.e. Black Nag, Picking Up Sticks, etc.) or the triple minor longways. Also > why so many of the longways dances (nearly all) from the Playford era (and > after) are triple minors with very few duple minors. Alan's answer above > may answer this. However it occured to me that if longways dances with minor > sets were a later development (I'm assuming this is so) then part of the > reason that so many were triple minors is that there were many 3 couple dances > to model them on, but only a few 2 couple dances. Therefore triple minors > predominated over duple minors. It was then a much later development to > realize that couples outside of your current minor set could be used to > do the figures that require 3 couples in a duple minor set and so some triple > minors could be folded into duple minors, when the various pressures that > Alan mentions came into play. > > Is any of this likely or am I totally mistaken? Any other ideas? > > 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 Oct 1998 07:24:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Oct 1998 10:23:50 -0400 (EDT) From: julia s sutton Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors and Scottish Dances 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 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Jonathan, This is all very interesting speculation, but based on what we now have in evidence, speculation is all it can be. Establishing history by logical thought usually comes to a dead end, I'm afraid. Julia Sutton On Fri, 2 Oct 1998, Jonathan Sivier wrote: > Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing writes: > > > > Emma Rushton writes: > > > > Now why have some triple minors been converted to 3-couple set dances, and > > some not? Why do we do Fandango as a 3-couple dance, but not Hambleton's > > Round O or The Bishop? > > > > Here's an assortment of related answers: > > > > Because that's what the reconstructor happened to choose to do, driven by > > his (usually) own aesthetics and the tastes of the groups he used as guinea > > pigs. > > > > Because we dancers are there to dance, not just to pass time with music > > playing, and not very much to socialize during the dance. (At some points > > in English history, at least, the time two young people stood up together > > on the dance floor was the only unchaperoned time alone they were going to > > get. It's not surprising that they'd have no problem with dances where the > > third couple just stands there chatting, or with the rule that you don't > > start dancing until the original top couple work their way down to your > > place.) > > This discussion got me thinking about which came first, the 3 couple dance > (i.e. Black Nag, Picking Up Sticks, etc.) or the triple minor longways. Also > why so many of the longways dances (nearly all) from the Playford era (and > after) are triple minors with very few duple minors. Alan's answer above > may answer this. However it occured to me that if longways dances with minor > sets were a later development (I'm assuming this is so) then part of the > reason that so many were triple minors is that there were many 3 couple dances > to model them on, but only a few 2 couple dances. Therefore triple minors > predominated over duple minors. It was then a much later development to > realize that couples outside of your current minor set could be used to > do the figures that require 3 couples in a duple minor set and so some triple > minors could be folded into duple minors, when the various pressures that > Alan mentions came into play. > > Is any of this likely or am I totally mistaken? Any other ideas? > > 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 Oct 1998 09:17:37 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 03 Oct 1998 17:21:54 +0100 From: martin.sheffield-AT- wanadoo.fr (M Sheffield) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors etc To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Can anyone tell me why there are so many minor dances -- and no major ones? When was the term first used? Martin, Grenoble, France. ------------------ http://perso.wanadoo.fr/scots.in.france/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 12:56:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 15:56:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Harmonica Boy Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors etc To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Sat, 3 Oct 1998, M Sheffield wrote: > Can anyone tell me why there are so many minor dances -- and no major > ones? When was the term first used? Jenny Beer explained the former to the Swarthmore class: picture the longways set, "for as many as will". This is the "major set"; the "minor sets" are the 2- or 3- couple groupings within the major set, within each of which the dance is done. Using this to explain the usage of the word "minor" in "longways duple/triple minor", it becomes evident why there aren't "longways duple/triple major" dances: you can't very well write a longways dance for an unknown and really large number of couples. Don't know when the terminology was first used, though ... --will Will's Hole in the Web http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~quale Folk Dance Club's Page http://www.cs.swarthmore.edu/~quale/dance "Faith manages." -- Delenn ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 20:19:33 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 23:19:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Trip to Amsterdam To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Fri, 2 Oct 1998, Stephanie Smith wrote: > Hi all, > > I was trying to find Philippe Callens' dance "Trip to Amsterdam" in the > CDSS news and don't seem to find it. (I'm missing an issue here or > there.) I wonder if any of you -- or Philippe -- could point me in the > right direction. Thanks! It's in CDSS News #104 (Jan/Feb 1992). Eric ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 20:22:37 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 23:15:46 -0400 From: "Linda M. Nelson" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors etc To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT >Can anyone tell me why there are so many minor dances -- and no major ones? I have to admit that this was one of the questions which I asked when I was getting started in English dance. (I also wondered if "minor" had anything to do with the *music*, as in "minor key".) The simple answer is that minor sets are subsets of the larger (major) longways set. As I understand it, all non-longways sets (such as 2 couple, 3 couple, 4 couple and so on) could be considered "major" sets. Those with more extensive knowledge will have to answer the "when" question. Linda Cape Cod, MA, USA __________________________________________________ "Oh, yes. It's vital to remember who you really are. It's very important. It isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong." (Terry Pratchett - from "Sourcery") __________________________________________________ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 22:45:07 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 04 Oct 1998 22:44:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Maiden Lane - how does progression happen To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01J2L7CB11II8X4V9I-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Folks -- I really like the "Maiden Lane" tune, both played conventionally and in the rave-up version on The New St. George's "High Tea." I tried to sort out the dance and ran into some trouble, and am hoping someone out there can enlighten me. It's a three-couple longways USA dance, with a different chorus for each part. (I count the USA as the verse.) Barnes says to play the tune 9 times, which is three times through the dance, which sounds like it's supposed to progress, although there are other parts of Barnes where the repeats given are simply wrong. (3x for Heidenroslein and Hambleton's Round O, although the way MIke Richardson described doing Hambleton, it would be right for that.) I'm looking at Sharp & Butterworth, Country Dance Book 3, and at the Mellors Playford reprint. and Millar, Elizabethan Country Dances. There's a half-hey in the part one chorus, so the set is upside-down henceforward. No position change in the second part, so we get to the part 3 chorus still upside down. That chorus refers to the first man, and it's not clear whether that's the original first man (now at the bottom) or the top man at the beginning of the third part. [It's broken either way.] Sharp basically transliterates Playford, with timing added. 1-2: First man changes places with second woman 3-4: First woman changes places with second man; while third man changes places with his partner. 5-6: First man changes places with third woman 7-8: First woman changes places with third man; while second man changes changes places with his partner. (Odd semicolon usage sic.) If you do this using the original ones, the ending order is 1-3-2. If you do it using the original threes as ones, the ending order is 2-1-3. In other words, two couples change places with each other and the other ends up where it started, which is not a typical progression. Millar addresses this with a fudge that seems unsupported by Playford, making B2 (bars 5-8) as follows: 1 Man changes places with 3 woman; then 3 Man changes places 1 Woman, both the 3s immediately moving down to last place on the outside while 2 man changes places with 2 Woman as they move up the middle. If I visualize this correctly, assuming the original 1s are still 1s, it ends with everybody in original places, 1-2-3. This is less unusual, but still doesn't explain why Barnes says to go nine times through the dance. So what's the deal? How do people ordinarily do this dance, when they do it? Have I misread Sharp/Playford? Thanks, -- Alan PS: For Playford dances that are easier than they might look on the page, I've recently had good luck with "Shepherd's Holiday, or Labour in Vain." =============================================================================== 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 Oct 1998 00:13:29 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 09:13:04 +0200 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Re: Trip to Amsterdam To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <36187180.19C3-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <4818073-AT- lyme.VALLEY.NET> <3615A992.1620-AT- ix.netcom.com> A Trip to Amsterdam can also be found in "Dutch Crossing" Philippe ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 00:22:59 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 09:19:17 +0200 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Re: Maiden Lane - how does progression happen To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <361872F5.F0B-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <01J2L7CB11II8X4V9I-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> Alan, 1. Maiden Lane does end with two and threes having interchanged places; so the usual thing is to do the dance twice through which brings everybody home. (Sharp felt that a set dance had to end home, but quite clearly they are examples of dances in the Dancing Master that leaves dancers somewhere else in the set. 2. Peter Barnes' indication of nine times through is obviously wrong. But worse is that on Bare Necessities' first album they have recorded it nine times through! 3. It is the original first man who starts the third part. Maiden Lane is a fine dance, to a great tune! Philippe Callens ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 04:02:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 07:02:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Maiden Lane - how does progression happen To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199810051102.HAA10376-AT- mail2.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Alan, Philippe, et al: Omit Sharp's "All face left wall, move forward a double, and fall back to places" in Part I, B 1-4. You then have: Part I A 1-8 All up a double & back. Repeat B 1-8 Straight hey on your own side C 1-8 Set & turn single. Repeat All are now home, and Sharp's directions for the progression in Part III work easily. This is how I learned it from Christine Helwig in 1990, and how we've done it at New York balls. I've also seen Maiden Lane done by Renaissance Faire demo team folk retaining the double to the men's wall in B 1-4; they then do an extremely tight [shoulders brushing as you pass] full hey on your own side in bars 5-8. It's doable, but extremely brisk. (Theresa Thornley taught it this way in Santa Cruz a few years back.) Hugs, Sharon Green At 10:44 PM 10/4/98 -0700, you wrote: >Folks -- > >I really like the "Maiden Lane" tune, both played conventionally and in the >rave-up version on The New St. George's "High Tea." I tried to sort out the >dance and ran into some trouble, and am hoping someone out there can enlighten >me. > >It's a three-couple longways USA dance, with a different chorus for each >part. (I count the USA as the verse.) Barnes says to play the tune 9 times, >which is three times through the dance, which sounds like it's supposed to >progress, although there are other parts of Barnes where the repeats given >are simply wrong. (3x for Heidenroslein and Hambleton's Round O, although >the way MIke Richardson described doing Hambleton, it would be right for that.) > >I'm looking at Sharp & Butterworth, Country Dance Book 3, and at the Mellors >Playford reprint. and Millar, Elizabethan Country Dances. > >There's a half-hey in the part one chorus, so the set is upside-down >henceforward. No position change in the second part, so we get to the >part 3 chorus still upside down. > >That chorus refers to the first man, and it's not clear whether that's the >original first man (now at the bottom) or the top man at the beginning of >the third part. [It's broken either way.] > >Sharp basically transliterates Playford, with timing added. > 1-2: First man changes places with second woman > 3-4: First woman changes places with second man; while third man > changes places with his partner. > 5-6: First man changes places with third woman > 7-8: First woman changes places with third man; > while second man changes changes places with his partner. > >(Odd semicolon usage sic.) > >If you do this using the original ones, the ending order is 1-3-2. If you >do it using the original threes as ones, the ending order is 2-1-3. In >other words, two couples change places with each other and the other ends up >where it started, which is not a typical progression. > > Millar addresses this with a fudge that seems unsupported by Playford, >making B2 (bars 5-8) as follows: > 1 Man changes places with 3 woman; then 3 Man changes places 1 Woman, both the >3s immediately moving down to last place on the outside while 2 man changes >places with 2 Woman as they move up the middle. > >If I visualize this correctly, assuming the original 1s are still 1s, it ends >with everybody in original places, 1-2-3. This is less unusual, but still >doesn't explain why Barnes says to go nine times through the dance. > >So what's the deal? How do people ordinarily do this dance, when they do it? >Have I misread Sharp/Playford? > >Thanks, > >-- Alan > >PS: For Playford dances that are easier than they might look on the page, >I've recently had good luck with "Shepherd's Holiday, or Labour in Vain." > > > >=============================================================================== > 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 Oct 1998 09:14:19 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 18:14:15 +0200 From: Antony Heywood Subject: Helston Furry (Flora) Dance To: 'ECD Mailing List' Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <003101bdf07b$8668ca20$4b023dd4-AT- antony> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT A friend who is not on the Internet wants to know how to do the Helston Furry Dance or Helston Flora(l) Dance or, perhaps more importantly, how is it dance in Helston? Fried de Metz has it in her book Ease and Elegance as follows: A music: promenade in pairs with double step; B music: right hand star and left hand star, again double step. My friend says he's heard about the B-music being, men pass right and two-hand turn the other girl, pass back and turn partner. He also asks, do they really dance double step for hours on end and do they really dance in and out of houses and shops? What happens when they have to go in and out by the same door? I'm also sending the question to the Morris Dance Discussion List. Antony Heywood Dutch Folk Dance Society http://www.iae.nl/users/antony/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 09:35:41 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 09:37:35 -0700 From: Michael Richardson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Sun, 04 Oct 1998 15:56:31, Will (Harmonica Boy) wrote: > Jenny Beer explained the former to the Swarthmore class: picture the > longways set, "for as many as will". This is the "major set"; the "minor > sets" are the 2- or 3- couple groupings within the major set, within each > of which the dance is done. Using this to explain the usage of the word > "minor" in "longways duple/triple minor", it becomes evident why there > aren't "longways duple/triple major" dances: you can't very well write a > longways dance for an unknown and really large number of couples. Well, actually, you can. I remember dancing a contra dance (possibly Chorus Jig) "the old original way" at a Richard Powers workshop years ago. In that version, only the very top couple in the whole set did the active figure the first two times through the dance. As I dimly recall, new top couples would join in the active figures of dance once they had progressed to the top and waited out one turn. As you might imagine, it took seemingly forever before the folks at the bottom of the major set ever got to do any of the dance. On the plus side, the dance itself might go on for 30 minutes at a time, rather than the 8 - 12 minutes typical in a contra of today. Also, this way of doing the dance left one *lots* of time to chat with one's partner, well away from parents or other authority figures. In a time of different mores, one could easily imagine young people maneuvering to be in the center set, but at the *bottom*, so that they would have more time to interact like this. Cheers, Mike ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 10:32:51 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 13:32:39 -0400 (EDT) From: "Priscilla M. Burrage" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Helston Furry (Flora) Dance To: 'ECD Mailing List' Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Antony Heywood wrote: > A friend who is not on the Internet wants to know how to do the Helston > Furry Dance or Helston Flora(l) Dance or, perhaps more importantly, how is > it dance in Helston? > > He also asks, do they really dance double step for hours on end and do they > really dance in and out of houses and shops? What happens when they have to > go in and out by the same door? The late John Trevenan, Scottish country dance teacher, once told me that his cousin was the second couple in THE Helston Flurry, and that he and his wife (the cousins) would not be first couple until the present first couple passed on. The subject came up because I was telling him of our family visit to Cornwall during the school children's annual Helston Flurry outing. It was in early July, not at the proper time of year for THE Flurry, and our American kids were already out of school for the summer. We heard the tune -- and could watch the children at least six times an hour for the full day. After a bit, we packed a lunch and took a long walk up the coast. . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Priscilla Burrage Vermont US (pburrage-AT- zoo.uvm.edu) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 14:06:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 17:02:27 -0400 (EDT) From: CF1125-AT- aol.com Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Maiden Lane - how does progression happen To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT In a message dated 10/5/98 5:47:44 AM, you wrote: <> We have been doing Maiden Lane, Part III this way in Baltimore (Mary Kay Friday taught it). As written above (and I just tried it with tokens), it progresses to 2-3-1, so do the dance 3x, which is 9x through the music, and it progresses back to original places. Carl Friedman ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 14:10:32 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 14:06:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Paul and Victoria Bestock Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Triple minors etc To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT >Can anyone tell me why there are so many minor dances -- and no major ones? > >When was the term first used? > >Martin, >Grenoble, France. >------------------ http://perso.wanadoo.fr/scots.in.france/ The term refers to the small sets of 2 or 3 couples within the larger longways set. There ARE longways dances without minor sets which either don't progress at all, or which have whole set progression. "Sir Roger de Coverly" and "Strip the Willow" fit the bill, ending with the first couple at the bottom of the set, with all the other couples moving up one place. I"ve done other ECD dances in which the top couple in a set casts to the bottom, forming an arch and the other couples come through the arch, or in which the top couple dances down the center to the bottom and stays there-- these result in whole-set progression as well. Victoria Bestock ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 15:32:24 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 17:37:40 +0000 From: Mary E Jones Subject: Bruce Hamilton Western Mass. Extravaganza!! To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <361903E4.FB5-AT- javanet.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: Dancers - If you are anywhere near the east coast on October 17-18 (just 2 weeks away!), you will want to come to the Pleasures of the Town dance on the evening of October 17th at Munson Library in South Amherst, Massachusetts, starting at 8 pm, with Bruce Hamilton calling a wonderful program for all dancers. THEN, the next afternoon, on Sunday from 2-5, Bruce will be calling an Advanced Dance for Experienced Dancers (note the cleverly coded name...) with music by Larry Wallach and Earl Gaddis also at the Munson Library. This program is divine...not that I would actually have stooped *so low* as to wheedle the list of dances from the ever-genteel and discreet Joyce Crouch who plays piano for Pleasures of the Town... It will be a fabulous time!!! There will be a potluck dessert at the break of the Sunday afternoon dance - so, if you can, please bring some chocolate for me...oops...for the enjoyment of us all! For directions or information, feel free to email me directly or call 413-549-8159. Hope to see you there - Mary Jones Amherst, MA ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 03:03:14 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 11:01:09 +0000 From: martin.appleby-AT- bbc.co.uk Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Helston Furry (Flora) Dance To: ecd-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <597CAD380103370C-AT- c2-smtp.radio.bbc.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT If you e-mail Gordon Potts (gordon.potts -AT- cableinet.co.uk) he is a dance caller here in England who knows everything about dancing the way it's originally meant to be done. And in the unlikely event that you catch him out with this one he'll put you onto the right person. Martin Appleby ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 19:02:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 22:01:48 -0400 From: Don Bell Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19981006220148.00715998-AT- nycap.rr.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I'd love to get some help in putting together a Christmas dance program for the RPI English dance December 20th. There are of course some obvious choices - Female Sayler, Christchurch Bells, Christmas Revels, Drive the Cold Winter Away, and possibly Round About Our Coal Fire. I just wrote a dance for "Ding Dong Merrily" and I'm considering whether I'm up to the challenge of writing one for "Il Est Ne Le Petit Enfant" (a very danceable tune)unless some one already knows of a dance for it. However, I'm sure many of you already know of several other dances that would give an enjoyable Christmas flavor to the dance. As December 20th is also the eve of the winter solstice, this could also provide an opportunity for some unusual solstice associations (e.g. Sun Assembly), even if not historically accurate. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 20:25:16 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 23:24:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199810070324.XAA08757-AT- mail1.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Robin Hayden's In the Bleak Midwinter Fried Herman's Yuletide Cheer [to O Little Town of Bethlehem] Fried's Chrissemas Day Winter Memories [Hume] Winter Solstice [Wendy Crouch] Winter Dreams Waltz [Roodman] Happy programming-- Sharon Green At 10:01 PM 10/6/98 -0400, you wrote: >I'd love to get some help in putting together a Christmas dance program for >the RPI English dance December 20th. There are of course some obvious >choices - Female Sayler, Christchurch Bells, Christmas Revels, Drive the >Cold Winter Away, and possibly Round About Our Coal Fire. I just wrote a >dance for "Ding Dong Merrily" and I'm considering whether I'm up to the >challenge of writing one for "Il Est Ne Le Petit Enfant" (a very danceable >tune)unless some one already knows of a dance for it. However, I'm sure >many of you already know of several other dances that would give an >enjoyable Christmas flavor to the dance. As December 20th is also the eve >of the winter solstice, this could also provide an opportunity for some >unusual solstice associations (e.g. Sun Assembly), even if not historically >accurate. > > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 20:30:56 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 23:26:59 -0400 From: marthacd-AT- juno.com (MARTHA C DAVEY) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981006.232701.-1016203.3.marthaCD-AT- juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Don- Jenny Beer wrote a dance to "The Seven Joys of Mary". I've been told that the tune is the same as "The Man That Waters the Workers' Beer". I'm sure someone can send you the instructions. The Waterfall Waltz has a tune that is very Christmassy sounding- It vaguely resemble "We Wish you a Merry Xmas". Also "December Waltz" and "In the Bleak Midwinter". Martha Martha Davey 25-14 37 ST, Astoria, NY 11103 (718)278-4389 On Tue, 06 Oct 1998 22:01:48 -0400 Don Bell writes: >I'd love to get some help in putting together a Christmas dance >program for >the RPI English dance December 20th. There are of course some >obvious >choices - Female Sayler, Christchurch Bells, Christmas Revels, Drive >the >Cold Winter Away, and possibly Round About Our Coal Fire. I just wrote >a >dance for "Ding Dong Merrily" and I'm considering whether I'm up to >the >challenge of writing one for "Il Est Ne Le Petit Enfant" (a very >danceable >tune)unless some one already knows of a dance for it. However, I'm >sure >many of you already know of several other dances that would give an >enjoyable Christmas flavor to the dance. As December 20th is also the >eve >of the winter solstice, this could also provide an opportunity for >some >unusual solstice associations (e.g. Sun Assembly), even if not >historically >accurate. > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 06 Oct 1998 21:21:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 00:21:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program 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 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Another possibility is "Sellinger's Round," whose tune, also known as "The Beginning of the World," was associated with New Year's. And "Dargason," whose tune is also used for a broadside ballad "Hey for Christmas" (recorded by the Baltimore Consort on their album "Bright Daystar"). The tune "Ding Dong Merrily on High" is the same as that of the Branle de l'Official, a circle dance that appears in Arbeau's Orchesographie and is very easily taught. (I used it on a Christmas dance not long ago and got a good response from it.) Pat Shaw also did a dance called "Pine Needles," whose title certainly seems appropriate, although I learned recently that he got the name from a cabin in Pinewoods. Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 06:35:13 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 09:34:59 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Tue, 6 Oct 1998, Don Bell wrote: > I'd love to get some help in putting together a Christmas dance program for > the RPI English dance December 20th. Don, In addition to those you, Sharon, Martha & Dawn have mentioned, there are "In the Fields in Frost and Snow" and Colin Hume's "Birthday Waltz". The latter (published, as I recall, in one of his "Dances With a Difference" volumes, but I've forgotten which one), he suggests several Christmas carols as alternate tunes, making it appropriate for Christmas celebrations as well. It's a circle mixer. And there are a couple more Fried Herman dances to Christmas carols that haven't been mentioned yet, but whose names aren't on the tip of my tongue... Eric Arnold ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 08:50:48 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 08:50:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01J2OLQOP2YW8X63ZI-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT 1) Not yet mentioned in this thread are the two dances to "Jingle Bells" given in Gail Ticknor's "Gail's Maggots." (I'm 400 miles away from my library at present, so can't be much more specific.) 2) Remember -- a successful theme dance usually has just enough theme dances to set an atmosphere and not enough to be annoying. Make sure there are enough good dances you know well enough to call on the program, whether or not they fit the theme -- and consider a trick that's been used around here, which is to distort the title of an existing dance to make it fit the theme ("Come Let's Be Scary" at Halloween) rather than contorting the program or the music. In that vein, a mild distortion would be "Christmas Bells" for "Christchurch Bells." That said, many of the dances mentioned so far are very cool and would adorn almost any program -- I have recent fond memories of Winter Dreams Waltz, Winter Memories, Female Saylor, and In the Bleak Midwinter. (Colin Hume also has Midwinter, which uses "In the Bleak Midwinter" as a counter- melody, and which looks fine on the page - haven't danced it yet.) Good luck, and let us know how it turns out. -- 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: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 11:12:33 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 14:12:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program 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 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > > On Tue, 6 Oct 1998, Don Bell wrote: > > > I'd love to get some help in putting together a Christmas dance program for > > the RPI English dance December 20th. Another suggestion: if a copy is available, check out the reference called "What Was That Dance?," which lists just about every English dance in print alphabetically by title and gives its source. One of the sources is "Country Capers from Norfolk 7," which consists entirely of Christmas dances. (I didn't try to find them all, but one is called "Jingle Bells" and presumably is set to the tune of the same name.) Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 11:13:56 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 14:13:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Dawn Culbertson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program (addendum) 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 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I forgot to include this in my previous message - I'd put in a vote for "In the Bleak Midwinter." I haven't done it recently, but it's a pretty nice dance, not too difficult, and the tune is certainly seasonally correct. Dawn Culbertson dcculb-AT- peabody.jhu.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 12:26:17 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 15:22:08 -0400 From: Benjamin Stein Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program (addendum) To: "INTERNET:ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU" Message-ID: <199810071522_MC2-5BEC-BDC8-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT As an RPI Alumnus (would you believe 1942?) and still an active English Country Dancer, I might just try to make it down to Troy for the 20th of December-weather permitting of course. Please repeat location, time and directions to get there. Ben Stein Burlington, Vt. dancers-AT- Compuserve.Com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 19:47:43 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 22:47:27 -0400 From: Don Bell Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Your Ideas on a Christmas Dance Program To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19981007224727.00721a7c-AT- nycap.rr.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Ben, Thanks for your interest and encouragement. Hope to see you Dec 20th. Don **************************************** Here is the text from my current flyer. Rensselaer English Country Dances (Elegant dances to early classical music) "All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the great political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill in dancing." Moliere Third Sundays 2-5 p.m. Sept 20th, Oct 18th, Nov 15th, Dec 20th (in 1999, Jan-May, TBA) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) School 14, Troy, NY Callers: Patricia Evans, John Huhn & Don Bell Live music : Oct 18th - Hudson Crossing (George Davis, Robin Russell, Sue Polanski) Nov 15th - Larry Wallach & friends Admission: $5 (RPI students free) Come by yourself or with a partner. No experience necessary. All dances taught. Beginners are welcome and encouraged to come early for instruction. Please be kind to the wooden floor - bring soft-soled shoes for dancing. Directions: Route 787 North to Route 7 East (Hoosick St.). Up the Hoosick St. hill. Turn right on 15th St. Proceed to Old School 14 (just south of Student Union/Pedestrian Bridge), corner of 15th St. and College Ave.) For more information, (518) 489-7720, dbell1-AT- nycap.rr,com Most recent flyer: http://home.nycap.rr.com/dbell/flyer.htm ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 11:47:08 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 11:46:56 -0700 (PDT) From: rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu (Emma Rushton) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: ECD in Vancouver To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Does anyone know if there is any ECD, or contra in Vancouver this week? My husband is in Vancouver from today (Thursday 8th) to Sunday evening, and would like to find some dancing. Thanks, Emma - Emma Rushton, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South, 1400 East Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0840 (801) 585-1926 (office) (801) 585-9425 (lab) (801) 581-4668 (fax) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 14:55:50 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 14:50:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Barbara Ruth Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Memorial Service for Ed Helwig - directions To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981008215043.1036.rocketmail-AT- attach1.rocketmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT As promised, here at the directions for the Memorial Service for Ed Helwig, which is scheduled to take place Sun. Oct. 25 at 2:00 p.m., at the Friends Meeting House in Purchase, NY (time is still not completely confirmed). The Friends Meeting House is on the corner of Lake St. and Purchase St. Going from I95 or the Merritt Parkway, take 287 West a short distance. Turn North on 684. Go approximately 4-5 miles to Exit 2 (Westchester County Airport Exit). At end of the ramp turn Right. Almost immediately you will come to a light. Turn Right onto Route 120, which is Lake St. Continue South for 1 mile. Turn Left onto Purchase St. (DON'T continue over bridge of 684). Friends Meeting House is on the corner. === Barbara Ruth New Haven, CT _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free -AT- yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 17:54:55 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1998 20:50:13 -0700 From: stepstately-AT- juno.com (Ellie Hansen & Bob Erenburg) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: CD*NY Playford Ball - Hold the Date To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: stepstately-AT- juno.com Message-ID: <19981008.205013.3926.0.stepstately-AT- juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT For those who plan ahead: The 1999 CD*NY PLAYFORD BALL will be held on Saturday, April 17, 1999 in New York City (Brooklyn) The MCs for the evening will be: Gene Murrow and Yonina Gordon Music by: "Reunion" with Barbara Greenburg, Dan Beerbohm and Jonathan Jensen Registration forms will be available in January. Ellie Hansen and Bob Erenburg, Registrars stepstately-AT- juno.com ___________________________________________________________________ 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: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 10:35:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 12:33:14 -0500 From: Charlene Charette Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Barron's Early Playford To: English Country Dance List Message-ID: <36278358.B0323550-AT- flash.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT The CDSS sells the 3-vol "Early Playford for Early Instruments" by Marshall Barron. Am I correct in assuming these arrangements are in the period style? --Charlene, who is making her list for Santa already! -- Nobody who can read is ever successful at cleaning out an attic. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 06:12:41 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 09:13:00 -0700 From: Stephanie Smith Subject: Documenting ECD leaders To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <3628C20C.5E00-AT- ix.netcom.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <19981008.205013.3926.0.stepstately-AT- juno.com> Hello All, I'm sorry that I haven't yet sent a summary of the discussions we had about documenting English country dance leaders during English and English-American Weeks at Pinewoods. At this moment I'm heading off to Amherst for the weekend, so will undoubtedly see some of you there, but I promise to get a summary to the list by the end of next week. At that point, I will to ask those of you who are interested in continuing this discussion to let me know so that we can do this off the ECD list, reporting back to the list when needed. Thanks! Stephanie Smith Bethesda, MD ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 18:57:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 21:59:12 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Jim Fones To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Anybody know how to find Jim Fones? He's into contra dancing in Hawaii, or was the last I heard. He posts to the rec.folk-dancing newsgroup but I can't get it. thanks for any help Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery; and the other that heat comes from the furnace. Aldo Leopold ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 07:28:16 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 10:27:58 -0400 (EDT) From: Stephen D Corrsin Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: walk throughs, etc To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Rumors are starting to circulate that the NY Playford Ball is, at last, taking seriously the concerns of those who prefer less (or no) walk throughs and talk throughs; who regard such activities as concessions to mere human weakness that are not to be tolerated by cleanliving, rightthinking country dancers. First, the teachers for the ball. They will not merely be gagged, but also blindfolded (so they can't direct via significant glances), their eyebrows will be taped down (so they can't alert someone that they're going wrong via a discretely raised eyebrow), in fact they will be wearing bags over their heads. Probably they will fall off the stage early in the program, and will lie inert under the feet of the dancers. 2d, the program in general. Nothing will be posted at the dance, or published before. Printed programs will be blank. Tuesday night preparation sessions will consist solely of western square dances. 3d, the musicians. They will play the 1st note only of each tune (the dances having been secretly chosen by a committee whose members will not be announced, nor even will said members be informed that they are members.) 4th, the food. None will be supplied. However, photographs will be taken of suitable food, and the photos will be placed on the tables. (Earlier proposals that the photos would not be developed, but instead only rolls of undeveloped film would be displayed, were rejected as too extreme.) Cats will not be allowed out of bags, in short. It is hoped that everyone attending will be so completely stressed out that the perfect level of dancing will be achieved. Short of like in New England. Steve Corrsin PS however, the registrars will accept your money in every way, shape, and form. They'll be extremely cooperative in this regard, in fact. Cash, check, credit cards, even Triborough bridge tokens gratefully accepted. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 09:00:27 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 08:46:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Barbara Ruth Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: New Haven's First ECD Ball To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981020154656.7856.rocketmail-AT- web1.rocketmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT ---Ellie Hansen & Bob Erenburg wrote: > > For those who plan ahead: > The 1999 CD*NY PLAYFORD BALL > will be held on > Saturday, April 17, 1999 etc. And for those who don't: Elm City English Elegance, A Mid-Winter Celebration of English Country Dance will be held at St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, 830 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT, on January 23, 1999. If people would like, I can send the flier as an attachment so that it will come out all nicely spaced and all. I know that not everybody's email can receive attachments cleanly (like this one for instance), and there has been some opposition to sending attachments over this list. In any case, the registration form is at the bottom of this page, and if you would like to register, you can print it out and cut it off, and if the spacing is uneven, who cares, as long as it gets to the right place. This is a somewhat small hall, so registration is limited, so if you want to attend, respond early. More info on the ball. ~ Peggy Vermilya, Mistress of Ceremonies Music in the afternoon Peter Corbridge, piano Music in the evening The Playford Consort Marshall Barron Phoebe Barron, Grace Feldman Margaret Ann Martin ~ Advanced registration of $25 per person includes: Afternoon Dance Review from 2:00 - 4:00 pm ~ Evening Ball 7:00-11:00 pm No attempt will be made to balance gender. Paid in full registrations will be taken as received. Details of program, dance instruction booklet, directions & map will be sent in early January. Formal, period, or fancy attire appropriate. Bring fruit or a dessert to share. For further information: Bonnie Lassen (860) 267-6445 or BLassen-AT- Juno.com Barbara Ruth (203) 777-5114 or barbararuth-AT- rocketmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elm City English Elegance 1999 registration form Name (s)___________________________________________________circle M or F(for nametags)__________________________________________________ Address____________________________________________________ ______________________________ Zip___________ Phone (day)_________________________(evening)__________________________ email __________________________________________________________________ Checks Payable to New Haven Country Dancers Mail to: Susan Leff PO Box 23 South Britain, CT 06487-0023. _________(number) wishing home hospitality __________(number) of guests I / we can offer hospitality _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free -AT- yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 19:12:27 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 22:14:00 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: walk throughs, etc To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Short of like in New England. I resemble that remark! Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery; and the other that heat comes from the furnace. Aldo Leopold ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 13:04:46 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 14:53:29 -0500 (EST) From: lois jackson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: "Renata" To: ecd-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199810261953.OAA04897-AT- dns.city-net.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT hi In Collin Humes "Renata" we were having trouble with a section. Sorry I cant describe this too well - but -- at one point in the 4 couple set the middle couples lead??out and cast to the ends and the end couples sort of move up and everyone does a two hand turn. However - ther seemed to be much more music than needed and apparently the directions dont specify "leading out" for a specific number of beats. Would appreciate any ideas about this part of the dance. thanks in advance. lois ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 03:22:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Return-Path: philippe.callens-AT- uia.ua.ac.be Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 13:23:07 +0100 From: Philippe Callens Subject: Prime Minister To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <3635BB2B.37D8-AT- uia.ua.ac.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT The Prime Minister is a set dance for three trio's. My friend Simone Verheyen picked it up at Sidmouth some years ago. She likes to find out about the origin, the author. Anyone knows more about this dance? Philippe Callens ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 04:02:16 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 12:02:36 +0000 From: Eldridge Keith Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Prime Minister To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: "'Rhod Davies (ESoft)'" Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > Philippe Callens wrote : > The Prime Minister is a set dance for three trio's. My friend Simone > Verheyen picked it up at Sidmouth some years ago. She likes to find out > about the origin, the author. IIRC the proper name for this dance is the New Parliament House Jig and it comes from Australia. I can't remember any more details but I am sure Rhod Davies can. Regards Elmo --Manchester, England --elmo-AT- opsis.win-uk.net --Keith.Eldridge-AT- labsystems.com -- --Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. -Voltaire ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 04:44:58 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 12:45:13 +0000 From: Rhodri Davies Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Prime Minister To: Eldridge Keith CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <3635C059.39EF1054-AT- esoft.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: MULTIPART/MIXED; BOUNDARY="Boundary_(ID_wrKklMCgRDraM2kOTwgEwA)" References: This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_wrKklMCgRDraM2kOTwgEwA) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Eldridge Keith wrote: > > > Philippe Callens wrote : > > The Prime Minister is a set dance for three trio's. My friend Simone > > Verheyen picked it up at Sidmouth some years ago. She likes to find out > > about the origin, the author. > IIRC the proper name for this dance is the New Parliament House Jig and it > comes from Australia. I can't remember any more details but I am sure Rhod > Davies can. > As Elmo says it was originally called The New Parliament House Jig and comes from Australia. I can't remember all the details and I don't have my reference book to hand here at work. From what I remember it was written to celebrate the opening of the new parliament house and is meant to represent the 6? States and 2? territories. There was a tune with it. Somewhere I have a copy of the original publication. I can't remember the author at the moment, but it was published in a magazine called "Stringy Bark and Greenhide". I found this out from an Australian I met at the Sidmouth festival. I had first run across the dance under the name Prime Minister. I got it from Bob Archer and in trying to trace it back and check out some details I was able to trace it towards Brian Jones. Brian said that he had got it (indirectly?) from someone at the Chippenham festival and that the name had got lost along the way. There's the folk process for you! I've seen it danced a number of times with the Prime Minister wearing a hat which gets passed on at every progression. Rhod --Boundary_(ID_wrKklMCgRDraM2kOTwgEwA) Content-type: text/x-vcard; name=rhod.vcf; charset=us-ascii Content-description: Card for Rhodri Davies Content-disposition: attachment; filename=rhod.vcf Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT begin:vcard n:Davies;Rhodri x-mozilla-html:FALSE org:ESOFT Ltd version:2.1 email;internet:rhod-AT- esoft.co.uk title:Dr tel;fax:0161 374 1000 tel;work:0161 374 4000 adr;quoted-printable:;;Milan Court=0D=0ABird Hall Lane, Cheadle Heath;Stockport;Cheshire;SK4 OWY;UK x-mozilla-cpt:;65535 fn:Rhodri Davies end:vcard --Boundary_(ID_wrKklMCgRDraM2kOTwgEwA)-- ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 05:26:49 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 08:27:23 -0500 From: Gene Murrow Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Prime Minister To: "INTERNET:ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU" Message-ID: <199810270827_MC2-5E31-5257-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT We did the dance "Prime Minister" several years ago at a barn dance in Poole (Dorset). Good fun, and an unusual formation for 9 people. The band/caller was a group called "The Dancing Ledge" based in Hampshire/Dorset. I have the directions, Philippe, if you need them, and could contact the caller.... Best, Gene Murrow ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 14:31:20 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 17:28:45 -0500 From: Colin Hume <100116.165-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: "Renata" To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199810271732_MC2-5E3E-BE02-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lois Jackson wrote >> In Colin >> Hume's "Renata" we were having trouble with a section. Sorry I cant >> describe this too well - but -- at one point in the 4 couple set the >> middle couples lead??out and cast to the ends and the end couples >> sort of move up and everyone does a two hand turn. However - ther >> seemed to be much more music than needed and apparently the >> directions dont specify "leading out" for a specific number of >> beats. Would appreciate any ideas about this part of the dance. It sounds as if you've picked this dance up through the Folk Process rather than from "Dances with a Difference, Volume 5" (available from me or CDSS)! As it says in the introduction, I use a semicolon for a two-bar phrase and a full stop (period) for a four- or eight-bar phrase, so yes, I do specify the number of beats. There are four beats (two bars) for the middles to change hands and lead out slightly, then four beats for them to cast to the nearer end as the ends lead in. Hope this is now clear - if not, please email me for further explanation. Colin Hume ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 19:21:30 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 22:25:08 -0800 From: Stephanie Smith Subject: Documenting ECD leaders -- a partial summary of Pinewoods discussions To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <3636B8C4.7F1-AT- ix.netcom.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT References: <3635C059.39EF1054-AT- esoft.co.uk> Hi all, Well, better late than never they always say. I’m trying to quickly summarize the discussions that went on during English and English-American Weeks at Pinewoods on the topic of documenting current ECD leaders and choreographers, particularly on video. At English Week, Sol Weber, Sharon Green, Gary Roodman, Carol Martinez, Barbara Ruth, Mary Devlin, Leslie Lassetter, Suzanne Ford, and I were among those who either threw ideas around or indicated interest in helping with this project (if I’ve left someone out, let me know, thanks). While we agreed that there are many leaders of different ages which it would be wonderful to document, we felt first priority should be given to the older leaders such as Christine Helwig, Fried Herman, and Helene Cornelius. Much of the discussion revolved around what kind of product people wanted to see: one, archival video footage of leaders teaching and their oral history; two, an edited video product of some sort. Most of us felt strongly that funding would need to be sought to conduct such a project. We also felt it would be essential to form an active committee of people with the diverse skills needed to embark on a comprehensive documentation project, some of who may not be on email or at least not on this list. During English-American Week, a number of us met to continue and augment the discussion. Those involved were Susan and Gene Murrow, Brad Foster, Margherita and George Davis, Sol Weber, Mary Devlin, Judy Grunberg, and me. (Anyone else?) Brad indicated that CDSS would like to see such a project happen, but could not take the lead. We discussed levels of quality in terms of equipment, such as Betacam versus VHS etc. (In the archival world, Betacam is the current standard, and is for production as well as far as I know. Help me out here, Danny Walkowitz!) I will be checking to see if my office, the Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies at the Smithsonian, would be willing to support any of this project with personnel and equipment, and was waiting until we got into a new fiscal year this month. We discussed Fried Herman as a good person to start with since several interested people would be available to do some oral history interviews with her, and she is involved with several events in the coming year, including the Fried-for-All in June 1999. Judy Grunberg would like to see this event filmed, and this is one end we are working towards. We are essentially in the information-gathering phase right now, and it would be good if those on this list who are interested in becoming involved and lending their expertise would let us know, so we can carry the discussion off the list in greater detail. If you know someone who ought to be involved who is not on email, please let me or Sol know. I am leaving for the American Folklore Society meeting in Portland tomorrow, and will be attending the meeting of the AFS Dance and Choreology Section, so hope to have some interesting leads from this as well as making contact with people who are vitally involved in dance research. Please jump in and augment this, anyone who was present. I didn’t think I could leave town gracefully without doing this! Stephanie Smith Bethesda, MD glenecho-AT- ix.netcom.com steph-AT- folkways.si.edu -- use this address if you need to reach me while I’m at the conference this week ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 08:32:56 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 17:24:57 +0100 From: Antony Heywood Subject: Dancing in South Africa To: 'ECD Mailing List' Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <199810281633.RAA06562-AT- IAEhv.nl> Does anybody know of any English Country Dance opportunities around Cape Town, South Africa for a couple of friends going there on holiday for three weeks, leaving in a week's time? Antony Heywood The Netherlands ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 08:54:13 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 11:55:24 -0500 From: Daniel Walkowitz Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Documenting ECD leaders -- a partial summary of Pinewoods discussions To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19981028115524.006c474c-AT- is2.nyu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" References: <3635C059.39EF1054-AT- esoft.co.uk> re documenting ECD Stephanie and all, My friend at the Center for Media, Culture and History (where I am on the Board as well) has produced many programs for PBS (some with me). Her response is as follows: "You can shoot on digital and transfer to Beta. This is a good way to go. Shooting on Beta is unnecessarily expensive and complicated for what you want to do. The resolution [of transferred digital] is very good." A one-chip digital camcorder by SONY can be purchased for about $1200-1500, though a three chip manchine is preferable (closer to $3500). Good camera work, however, is not inborn. It is important to get an experienced camera person, and someone who has directed (both action and video oral history). I, for instance, always hire someone [else] to do camera work, but have directed and conducted molto oral histories. As a folklorist, I would assume Stephanie would be quite terrific at the latter. Danny Walkowitz ps I can get pricing for production from my film school colleagues, if and when that seems useful [for any grant application, it will be]. Daniel J. Walkowitz Director, Metropolitan Studies, and Professor of History 285 Mercer Street, rm 703, New York University New York, New York 10003-6607 tel. (212) 998-8091 fax (212) 995-4371 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 09:01:59 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 17:59:08 +0000 (BRITAIN) From: HUGH-AT- SDL.UG.EDS.COM Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: New House of Parliment Jig To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01J3IH9CGYGI002M1T-AT- SDL.UG.EDS.COM> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT While we await Rhod's definitive answer with bated breath I may as well report that a year ago Lance Green (LWGreen-AT- effect.net.au) reported that New House of Parliment Jig was written by Norm Ellis in approx 1985, designed to celebrate the opening of the New parliment House. Norm Ellis was of Melbourne, and he wrote it for a Bush Music Club in Sydney dance competition. His instructions say Diamonds circle; Corners circle whereas the Folk Process version I know is Extremists; Moderates (i.e. the other order). Colin Hume tossed it in to fill up the odd five minutes at the end of a class (of Recently Composed Dances or some such) at Pinewoods 1992, and was amazed that the class picked it for their display dance at the end of the week. Hugh Stewart Cambridge UK ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 09:24:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 18:17:09 +0100 From: Antony Heywood Subject: 4-days EC in Holland To: 'ECD Mailing List' Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <199810281724.SAA24846-AT- IAEhv.nl> Between Christmas and the New Year there will be a 4-day English Country Dance course in Holland. Andrew Shaw will be taking day-time workshops on Early Playford, Nathaniel Kynaston and Tom Cook. General dancing in the evening will be taken by Andrew Shaw and Antony Heywood. There is also a beginners' course taught by Antony Heywood. In parallel, there are Morris and Sword workshops taught by Bert Cleaver. Further details can be found on the Dutch Folk Dance Society home pages http://www.iae.nl/users/antony/ Looking forward to getting lots of visitors from abroad. Antony Heywood ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 10:24:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 13:24:39 -0500 From: Benjamin Stein Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dancing in Italy? To: "INTERNET:ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU" Message-ID: <199810281324_MC2-5E5D-121E-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I will be spending two weeks in Italy starting the 10th of November. I kn= ow that it is doubtful but can't help but ask if anyone knows of dance activity in Sorrento (first week) or Montecatina (Tuscany) the second wee= k. Please reply directly to me. Fon't expect that I will get much but thanks= anyhow. Ben Stein Burlington, Vt. USA dancers-AT- Compuserve.Com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 08:39:41 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 11:40:14 -0500 From: eferguson-AT- umassd.edu (Emily L. Ferguson) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Fond memories To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Country Dancers of Westchester (NY) plans to dedicate >the following upcoming events to the fond memories of >two much-loved gentlemen: > > New Year's Eve, Thursday December 31, 1998 > dedicated to Ed Helwig Where? What time? Thanks. Emily L. Ferguson - Cape Cod, Massachusetts eferguson-AT- umassd.edu Photographer, English Country Dance leader There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery; and the other that heat comes from the furnace. Aldo Leopold ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 10:48:24 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 13:46:01 -0500 From: "Susan R. Murrow" <75272.730-AT- compuserve.com> Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Fond memories To: "INTERNET:ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU" Message-ID: <199810291349_MC2-5E7B-D976-AT- compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In response to Emily Ferguson and others who wish to know further details... CDW's New Year's Eve Dance Party, Thursday Dec.31 from 9:00 pm until 1:00 am at St.John's Episcopal Church Fountain Square, Larchmont, NY MCs are Christine Helwig and Gene Murrow The evening will be dedicated to our fond memorires of Ed Helwig. We'll have photos, favorite dances, food and the cheerful, joyful spirit Ed always shared... Let me know if you'd like me to send you a flyer and map / driving directions Susan Murrow (914) 762-8619 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 12:23:45 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 14:52:03 -0500 From: solweber-AT- juno.com (sol weber) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Parliament Jig fond memories To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <19981029.151515.-107885.273.solweber-AT- juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I was part of that Pinewoods 1992 session when Colin tossed in the Parliament Jig (last para, below), and he included other categories beyond extremists and moderates -- I don't remember which; perhaps someone else will remind us -- and folks were also borrowing hats from the sidelines so that each set had one hat, which always ended up on the head of the center person after each transition. I don't recall whether Colin suggested this or whether it was spontaneous. A really fun dance, and no-one else was amazed that the group wanted it as their display dance! Sol W. Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 17:59:08 +0000 (BRITAIN) From: HUGH-AT- SDL.UG.EDS.COM Subject: Re: New House of Parliment Jig Message-ID: <01J3IH9CGYGI002M1T-AT- SDL.UG.EDS.COM> While we await Rhod's definitive answer with bated breath I may as well report that a year ago Lance Green (LWGreen-AT- effect.net.au) reported that New House of Parliment Jig was written by Norm Ellis in approx 1985, designed to celebrate the opening of the New parliment House. Norm Ellis was of Melbourne, and he wrote it for a Bush Music Club in Sydney dance competition. His instructions say Diamonds circle; Corners circle whereas the Folk Process version I know is Extremists; Moderates (i.e. the other order). Colin Hume tossed it in to fill up the odd five minutes at the end of a class (of Recently Composed Dances or some such) at Pinewoods 1992, and was amazed that the class picked it for their display dance at the end of the week. Hugh Stewart Cambridge UK ------------------------------ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 17:26:53 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 20:27:44 -0500 (EST) From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Polka Dot Instructions Wanted To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <199810300127.UAA29629-AT- mail2.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT At Pinewoods this summer, Sheila Scott called a 5-person dance entitled Double Dots. [It starts with the center person and the 2 folks to his/her right doing R-hands across...] This may be the same as the 5-person Polka Dots in Ring O'Bells Barn Dance Hoe Down, but I don't have the book and can't check. I'd love to have the instructions to Polka Dots. Or to Double Dots, for that