Archive-Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 10:04:40 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 12:03:31 -0500 From: Dianna Shipman Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Choreographer and dancers needed To: For Your Information Message-ID: <001101c01436$936911e0$7dc4530c-AT- pavilion> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I've had a request from Beth Sanford with the Christmas Revels here in Houston - she is looking for someone who can act as choreographer (hopefully in Houston or within relatively easy travel to Houston) to teach Breton dances (from Brittany in France), since this is the featured country this year. They are also looking for dancers for anyone who would like to audition. If you have any leads, please get in touch with Beth at bsanford-AT- iapc.net or at 713 850 0222 X604. The event is Dec. 7-12 and Dec. 15-17. It is held at the opera house at University of Houston. If interested in dancing (and singing in French also required for the performers), call 713 668-3303. There will be 12 rehearsals on Saturday mornings. The event includes the myths, stories, music and dance of Breton. Any help appreciated, Dianna Dianna L. Shipman diannashipman-AT- worldnet.att.net PMB 134, 1436 W. Gray Houston, TX 77019-4946 Scottish Country Dancing and More web page: http://home.att.net/~diannashipman phone: 713-522-1212 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 12:25:58 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 15:25:46 -0400 (EDT) From: "Susan R. Lorand" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Titusville, NJ, USA: English dance tonight, 1 Sept. To: ECD mailing list Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT A belated reminder to anyone who's in the area: the Lambertville Country Dancers' monthly English dance is tonight. When: Friday, September 1, 2000 Where: Titusville United Methodist Church, Church Rd., off Rt. 29, Titusville, NJ, USA Who: Caller--Sue Dupre; Band--Peggy Leiby, Louise & Ted McClure, Enid Diamante, and Jo Anne Rocke For directions/further info. please e-mail before 5:30 p.m. or call 609-252-0248. You can also check the LCD web page at . Happy September, everyone! Susie Lorand Princeton, NJ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 12:28:36 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 15:28:24 -0400 (EDT) From: "Susan R. Lorand" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Titusville, NJ, USA: English dance tonight, 1 Sept. To: ECD mailing list Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT p.s. the dance is from 8 to 11 p.m. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 10:41:50 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 10:41:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01JTP0LSALBW8Y6LLX-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT ECDers -- I'm leaving shortly for a week away from email. I won't see mail until very late on the night of the 8th of September. If anything goes wrong with the list, I won't know about it or be able to do anything until then. (It's not an ECD trip; actually it's a brief jazz cruise.) Try to comport yourselves with appropriate dignity and reserve. -- Alan =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 11:32:29 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 12:55:33 -0500 From: Dianna Shipman Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <008601c0150c$00221b80$66c4530c-AT- pavilion> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <01JTP0LSALBW8Y6LLX-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> Alan, Darn - and I had all these plans to be undignified and unreserved :-) Dianna Dianna L. Shipman diannashipman-AT- worldnet.att.net PMB 134, 1436 W. Gray Houston, TX 77019-4946 Scottish Country Dancing and More web page: http://home.att.net/~diannashipman phone: 713-522-1212 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing" To: Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 12:41 PM Subject: Alan gone for a week > ECDers -- > > I'm leaving shortly for a week away from email. I won't see mail until very > late on the night of the 8th of September. If anything goes wrong with the > list, I won't know about it or be able to do anything until then. > > (It's not an ECD trip; actually it's a brief jazz cruise.) > > Try to comport yourselves with appropriate dignity and reserve. > > -- Alan > > > ============================================================================ === > Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU > Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 > Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 > ============================================================================ === > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 11:59:49 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 13:59:39 -0500 From: Roger Diggle Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <200009021859.NAA06717-AT- serak.svc.tds.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Dianna Shipman wrote: >Alan, >Darn - and I had all these plans to be undignified and unreserved :-) >Dianna No fair being undignified or unreserved unless Alan is here to help. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 13:47:03 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 15:12:42 -0500 From: Dianna Shipman Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <009301c0151e$c8e002a0$44c4530c-AT- pavilion> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <200009021859.NAA06717-AT- serak.svc.tds.net> We'll have to wait until he gets back and surprise him then :-) so let's think about an undignified, unreserved (but fun) message for him when he gets back! Dianna Dianna L. Shipman diannashipman-AT- worldnet.att.net PMB 134, 1436 W. Gray Houston, TX 77019-4946 Scottish Country Dancing and More web page: http://home.att.net/~diannashipman phone: 713-522-1212 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Diggle" To: Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 1:59 PM Subject: Re: Alan gone for a week > Dianna Shipman wrote: > > >Alan, > >Darn - and I had all these plans to be undignified and unreserved :-) > >Dianna > > No fair being undignified or unreserved unless Alan is here to help. > ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2000 19:20:21 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2000 22:20:09 -0400 From: Patricia Ruggiero Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Easter Thursday To: English Dance Message-ID: <001501c01616$a6085770$65981c3f-AT- MITRE.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Peggy Vermilya wrote: "One of the features of Easter Thursday that I like and find distinctive is the balancing in and out, side to side (facing partners to preserve the lines up and down the set) followed by a circle of hands four -- to me this is a distinctive part of the dance." The way I recall doing this dance for many years was to balance out and in, then side to side, and then turn single. That used up six bars, and so the circle four was omitted (see Fallibroome). So are you saying that you omit the turn single and, instead, do the circle four? Just curious. Pat ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 01:33:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 01:32:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Easter Thursday To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000904083258.25648.qmail-AT- web3305.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > Peggy Vermilya wrote: > > "One of the features of Easter Thursday that I like and find > > distinctive is the balancing in and out, side to side (facing > > partners to preserve the lines up and down the set) followed > > by a circle of hands four -- to me this is a distinctive > > part of the dance." > --- Patricia Ruggiero wrote: > The way I recall doing this dance for many years was to > balance out and in, then side to side, and then turn single. > That used up six bars, and so the circle four was omitted (see > Fallibroome). So are you saying that you omit the turn single > and, instead, do the circle four? Just curious. > I remember doing it with the turn single as Pat describes, but unlike Peggy's description of facing partners while setting, we faced corners so a circle without hands was formed. The setting from side to side was done such that it defined a segment of the circle. Andy __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 01:36:26 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 01:36:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000904083615.25789.qmail-AT- web3305.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Alan Winston wrote: > Try to comport yourselves with appropriate dignity and > reserve. > Alan, your're spoiling all the fun. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 09:41:53 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 12:41:47 -0400 From: Patricia Ruggiero Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Easter Thursday To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <000001c0168f$047e62e0$07981c3f-AT- MITRE.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Andy Peterson wrote: "...but unlike Peggy's description of facing partners while setting, we faced corners so a circle without hands was formed. The setting from side to side was done such that it defined a segment of the circle." The original directions for this part of the dance read: "Meet all four and sett." One might query as to how the "meet all four" is executed. Does the phrase mean that both 1st Cu. and 2d Cu. (all four) set facing partners; or does it suggest that all four look in on the diagonal, thus forming that circle without hands? I'll repeat what I mentioned in an earlier post: that I suspect Bentley interpreted this phrase as requiring two separate moves. First, partners met; then they set. Having used up four bars of music, Bentley could see that there was not enough music for turning single and circling. Bentley omitted the circle and gave the dancers two full bars to turn single. The version presented by Colin Hume (Colin, I forget if this is your reconstruction or someone else's) has the meeting and setting accomplished in two bars; that is, dancers meet as they set; then there are four bars (12 steps) remaining to TS and circle. Pat ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 10:55:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 10:54:28 -0700 From: "Hamilton, Bruce" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Dippy Tunes -- Summary To: "'ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU'" Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Thanks to all who participated in the "dippy tunes" discussion. Here is my attempt at a summary. I'm afraid that I lost anything sent via personal email - I am sorry. Thanks to Alan Winston for the tool to search the list by thread. And thanks to several of you for the delightful reminiscences into Weird Al and Stan Freberg. There were many tunes put forth, but few respondents ranked their entries, so it's not possible to present an overall ranking. (Special mention to Sue Wartell for "Commercial jingles (mostly from the 60's) > My Grandfather's Clock > Sonny > They're Coming to Take Me Away > Old Folks at Home > Swanee River > Camptown Races > How Much is that Doggie in the Window > anything by Tony Orlando and Dawn.") Similarly, although several tunes were mentioned more than once, there were too few entries overall for a tally to have any significance. The real result was in the discussion (though I did genuinely hope we'd find a ranking), which raised the notion that there might be several factors involved, and a tune might be dippy or not depending on those other factors. For example, several people mentioned "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves" and I agree; but the feeling changes dramatically (IMHO) with "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Two amazing coincidences occurred during all this. First, a friend whom I had years ago lent some minimalist music (a simple theme repeated with almost no variation for, say, 10 minutes) wrote to say "hey, I like this stuff. Do you have any more?" (and while I was putting that list together I ran across an anagram for the composer I'd lent him: Henryk Górecki = Hey, king rocker!). Second, there is a discussion right now on the SCD discussion list about whether "The Lewis Bridal Song," aka "Mairi's Wedding" is an annoying tune! Finally, to all you who got mad at me for making you think about this stuff, you have your revenge: imagine what it was like trying to summarize this material! Here are all the tunes suggested: ------------- anything by Tony Orlando and Dawn Banana Splits theme song, the Barney Song (aka This Old Man) Camptown Races Chantilly Lace Chicken Dance, The Commercial jingles (mostly from the 60s) Dance of the Hours Fandango Flintstones, meet the Flintstones... Golden Helmet of Mambrino Happy Days are Here Again Hokey Pokey, The How Much is that Doggy in the Window I Know a Song That Gets on Everybody's Nerves If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out by Cat Stevens Iitsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini Jam Up and Jelly Tight Macarena, The MacArthur Park Memories Music of the Night My Grandfather's Clock Name Game, The Oh! Nick-O-Deemo Old Folks at Home Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head Soldiers March from Faust Sonny Star-Spangled Banner ["Anacreon in Heaven" is even worse. -bh] Swanee River They're Coming to Take Me Away -Bruce ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 11:10:12 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 14:10:16 -0600 From: Helen White Subject: Re: Dippy Tunes -- Summary To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <39B401A8.27B096D7-AT- earthlink.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: Bruce, I don't know *all* the tunes on your list of dippy tunes, but it struck me that the vast majority are in major keys, and a surprising number feature simple arpeggios in the tune. Further analysis might yield an instructive monograph: "How to Construct a Dippy Tune." ; ) --Helen White ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 12:43:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 12:47:41 -0700 From: Marian Phillips Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01c016a8$fc657c00$1aeaadce-AT- default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT For a number of years I was obsessed by Iceland, which culminated in my learning a little bit of Icelandic and travelling there for about three weeks. Shortly after that, I mostly lost interest in things Icelandic, and it wasn't until quite recently that I figured out why: After I came back, I asked my Icelandic teacher what the traditional music and dance in Iceland were like, and she replied that Iceland didn't have any. I was disbelieving; but in fact, I hadn't seen anything of the sort while I was there, and I had been keeping an eye out for it. Recently, I found a website for the Icelandic Tourist Board, and sent them an email asking about it, and they wrote back and said that my friend was right; Iceland has no such tradition. They referred me to an Icelandic music website, and it was all jazz and swing and classical and baroque and modern. I realize that Iceland only got their independence comparatively recently, and so wouldn't necessarily have their own dance tradition (although they do have an ongoing poetic tradition that's distinctly Icelandic), but I would have thought there'd be some kind of dance scene based in Norwegian or Danish dance at least. However, what it's made me realize is that the British Isles, which are my main dance and music interest, are so thick with traditional and historical dance and music that it never even occurred to me to doubt that all other countries were similarly well-endowed. Is Iceland the big exception? Do Norway and Denmark have a dance tradition in the same way that Sweden does? (I've heard of Scandinavian dancing, but when it comes to naming specific countries, all I ever hear about is Sweden.) And how does, say, Scandinavian -- or other European -- traditional dance differ from Britain? Is it even possible to generalize? Many thanks to anyone willing to tackle this one -- Marian ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 13:10:13 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 16:19:37 -0400 From: Allison M Thompson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Circassian Circle To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000904.164120.-508889.1.AllisonThompson-AT- juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Hi, all. Ron Houston, of the Society of Folk Dance Historians, has written to ask about the origins & history of the "rather complex family of dances named Circassian Circle". He notes that he has the following points of information, "with scant verification." Any comments, criticisms or leads for him?? 1 From the Folk Dance Federation of California Standardization Bulletin #1: "The Circassian Circle was named for a comic Opera 'Circassienne'. The family or clan formed themselves into one grand circle dance, known as the 'Hermes necklace chain dance' taken from the Greeks. The Circassian Circle is the outcome of such a dance." The dance described in that bulletin is the common dance for a single circle of couples. 2 Maude Karpeles collected (date unknown) in Northumberland a medley: a. The Circassian Circle (jig) for a double circle, couple facing couple, resembling the usual British versions, such as the RSCDS dance. This dance became popular in the United States under such names as The Circle, Progressive Circle Mixer, Sicilian Circle, and Cicilian Circle, and in an expanded version as Portland Fancy. I have instructions dating from 1930. b. The Big Circle (reel) for a single circle became today's commonly known Circassian Circle. I have no descriptions for this version under this name predating about 1950. Allison, what is your feeling about this apparent switch of dances and names or about the "Hermes necklace chain dance?" Do you know of a French dance derived from this comic operetta? I would appreciate any information or opinions you could supply. ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 15:28:01 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 18:27:28 -0400 From: "Emily L. Ferguson" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Easter Thursday To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Past tense of set is "sat"! Emily L. Ferguson elf-AT- cape.com 508-563-6822 New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography Beetle cats on the web at: http://www.beetlecat.com/gifts.htm http://www.capecod.net/sqtg/nebcba/results/99champs.html landscape at: http://www.capecodlife.com/CCD/regions/upper_cape.html ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 16:41:37 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 23:41:26 +0000 (GMT) From: Orly Krasner Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dippy Tunes -- Summary To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Hi, Bruce-- I can't help wondering whether the last song on your list represents some sort of comment on the proceedings. . . . but that was after I had already thought, "MAN! I LOVE this list. Where else could a topic like this qualify for such intelligent discourse and attempted scientific analysis?!" Sure beats most of my professional music lists. . . . sigh. Welcome home from camp y'all, and a happy new season of dancing to everybody! --Orly _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 17:15:30 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 17:15:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Jon Berger Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dippy Tunes -- Summary To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Mon, 4 Sep 2000, Hamilton, Bruce wrote: > Thanks to all who participated in the "dippy tunes" discussion. Sadly, I arrived too late to participate, but I just have to wonder how you guys missed my personal favorite 60's ode to sexual harassment, "Take a Letter, Maria." Who could forget that deathless lyrical hook: "You've been many things, but most of all / A good secretary to me. / It just so happens I'm free tonight / Would you like to have dinner with me?" Come to think of it, "Sugar Sugar Honey Honey," by the Archies, was on top-40 radio at about the same time, so there's another one. ------------------------------- Jon Berger Personal: jberger-AT- monitor.net Business: jon-AT- perforce.com http://www.monitor.net/~jberger ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 17:21:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 20:21:05 -0400 From: Patricia Ruggiero Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: traditions in dance To: English Dance Message-ID: <000101c016cf$2e1fef20$07981c3f-AT- MITRE.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Marian asked: "Do Norway and Denmark have a dance tradition in the same way that Sweden does?" The short answer is yes, and what you would see and hear in all three (as far as I can tell) are basically 19th c. folk dances and music. Quadrilles and couple dances are popular in Denmark. One form of couple dancing goes thus: some number of couples form a circle (man on left, woman on right); dancers circle left and right, or maybe go into the center and back; then all face partners and chain for some amount of music, at the end of which couples then waltz, or polka, or whatever is appropriate, for some number of bars; and then the dance starts all over again. There are also dances done in contra lines, and there are probably other formations that Howard and I just can't remember at present. One Danish friend said that English country dances were done in Denmark in the 18th c. by the *aristocracy*. The national organization in Denmark that promotes *folk* dancing throughout the country does NOT include those 18th c. English dances for that reason. Pat ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 18:56:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 21:55:50 -0400 From: "Albert A. Blank" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <39B452A6.46C067A0-AT- sprintmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <01c016a8$fc657c00$1aeaadce-AT- default> Marian Phillips wrote (in part): "Is Iceland the big exception? Do Norway and Denmark have a dance tradition in the same way that Sweden does? (I've heard of Scandinavian dancing, but when it comes to naming specific countries, all I ever hear about is Sweden.) And how does, say, Scandinavian -- or other European -- traditional dance differ from Britain? Is it even possible to generalize?" Yes, Norway and Denmark do have there own dance traditions. In Norway, different dances developed in separate isolated regions as I observed while traveling there more than forty years ago. There was an active effort to preserve the traditions at that time and I presume one could find out more about its successes by browsing the internet. Denmark exported many of its dances via the Bidstrups to the USA. The dance weeks at Berea and Brasstown feature Danish dances. And they were being danced in Denmark when I was there. You might try contacting Margot Gunzenhauser over there about that -- she is a CDSS member. Margot is great about sharing information. Each nation and regions within nations has its own dance traditions and I can't think of any facile generalization to differentiate these from English. English has its own way of carrying one's self which differs from all other nationalities and the music is more "up" and usually related closely to English prosody but I leave it to others to flesh out that statement. -- Albert Blank e-mail: fandango-AT- sprintmail.com ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 07:26:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 10:26:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The Pledge To: ECD List Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Sun, 27 Aug 2000, Mary E Jones wrote: > Mary (Laughter May Be Universal But What Is Funny Is Not) Jones > Amherst, MA until October Where will you be after that? There's a smallish dance series (growing, but still smallish) here in Ann Arbor that likes to import callers, but they can't pay travel yet -- so they're looking for callers who are either 1) close enough to Ann Arbor that they can get here on their own without particular difficulty or expense; 2) travelling in or through this area anyway at about the right time; or 3) sufficiently provided with time and money and interest to be willing to come from greater distances on their own. The dance organizer generally provides a modest minimum guarantee, with income above the guarantees split between caller & band with a bit reserved for future operating expenses, so as the event grows it should be able to increase the caller's share a bit -- however, the band is typically 4 to 6 people, so they get a good part of this. Hospitality for the caller can generally be arranged. The dance takes place on the 2nd Friday of each month from September through June (although it might be on the 3rd Friday in December this year -- that's yet to be determined), and so far September through November are either filled or a likely candidate is already lined up. My thinking is that you would be a very appropriate person for this series from the standpoint of how your style of calling would fit with the general spirit of this event. If you are sufficiently interested to pursue this, I will send you the name of the person to contact, and will let her know that you are interested, too. Hope your move brings you closer so that this becomes more likely! Eric (not the manager of this dance, but involved with it in other capacities) Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 07:31:48 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 10:31:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Arnold Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: The Pledge To: ECD List Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Oops! The reply to Mary Jones was supposed to be just to her but I inadvertently sent it to the list. My apologies to all. Eric (back from Pinewoods in body only) Arnold Ann Arbor ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 07:51:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 11:00:19 -0400 From: Benjamin Stein Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <39B50A83.28D24B6F-AT- globalnetisp.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <01c016a8$fc657c00$1aeaadce-AT- default> <39B452A6.46C067A0-AT- sprintmail.com> "Albert A. Blank" wrote: > Marian Phillips wrote (in part): > > "Is Iceland the big exception? Do Norway and Denmark have a dance tradition in > the same way that Sweden does? (I've heard of Scandinavian dancing, but when it > comes to naming specific countries, all I ever hear about is Sweden.) And how > does, say, Scandinavian -- or other European -- traditional dance differ from > Britain? Is it even possible to generalize?" > > Yes, Norway and Denmark do have there own dance traditions. In Norway, > different dances developed in separate isolated regions as I observed while > traveling there more than forty years ago. There was an active effort to > preserve the traditions at that time and I presume one could find out more about > its successes by browsing the internet. Denmark exported many of its dances via > the Bidstrups to the USA. The dance weeks at Berea and Brasstown feature Danish > dances. And they were being danced in Denmark when I was there. You might try > contacting Margot Gunzenhauser over there about that -- she is a CDSS member. > Margot is great about sharing information. > Each nation and regions within nations has its own dance traditions and I > can't think of any facile generalization to differentiate these from English. > English has its own way of carrying one's self which differs from all other > nationalities and the music is more "up" and usually related closely to English > prosody but I leave it to others to flesh out that statement. > -- > Albert Blank > e-mail: fandango-AT- sprintmail.com Of course Norway has a Folk Tradition. One example of the influence of Norwegian dancing on the general scene is that "thing" that people do nowadays, occassionally thinking it the only form of Polka ( the one with the walking followed by tight turns). I learned it about 60 years ago in a folk dance group as the "Norwegian Polka" but discovered, when dancing in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn at a local Norwegian dance that they called it the Pariser (or Paris) Polka. I have a recording of it under that name on an old record of Norwegian danses from the Dakotas-made in the 1930's. If you visit Bergen. Norway, as I did this June, be sure to get tickets for the Fana Folklore evening, where they not only serve you a meal of traditional fare but entertain with local folkdanses (in costume) accompanied by a great Hardanger Fiddle and a one stringed instrument that resembles a mountain dulcimer. Ben Stein ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 08:54:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 08:54:09 -0700 From: "Hamilton, Bruce" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: ECD Digest V1 #800 To: "'ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU'" Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Helen White writes: > ...it > struck me that the vast majority are in major keys, and a surprising > number feature simple arpeggios in the tune. Further analysis might > yield an instructive monograph: "How to Construct a Dippy Tune." ; ) Kind of like "How to Grow Kudzu"? http://www.mindspring.com/~wxrnot/grow.txt -Bruce bruce_hamilton-AT- agilent.com Tel: 650-485-2818 Fax: 650-485-8092 Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303 ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 09:03:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 12:02:48 -0400 From: "Emily L. Ferguson" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: ECD Digest V1 #800 To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT What sort of mind would locate a site like that!!!! So sorry they didn't have a spectacular photograph too! Emily L. Ferguson elf-AT- cape.com 508-563-6822 New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography Beetle cats on the web at: http://www.beetlecat.com/gifts.htm http://www.capecod.net/sqtg/nebcba/results/99champs.html landscape at: http://www.capecodlife.com/CCD/regions/upper_cape.html ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 10:49:38 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 13:50:11 -0400 From: "Susan B. Booker" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Set vs. Sat; or, Dancing with a Rotator Cuff Injury? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <001001c01761$bf9d5680$6602ffd1-AT- prodigy.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Emily recently reminded us that the part tense of "set" is "sat" - in the hopes of participating in the first rather than the latter at the upcoming Atlanta dance weekend, I have purchased a sling to augment my dance paraphernalia. No, my arm isn't broken - but checking literally millions of books in and out of the library for 28 years, then hoisting one too many boxes full of heavy antique "smalls" (misnamed??) from the closing antique mall about a month ago has left me with an injured rotator cuff. I had an MRI this morning; will see the doctor again on Monday for evaluation and advise re. possible arthroscopic surgery. But meanwhile, there's that dance weekend ....and while I'm sure I can safely waltz, anything which torques my left arm and shoulder is out (I can still drive with reasonable comfort). I'll be wearing the sling to indicate "caution" to potential partners and others in the same set, and I'm while sure there are some things that are best avoided, if you just pretend I don't have a left arm, the other 3/4 of me should be able to dance just fine, although I won't be able to give weight on slipping circles, etc. So my question is: how many of you all have suffered similar trouble? It seems that knee and leg injuries are commonplace, and back injuries fairly so (had my share and more of those but time took care of them), but with all the librarians involved in the ECD scene, it would seem that shoulder problems would also be a risk. If anyone has advice for me, I'd welcome it - and please, if you see me sitting out in Atlanta, ask me for the next waltz! Thanks- Susan Booker ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 13:30:58 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 16:30:51 -0400 From: Patricia Ruggiero Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: past tense of set To: English Dance Message-ID: <000101c01778$2eb8ef00$6d981c3f-AT- MITRE.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT _Modern English: A Practical Reference Guide_ by Marcella Frank (1972) includes "set" in the list of irregular verbs of which all three principal parts are alike. The various dictionaries around our house corroborate this. Perhaps, Emily, you are referring to a less familiar usage? Pat ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 16:04:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 16:03:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000905230345.13653.qmail-AT- web3304.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Benjamin Stein wrote: > Of course Norway has a Folk Tradition. One example of the > influence of Norwegian dancing on the general scene is that > "thing" that people do nowadays, occassionally thinking it the > only form of Polka ( the one with the walking followed by tight > turns). I learned it about 60 years ago in a folk dance group > as the "Norwegian Polka" but discovered, when dancing in the > Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn at a local Norwegian dance that they > called it the Pariser (or Paris) Polka. I have a recording of > it under that name on an old record of Norwegian danses from > the Dakotas-made in the 1930's. > "Pariser Polka", which is done often here in Portland, is not a polka at all. It is a couple dance with a series of figures and is done to Schottische music. What you refer to as "Norwegian Polka" is also called "Scandinavian Polka", although there is a variation done in the Northwest called "Seattle Polka" (as if they invented it up there). I've never heard anyone refer to that dance as "Pariser Polka" so that name for it might be local to Brooklyn. "Scandinavian (or wahtever) Polka" is probably a newer dance and may well have evolved in America. Traditional Norwegian dances would include Pols (basically the same as a Swedish Polska of which the Hambo is one type), Springar, Gangar, Halling, Langdanse and others. Check out: an American source for Scandinavian recordings), , and Danish dance is the most closely related to ECD. Swedish and Norwegian traditions also include set dances, but most of the older dances are couple dances. The Langdanse (long dance) is considered to be the most ancient form of dance. It is done while singing a ballad and some of them can last for a very long time, depending on the length of the story. Finnish dance traditions have some connection to Sweden as western Finland was politically controlled by Stockholm for many years. There is also a strong Russian influence, most notably in Karellia (much of which was annexed (again?) by Russia early in the 20th Century). Of all the dances that my performing group does, the Finnish dances seem to be the ones we like the most. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 17:52:15 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 17:52:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000906005203.25366.qmail-AT- web3301.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Marian Phillips wrote: > For a number of years I was obsessed by Iceland, which > culminated in my learning a little bit of Icelandic and > travelling there for about three weeks. Shortly after that, I > mostly lost interest in things Icelandic, and it wasn't until > quite recently that I figured out why: After I came back, I > asked my Icelandic teacher what the traditional music and dance > in Iceland were like, and she replied that Iceland didn't have > any. > > I was disbelieving; but in fact, I hadn't seen anything of the > sort while I was there, and I had been keeping an eye out for > it. Recently, I found a website for the Icelandic Tourist > Board, and sent them an email asking about it, and they wrote > back and said that my friend was right; Iceland has no such > tradition. They referred me to an Icelandic music website, and > it was all jazz and swing and classical and baroque and modern. > I wonder, if you were to contact such a tourist organization in Boston, if they could tell you about NEFFA, Folk Arts Center of New England, or CDS, Boston Centre. A tourist bureau might not necessarily know about traditional folksingers or dancers. The Icelandic folk traditions must be there, somewhere, even if they are deeply buried under the influences of more modern music and dance forms. There is a strong folk revival in Scandinavia right now that, similarly to the English revival of the '70's, has influences from modern music, including electronics. I was in the Portland Revels a few years ago when the theme was Scandinavia. The men did a song/dance (similar to a Norwegian Langdanse) that was (supposedly) traditional Icelandic. I don't know what source Revels has for this dance. You might contact them at and ask them what they have learned about Icelandic traditions. > I realize that Iceland only got their independence > comparatively recently, and so wouldn't necessarily have their > own dance tradition (although they do have an ongoing poetic > tradition that's distinctly Icelandic, but I would have thought > there'd be some kind of dance scene based in Norwegian or > Danish dance at least. > One thing that I learned while working on Revels was that the Icelandic language is an ancient form of Norwegian. I would expect that their folk traditions would have similar roots. > However, what it's made me realize is that the British Isles, > which are my main dance and music interest, are so thick with > traditional and historical dance and music that it never even > occurred to me to doubt that all other countries were similarly > well-endowed. > I have friends who come from or have traveled to foreign lands and the impression I get is that, for the most part, we in America are doing more to preserve traditions of our ancestors than the people that live in those countries. I was talking to a woman who comes from the Netherlands and has taught her family traditions to her children. In fact her daughter had called her from college just a few days before and thanked her for teaching family traditions because her school friends didn't seem to have any. She told me that her sister, who is still in Holland, does not celebrate holidays in the traditional way that they did when they were children. A friend who was in Sweden and Norway last summer told people that we do all these old traditional dances and they asked her why. All they do at evening dances are waltzes, schottisches, polkas and foxtrots. And the Tango is BIG in Finland now. If a band comes here from Sweden for Midsummer, the chances are slim that they can even play more than one Hambo tune. One exception that I have found to this muddling or nearly complete loss of old traditions is the Baltic countries. Portland has an Estonian sister city and every year there is an Estonian dance group here for the Rose Festival. They always perform and dance with us on a Monday evening during their stay. They are very proud of their folk traditions and have kept them alive over the years in spite of the Russians. > Is Iceland the big exception? Do Norway and Denmark have a > dance tradition in the same way that Sweden does? (I've heard > of Scandinavian dancing, but when it comes to naming specific > countries, all I ever hear about is Sweden.) And how does, > say, Scandinavian -- or other European -- traditional dance > differ from Britain? Is it even possible to generalize? > The old Scandinavian tradition is more couple dance than sets. I'm not sure how much is known of older traditions in Denmark as the dances from there seem more modern. They are more like ECD set dances. In fact I can't, off the top of my head, think of any Danish dance I know that isn't a set dance. The Swedish Polska (Norwegian Pols), a 3/4 time dance that evolved long before the waltz, is more than 350 years old. I would suspect that some of the Norwegian dances are at least as old. I'm not sure of the origins of Schottische (Norwegian Reinlender), but it came into the ballrooms in the early 19th Century. Reading from liner notes off of an album by Sven Nyhus, one of Norway's best known fiddlers, the music of western and southern Norway has evolved in a somewhat isolated setting. The music of eastern and northern Norway is influenced more by Sweden and the common instrument is the ordinary violin or "flatfele". The Pols (related to the Swedish Polska) is the primary dance of eastern Norway. Edvard Greig, a native of Bergen, was inspired by the western Norwegian Hardanger-fiddle music. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 18:33:54 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 21:33:25 -0400 (EDT) From: DavBarnert-AT- aol.com Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <7b.939a28f.26e6f8e5-AT- aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Marian Phillips wrote: >...I asked my Icelandic teacher what the traditional music and >dance in Iceland were like, and she replied that Iceland didn't >have any. Where is CJ# when you need him? ______ /\/\/\/\ <______> | | | | | David Barnert <______> | | | | | <______> | | | | | Albany, N.Y. <______> \/\/\/\/ Ventilator Concertina Bellows Bellows (Vocation) (Avocation) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 18:37:08 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 20:36:21 -0500 From: "John M. Ramsay" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT From John Ramsay in Saint Louis Dear Marian et al., I can't let this pass by! Indeed there is a dance tradition in Iceland, and I daresay in every culture. In fact, I have a theory that the more difficult life is for a people, the more they celebrate life with music and dance. I'm sorry that I can't dig up the contacts I had in Iceland but you can pursue them by contacting Sune Frederiksen for leads bsfrederiksen-AT- pcsystems.net The Berea College Country Dancers had a 4-hour layover in Iceland in 1994 on the way back from Denmark via Icelandic Airlines (a delightful break which included a free bus tour of several sites and a refreshing half hour in the steamy Blue Lagoon). My contacts met us at the airport with a few friends and a fiddler and taught us a couple of Icelandic dances. They were Scandinavian, not native dances, but had their own style. Dance traditions in Denmark and Norway are every bit as rich as the Swedish and the English. And they have their national organization as well as living traditions. Contact the Embassies for leads to those organizations. In Denmark, Danske Idraet og Gymnastik Forening (DGI) has connections with many different Danish folk dance groups (including American square groups- one which uses a hop-skip step as their interpretation of American square dance style, contras, and English country dances). Danes today use the quadrilles of the 1750's-1850's as their primary folk dance form. They do some longways dances as well and a few of the older carol type dances. There are many links with the British tradition and the European. What is fashionable is not and never has been limited by national boundaries even though cultural adaptations (like the hoppers) also are bound to occur. I suspect ancient connections between the English longsword and Viking dances and have recently come across a Danish tradition of "set running" such as Sharp notated when he visited Kentucky in 1916-1917. You might check out Daniel Beal's Dances from Norway pp 80-88 for a brief historical summary of country dancing. ISBN 0-9620940-0-5 > From: Marian Phillips > Reply-To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU > Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 12:47:41 -0700 > To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU > Subject: traditions in dance? > > Is Iceland the big exception? Do Norway and Denmark have a dance tradition > in the same way that Sweden does? (I've heard of Scandinavian dancing, but > when it comes to naming specific countries, all I ever hear about is > Sweden.) And how does, say, Scandinavian -- or other European -- > traditional dance differ from Britain? Is it even possible to generalize? > > Many thanks to anyone willing to tackle this one -- > > Marian ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 19:30:07 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 21:29:17 -0500 From: "John M. Ramsay" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Circassian Circle To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT From John Ramsay in St Louis I have in my hand Offenbach's Dancing Without A Master published by Hurst & Co in New York in 1876 with instructions for a Circassian Circle, p. 56. The dance is couple facing couple, but at least the name is much older than 1950! I'm sure ther are many other references in the old dancing manuals. The single circle version was a mainstay of both EFDSS under Douglas Kennedy and CDSS under May Gadd, both dacades earlier than 1950. See Five Popular Country Dances published by EFDSS in 1933. > From: Allison M Thompson > Reply-To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU > Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 16:19:37 -0400 > To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU > Cc: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU > Subject: Re: Circassian Circle > > b. The Big Circle (reel) for a single circle became today's commonly > known Circassian Circle. I have no descriptions for this version under > this name predating about 1950. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 21:32:50 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 21:37:41 -0700 From: Marian Phillips Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01c017bc$317956a0$f4eaadce-AT- default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT John Ramsay writes: >>I can't let this pass by! . . . The Berea College Country Dancers had a 4-hour layover in Iceland. . . My contacts met us at the airport with a few friends and a fiddler and taught us a couple of Icelandic dances. They were Scandinavian, not native dances . . .<< Now *I* can't let this pass. I felt my original post was getting long enough, and therefore didn't go into detail about how much information I acquired about Iceland, but I get the impression that a number of listees are disbelieving of the idea that Iceland might not have a folk music and dance tradition (and I sympathize! Really, I do! Because I was too!) so I'll go into more detail as to what I'm basing my opinion on. John, you spent four hours in Iceland and met some Icelandic folk dancers who taught you *non*-Icelandic folk dances. Icelanders are justly proud of their culture and country, and I find it hard to imagine an Icelandic folk dancer who would know other Scandinavian dances, but no traditional Icelandic ones (if they existed); and equally hard to imagine that if they *had* known traditional Icelandic dances, they would have taught you other Scandinavian dances in preference to them. However, be that as it may. In comparison to your four-hour layover, here's my experience: I spent nine months meeting for 90 minutes a week with a native Icelander who, besides trying to teach me her language, also was happy to answer my torrent of questions about her country. I then spent three weeks travelling in Iceland. One week was spent exploring Reykjavik. One week was spent staying in a farmhouse in the north, and in making a circuit of the island, stopping in places that seemed interesting. One week, which I will always treasure, was spent touring the western fjords in the company of an Icelandic folk group dedicated to preserving an Icelandic tradition of extemporaneous poetry. [I realize this is a total digression, but one of my favorite moments from that trip was when the bus got stuck behind a car on a one-lane, unpaved road, and suddenly one of the Icelanders stood up, declaimed a bit of poetry, and sat down amid a roar of laughter from all the other club members. I frantically poked the German woman who was sitting next to me, and who was the only other non-Icelander on the bus, and said "What'd he say? What'd he say?" "He made a poem about the man driving the car in front of us," said my seatmate, who was still smiling: "It is difficult to translate."] I have also contacted the national tourist board of Iceland (which, by the way, is not a large country. The last time I checked its population was under 300,000.) I have also checked every tourist guide I can find. Rather tellingly, the Lonely Planet guide to Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands goes into considerable detail about the Faroese line dances and the songs that accompany them, but has nothing about traditional dancing in Iceland. My apologies if I sound a little testy, but while I sympathize with your feelings of disbelief about the Icelandic dance tradition, I have noticed that no one here has any actual information about such dancing. There have been quite a number of general comments to the effect of "of course, *every* country has a dance tradition," but as a matter of cold fact, no one I've ever come in contact with has ever heard of any from Iceland. If you can *find* any real information about such a tradition, I'd be delighted to find out about it; I still find myself checking every book about Iceland that I come across to see if it has something on the subject. With more apologies for lengthiness, Marian PS -- My thanks, by the way, to everyone who supplied info about Norway and Denmark and Finland; and also to Ian Engle for his interesting off-list comments about the sagas and Scandinavian dance history. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 00:18:25 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 02:21:46 -0500 From: Paul Stamler Subject: Re: Set vs. Sat; or, Dancing with a Rotator Cuff Injury? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <009901c017d3$1ee16480$1098adce-AT- pstamler> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <001001c01761$bf9d5680$6602ffd1-AT- prodigy.net> <> I've had it happen twice, once several years ago (curiously, right around the time I was working at a library, although in a more menial job), and again just a few months ago, cause unknown. Not much advice I can give, other than two things: Don't reinjure it -- give it a real rest. And SLEEP WARM!! (You may also have to readjust your usual sleeping position and pillow arrangement to avoid torquing your arm as you sleep.) Peace. Paul ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 00:57:19 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 03:00:39 -0500 From: Paul Stamler Subject: Iceland To: ecd list Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <000701c017d8$8ddb2ce0$1098adce-AT- pstamler> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Hi folks: A quick perusal of Google and some followup led me to: http://www.folkdancing.com/Pages/skandia/07islen.htm (a description of an Icelandic dance using schottische steps, along with mention of a Reykjavik folk dance troupe that at least existed in 1963, when they danced at a festival, and a B part collected from an Icelandic student in Seatte) http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/DanceVid.html (includes description of a JVC/Smithsonian-Folkways video featuring folk dances of Europe, including at least one from Iceland) Further investigation led me to: http://www.folkdancing.com/Pages/skandia/indexdtl.htm where I found this quote: "Much of Iceland's indigenous music and dance traditions virtually disappeared centuries ago in the wake of strict religious bans. What remains is predominantly of later Danish origin. This schottische was taught by a folk dance team from Reykjavik. The tune, an old folk song, was learned by Gunnar Hahn from an Icelandic couple in Stockholm." Which explains why Marian found so little. Peace. Paul ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 01:27:35 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 01:32:31 -0700 From: Marian Phillips Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Iceland To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01c017dc$ffb0e180$f4eaadce-AT- default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Many thanks, Paul -- and after my burst of temper, I went poking around again, and found a mere scrap of information that nevertheless gave me satisfaction: On a CD of traditional Icelandic material -- mostly rimur and hymns and a few folk songs -- there is "a ballad which people had danced to in the 16th century still being sung by a man in the north of Iceland in 1969." Which sounds like a remnant of the ballad dances that survived in the Faroes, which I believe Andy Peterson referred to as Langdanse (?). Marian ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 07:21:39 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 10:21:27 -0400 (EDT) From: "Stephen D. Corrsin" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Iceland etc To: ecd-digest-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT The comments about alleged Icelandic and other national traditions should remind us that, in many cases, the "traditions" (dangerous word!) were nuked for religious reasons in the 19th century. Various pious Protestant groups in Wales, Netherlands, and elsewhere -- probably Scandiwegia as well -- went after dancing as a wicked practice. Then in some places in the 20th century, when the pietist tides ebbed, folkie types (that's us, comrades) "re-"created the local dance traditions, often drawing on other countries' stuff that seemed interesting. Something very like this happened in the case of the Netherlands. Among the leading figures in the Netherlands dance "revival" in the 1920s-30s were Elise and D.J. van der Ven. (Yes, yes, I know, they were also kept under arrest and barely escaped outright prosecution after WW2 for collaborationist activities, with D.Kennedy and R.Gardiner giving contradictory testimony, but that's a story for another day.) They drew heavily on Efdss contacts, and their book "De Volksdans in Nederland" shows this. Even the photos look like something out of Efdss publicity. I know nada, nichevo, zip, nichts, about the Scandiwegian cases. But I advise some interesting reading: E.Hobsbawm and T.Ranger, "The Invention of Tradition," and H.Bausinger, "Folklore in a world of Technology" a.k.a. Volkskultur in der technischen Welt. While neither addresses dance, they have quite a bit to say about the invention (and commodification) of traditions. An interesting point: the words "treason" and "tradition" come from the same Latin root, meaning to "hand over" etc. Makes one think, czy nie tak? subversively yrs Steve Corrsin _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 08:42:49 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 10:46:03 -0500 From: Paul Stamler Subject: Re: Iceland To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <002401c01819$929ebee0$f698adce-AT- pstamler> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <01c017dc$ffb0e180$f4eaadce-AT- default> <> I think so, with a couple of variant spellings. Curious -- I was just in a conversation about these ballad dances with a friend from Chicago over the weekend. I've been wanting to try doing a few at our annual dance weekend; the tradition seems to have existed in English-speaking countries too, judging by the existence of ballads with dance-related refrains. Peace. Paul ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 08:50:32 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 08:50:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Barbara Ruth Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000906155019.18515.qmail-AT- web1604.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Awwright. Everybody - FOOD FIGHT! --- Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing wrote: > ECDers -- > > I'm leaving shortly for a week away from email. I won't see mail > until very > late on the night of the 8th of September. > Try to comport yourselves with appropriate dignity and reserve. ===== Do you know about the Hunger Site? Sponsors of the hunger site donate money to the United Nations World Food Programme for every visitor to the site. No purchases - all you do is click on the site. Visit http://www.thehungersite.com to help fight world hunger. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 09:22:23 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 09:22:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000906162207.11556.qmail-AT- web3301.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Barbara Ruth wrote: > Awwright. Everybody - FOOD FIGHT! > Mashed potatoes with gravy coming your way!!!!!! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 09:30:46 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 12:29:00 -0400 From: Anne Marie Edden Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <2E6AAE3101FC4600-AT- mail.gruzensamton.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT >Awwright. Everybody - FOOD FIGHT! > A selection of delectables pilfered from CDNY.org's Playford buffet: Liver's Triumph Pecan Up Sticks Melbalira Lemonburlero The Dressed Chips Wells Hummus Rye Me, or The Symphony Mints William King of Poland Spring ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 11:04:45 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 11:04:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Iceland To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000906180432.26443.qmail-AT- web3303.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Paul Stamler wrote: > Further investigation led me to: > http://www.folkdancing.com/Pages/skandia/indexdtl.htm > This page describes dances on a CD from Skandia of Seattle that has music *and* interactive dance instructions. If you scan down the page a bit you will find "PARISARPOLKA" and a description of the dance by that name that we do here in the Portland. The notes on this dance state: "This figure dance for couples, with the typical forward and back pattern common to so many Norwegian folk dances (reinlendar and feiar, for example) is the likely ancestor of the "Scandinavian Polka" (or "Seattle Polka," as it is called in the Pacific Northwest) widely danced in many parts of the United States. It was no doubt brought to American shores by immigrants from Norway during the 19th century." Which explains the use of the name "Pariserpolka" for the dance that Ben described that I recognized as "Scandinavian Polka". Our director, Johanna, always introduces this dance as being niether from Paris nor a Polka (it is done to Schottische music), however it has enough of a Victorian ballroom feel to it that it may very well be a dance that made its way from the ballrooms of Paris to the Scandinavian folk "tradition". According to Richard Powers, the Victorian ballroom dancers were very eager to learn folkdance steps and incorporate them into the dances that they were doing, so why wouldn't it work the other way. Redowa and Mazurka variations being just two examples of folkdance steps that made it to the ballrooms of Paris. There are many Mazurka dances in the Scandinavian tradition, too. We are all well aware of our modern "English" dances written in the "traditional" style (or maybe "Playford" style would be more correct in most cases) by members of this list and others. The same is true in Scandinavia. We have a wonderful 8-couple dance that we perform that was written in Sweden in the 1960's. (You've heard of, and maybe done, the 8-couple "Rod's Quads" that Tony Parkes calls? This one is as good as any of them and most impressive to see from the audience.) There are some wonderful modern Finnish "folk" dances and tunes, some written by students at the Sibelius Academy, including some that are not so "traditional" in style. We have one that we haven't yet transcribed from our video tape of a Vancouver, BC workshop that is a Square Dance (with some interesting twists) with a very Appalachian sounding tune, but both were written by students in Finland. (The written instructions we have from the workshop syllabus are in Finnish and we don't know anyone that we can ask to translate who speaks Finnish *and* has a dance vocabulary.) Many of the dances we have learned at the workshops with Antti Savilampi hosted by the Finnish group in Vancouver have been choreographies for festivals, such as Nordleik and Kaustinen . They are the in traditional style but may not necessarily be old dances. One of the MGM "That's Entertainment" videos or their "That's Dancing" video has a segment in which Baryshnikov states that there is a lot of crossover occuring between different dance forms and he says that he feels this is good. We all know that this kind of "borrowing" has been going on for a very long time. Andy in Portland __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 12:05:45 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 14:04:13 -0500 From: "John M. Ramsay" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT From John Ramsay in St Louis Marian, perhaps our problem is one of communication. What do you mean by "native Icelander (see below)? Scandinavians have been in Iceland for at least a thousand years. Do you then class them as foreigners? I can well imagine that pre-Scandinavian culture and dance has been pretty well wiped out just like so many "native" American (AmerInd) dances have been lost. > From: Marian Phillips > Reply-To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU > Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 21:37:41 -0700 > To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.Stanford.EDU > Subject: Re: traditions in dance? > > native Icelander ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 12:35:35 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 12:33:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Barbara Ruth Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000906193320.15014.qmail-AT- web1601.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sellenger's Ground Round Dublin Bay Scallops Fanmango The Biscuit The Gouda Man of Ballangigh Beurre' Fair Jenny Pluck Poached Pears with Raspberry Coulis Come, Let's Be Cherry Red House Wine Soy After Sorrow Trip to Tuna-bridge --- Anne Marie Edden wrote: > > >Awwright. Everybody - FOOD FIGHT! > > > > A selection of delectables pilfered from CDNY.org's Playford > buffet: > > > Liver's Triumph > > > > Pecan Up Sticks > > > > Melbalira > > > > > Lemonburlero > > > > The Dressed Chips > > > > Wells Hummus > > > > Rye Me, or The Symphony > > > > Mints William > > > > > > King of Poland Spring > > ===== Do you know about the Hunger Site? Sponsors of the hunger site donate money to the United Nations World Food Programme for every visitor to the site. No purchases - all you do is click on the site. Visit http://www.thehungersite.com to help fight world hunger. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 13:02:34 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 13:02:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: RE: Alan gone for a week To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000906200215.16793.qmail-AT- web3301.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Anne Marie Edden wrote: > > >Awwright. Everybody - FOOD FIGHT! > > > A selection of delectables pilfered from CDNY.org's Playford > buffet: > Liver's Triumph > Pecan Up Sticks > Melbalira > Lemonburlero > The Dressed Chips > Wells Hummus > Rye Me, or The Symphony > Mints William > King of Poland Spring Polly Put the Kettle On and we'll have almost a complete alphabet from Peter Rogers' Index: A la Mode de France Anton's Surprise (sounds like something made from leftovers) Aunt Hessie's White Horse (we're throwing big stuff now) Barley Reel Barrel of Sugar Baskets of Brew Beaver Jig Belfast Duck Black Nag (more horsemeat) Blackbirds of Spring (baked in a pie?) Boston Baked Beans Boston Teaparty Brambles (the centerpiece off the table) Buttered Peas Butternut Squash Cherry Stones Chestnut Chili Pepper Corn Rigs Cranbury Hey Cream Pot Dancer's Surprise (more leftovers) Denis's Delight Diagonal Surprise (you guys didn't eat enough this week) Double Scotch Reel Dr Fauster's Tumblers Drops of Brandy Duck for the Oyster Dutch Kipper Dutch Treat Elbow Hook Mixer (anyone for a drink) Fallen Leaves (more centerpiece) Favorite Scotch Hornpipe Fiddleheads Flowers and Candy Frances Ann's Delight Frisian Duck Frisian Duckling Goose and Gridiron Grapevine Jig Ham Hoagie Hamburger Special Holly Berry Hop Picker's Feast Ice Cream in the Sink Jack Pudding Jacki's Favorite Jenny Kilbrides Delight Jenny Pluck Pears Johnson's Special (Swedish meatballs?) Judi Peels Apples Juice of Barley Knives and Forks (gettin' dangerous but left out the Kettle Drum) La Ballet Hollandoise Mac's Favorite Maggot Pie ( a whole book of delights) Maid's Delight Miss Arnold's Delight Miss Avril's Delight Monica's Delight My Mother's Geese Nantucket Sleigh Ride (isn't htere a drink by that name?) Olive's Toy Oranges and Lemons Oyster River Hornpipe Pat-a-Cake Polka Pea Straw Pinks and Lillies (more centerpiece) Pint of Derby Portabella (mushrooms anyone?) Quiche District Quadrille Red Bull (bloody beef?) Royko's Ribfest Sage Leaf Sailor's Delight Saucy Sailor Scotch Measure Small Beer Snowball Mixer Southsea Crumble Suggar Candie Ted's Mixer Thanksgiving Swing Turkey in the Straw (even if it isn't in the book) Up with the Orange Verona's Favorite Welsh Rabbit Wild Goose Chase Wildboar's Maggot Witch's Brew Wright Butter'd Peas Yucca Jig Zombie's of Sugar Hill I'm hungry after all that "Haphazard" "High Ginks" so I'll drink to your "Health" after which I'll call the "Irish Washerwoman" to clean up this mess. I'll leave her "Picking Up Sticks" and on my "Last Gasp" go "Pell Mell Reel"-ing to the "Kitchen (Hornpipe)" to "Hunt the Hare". After that I'd better take a "Trip to the Laundry". Andy in "Portland Fancy" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 13:57:10 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 16:54:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Ian Andrew Engle Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Wed, 6 Sep 2000, John M. Ramsay wrote: > >From John Ramsay in St Louis > > Marian, perhaps our problem is one of communication. What do you mean by > "native Icelander (see below)? Scandinavians have been in Iceland for at > least a thousand years. Do you then class them as foreigners? > > I can well imagine that pre-Scandinavian culture and dance has been pretty > well wiped out just like so many "native" American (AmerInd) dances have > been lost. Just a quibble. I was not aware that there was anyone in Iceland prior to the Norse colonization. --Ian ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 14:43:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 17:43:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Will Linden Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT On Wed, 6 Sep 2000, Ian Andrew Engle wrote: > On Wed, 6 Sep 2000, John M. Ramsay wrote: > > > >From John Ramsay in St Louis > > > > Marian, perhaps our problem is one of communication. What do you mean by > > "native Icelander (see below)? Scandinavians have been in Iceland for at > > least a thousand years. Do you then class them as foreigners? > > > > I can well imagine that pre-Scandinavian culture and dance has been pretty > > well wiped out just like so many "native" American (AmerInd) dances have > > been lost. > > Just a quibble. I was not aware that there was anyone in Iceland > prior to the Norse colonization. Irish hermits. 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: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 14:52:46 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 21:50:53 +0000 (GMT) From: Orly Krasner Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Food? Save the date. . . . To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT All this talk about food reminded me of the New York Playford Ball. During the break, there's always a lavish spread, and each item has an appropriately punning name. Which in turn reminds me, that as chairman of the CD*NY Playford Ball 2001 committee, it is my great pleasure to invite you to . . . SAVE THE DATE APRIL 28, 2001 The evening's co-hosts will be our very own BEVERLY FRANCIS and special guest from the U.K. CHARLES BOLTON. Hope to see y'all here!! Details will be posted on our website, etc. --Orly _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 16:57:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 18:56:38 -0500 From: Mike Mudrey Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20000906185557.00abb3d0-AT- mail.mhtc.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > > Irish hermits. In small boats made out of leather that was previously used for slack drums. mm ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 18:13:08 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 18:12:54 -0700 (PDT) From: MEIER-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dippy Tunes -- Summary To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01JTUV53JEEQ8Y84T1-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Bruce et al.: > Second, there is a discussion right now on the SCD discussion >list about whether "The Lewis Bridal Song," aka "Mairi's Wedding" is an >annoying tune! "Mairi's Wedding" nearly made it onto my roster. What's the verdict from the SCD list? >Here are all the tunes suggested: These were just the mentions from other folks, rather than yourself, correct? Otherwise the list is missing the ur-dippy tune It's A Small World. Which would Just Be Wrong. Because I'm at home sick and have too much time on my hands, I've been looking up items on that list. For example, The Chicken Dance, written by Werner Thomas (and others) is known as the Duck Dance in its native land, and was originally written for harmonica(?). The guy who composed Sugar Sugar composed an awful lot of other pop hits, such as "98.6." Basically, if we killed off the composers of these dippy tunes we'd lose not only a lot of trash and TV themes, but some music that we wouldn't be afraid to admit we like. And Helen writes: >Bruce, I don't know *all* the tunes on your list of dippy tunes, but it >struck me that the vast majority are in major keys, and a surprising >number feature simple arpeggios in the tune. Further analysis might >yield an instructive monograph: "How to Construct a Dippy Tune." ; ) I'll bet that we could get a highly technical discussion out of bubblegum music and jingle composers from the '50s and '60s. Stephen Foster (over-represented on the list above), were he alive today, probably would be composing themes for McDonald's commercials. ObECD: There are one or two ECD groups, such as The Guppies, that make a point of throwing "dippy tunes" and other well-known music into their change tune mixes. JON BERGER, do you have any thoughts on the matter? Vanessa (keeping her head down and her feet elevated) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 00:41:27 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 02:44:44 -0500 From: Paul Stamler Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <011601c0189f$7e86bd00$26ffdcd1-AT- pstamler> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <<> Just a quibble. I was not aware that there was anyone in Iceland > prior to the Norse colonization. Irish hermits.>> Isn't that a type of spice cookie? Peace. Paul (cleverly linking up this discussion with the food fight in progress) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 00:49:34 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 02:52:52 -0500 From: Paul Stamler Subject: Food Fight To: ecd list Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <013f01c018a0$a10b9a20$26ffdcd1-AT- pstamler> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Irish Hamentashen Peace. Paul ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 08:30:37 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 09:30:26 -0600 From: rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu (Emma Rushton) Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dippy Tunes -- Summary To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT >ObECD: There are one or two ECD groups, such as The Guppies, that make a point >of throwing "dippy tunes" and other well-known music into their change tune >mixes. JON BERGER, do you have any thoughts on the matter? and then there's Colin Hume's well-known fondness for "Nellie the Elephant" which crops up in a couple of tunes for his dances. 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) rushton-AT- biology.utah.edu ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 09:46:28 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 16:46:16 +0000 (GMT) From: steph-AT- boo.net Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: 2001 ball dates To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU CC: steph-AT- boo.net Message-ID: <200009071646.MAA19327-AT- boo-mda02.boo.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Dear All, We are trying to set a date for the 2001 Washington (DC) Spring Ball, and would appreciate knowing the potential conflict dates. We've been holding the ball the third weekend in May, but the 2001 Fried-for-All is scheduled for that weekend, so we'd prefer to choose another weekend. I understand that the Cape May Dancefest will most likely be the second weekend of May. The New York Ball is the last weekend in April, and NEFFA is the weekend before. What other dance events are taking place in April? Is there a Hartford Ball on the first weekend of May? Thanks in advance for your help! Stephanie Smith Bethesda, MD steph-AT- boo.net --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 10:01:23 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 13:01:10 -0400 (EDT) From: "Robert A. Brooks" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: 2001 ball dates To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > before. What other dance events are taking place in April? Is there a > Hartford Ball on the first weekend of May? The Hartford Ball is traditionally held on the 2nd Saturday in May, which is May 12 in 2001. --Rob ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 11:56:53 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 11:56:41 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000907185641.25247.qmail-AT- web3302.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Paul Stamler wrote: > <<> Just a quibble. I was not aware that there was anyone in > Iceland > > prior to the Norse colonization. > > Irish hermits.>> > > Isn't that a type of spice cookie? > No, crabs. Andy ...more food __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 12:02:14 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 12:02:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dippy Tunes -- Summary To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000907190202.24713.qmail-AT- web3304.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- MEIER-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU wrote: >...For example, The Chicken Dance, written by Werner Thomas > (and others) is known as the Duck Dance in its native land, > and was originally written for harmonica(?). And just what is it's native land?? Do you mean that someone actually admits to composing that awful excuse for a dance? Andy, can you tell I don't like that dance, in Portland OR __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 13:43:59 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 13:43:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Barbara Ruth Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Food Fight To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000907204343.14248.qmail-AT- web1608.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Paul Stamler wrote: > Irish Hamentashen Is that the one that evolved into the contra dance "Shamrock's Delight"? ===== Do you know about the Hunger Site? Sponsors of the hunger site donate money to the United Nations World Food Programme for every visitor to the site. No purchases - all you do is click on the site. Visit http://www.thehungersite.com to help fight world hunger. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 18:53:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 20:51:10 -0500 From: Larry Stout Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Chicken Dance To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <39B8460E.4F8BD3A3-AT- sun.iwu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: <20000907190202.24713.qmail-AT- web3304.mail.yahoo.com> This past June I was in Linz, Austria, for a professional seminar. One evening we went to the local restaurant, Gasthaus Oberweis, in St. Magdalena, for dinner and found that on the first floor below the balcony on which we were seated there was a wedding reception in progress. This festive event had real local character-- I hadn't been aware that there were pedal pusher length lederhosen which could be warn as formal wear-- and had two bands, one fairly classical and another which was much more folksy. Midway through the second set by the folk band what did my wondering ears behold but you guessed it The Chicken Dance -- Lawrence Neff Stout Professor of Mathematics Illinois Wesleyan University http://www.iwu.edu/~lstout "Fiddling is a viol habit." Anon? "Dancing is necessary in a well ordered society." Thoinot Arbeau ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 20:57:17 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 23:55:51 -0400 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <39B82B07.14631.10412DAB-AT- localhost> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I'm reminded of a similar thing we were told about English folk traditions. Several years ago, a few members of the American ECD community took to England several years ago. Nevertheless, we were told my more than one person that England had no folk customs. When we explained that we had attended dances 5 nights in the last week, the man insisted that they must be either imported or a recent fabrication. (In some ways, he was right. But, let's not reopen discussions about what "folk" or "traditional" mean.) We found this attitude curious and asked our hosts Lionel and Joy Parkhouse about it. They provided a rather lengthy analysis, most of which I forget. But the gist of it was that some folks (pun intended) find parts of England's heritage embarrassing and that has evolved into a denial of its existence. Much the same thing has happened in areas in the U.S. where religious beliefs have suppressed local customs. Getting back to Iceland, I found a couple references in my notes to dancing in Iceland (including English country dances) the 19th century. If you wish to read them, go to the web link and search (Ctrl-F) for the word "dancing": A Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North (1853) by Madame Ida Pfeiffer - Chapter III ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/etext99/vstil10.txt and An Iceland Fisherman (1886) by Pierre Loti (Louis Marie Julien Viaud) (1850-1923) (Translated by M. Jules Cambon) - Chapter V, The Second Meeting - Chapter VII, The Discordant Note at ftp://sailor.gutenberg.org/pub/gutenberg/etext00/icfsh10.txt ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 21:04:36 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2000 00:03:12 -0400 From: Rich Galloway Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <39B82CC0.16712.1047E80B-AT- localhost> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT In my editing zeal, some text in the first paragraph seems to have "disappeared". That should read: I'm reminded of a similar thing we were told about English folk traditions. Several years ago, a few members of the American ECD community took a trip to England. We were told my more than one person that England had no folk customs. . . . ==================================================== Rich Galloway Silver Spring, MD ==================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 22:02:22 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 22:18:22 -0700 From: Mary Luckhardt Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: 2001 ball dates To: ECD List Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT This seems an appropriate time to tell you all that the Bay Area Country Dance Society (San Francisco) Playford Ball will be Saturday, March 31, 2001, with Lise Dyckman as Artistic Director this year. Mary Luckhardt throwing some Bellamintas at Barbara Ruth ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 23:13:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 23:18:46 -0700 From: Marian Phillips Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: traditions in dance? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01c0195c$a50c3460$b6ecadce-AT- default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Hurray! I found it! I just spent the last 45 minutes searching for this post, only to find it misfiled under Morris List . . . There was no indigenous population in Iceland before the ancestors of the current population arrived -- even the Irish hermits had left some time before the Age of Settlement got into swing, so from that point of view we're not talking at cross-purposes. -- Just a quibble here, by the way -- the Icelanders are the least purely Scandinavian of all the Scandinavian countries, thanks to a huge Irish slave population they'd accumulated by the end of the Age of Settlement. It seems to have been the thing for settlers headed for Iceland to swing by Ireland. Blood studies done in the 1970s showed that the Icelandic genetic heritage was something like 2/3 Scandinavian to 1/3 Celtic. I think, however, that you're less inclined to make a distinction between Icelandic culture and Scandinavian culture as a whole than I am. Icelanders definitely make that distinction. They've been there for a thousand years in quite a bit of isolation -- and have the genealogical records to prove it, too -- and they have possibly the best-documented culture of any country in the world. In fact, most of the information about ancient "Scandinavia" is really information about Iceland -- and boy, don't they know it. . . . They do seem to value a certain isolation; immigration is strictly controlled, and foreigners have a hard time getting permission to reside in Iceland, from what I read. I can believe that you met Icelanders who do folk dances from other parts of Scandinavia; and they seem to have said, unless I misunderstood you, that their dances were "Scandinavian" -- not that they were Icelandic, which I can well believe. We're probably just going to have to disagree on that one. Maybe a more fruitful argument concerns -- YAY! Relevent ECD content! -- what our differing perspectives are on how long a dance form has to be in a country before it becomes a tradition *of that country.* For example: I used to belong to a morris team; I currently belong to a longsword team; I do ECD. Morris and sword have been danced in this country *at least* since the 1970s; every team could be said to have its individual style, and maybe there are even regional differences. Yet, when I'm telling people about morris and sword, I never describe them as American folk dance forms; I always say they're English, and that's how I regard them. I'm not sure I've ever heard a U.S. dancer describe them as other than English. However, you could certainly make an argument that at this point they're both American traditional dances, and while I disagree, I'd have a hard time coming up with a coherent reason why they're not. ECD is even more confusing. In its Revival form it's been here for around 80 years (?); I've been told there are definite regional differences; Americans (in the "United States" meaning of the term) have been writing dances and tunes in that style for quite some while; and yet I don't regard it as an American dance form, I regard it as English. At the same time I do regard American Colonial dance, which by all accounts is almost identical, as an *American* dance form, and I definitely regard Contra as American as well. So go figure. BTW, I just want to say thanks again to everyone who's been willing to get into the Icelandic question; I realize it doesn't have a scrap of ECD content, but I also knew that if I asked this list you'd have information on it. Marian >From John Ramsay in St Louis< >>Marian, perhaps our problem is one of communication. What do you mean by "native Icelander (see below)? Scandinavians have been in Iceland for at least a thousand years. Do you then class them as foreigners? I can well imagine that pre-Scandinavian culture and dance has been pretty well wiped out just like so many "native" American (AmerInd) dances have been lost. << ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2000 00:40:19 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2000 00:40:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Food Fight To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000908074007.21997.qmail-AT- web3306.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Barbara Ruth wrote: > Do you know about the Hunger Site? > There's this question under Barbara's signature and here we are throwing "food". Andy __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 04:20:01 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 07:19:49 -0400 (EDT) From: "Stephen D. Corrsin" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: more on traditions in dance To: ecd-digest-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I would suggest that Marian Phillips' admitted difficulty in stating what makes American contras, or ECD in America, or morris and sword in America, "traditionally American" (or not), results simply from the fact that the received wisdom handed down to us, and accepted by us in the folk dance world, is myth (rather than history). Not myth in the sense of religious stories, but myth in the sense of an image or tale which provides a comfortable explanation. Or "heritage" in the sense that we academic historians use it. Which merely goes to show that this AM I've been reading Karl Popper's lecture, "Towards a Rational Theory of Tradition." Whenever folkies start slinging around "what is traditional," I paraphrase Marshall McLuhan's comment on art, and come up with, "Tradition is anything you can get away with." Steve Corrsin _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 10:59:50 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 10:59:37 -0700 (PDT) From: Lyrl Ahern Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dippy Tunes -- "Nelly the Elephant?" To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000909175937.5405.qmail-AT- web2105.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- Emma Rushton wrote: > and then there's Colin Hume's well-known fondness for > "Nellie the Elephant" which crops up in a couple of tunes for his dances. What is "Nellie the Elephant?" By mentioning that, you've got the tune to Colin's "Unrequited Love" stuck in my head--and I can't remember all of the words. I can't remember who wrote them, either, though I think Sol Weber added something. They're around my house somewhere. The general sense was that they wish Colin had left that tune...idle... unpublished...out of the loop.... We sang it at Pinewoods last year: should have done it this year, directly to him, though I'm sure he's heard it before. --Lyrl Ahern __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 11:09:24 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 14:11:51 -0400 From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Dippy Tunes -- "Nelly the Elephant?" To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU, ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <4.1.20000909141007.016b2430-AT- popserver.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT At 10:59 AM 9/9/00 -0700, Lyrl Ahern wrote: >By mentioning that, you've got the tune to Colin's >"Unrequited Love" stuck in my head--and I can't remember >all of the words. I can't remember who wrote them, either, >though I think Sol Weber added something. They're around my >house somewhere. The general sense was that they wish Colin >had left that tune...idle... unpublished...out of the >loop.... Gail Ticknor's responsible for the words, and, yes, Colin's heard the song... (~: Sharon ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 11:12:59 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 14:16:34 -0400 From: Sharon Green Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Apologies To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <4.1.20000909141238.016bb330-AT- popserver.panix.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Sorry for the duplicate sending. For some incomprehensible-to-me reason, when I hit reply to ECD-list postings, the To: Header gives the list address twice, and I have to hand-delete one of the addresses before I send my reply. This time I forgot... )~: Sharon ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 11:13:35 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 14:13:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Sue Wartell Subject: Country Dance Weekend in Columbus OH - October 20-22 To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <200009091813.OAA16335-AT- info.cas.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Now that September has arrived and summer has ended, I'd like to invite everyone to the John Shaw 25th Anniversary Country Dance Weekend with Bare Necessities in Columbus OH on October 20-22, 2000. Sue (for more information, contact me off-list at swartell-AT- cas.org ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The dance will be held at: OSU Student Union Ballroom 1739 N. High Street Columbus, OH 43210 This is a large ballroom with a wooden floor and good acoustics. Parking (sometimes a problem on an urban campus) is available in the parking garage right next to the Union. This event is being held in honor of Mr. John Shaw and in celebration of the Columbus ECD group which he and his late wife Betty founded in 1975. It is a joint effort of the Columbus English Country Dancers, the Heather 'N' Thistle Columbus Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, and the Big Scioty Barn Dance. Come share three dance traditions. Weekend cost is $59 (postmarked prior to October 5; after that, the price will be $65 for the weekend) Prices for other packages and for individual events are also available. The program is: Friday October 20 - American Contra Dance 8-11 PM Caller:Joseph Pimentel Musicians: Peter Barnes, Mary Lea Saturday October 21 - English Country Dance Workshops 10-12 AM and 1:30-4:00 PM English Country Dance Ball 8-11 PM Festive attire encouraged. Musicians: Bare Necessities All dances will be taught. Sunday October 22 Engish Country Dance Workshop 10-12 Noon. Dances will be taught by Jacqueline Schwab Musicians: Bare Necessities Scottish Country Dance 1:30-4:00 PM. Dances will be briefed; program available on web site Musicians: Earl Gaddis, Jacqueline Schwab Contact me for more information (swartell-AT- cas.org) or to request a flyer with additional information and a registration form. We also have a web site: http://www.bigscioty.com/shaw.html Details are posted there, as is a printable registration form. A hospitality request form and information about hotels are also posted there. ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 12:35:28 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 12:40:29 -0700 From: Marian Phillips Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: more on traditions in dance To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01c01a95$cf22fd80$b9eaadce-AT- default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Steve Corrsin writes: >>the received wisdom handed down to us, and accepted by us in the folk dance world, is myth (rather than history). Not myth in the sense of religious stories, but myth in the sense of an image or tale << I think of this as "duelling fantasies" and I'm convinced it contributes to the hostility that sometimes arises between contra dancers and English country dancers. The idea that English country dancing is dull, stuffy, and over-complicated fits in perfectly with the fantasy of a brash young nation, land of the free and home of the brave, that's thrown off the shackles of an oppressive Old World overlord. Likewise, the idea that contra dancing is for simple-minded Neanderthals fits in perfectly with a fantasy world where London is a teeming metropolitan center of literature and the arts, the village green is the epitome of order and peace -- and America is inhabited by a bunch of hick colonists who are so incapable of ruling themselves that England keeps having to send in the Army to maintain order. Marian ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 15:59:11 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 18:58:09 -0600 From: Helen White Subject: Re: ECD Digest V1 #800 To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <39BADCA0.BC51E265-AT- earthlink.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: "Emily L. Ferguson" wrote: > What sort of mind would locate a site like that!!!! > > So sorry they didn't have a spectacular photograph too! > Try this, Emily: ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 16:08:47 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 16:08:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: Re: more on traditions in dance To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01JTZ2CONJYM8Y8FLW-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Marian quotes Steve Corrsin >>the received wisdom handed down to us, and accepted by us in the folk dance world, is myth (rather than history). Not myth in the sense of religious stories, but myth in the sense of an image or tale << and writes: I think of this as "duelling fantasies" and I'm convinced it contributes to the hostility that sometimes arises between contra dancers and English country dancers. The idea that English country dancing is dull, stuffy, and over-complicated fits in perfectly with the fantasy of a brash young nation, land of the free and home of the brave, that's thrown off the shackles of an oppressive Old World overlord. Likewise, the idea that contra dancing is for simple-minded Neanderthals fits in perfectly with a fantasy world where London is a teeming metropolitan center of literature and the arts, the village green is the epitome of order and peace -- and America is inhabited by a bunch of hick colonists who are so incapable of ruling themselves that England keeps having to send in the Army to maintain order. Very interesting. I think it's more global than cross-national, though. (I speak in generalities below, rather than qualifying each one with an acknowledgment of exceptions. There are exceptions, sometimes major ones, to each thing I say below.) In the US, ECD is perceived - however subliminally - as the dance of the upper classes, and contra as the dance of the People. In the UK, ECD and contra are typically done by the same people, and the ceilidh dancers and leaders, with some exceptions (Hi, Bob!) think that the D4D people are the bloodless snotty aristos and the vigorous English ceilidh dance is the dance of the People - an attitude put forth further by the idea that the ceilidh dance musicians are the people preserving the historical folk tunes, and are themselves authentic because they've memorized their repertoires and don't have to play from dots. (Those authentic traditional musicians - some of whom are indeed very much concerned about learning things off field recordings or at sessions from people who've learned tunes from the originators, etc, etc, are also the ones having the discussion about how to get the sound guy at the festival to mike the bouzouki as well as the electric guitar, and whether it's workable to use a drum-only four-bar intro.) [By the way, the last time I mentioned this perception of ECD I got a note that explained that unlike the situation in the US, the people who do what are indicated at festivals as "Dances for Dancers" - that is, people with some ECD experience - _really are_ snotty and bloodless, or at least old, tired, only interested in walking complicated patterns, and unwelcoming to new people.] In the US, many people who do RenFaire-style ECD think that the people who do the stuff you're likely to see if you go to a ball in Boston, New York, or the Bay Area -- there, I've avoided the problem of calling it CDSS-style and implying that CDSS endorses a style -- are snotty bloodless aristos who dance without passion or energy. The fact that RenFaire uses first-edition Playford as the dance of the ragged peasantry - because what else are they going to use? there's not much documentation of what the ragged peasantry was doing in 1600- only emphasises the idea that the balls-to-the-wall energy-over-precision style is the way the People did it, and anybody who goes up a double and back at less than a dead run has a stick up their butt. (Not understanding that the stick is supposed to go all the way from the ankles to the top of the head.) There are some external factors that help to drive this. What iconography do ECD people use in publicizing their dances? Quite typically, pictures of upper-class people of some previous century. Contra people don't do that, usually, at least in the flyers I've scene. Further, contra has evolved in the direction of fast-teaching, fast-moving, everybody-active dances, and despite the efforts of some contra callers to keep the older stuff alive, most contra dancers have an experience of the form that involves a very high ratio of movement to instruction, because you move even when you're inactive, the figures are usually pretty easy and didn't take long to teach, and the dance is repeated 15-20 times rather than the 10-12 more typical for ECD longways or the twice through a USA dance. I think most ECD leaders feel more responsibility for the older parts of the repertoire than most contra leaders do, and that means more bits to learn, higher proportions of teaching to dancing, and more stuff where the dance can break if somebody screws it up, meaning more requirement to actually pay attention during the teaching of the dance. And there's much less swinging and much less sweating, which some people feel are the important aspects of the contra form. I think ECD tolerates people who don't pay any attention during the walkthrough much less well than contra does; as a result, if those people try ECD, they think of it as stuffy and bloodless and intolerant. God forbid they should try Scottish. (And, of course, some individual ECDers probably are stuffy, bloodless, and intolerant.) Psychologically, though, some people apparently can't feel that the group that they identify with is good unless they can identify some other group that they can feel is bad. This works better if your groups are different schisms from the same root stock. Members of different Judeo-Christian religions have often been more mutually intolerant than they are of, say, Shinto or Confucianism. Fans of different baseball teams hate each other much more than either hates hockey fans. My conclusion? I think that the ECD/contra division we see in the US says more about human character than it does about the dance genres. It might be possible to minimize some of the external factors - iconography, attitude, even dance selection, and better teaching can help improve the ECD movement/dance ratio, but that it'll probably be impossible to win over everyone. If a town had two identical dance series, one called ECD and one called contra, there'd still be people identifying with one series and denigrating the other, because that's the way people are. -- Alan PS: Yes, I'm back. I congratulate the group on having an on-topic food fight. That seemed to me like an _appropriate_ degree of dignity and reserve. PPS: I'm a little scared to mention that I'm only back for a week, and will then be gone for another week. Maybe I won't send out a special "let the games begin" announcement this time. -- APW =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 17:06:59 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 20:06:30 -0400 From: "Emily L. Ferguson" Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Kudzu problems To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT References: >"Emily L. Ferguson" wrote: > >> What sort of mind would locate a site like that!!!! >> >> So sorry they didn't have a spectacular photograph too! >> > >Try this, Emily: > > too much Emily L. Ferguson elf-AT- cape.com 508-563-6822 New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography Beetle cats on the web at: http://www.beetlecat.com/gifts.htm http://www.capecod.net/sqtg/nebcba/results/99champs.html landscape at: http://www.capecodlife.com/CCD/regions/upper_cape.html ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 18:56:21 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 18:56:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing Subject: White Hall Minuet? To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Message-ID: <01JTZ9WC6GB68YAVRE-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT ECDers -- I have received a request for information - an in-print source, directions, music - on something called "The White Hall Minuett." (The "tt" is sic.) Do any of you know anything at all about this dance? I sure don't. Thanks, -- Alan PS: I suppose the food fight variant here would be White Hall Minestrone. -APW =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT- SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Physical mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 69, PO BOX 4349, STANFORD, CA 94309-0210 =============================================================================== ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 19:07:05 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 19:03:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Peterson Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: Kudzu problems To: ECD-AT- PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <20000910020308.11073.qmail-AT- web3304.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --- "Emily L. Ferguson" wrote: > >"Emily L. Ferguson" wrote: > > > >> What sort of mind would locate a site like that!!!! > >> > >> So sorry they didn't have a spectacular photograph too! > >> > > > >Try this, Emily: > > > > > > too much > That's what everyone in the South says who has been trying to get rid of it. I just saw on the news last week that it has been found in two places in Oregon this year, probably from seeds brought in by an interstate truck. We certainly have the wet climate on the west side of the Cascades for this stuff to flourish if it gets a foothold. Andy in Portland __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 01:23:39 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 01:25:17 -0700 From: Ric Goldman Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: What non-ECD dances do you include? To: ECD LIST Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Folks, I got an interesting question from a musician who recently because enamored with a Regency style choreography called the "Congress of Vienna". He said he liked it so much for the music and wondered if I'd be willing to teach it to his ECD group so they could dance it and he could play the music. This got me thinking about the kinds of "bonus" dances included along with an ECD program. Some of the common ones I thought of were: 1) Viennese waltz (usually as the last dance, or before the break) 2) Bourree 3) Schottische 4) Norwegian Polka (which isn't Norwegian or a polka) 5) Hambo 6) Sveefacher (sic) And I have seen the occasional swing dance at a contra, though not at an ECD night. Of course, I'm talking about a regular dance series, and not a camp or other special event. So what do you do? Do you have criteria for what gets included or not? Of course, I'll coagulate the responses and regurgitate a summary back. :-) Thanx, Ric Goldman timelord01-AT- sprynet.com http://connect.to/ric ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 01:41:01 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 01:42:20 -0700 From: Marian Phillips Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: White Hall Minuet? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01c01b03$088723e0$62eaadce-AT- default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Well, the tune is on the Broadside Band CD called "English Country Dances From Playford's Dancing Master 1651-1703." Marian Alan writes: "The White Hall Minuett." (The "tt" is sic.) ================================================================================ Archive-Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 01:58:30 PST Sender: owner-ecd-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 01:59:50 -0700 From: Marian Phillips Reply-To: ECD-AT- playford.slac.stanford.edu Subject: Re: White Hall Minuet? To: ECD-AT- SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Message-ID: <01c01b05$7a0e0720$62eaadce-AT- default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT -- And the liner notes say "11th edition 1701." M. Well, the tune is on the Broad