Archive-Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2002 07:21:27 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2002 09:51:36 -0500
From: RUSS BUSH <rbush1 AT attglobal.net>
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Please don't post _any_ binaries to the ECD list
To: ECD AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <001301c29a12$51bb1860$a6cd670c AT ATT.COM>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <01KPDRPEY2K8A19H9V AT SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>

Hi, is there any way you can take me off the list, please?  I enjoy dancing
but I am not that deep into it.  Thanks,  Russ Bush
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing" <winston AT SLAC.Stanford.EDU>
To: <ECD AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2002 2:27 AM
Subject: Please don't post _any_ binaries to the ECD list


> ECDers --
>
> I've already addressed this in private communication, but I realized I
needed
> to emphasize this to the list at large.
>
> Please -- and I say "please" to be polite, but this is actually something
like
> an order -- don't post binaries to the ECD list.  It's really
counterproductive
> for a variety of reasons:
>
>   1) People with text-based newsreaders (like me) see only gibberish.
>
>   2) People who get the DIGEST see pages and pages of gibberish which they
> still have to page through to see any subsequent messages.
>
> If the graphics are large - and in the most recent case there were over
2MB
> of graphics:
>
>   1) Subscribers on hotmail and yahoo and msn won't receive the messages
> because those services bounce large messages.
>
>   2) Subscribers on many services may well have less than 2MB of disk
space
> available on that service; even if that message gets delivered, if it
blows
> out the quota, subsequent messages will bounce.
>
>   3) These files will take forever to download over slow links, and
they'll
> really deeply annoy anybody who prints out the digest for later reading.
>
>
> If you have a graphic file you _must_ share with the ECD readership, put
it up
> on the web and post a URL.  There are many free webspace sites available,
and
> they don't even require you to buy an FTP client for upload - browsers are
> capable fo doing that.  If you're too intimidated by the technology to
sign up
> for Geocities or Angelfire or FreeWeb, you can send _me_ the graphics and
ask
> me to put them up and send you back the URL at which to find them,
provided
> they aren't obscene and don't violate copyright.
>
> Don't post binaries to the ECD list.
>
> (While you're at it, more people lately have been posting HTML to the ECD
list.
> That isn't anywhere near as bad, but it's still extremely annoying to
> text-based and digest readers, and it says in the message you get when you
> subscribe to the list that you shouldn't do that, so dont do that either.)
>
> Thank you.
>
> -- Alan
> ECD list owner
>
> PS: It's been suggested by more than one recent correspondent that I
implement
> a size limit on postings.  I can't do that with the current (freeware)
version
> of the mailing list software I use; I don't want to pop $500 for the
> professional version.  I may end up having to move the list to LISTSERV,
but I
> don't have time to take care of that at present, and there are some issues
> (like incompatible archives) I need to resolve.  I think you're all
adults;
> please think before posting.
>
>
>
>
============================================================================
===
> Alan Winston --- WINSTON AT SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Disclaimer: I speak only
for
> myself, not SLAC or SSRL   Phone:  650/926-3056 Paper mail to: SSRL --
SLAC BIN
> 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA   94025
>
============================================================================
===
>


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2002 07:54:39 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2002 10:53:08 -0500
From: Torbin Zimmerman <torbin AT sympatico.ca>
Subject: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD List - Post <ECD AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <3DEB81E4.9090504 AT sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

ECD in Toronto wants to add a couple of paragraphs to its flyer that 
will attract musicians to sit in at its weekly dances.

We're aiming people who have never heard of English country dancing; we 
want to make playing for it sound interesting and give some idea of 
what's expected. If anyone is willing to share some words that might do 
the job, please let us know. Respond off list, if you want.

Many thanks,

Torbin Zimmerman
torbin AT sympatico.ca

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 14:40:01 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2002 22:39:52 +0000
From: Olivia Mackay <celtic_elves AT hotmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Jane Austen
To: ECD AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
BCC: 
Message-ID: <F188kOS6yDC0AHmKqyP000005eb AT hotmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Dear List,
I'm wondering what dances were done during Jane Austen's life. Also, were 
the dances in Pride & Prejudice correct for the Regency period?
Thanks, Olivia







_________________________________________________________________
Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 06 Dec 2002 08:09:56 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 06 Dec 2002 11:09:30 -0500 (EST)
From: SallenNic AT aol.com
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: ECD Digest V1 #1300
To: ECD AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <12f.1cdf498a.2b2225ba AT aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


In a message dated 6/12/02 1:46:04 am, system AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU 
writes:

<< Please don't post _any_ binaries to the ECD list >>

I greatly admire your ability to remain polite while issuing such stern 
admonitions - bravo!

Nicolas B., Lanark, Scotland.
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2002 08:34:19 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2002 11:17:30 -0500
From: "Stephen D. Corrsin" <corrsin1 AT hotmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Wolfram and Kurath, Sharp and Scandinavia
To: ecd-digest AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
BCC: 
Message-ID: <F135CjnZS08i7M4BAyx000088aa AT hotmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

How's that for a snappy subject line? Anyhow, I'm looking for comments on an 
academic folk dance matter.

I recently read a 1960 article by Gertrude Prokosch Kurath, "Panorama of 
Dance Ethnology," Current Anthropology, I (1960):233-54. It has the usual 
stuff which she said about "folk dance," which I completely disagree with 
but won't dive into here. What interests me is that she relied heavily on 
the views of a character whom I regard as an Evil Force: Richard Wolfram, a 
professor at the U of Vienna, who in 1938-45 had been a prominent academic 
Nazi academic folklorist and SS officer, and who, after a few years in the 
(not very harsh) professional wilderness after the war, regained all his 
perks and privileges at the University etc etc.

It's a long story, and has been written up quite a bit in German (and, 
eventually, Austrian) studies of the field. Anyhow, besides being a vile 
human being, Wolfie represented some of the worst of the "primordial folk" 
ideas in folklore studies, volkisch in German, and he was a leading folk 
dance "expert" who was academically prominent all the way till the 1980s, 
including in (oh, what's that name? can't bother to look it up right now) 
the International folk dance / music organization founded ca.1960.

Enough fulminating. To the point. In his published comments at the end of 
Prokosch's article, Wolfie writes that, the Swedish folk dance movement 
"stimulated research in Denmark and the founding in 1900 of the Danish 
Forenigen for Folkdansens Fremme. This organization, in turn, stimulated 
Cecil Sharp, who had already collected dances and songs in England and who 
then founded the EFDS in 1911."

The timing seems a little loose, but the basic idea is this: Scandinavian 
research and organizational developments in the "revival" of folk dance 
influenced Cecil.

Any information? Opinions? Etc.


Steve Corrsin
5166 Patrick Rd.
West Bloomfield MI 48322
tel 248-661-6283
fax 248-661-6288




_________________________________________________________________
Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online 
http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2002 15:04:06 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2002 23:06:26 +0000
From: Ann Higley <ann AT higley.freeserve.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Thomas Hardy Event
To: ECD AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000e01c29f0e$83175c60$c36a883e AT annhigle>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <000201c294dd$9c180ba0$0200a8c0 AT ntworld.com> <001601c2960e$56935580$1e4a3c3e AT oemcomputer> <3DE4F217.B2D06FA5 AT sbcglobal.net>

I have just returned from a simply wonderful Christmas event organised by
the Thomas Hardy Society together with the singers and musicians of the
Madding Crowd Quire. The parish church at Stinsford (near Hardy's
birthplace, which is close to Dorchester, England) was packed with people in
period costume for an evening of carols, in the West Gallery style, together
with readings from Thomas Hardy's works. This was followed by refreshments
at Kingston Maurward House, where a local version of a mummers play was
performed by members of Frome Valley Morris. The evening finished with
country dancing including the dances Enrico and The Dorset Triumph. It was
an incredibly enjoyable evening, and I felt I should mention it to the ECD
list in case anyone would like to attend the next one which I understand
will be in 2 years' time.
Ann Higley

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 06:16:34 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 06:16:25 -0800 (PST)
From: Carl Andersen <cdw_ecd AT yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Ease & Elegance 2003
To: ECD List <ECD AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <20021210141625.21797.qmail AT web12201.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Ease & Elegance, Fried deMetz Herman's annual English
Country dance workshop and party, is scheduled for
Saturday, 18 January 2003.

Full information about the event is here.
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/plains/2225/ease03.htm

In order to facilitate notice in case of cancellation
or postponement, we ask that you apply in advance to
register. Here's the url for an application.
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/plains/2225/easeapp03.htm

You may also contact Leah Barkan at (914) 693-5577;
Fried Herman at (914) 834-9350; or e-mail the
Registrar.


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 09:54:31 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 11:54:21 -0600 (CST)
From: Jonathan Sivier <j-sivier AT ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Christmas Ball, 12/21, Urbana, IL
To: ECD AT SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <200212101754.gBAHsLA16214 AT staff1.cso.uiuc.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

                  The Central Illinois English Country Dancers
                                   Present An

                   E N G L I S H   C O U N T R Y   D A N C E
                          C H R I S T M A S   B A L L


   The Central Illinois English Country Dancers will be holding their eighth
annual Christmas Ball on Saturday, December 21, 2002.  The dance will be held
at the Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon, Urbana, IL, on the campus
of the University of Illinois.  There will be a warm up session from 7:00 to
8:00 with a review of the basics of English country dance as well as some of
the evening's dances.  The Ball will follow from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.  Fans and
finery are encouraged.  Bring fruit or a dessert to share.  There is a $7.00
suggested donation to help cover the cost of the Ball.  We ask that dancers
wear soft soled shoes to help protect the dance floor and avoid using
excessive amounts of perfume for the benefit of others that may experience
allergic reactions.  All dances will be taught and all lovers of English
country dance and music are welcome.

Dances Lead By: Jane Hobgood and Jonathan Sivier
Music Provided By: The Flatland Consort
Warm Up Session: 7:00 p.m.
Christmas Ball: 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.
Date: Saturday, December 21, 2002
Location: Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon, Urbana, IL
Suggested Donation: $7.00

   There will be refreshments and a mummers' play at the break and a dessert
party following the dance.

   The evening's dances will be selected from the following list:

The Bishop - triple proper
Dargason - longways
The Duke of Kent's Waltz - duple proper
Female Saylor - duple proper
Finale - a quadrille
The Geud Man of Ballangigh - duple proper
A Grand March - longways
Heartsease - 2 couples
Jenny Pluck Pears - round for 3 couples
The Joy Of Dance - 3 couples longways
Lull Me Beyond Thee - 4 couples longways
Oranges and Lemons - 4 couples in a square
Portland Fancy - 4 facing 4
The Queen's Jig - duple proper
Trip To Woodstock - duple proper
Waltz Country Dance - Sicilian circle
Winter Solstice - 5 couples in a square

   For further information contact Jonathan Sivier (j-sivier AT uiuc.edu) at
217/359-8225 or Jane Hobgood at 217/328-1708.  You can check the Christmas
Ball website at http://www.prairienet.org/ciecd/xmas.html

   Central Illinois English Country Dancers is affiliated with the Champaign
Park District and a member of the Champaign County Cultural Consortium.


                    If we don't see you at the Ball,
                    Then 'Happy Hols' to one and all!


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jonathan Sivier               |Q: How many angels can dance on the   |
|  j-sivier AT uiuc.edu             |   head of a pin?                     |
|  Flight Simulation Lab         |A: It depends on what dance you call. |
|  Beckman Institute             |                                      |
|  405 N. Mathews                |  SWMDG - Single White Male           |
|  Urbana, IL  61801             |          Dance Gypsy                 |
|  Work: 217/244-1923            |                                      |
|  Home: 217/359-8225            |  Have shoes, will dance.             |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Home page URL: http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/j-sivier                   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 08:09:11 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 06:54:29 -0800 (PST)
From: MEIER AT SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: On running English ceilidhs in the US
To: ecd AT PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
CC: MEIER AT SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <01KPWD8N3A9IAB4RGT AT SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Folks -

I've been meaning to check in with the ECD list for a while about a grand
experiment BACDS is attempting: English-style ceilidhs.

Here's a bit of what we say about English ceilidh on the BACDS website:

http://www.bacds.org/series/ceilidh/

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the only extant dance series in the
United States dedicated to English ceilidh dances. Our ceilidh dances feature
lively dances led by longtime local dance teachers and ceilidh leaders from
England; the dances themselves often feature uncomplicated yet vigorous
stepping, such as step-hops, skipping, polka steps, and rant steps. The tunes
draw from the English tradition, and are played by bands made up of bay area
English and morris musicians."

So, a couple of questions:  Is anyone else in the US doing regular English
ceilidhs?  If so, we'd like to shake hands and talk. (I understand that there
used to be a ceilidh series in Seattle(?) a while back, but that it's no longer
running; please correct me if I've missed any particulars there. And one
mustn't forget the Vancouver BC band Jiggery Pokery, though I'm not sure
whether they're performing much lately.)

Also, the ceilidh scene fills a particular niche in England that I'm not sure
exists in the same way in the US. (My mind keeps attempting to map the English
ceilidh and Playford-style dancing scenes to the US's contra and ECD dancing
scenes, but I know that's not entirely accurate.)  I'd be interested to hear
the thoughts of list members who've danced at ceilidhs in England.  Feel free
to compare and contrast, e.g. the largely acoustic music in the US vs. the
more electrified folk-rock blends in England.

If nothing else, one difference I notice is that in the US, at least in the SF
Bay Area, both the contra and ECD scenes lean toward dancers with a bit of gray
in the temples, whereas the UK ceilidhs seem to draw a younger crowd, with more
families.  Indeed, that's why we're running our ceilidh series: it's not just
fun, it's ideally a place where adults and kids can dance together, a "gateway
drug" to our other dances, where dancers can encounter "A Year in the Life of a
Penguin" or "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" without fear. :)

Thank you in advance for your jointed and disjointed ramblings,
Vanessa
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 08:35:20 PST
Sender: owner-ecd AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 11:35:12 -0500 (EST)
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff AT neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD AT playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: On running English ceilidhs in the US
To: ECD AT SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
CC: lwlu AT MIT.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.03.10212111128450.1085-100000 AT research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Currently we are running a series based in Harvard Square aimed at
students in the Boston area. The committee running the dance is a mix of
graduate students and younger ECD folk. The dances are a mix of Ceildh,
English traditional dances, and Playford. This is only the second year
we've been running the series, and it's still a work in progress. Our
contact person is Leonard Lu, I'm sure he would like to hear from people
running similar dances. He can be reached at lwlu AT MIT.EDU.

Best,
 Terry



================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 16:01:31 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 16:01:22 -0800 (PST)
From: Country Dancers of Westchester <cdw_ecd-AT-
yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Holiday Dance with Scott Higgs & Hold the Mustard
To: ECD List <ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <20021212000122.10819.qmail-AT-
web12201.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

CDW's "Holiday Dance" combines the considerable
talents of emcee Scott Higgs and the band, Hold the
Mustard -- Dan Beerbohm, Barbara Greenberg, Paul
Prestopino, and Kathy Talvitie.

The dance is at 8pm, Saturday, December 14, at The
Church in the Highlands, 35 Bryant Ave., White Plains,
NY.

Admission is $12.00; CDW members pay $10.00. Festive
refreshments served!

Directions to the church and other information about
CDW are available at its website:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/2225/

For more information, call Susan Murrow at
914/762-8619 or Leah Barkan at 914/693-5577.



__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 16:25:23 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 18:14:52 -0500
From: Gene Murrow <gmurrow-AT-
juno.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Thomas Hardy Event
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021211.191449.-347351.11.gmurrow-AT-
juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Sounds like a great evening, Ann.

Let the list know as soon as the next date is set.  We state-siders might
be able to organize a tour or something...

Gene


On Sun, 08 Dec 2002 23:06:26 +0000 Ann Higley
<ann-AT-
higley.freeserve.co.uk> writes:
> I have just returned from a simply wonderful Christmas event 
> organised by
> the Thomas Hardy Society together with the singers and musicians of 
> the
> Madding Crowd Quire. The parish church at Stinsford (near Hardy's
> birthplace, which is close to Dorchester, England) was packed with 
> people in
> period costume for an evening of carols, in the West Gallery style, 
> together
> with readings from Thomas Hardy's works. This was followed by 
> refreshments
> at Kingston Maurward House, where a local version of a mummers play 
> was
> performed by members of Frome Valley Morris. The evening finished 
> with
> country dancing including the dances Enrico and The Dorset Triumph. 
> It was
> an incredibly enjoyable evening, and I felt I should mention it to 
> the ECD
> list in case anyone would like to attend the next one which I 
> understand
> will be in 2 years' time.
> Ann Higley
> 
> 
> 


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Permanent address: <gmurrow-AT-
post.harvard.edu> - for your Address book
ISP of the moment: <gmurrow-AT-
juno.com>         - "Reply" button
destination
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 16:45:01 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 00:44:39 +0000
From: Alan Corkett <alan-AT-
bcorkett.freeserve.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Thomas Hardy Event
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <003201c2a177$a79f2480$df3a86d9-AT-
default>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

List members may like to know that...
I recently managed to see and hear the Mellstock Band perform at the
Bridgwater Arts centre. Incredibly good singing and playing on period
instruments in costume and with appropriate Thomas Hardy readings. An
excellent evening. Pity the audience was small.

The Madding Crowd Quire will visit Halsway Manor in February 7-9, 2003. It
is fully booked with about 15 extras down the road in B/B as there are
roughly 77 singers booked.  I have space at home that I may be able to offer
should anyone be in the vicinity of Somerset and would like to witness this
happening for themselves. They come every year. They have a website too. A
google search on "West Gallery" will throw up the details.
Regards Alan Corkett
Business Development at Halsway.


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 23:47:37 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 07:35:41 +0000
From: Colin Hume <colin-AT-
colinhume.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Wednesday Workshops
To: ECD Mailing List <ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <E18MO46-0004fA-00.2002-12-12-07-47-27-AT-
mail17.svr.pol.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

The Wednesday Workshops at Cecil Sharp House now have their own web page:

http://www.colinhume.com/ww.htm

Here you can see what dances have been taught, what dances are planned, the
themes of the evenings, the guest leaders, and information about the band.

Colin Hume


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 04:53:58 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 04:53:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-
yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Thomas Hardy Event--me too!
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021212125348.27680.qmail-AT-
web13101.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_0IgFQSjCFo6lGTJmkT++9A)"


--Boundary_(ID_0IgFQSjCFo6lGTJmkT++9A)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


I'd sign up for that tour--I've had the privilege of doing a little workshop with Mellstock, and I think they, and their project, are both marvelous. 
List-readers should be aware of their recordings--*Under the Greenwood Tree* is the one I have (a Saydisc release)--but I know there's at least one more. 
 Gene Murrow <gmurrow-AT-
juno.com> wrote:Sounds like a great evening, Ann.

Let the list know as soon as the next date is set. We state-siders might
be able to organize a tour or something...

Gene


On Sun, 08 Dec 2002 23:06:26 +0000 Ann Higley
writes:
> I have just returned from a simply wonderful Christmas event 
> organised by
> the Thomas Hardy Society together with the singers and musicians of 
> the
> Madding Crowd Quire. The parish church at Stinsford (near Hardy's
> birthplace, which is close to Dorchester, England) was packed with 
> people in
> period costume for an evening of carols, in the West Gallery style, 
> together
> with readings from Thomas Hardy's works. This was followed by 
> refreshments
> at Kingston Maurward House, where a local version of a mummers play 
> was
> performed by members of Frome Valley Morris. The evening finished 
> with
> country dancing including the dances Enrico and The Dorset Triumph. 
> It was
> an incredibly enjoyable evening, and I felt I should mention it to 
> the ECD
> list in case anyone would like to attend the next one which I 
> understand
> will be in 2 years' time.
> Ann Higley
> 
> 
> 


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Permanent address: - for your Address book
ISP of the moment: - "Reply" button
destination

Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_0IgFQSjCFo6lGTJmkT++9A)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE

<P>I'd sign up for that tour--I've had the privilege of doing a littl=
e workshop with Mellstock, and I think they, and their project, are b=
oth marvelous.=20
<P>List-readers should be aware of their recordings--*Under the Green=
wood Tree* is the one I have (a Saydisc release)--but I know there's =
at least one more.&nbsp;
<P>&nbsp;<B><I>Gene Murrow &lt;gmurrow-AT-
juno.com&gt;</I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT=
: #1010ff 2px solid">Sounds like a great evening, Ann.<BR><BR>Let the=
 list know as soon as the next date is set. We state-siders might<BR>=
be able to organize a tour or something...<BR><BR>Gene<BR><BR><BR>On =
Sun, 08 Dec 2002 23:06:26 +0000 Ann Higley<BR><ANN-AT-
HIGLEY.FREESERVE.C=
O.UK>writes:<BR>&gt; I have just returned from a simply wonderful Chr=
istmas event <BR>&gt; organised by<BR>&gt; the Thomas Hardy Society t=
ogether with the singers and musicians of <BR>&gt; the<BR>&gt; Maddin=
g Crowd Quire. The parish church at Stinsford (near Hardy's<BR>&gt; b=
irthplace, which is close to Dorchester, England) was packed with <BR=
>&gt; people in<BR>&gt; period costume for an evening of carols, in t=
he West Gallery style, <BR>&gt; together<BR>&gt; with readings from T=
homas Hardy's works. This was followed by <BR>&gt; refreshments<BR>&g=
t; at Kingston Maurward House, where a local version of a mummers pla=
y <BR>&gt; was<BR>&gt; performed by members of Frome Valle

<a href=3D"http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.co=
m">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href=3D"http://rd.=
yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>


--Boundary_(ID_0IgFQSjCFo6lGTJmkT++9A)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 08:04:15 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 11:03:50 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-
biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Happy St. Lucy's (St. Lucia) day tomorrow - children put your shoes out!
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFB3B6D1E8.578CA75D-ON85256C8D.005799F5-AT-
biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 08:42:52 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 16:39:19 +0000
From: Paul Sartin <psartin-AT-
attglobal.net>
Subject: Re: Thomas Hardy Event--me too!
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <3DF8BBB7.DDE72FAE-AT-
attglobal.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021212125348.27680.qmail-AT-
web13101.mail.yahoo.com>

Graham Christian wrote:

> List-readers should be aware of their recordings--*Under the Greenwood
> Tree* is the one I have (a Saydisc release)--but I know there's at
> least one more.

'Tennants of the Earth' is on the WildGoose label, available in the UK
at www.musicfolk.com, and North America from Elderly Instruments.
Paul.

>
>
> ____________________________
>
> Paul Sartin
>
> May Cottage, Wherwell,
> Hampshire, SP11 7JS
>
> Tel/fax: +44 (0) 1264 860791
> Mobile: +44 (0) 7711 485798
>

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 09:38:17 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 11:40:29 -0600
From: Paul Stamler <pstamler-AT-
pobox.com>
Subject: Re: Thomas Hardy Event--me too!
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <002301c2a205$9063f000$1b6b550c-AT-
paulstam>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021212125348.27680.qmail-AT-
web13101.mail.yahoo.com> <3DF8BBB7.DDE72FAE-AT-
attglobal.net>

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Sartin <psartin-AT-
attglobal.net>

Graham Christian wrote:

> List-readers should be aware of their recordings--*Under the Greenwood
> Tree* is the one I have (a Saydisc release)--but I know there's at
> least one more.

'<<Tennants of the Earth' is on the WildGoose label, available in the UK
at www.musicfolk.com, and North America from Elderly Instruments.
Paul.>>

And "Songs of Thomas Hardy's Wessex", a collection of songs mentioned in
Hardy's novels, is also on Saydisc. Great fun.

Peace,
The Other Paul -- no, that's the Third Paul.

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 04:07:18 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:04:34 +0000
From: Olivia Mackay <celtic_elves-AT-
hotmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Why do People join Dance Display Groups?
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
BCC: 
Message-ID: <F99wjHNuQuN6tdqVvPd00000cc8-AT-
hotmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

I'm interested in obtaining people's reasons for joining a dance display 
group. You may either reply on or off the list.
Thanks, Olivia





_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 04:19:25 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:16:54 +0000
From: francis2 <francis2-AT-
breathemail.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Notation Required
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000501c2a2a1$db057ec0$dc403c3e-AT-
oemcomputer>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <200212101754.gBAHsLA16214-AT-
staff1.cso.uiuc.edu>

Please can someone  remind me of the notation for the dance ' A Trip to
Woodstock' which is danced to a carol tune
 Thanks  francis2
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Sivier" <j-sivier-AT-
ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
To: <ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 5:54 PM
Subject: Christmas Ball, 12/21, Urbana, IL


>                   The Central Illinois English Country Dancers
>                                    Present An
>
>                    E N G L I S H   C O U N T R Y   D A N C E
>                           C H R I S T M A S   B A L L
>
>
>    The Central Illinois English Country Dancers will be holding their
eighth
> annual Christmas Ball on Saturday, December 21, 2002.  The dance will be
held
> at the Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon, Urbana, IL, on the
campus
> of the University of Illinois.  There will be a warm up session from 7:00
to
> 8:00 with a review of the basics of English country dance as well as some
of
> the evening's dances.  The Ball will follow from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.  Fans
and
> finery are encouraged.  Bring fruit or a dessert to share.  There is a
$7.00
> suggested donation to help cover the cost of the Ball.  We ask that
dancers
> wear soft soled shoes to help protect the dance floor and avoid using
> excessive amounts of perfume for the benefit of others that may experience
> allergic reactions.  All dances will be taught and all lovers of English
> country dance and music are welcome.
>
> Dances Lead By: Jane Hobgood and Jonathan Sivier
> Music Provided By: The Flatland Consort
> Warm Up Session: 7:00 p.m.
> Christmas Ball: 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.
> Date: Saturday, December 21, 2002
> Location: Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon, Urbana, IL
> Suggested Donation: $7.00
>
>    There will be refreshments and a mummers' play at the break and a
dessert
> party following the dance.
>
>    The evening's dances will be selected from the following list:
>
> The Bishop - triple proper
> Dargason - longways
> The Duke of Kent's Waltz - duple proper
> Female Saylor - duple proper
> Finale - a quadrille
> The Geud Man of Ballangigh - duple proper
> A Grand March - longways
> Heartsease - 2 couples
> Jenny Pluck Pears - round for 3 couples
> The Joy Of Dance - 3 couples longways
> Lull Me Beyond Thee - 4 couples longways
> Oranges and Lemons - 4 couples in a square
> Portland Fancy - 4 facing 4
> The Queen's Jig - duple proper
> Trip To Woodstock - duple proper
> Waltz Country Dance - Sicilian circle
> Winter Solstice - 5 couples in a square
>
>    For further information contact Jonathan Sivier (j-sivier-AT-
uiuc.edu) at
> 217/359-8225 or Jane Hobgood at 217/328-1708.  You can check the Christmas
> Ball website at http://www.prairienet.org/ciecd/xmas.html
>
>    Central Illinois English Country Dancers is affiliated with the
Champaign
> Park District and a member of the Champaign County Cultural Consortium.
>
>
>                     If we don't see you at the Ball,
>                     Then 'Happy Hols' to one and all!
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> |  Jonathan Sivier               |Q: How many angels can dance on the   |
> |  j-sivier-AT-
uiuc.edu             |   head of a pin?                     |
> |  Flight Simulation Lab         |A: It depends on what dance you call. |
> |  Beckman Institute             |                                      |
> |  405 N. Mathews                |  SWMDG - Single White Male           |
> |  Urbana, IL  61801             |          Dance Gypsy                 |
> |  Work: 217/244-1923            |                                      |
> |  Home: 217/359-8225            |  Have shoes, will dance.             |
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> |  Home page URL: http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/j-sivier                   |
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 04:44:37 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:44:26 +0000 (GMT)
From: Michael Barraclough <michael.barraclough-AT-
tgis.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Notation Required
To: ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <200212131244.MAA22116-AT-
galahad.tgis.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

On Friday, December 13, 2002 at 12:16:54 PM, ECD-AT-
ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU wrote:

> Please can someone  remind me of the notation for the dance ' A Trip to
> Woodstock' which is danced to a carol tune
>  Thanks  francis2

A Google search finds

TRIP TO WOODSTOCK - longways duple minor by Don Bell, August 2000. 
Tune: 'Ding Dong Merrily' (Branle l'officiel' from Thoinot Arbeau, Orchesographie, 1589)

The long 'trip' by the 1st couple in part B is reminiscent of my first roundabout car trip to call a dance in Woodstock,NY. The high point of the evening was a collaboration between the 4 dancers (all men), 9 band members and myself composing this dance. Thanks also go to Rensselaer English Country Dancers, participants in Gene Murrow's Dance Choreography Workshop at Pinewoods (Aug 2000) and Beverly Francis for small improvements and helpful comments. In the B part the first couple may enjoy imagining they're taking a winding sleigh ride down a long hill. 

A1: PARTNERS SET RIGHT & LEFT, TURN SINGLE RIGHT (back to place) 

A2: CORNERS SET RIGHT & LEFT(towards each other), FALL BACK (to place) 

B1: 1s CROSS BY THE RIGHT SHOULDER DOWN THE OUTSIDE TO 2nd Place, 2s MOVE UP 
1s 1/2 FIGURE 8 THRU NEXT 2s BELOW (end progressed & proper) 

B2: 2s GATE ORIGINAL 1s UP THE CENTER & DOWN THE OUTSIDE (to place) 
2s GATE NEW 1s DOWN THE MIDDLE & UP THE OUTSIDE (to place) 

Michael Barraclough
http://www.mab.tgis.co.uk


--

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 07:51:00 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 09:50:49 -0600 (CST)
From: Jonathan Sivier <j-sivier-AT-
ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Why do People join Dance Display Groups?
To: ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <200212131550.gBDFonR08469-AT-
staff2.cso.uiuc.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Olivia Mackay writes:
> 
> I'm interested in obtaining people's reasons for joining a dance display 
> group. You may either reply on or off the list.
> Thanks, Olivia

   There are probably as many different reasons as there are people involved.
Personally when our group does performances, which isn't very often since
we really aren't organized for that sort of thing, one of my primary goals
is to expose new people to ECD and get them interested in attending one of
our dances.  To this end we usually include some audience participation
in our performances/demos.  We will perform a few dances and then get
audience members up to join us for some easy dances.

   However in addition to that there is something to be said for working
with a group of dancers and perfecting (or at least getting pretty good)
some dances.  That can be enjoyable by itself.

Jonathan

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jonathan Sivier               |Q: How many angels can dance on the   |
|  j-sivier-AT-
uiuc.edu             |   head of a pin?                     |
|  Flight Simulation Lab         |A: It depends on what dance you call. |
|  Beckman Institute             |                                      |
|  405 N. Mathews                |  SWMDG - Single White Male           |
|  Urbana, IL  61801             |          Dance Gypsy                 |
|  Work: 217/244-1923            |                                      |
|  Home: 217/359-8225            |  Have shoes, will dance.             |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Home page URL: http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/j-sivier                   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 07:55:24 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 09:55:16 -0600 (CST)
From: Jonathan Sivier <j-sivier-AT-
ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Notation Required
To: ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <200212131555.gBDFtGb10553-AT-
staff2.cso.uiuc.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

francis2 writes:
> 
> Please can someone  remind me of the notation for the dance ' A Trip to
> Woodstock' which is danced to a carol tune
>  Thanks  francis2

   It was in CDSS News a little over a year ago.  You can find the figures
listed on our website along with the other Christmas Ball dances.  The
URL is "http://www.prairienet.org/ciecd/xb_ball_dances.html#ttw".  The tune
is "Ding Dong Merrily".  You can also find it on Don Bell's web page at
"http://www.rpi.edu/~belld2/triptowoodstock.htm".

Jonathan

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jonathan Sivier               |Q: How many angels can dance on the   |
|  j-sivier-AT-
uiuc.edu             |   head of a pin?                     |
|  Flight Simulation Lab         |A: It depends on what dance you call. |
|  Beckman Institute             |                                      |
|  405 N. Mathews                |  SWMDG - Single White Male           |
|  Urbana, IL  61801             |          Dance Gypsy                 |
|  Work: 217/244-1923            |                                      |
|  Home: 217/359-8225            |  Have shoes, will dance.             |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Home page URL: http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/j-sivier                   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 09:46:13 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 11:45:37 -0600
From: quinbus <mcdjr-AT-
swbell.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Notation Required
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000201c2a2cf$ae428440$b118bcd0-AT-
dallas.sil.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <200212131244.MAA22116-AT-
galahad.tgis.co.uk>

On Friday, December 13, 2002 at 12:16:54 PM, Michael Barraclough suggested:

> TRIP TO WOODSTOCK - longways duple minor by Don Bell, August 2000.
> Tune: 'Ding Dong Merrily' (Branle l'officiel' from Thoinot Arbeau,
Orchesographie, 1589)

What other dances can the group suggest that are built on favorite Christmas
tunes?   There's the Female Saylor of course.  Any others?

McDjr


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 10:46:22 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 10:46:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-
yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: ...that's not the ceiling, it's the floor!
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021213184610.57491.qmail-AT-
web13102.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_GSztpo71+LtJigVK8LpIqg)"


--Boundary_(ID_GSztpo71+LtJigVK8LpIqg)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


"The Female Saylor" is not built on a Christmas carol--the situation is quite the reverse.
The Female Saylor originated as a Sailors' March in Marin Marais' opera *Alcyone*--I believe from 1705, but it could have been a little earlier; I don't have Hesperion XX's recording in front of me. What the sailors were doing onstage while the tune was heard we do not know; we do know that Feuillet used the tune for his country dance "La Matelotte" in 1706. In John Essex's translation of Feuillet's treatise, he calls the dance "The Female Saylor." 
There is no connection to Christmastide until the late 19th century, when poet and designer William Morris wrote "Masters in this hall" to the tune (a la Robert Burns, fitting new words to old tunes). How and where he got hold of it I do not know, but I am pretty certain that it was believed to be a folk melody by then--indeed, even as recently as the notes to Bare Necessities' new recording series, the connection to Marais is not acknowledged.  In fact, the notes to the Hesperion XX album with an instrumental suite from *Alcyone* I cited above broadly hint that the tune is so catchy that perhaps Marais didn't write it--an umbragifying suggestion if ever I heard one. 
So, while it's inevitable that we may be tempted to program this dance in this season, let's do our best *not* to say, Here's a dance to a Christmas carol, but rather, We know this tune as a Christmas carol, but in fact...
Graham "Truth In Advertising" Christian           
 quinbus <mcdjr-AT-
swbell.net> wrote:On Friday, December 13, 2002 at 12:16:54 PM, Michael Barraclough suggested:

> TRIP TO WOODSTOCK - longways duple minor by Don Bell, August 2000.
> Tune: 'Ding Dong Merrily' (Branle l'officiel' from Thoinot Arbeau,
Orchesographie, 1589)

What other dances can the group suggest that are built on favorite Christmas
tunes? There's the Female Saylor of course. Any others?

McDjr



Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_GSztpo71+LtJigVK8LpIqg)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<P>"The Female Saylor" is not built on a Christmas carol--the situation is quite the reverse.
<P>The Female Saylor originated as a Sailors' March in Marin Marais' opera *Alcyone*--I believe from 1705, but&nbsp;it could have been a little earlier; I don't have Hesperion XX's recording in front of me.&nbsp;What the sailors were doing onstage while the tune was heard we do not know; we do know that Feuillet used the tune for his country dance "La Matelotte" in 1706. In John Essex's translation of Feuillet's treatise, he calls the dance "The Female Saylor." 
<P>There is no connection to Christmastide until the late&nbsp;19th century, when poet and designer William Morris wrote "Masters in this hall" to the tune (a la Robert Burns, fitting new words to old tunes). How and where he got hold of it I do not know, but I am pretty&nbsp;certain that it was believed to be a folk melody by then--indeed, even as recently as the notes to Bare Necessities' new recording series, the connection to Marais is not acknowledged.&nbsp; In fact, the notes to the Hesperion XX album with&nbsp;an instrumental&nbsp;suite from *Alcyone* I cited above broadly hint that the tune is so&nbsp;catchy that perhaps Marais didn't write it--an umbragifying suggestion if ever I heard one.&nbsp;
<P>So, while it's inevitable that we may be tempted to program this dance in this season, let's&nbsp;do our best *not* to say, Here's a dance to a Christmas carol, but rather, We know this tune as a Christmas carol, but&nbsp;in fact...
<P>Graham "Truth&nbsp;In Advertising" Christian&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<P>&nbsp;<B><I>quinbus &lt;mcdjr-AT-
swbell.net&gt;</I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">On Friday, December 13, 2002 at 12:16:54 PM, Michael Barraclough suggested:<BR><BR>&gt; TRIP TO WOODSTOCK - longways duple minor by Don Bell, August 2000.<BR>&gt; Tune: 'Ding Dong Merrily' (Branle l'officiel' from Thoinot Arbeau,<BR>Orchesographie, 1589)<BR><BR>What other dances can the group suggest that are built on favorite Christmas<BR>tunes? There's the Female Saylor of course. Any others?<BR><BR>McDjr<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Graham Christian<br>"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."<p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
<a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>

--Boundary_(ID_GSztpo71+LtJigVK8LpIqg)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 11:36:13 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 13:37:14 -0600
From: quinbus <mcdjr-AT-
swbell.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: ...that's not the ceiling, it's the floor!
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000701c2a2df$0babcb50$421abcd0-AT-
dallas.sil.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021213184610.57491.qmail-AT-
web13102.mail.yahoo.com>

Mr. Christian quickly mutinied:

>"The Female Saylor" is not built on a Christmas carol--the situation is
quite the reverse.

Fletcher, -er Graham, you are exactly and historically Bountiful (as usual).
Sloppy of me (also, as usual).  I dance corrected.... <grin>

But, I trust, that my question can still stand, perhaps reworded to
encourage the broadest possible return:

What other dances can the group suggest that are [in any way associated
with] favorite Christmas
tunes?

Adrift,

McDjr


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:27:03 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 15:26:43 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-
biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: ...other Christmasy repertoire
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFBDF50695.C79C7BBE-ON85256C8E.006EAD32-AT-
biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


My featured dance on 12/27 will be Greensleeves and Yellow Lace - again a
tune that has been adopted by the Christmas tradition.

At my XMas night contra I always do Heidi Laufman's "Simple gifts" which is
not a Christmas thing but it has the right feel and an "englishy" style.
For those who know the Shaker Hymn (or Lord o t Dance) the figures as I do
them based on my imperfect recollections from early years dancing are:
Duple Proper:
Amusic:  All do C# siding twice with partners; 1s go down the center, turn
as a couple, return improper and assisted cast with 2s
Bmusic: Ladies chain over and back; 1s turn single moving right to face up
and down the center (as in Petronella) and step balance (step right foot,
swing left and vice versa) and 1s turn again to the proper side and step
balance.

Of course nothing captures the spirit of Xmas tackiness so much as my final
waltz done to the light of a human sized plastic Santa Claus I found in the
trash a few years ago.
Although I have always done a dance on Xmas night for as long as I can
remember, a large part of the reason I do it is for the great number of
people who do not celebrate Christmas - they make up a third or more of the
participants. By doing some Xmas-related and reflective material, blending
it with some irreverant antics, and a main course of good solid dances that
are fun  at any season I seem to be able to cater to all without offending
anyone that I know of.
Cammy


                                                                                                                                   
                      quinbus                                                                                                      
                      <mcdjr-AT-
swbell.net>               To:       ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU                                    
                      Sent by:                         cc:                                                                         
                      owner-ecd-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.S        Subject:  Re: ...that's not the ceiling, it's the floor!                    
                      TANFORD.EDU                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                   
                      13-Dec-2002 02:37 PM                                                                                         
                      Please respond to ECD                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                   




Mr. Christian quickly mutinied:

>"The Female Saylor" is not built on a Christmas carol--the situation is
quite the reverse.

Fletcher, -er Graham, you are exactly and historically Bountiful (as
usual).
Sloppy of me (also, as usual).  I dance corrected.... <grin>

But, I trust, that my question can still stand, perhaps reworded to
encourage the broadest possible return:

What other dances can the group suggest that are [in any way associated
with] favorite Christmas
tunes?

Adrift,

McDjr






================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:48:46 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 15:45:20 -0500
From: Ellen Tepper <etepper-AT-
juno.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Another "Carol" to dance
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021213.154520.-292869.0.etepper-AT-
juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Another, though rarely sung "carol" in the ECD rep would be "Drive the
Cold Winter Away" sometimes indexed as "All hail to the days"
The words, published by Durfey in 1702 (or so) speak of a benevolent
attitude during the winter season.
I found some of them in Chapell's Popular Muisc of the Olden Time (I
think, I cannot find the book to verify the title)
Important to note that "carols" were originally circle dances....

"Cross out of your books 
all malevolent looks
Both Beauty and Youth's decay.
And boldly consort 
with mirth and with sport
To drive the cold winter away.

Ellen Tepper, harpist in Philadelphia
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 12:53:37 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 15:53:26 -0500
From: Maryn McKenna <mmckenna-AT-
mindspring.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Another "Carol" to dance
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <l03010d00ba1ff8ebef0c-AT-
[169.137.206.246]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

is there not a dance (Easter Thursday?) that is danced to In the Bleak
Midwinter?

maryn mckenna
in bleakly wet Atlanta


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 13:33:59 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 13:33:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-
yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Another "Carol" to dance
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021213213348.77885.qmail-AT-
web13115.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_DE+7d14UGLIISRpQEkQ3Yw)"


--Boundary_(ID_DE+7d14UGLIISRpQEkQ3Yw)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


No, "In the Bleak Midwinter" is danced to "In the Bleak Midwinter." ITBM is by our own Robin Hayden, published in CDSS News.
"Easter Thursday" is danced to "Easter Thursday" (tho', to me, the figures are a Procrustean fit to that tune).
Wendy Crouch Knight's "Winter Solstice" is danced to "Early One Morning" (BUT: AABB), which is perhaps what you're remembering.   
 Maryn McKenna <mmckenna-AT-
mindspring.com> wrote:is there not a dance (Easter Thursday?) that is danced to In the Bleak
Midwinter?

maryn mckenna
in bleakly wet Atlanta



Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_DE+7d14UGLIISRpQEkQ3Yw)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<P>No, "In the Bleak Midwinter" is danced to "In the Bleak Midwinter." ITBM is by our own Robin Hayden, published in CDSS News.
<P>"Easter Thursday" is danced to "Easter Thursday" (tho',&nbsp;to me, the figures are a Procrustean fit to that tune).
<P>Wendy Crouch Knight's "Winter Solstice" is danced to "Early One Morning" (BUT: AABB), which is perhaps what you're&nbsp;remembering.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<P>&nbsp;<B><I>Maryn McKenna &lt;mmckenna-AT-
mindspring.com&gt;</I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">is there not a dance (Easter Thursday?) that is danced to In the Bleak<BR>Midwinter?<BR><BR>maryn mckenna<BR>in bleakly wet Atlanta<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Graham Christian<br>"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."<p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
<a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>

--Boundary_(ID_DE+7d14UGLIISRpQEkQ3Yw)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:16:32 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 17:15:14 -0500
From: eba-AT-
umich.edu
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Another "Carol" to dance
To: ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <26411968.1039799714-AT-
OphthyElecGX260.med.umich.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021213213348.77885.qmail-AT-
web13115.mail.yahoo.com>



--On Friday, December 13, 2002 1:33 PM -0800 Graham Christian 
<bray1699-AT-
yahoo.com> wrote:

[snip]

> Wendy Crouch Knight's "Winter Solstice" is danced to "Early One Morning"
> (BUT: AABB), which is perhaps what you're remembering.

by some, but others dance it to the David Dean tune (I believe, by the same 
title) which was written for it and which is published along with the dance 
in Wendy's book, "Further Flights of Fancy."

Eric Arnold, kibitzer.


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:19:43 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 22:19:06 +0000
From: Michael Barraclough <michael.barraclough-AT-
tgis.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: ...that's not the ceiling, it's the floor!
To: ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000b01c2a2f5$a73ee780$0200a8c0-AT-
ntworld.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT

Graham Christian wrote "The Female Saylor" is not built on a Christmas
carol--the situation is quite the reverse.  The Female Saylor originated
as a Sailors' March in Marin Marais' opera *Alcyone*--I believe from
1705, but it could have been a little earlier ...

I am going out on a limb here as I cannot find the appropriate note.  I
am reasonably confident, however, that the tune was in fact from much
earlier.  I recollect hearing a recording of it on the radio once where
it was coming from an album of 16th? century French monastic music.  A
search on Masters in this Hall on Google brings several references to it
as “The actual provenance of the melody is unknown, but it is believed
to be 16th century French.”

It is quite conceivable, therefore, that Marais stole an existing
(popular?) tune and used it in his opera.  There are plenty of
precedents for this sort of action at that time.

Michael Barraclough
http://www.mab.tgis.co.uk


---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
 

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:21:30 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 09:18:11 +1100
From: John Garden <garden-AT-
earthlydelights.com.au>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: 64 Christmas Carol dances
To: "ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU" <ECD-AT-
SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <BA20A7D3.D0FA%garden-AT-
earthlydelights.com.au>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Dear friends, 
There is currently a lot of discussion on this list about possible dances to
go to Christmas Carols.  Surprisingly no-one has mentioned The Christmas
Carol Dance Book. The book contains 64  social dances, most in the English
country dance style, to go with 63 carols. All the dances work exceedingly
well, are lots of fun and in their style and figures echo the carols' period
and place of origin and lyrical story line.  There are dances in every
conceivable formation and for every level of competency (indeed some have
both simple versions and versions for connoisseurs). We've enjoyed them at
lots of  public dances here in Canberra (as well as at workshops interstate)
and have made them a feature of at least 4 balls (there's probably 4 balls
worth in the collection so its always a hard choice of which ones to do).
The beautifully laid-out 76 page book contains instructions to all the
dances, chorded musical notation, carol lyrics, lots of historical notes and
wonderful illustrations.  It came off the press just a couple of weeks ago
and is going to be officially launched tomorrow night at a big Christmas
Carol Ball in Canberra's historic Albert Hall (last year's ball was a
glorious success with people dressing up and singing and dancing to carols
all night). In advance of its launch we have already  sold 150 copies to
people around the world, but judging from the present web discussion, it may
be that we have not succeeded in letting the hard-core English country dance
enthusiasts, the people for whom it is primarily designed, know of its
existence.  I hope many of you might take the opportunity to find out more
about this work by visiting our CDs&Book page on our site
http://www.earthlydelights.com.au  and as post takes 7-8 days to the U.K.,
we might still be able to fill any quickly-lodged orders (via webpage) by
Christmas.  I think you'll find this work will more than meet the needs of
your list contributors.
All the best! John Garden (dance teacher, writer, musician and leader of
country dance band Earthly Delights)

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:23:29 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:20:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Barbara Ruth <barbararuth-AT-
rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Another "Carol" to dance
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021213222017.42964.qmail-AT-
web13603.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

It might be a bit of a stretch (not a carol), but if one is trying to
assemble a Christmas-themed event one could use "Angels Unawares" by
our own Graham Christian.

Barbara
--- Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-
yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> No, "In the Bleak Midwinter" is danced to "In the Bleak Midwinter."
> ITBM is by our own Robin Hayden, published in CDSS News.
> "Easter Thursday" is danced to "Easter Thursday" (tho', to me, the
> figures are a Procrustean fit to that tune).
> Wendy Crouch Knight's "Winter Solstice" is danced to "Early One
> Morning" (BUT: AABB), which is perhaps what you're remembering.   

>  Maryn McKenna <mmckenna-AT-
mindspring.com> wrote:is there not a dance
> (Easter Thursday?) that is danced to In the Bleak
> Midwinter?
> 
> maryn mckenna
> in bleakly wet Atlanta
> 
> 
> 
> Graham Christian
> "Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."
> 
> 


=====
"There is no inverse relationship between freedom and security. Less of one does not lead to more of the other. People with no rights are not safe from terrorist attack."  Molly Ivins

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:25:59 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:26:29 -0800
From: Paul / Victoria Bestock <bestockp-AT-
oz.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Why do People join Dance Display Groups?
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.1.20021213131212.00a523c0-AT-
mail.oz.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

At 12:04 PM 12/13/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>I'm interested in obtaining people's reasons for joining a dance display 
>group. You may either reply on or off the list.
>Thanks, Olivia

For me the main reason is to dance with other very good dancers and feel 
the loving connections that are created when you and the rest of the group 
are moving exactly together.  Unison movement is great human 
glue.  Performing groups tend to become like families.

Those connections don't happen on the recreational dance floor to anywhere 
near the degree that they occur in performing groups, where everyone learns 
to move with the same style and take the same size steps, to make eye 
contact, to "perform" by flirting and by putting out about 40 times more 
energy than it actually takes to do the movements.

  I also enjoyed working to perfection at style and ensemble and the 
opportunity of becomming technically excellent.  You do a recreational 
dance once or twice with a teacher, struggling to imitate the style and 
remember all the details, but with the model gone it gradually morphs into 
something else, the style diminished, the rhythms inaccurate, the footwork 
sloppy.  You join a performing group, and there will be an outside eye-- 
director or dance master -- making sure excellence in technique and style 
improves over time.

I performed for 20 years in Balkan dance companies in Boston, Chicago and 
Seattle and found recreational dancing disappointing in comparison.  Its no 
fun dancing in belt hold next to someone who doesn't feel 7/8 meter and is 
bobbing up and down at a different time than you are.  And recreational 
dancing is meant to be inclusive of beginners and mediocre dancers, so the 
intrictate advanced dances are rarely done and aren't very satisfying when 
they are.

A big factor for me was also the absense of live music in the recreational 
International and Balkan scene,-- only the performing groups had live 
bands.  I continue to be amazed and thrilled at the quality of music I 
dance to in recreational English dancing.

Another reason people join performing groups is that they get a thrill out 
of performing itself-- they love putting out all that energy to make the 
audience happy, seeing their smiles and hearing their applause.   And its 
nice to show the public what folk dancing is all about-- a performance is 
educational and often lures people into the dance scene.  "You looked like 
you were having so much fun I just had to try it."

But I doubt if most people are in it to perform or to show off.  Its a huge 
time investment in rehearsal before performance happens.  You have to love 
the process to make it worth it.    NOnesuch rehearses 13 weeks, 2 hours a 
week for a half-hour Folklife performance.  Radost rehearsed 400 hours one 
year for 4 2-hour professional level performances.  Sevarzapad grew out of 
a High School Advanced Folk Dance class that met 3 hours a week for a year, 
and performed for 1/2 hour at Folklife and 4 times for an hour each at the 
school.

To perform, you really should love the process of rehearsing, love the 
other company members,  and respect the director,  because that is most of 
what its about.  You also have to tolerate a lot of sewing, repairing, 
washing and ironing of costumes, and in some cases a full day or boredom at 
the theater standing in hot costumes while lights are focused on you.  Yes 
its a thrill going out on stage, made up, in costume, hair ethnically 
correct, and making dance magic for enthusiastic onlookers who will applaud 
wildly and tell you how splendid you were.   But its a long time between 
shows, with a lot of slogging through the same material to tedious 
perfection in order to get there.

  I have to confess that some of us are also into performing for the 
costumes.  We just never outgrew dressing up in gorgeous clothes and role 
playing! In Balkanske Igre and Radost I got to put on wearable art-- 
hand-embroidered hand-woven Macedonian costumes, Montenegrin headresses 
that made me feel like an icon, swirly floral Hungarian skirts with a 
zillion petticoats.  I loved it.  I loved the way the clothes made me feel, 
the way they belonged so completely to the dance.  You really can't 
understand Hungarian women's dances in jeans, or Japanese dances in a full 
skirt.  The clothes put you in the role, make you move in the correct 
style.  And they are gorgeous and it feels good to dance in them.  The 
clothes transport you to a different time and place, make you stand 
straighter, dance more elegantly. The clothes move with you, making a turn 
single a statement that shows off the silken swirl of your gown.








================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:53:13 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 17:52:54 -0500 (EST)
From: Will Linden <wlinden-AT-
panix.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: ...that's not the ceiling, it's the floor!
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.50.0212131752360.3789-100000-AT-
panix2.panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021213184610.57491.qmail-AT-
web13102.mail.yahoo.com> <000701c2a2df$0babcb50$421abcd0-AT-
dallas.sil.org>

 I know there is one set to "In the Bleak Midwinter"... anyone?


Will Linden  wlinden-AT-
panix.com
http://www.ecben.net/
Magic Code: MAS/GD S++ W++ N+ PWM++ Ds/r+ A-> a++ C+ G- QO++ 666 Y
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 14:58:31 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 22:55:43 +0000
From: Olivia Mackay <celtic_elves-AT-
hotmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: 64 Christmas Carol dances
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
BCC: 
Message-ID: <F160K8paSxf9eu05dI10000523b-AT-
hotmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

We received our copy of this lovely book last week - such an impressive 
production - and already our English Country Dance group has been enjoying 
the dances composed by John Garden, including 'In the Bleak Midwinter', that 
you were talking about. The ones we've tried so far have been very 
satisfying.  I certainly recommend this book for readers of this list, and 
as a musician I've also enjoyed being able to play all the tunes. I just 
wish that we could get John Garden and his band Earthly Delights to tour 
over here! Does anyone want to organise something?
Merry Christmas, Olivia M.
P.S. The book is very affordable - the Australian dollar is very low 
compared to our currency, so we only pay about half the advertised price.

_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 18:22:57 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 21:23:46 -0500
From: Alixe Dancer <alixed-AT-
options.org>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Why do People join Dance Display Groups?
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU, ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <E18N1xy-0000LT-00-AT-
nghost.nghsecure.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT


I am finding all the answers so interesting. And all of them reflect my 
own thoughts in some way.

1. To increase exposure in order to invite/entice new members. We, too, 
do audience participation.

2. To be able to fuss with dances, do ‘hard’ dances, and feel the group 
energy as we create ensemble.

3. As a community service. To add movement, costume, color and 
excitement to performance events. We are in rural Douglas County, 
Oregon. We dance at our local Arts Festival, Heritage Festival, Spring 
Arts Fair, Celtic Games, Scottish Society events, County Fair, and a 
lot of other community venues and events.

4. We do not dance to make money, however, the performance group often 
earns money and it all goes into the same pot with the social group 
kitty. Members of the performance group are volunteers from the social 
group. 

5. For me, an important part of performing is to give the audience a 
visceral experience. For instance, the satisfaction of seeing a 
longways of partners all dancing a right hand turn in unison. Or that 
moment in Picking Of Sticks when we come out of the movement of 
skipping-and-slipping into the stillness of the arming figure. Or, in a 
Scottish dance – the strength of the slipping circle. For me the image 
of a slipping circle is of a Greek column.  The circle's energy 
starting from the ground and rising up and up and up.
 See what I mean? It is for the audience, for their internal 
experience. And then, of course, we dance for fun, and hope the 
audience feels that, too. You know: "You all look like you are having 
such fun up there."  And, of course, we are.

> I'm interested in obtaining people's reasons for joining a dance 
display 
> group. You may either reply on or off the list.
> Thanks, Olivia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*  
> http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Alixe Dancer
alixed-AT-
options.org
Mon-Fri cell # 541 643-4193

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 23:28:41 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 01:30:50 -0600
From: Paul Stamler <pstamler-AT-
pobox.com>
Subject: Re: ...that's not the ceiling, it's the floor!
To: ECD-AT-
PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-
playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <002001c2a342$ba876680$2469550c-AT-
paulstam>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021213184610.57491.qmail-AT-
web13102.mail.yahoo.com>

<<There is no connection to Christmastide until the late 19th century, when
poet and designer William Morris wrote "Masters in this hall" to the tune (a
la Robert Burns, fitting new words to old tunes). How and where he got hold
of it I do not know, but I am pretty certain that it was believed to be a
folk melody by then>>

Perhaps it had, in fact, *become* a folk melody by then. A surprising number
of folk songs and tunes seem to have their origins on the stage, "The Coast
of Barbary" probably being the best-known example. I wouldn't be surprised
if "Old Man River" enters folk tradition sometime in the next century.

Personally, I think the piece should have stayed a dance, since I find the
"Masters in this Hall" lyrics require a crowbar to fit them with the tune.
Maybe it's just me. Oh well, Morris made nice chairs.

Peace,
Paul

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 06:44:12 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 14:42:10 +0000
From: Ron Hawkins <rhawk-AT-wmnt.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Swiss dance?
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <MABBKHHLHFFIDCFJKJBBIEKJCMAA.rhawk-AT-wmnt.freeserve.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

I've had a phone call from a lady who wants a ceilidh/barn dance.

In Switzerland.

My band cannot do it, unfortunately.

Denise Vetsch teaches English as a foreign language at a school in the
German-speaking part of Switzerland, near the Austria/Lichtenstein border.
She has decided it would be fun to hold an English type ceilidh, folk dance
or barn dance.

Denise has no fixed date yet, but wants it to me in May sometime. She also
has no fixed budget, but is not likely to want to pay the vast sums it would
take to ship a band and caller over specially.  Thus I think it would suit
someone who was already in the area on holiday or gigging. Denise even
suggested a caller with recorded music might be acceptable, but would prefer
a small band.  Anyone fancy a quit flit over with minimal equipment? How
cheaply could it be done?

Denise can be contacted on

phone: 0041 81 771 5473
email: playhous-AT-active.ch   (note the spelling - no 'e')

Possibly one of our European list members may be able to help? Anthony
Heywood, or Wim Lammers - are you out there somewhere?  Does anyone know
anyone in that part of the world who you could put in touch with Denise?

Ron Hawkins


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 09:11:26 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 12:11:14 -0500
From: Patricia Ruggiero <ruggierop-AT-earthlink.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: meaning of "turn"
To: English Dance <ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <000401c2a393$cede2460$dac4c943-AT-g9tfz>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

The Strathspey List posed the question of what does the term "turn" mean, in
original instructions, when unmodified by any other instruction.

Using _The Playford Ball_ (Keller and Shimer) as a way of comparing original
instructions to reconstructions, I see that Sharp, Pat Shaw, and others
interpret "turn" as being done with two hands.  The question is: how did
they know that?  Was this an arbitrary choice, or are there sources that
say, or at least strongly imply, that a "turn" is a two-handed figure?

Pat

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 09:33:47 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 12:33:37 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: ...that's not the ceiling, it's the floor!
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFA7FCB9C7.678D7DEE-ON85256C8F.00606AD6-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


...."Masters in this Hall" lyrics require a crowbar to fit them with the
tune.
Maybe it's just me. Oh well, Morris made nice chairs.

Peace,
Paul

And wrote my favorite fantasy -
Cammy

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 09:35:34 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 12:35:26 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of "turn"
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OF3FF74D59.BEB147ED-ON85256C8F.00608627-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


It is my belief that "turn" means only that. How to turn is up to
tradition, the dancing master, and the context.
Ckaynor

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 14:32:33 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 17:31:56 -0500 (EST)
From: SallenNic-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: ECD Digest V1 #1304
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <16d.1707946a.2b2d0b5c-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


In a message dated 14/12/02 3:01:11 pm, Graham Christian writes:

<< Wendy Crouch Knight's "Winter Solstice" is danced to "Early One Morning" 
(BUT: AABB), which is perhaps what you're remembering. >>

Correction - Wendy Knight's "Winter Solstice" is danced to "Early One 
Morning" in the US: in the UK, its country of origin, it is danced to "Winter 
Solstice" by David Dean, a JIG written specially for the dance - and recorded 
by The Assembly Players on "Old World - New Dances"! (see web site)

Nicolas B., Lanark, Scotland.
<A HREF="http://">www.nicolasbroadbridge.com</A>
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 20:18:01 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 23:17:49 -0500 (EST)
From: Will Linden <wlinden-AT-panix.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: ...that's not the ceiling, it's the floor!
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.50.0212142317180.14745-100000-AT-panix2.panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <OFA7FCB9C7.678D7DEE-ON85256C8F.00606AD6-AT-biogen.com>

On Sat, 14 Dec 2002, Campbell Kaynor wrote:

>
> ...."Masters in this Hall" lyrics require a crowbar to fit them with the
> tune.
> Maybe it's just me. Oh well, Morris made nice chairs.

 Well, it definitely is not me. Indeed, I first heard it being sung on the
radio.

Will Linden  wlinden-AT-panix.com
http://www.ecben.net/
Magic Code: MAS/GD S++ W++ N+ PWM++ Ds/r+ A-> a++ C+ G- QO++ 666 Y
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 23:37:19 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 23:37:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Andy Peterson <lyrlsbro-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of "turn"
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021215073716.95557.qmail-AT-web20001.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

--- Patricia Ruggiero <ruggierop-AT-earthlink.net> wrote:
> The Strathspey List posed the question of what does the term "turn"
> mean, in original instructions, when unmodified by any other
> instruction.
> 
> Using _The Playford Ball_ (Keller and Shimer) as a way of comparing
> original instructions to reconstructions, I see that Sharp, Pat
> Shaw, and others interpret "turn" as being done with two hands. 
> The question is: how did they know that?  Was this an arbitrary
> choice, or are there sources that say, or at least strongly imply,
> that a "turn" is a two-handed figure?

To me, "turn" doesn't at all imply that it be with two hands. The
person teaching should specify right, left or two handed turns when
teaching. The question is, how do you know as a teacher which it
should be? Experience? "Tradition"? Somebody else's written
instructions? Sometimes the previous or following figure might give a
hint by which hand is, or needs to be, free.

Andy in Portland

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 14:01:08 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 16:55:36 -0500
From: franch-AT-juno.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021215.165536.-370415.4.franch-AT-juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Some time ago, Bruce Hamilton asked the list how we felt about receiving
unasked help (prompting from other dancers) during a dance.  I gained a
lot from his discussion of this issue last summer at Buffalo Gap,
although I'm still not comfortable with a blanket prohibition on
freelance prompting.  Since last summer, however, I've become aware that
I have two kinds of reactions to unasked for help.  I don't know if the
following reinforces Bruce's prohibition or adds nuance to the
discussion, but I offer it for your comment. 

1.  Sometimes I'm grateful for help.  For example, I've been waiting out
and daydreaming and suddenly I'm in and I momentarily don't have a clue
what to do.  Or, I'm doing a complex dance that I've never done before
and need a little help to get over a bout of befuddlement.  Someone will
give me a reminder, and for this relief, much thanks.

2.  But I find that my blood pressure really rises when the help
continues.  The helper assumes that because I needed help at Point A, I
will also need it for Points B, C, . . . and thus offers it.  I'm afraid
that I have such a strong reaction to this that, a week ago at the
practice session for the Germantown Ball, I was rude to a person who
helped me when I really needed help, and then proffered directions in the
next figure which, unbeknownst to him and contrary to the evidence of the
previous figure, I knew.

The above individual was not one of those people who works his or her way
up and down the line automatically telling all encountered what to do. 
Such a person is an unalloyed nuisance.  Indeed, the kind individual who
set me off had reason to think that I needed help--which in fact, I did
at one point.  Maybe the corollary to Bruce's rule that I'm offering here
is to help when the dance floor behavior shows it's really necessary, but
then not to assume that further help is necessary without evidence that
it's needed.  This is advice for me as well as for thee, of course.

Comments?

Mike Franch
Baltimore Md. USA
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 14:42:38 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 17:41:27 -0500
From: "Dawn C. Culbertson" <dcculb-AT-juno.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021215.174135.-268059.23.dcculb-AT-juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT



On Sun, 15 Dec 2002 16:55:36 -0500 franch-AT-juno.com writes:
> Some time ago, Bruce Hamilton asked the list how we felt about 
> receiving
> unasked help (prompting from other dancers) during a dance.  I 
> gained a
> lot from his discussion of this issue last summer at Buffalo Gap,
> although I'm still not comfortable with a blanket prohibition on
> freelance prompting.  

Where does such a prohibition exist?

Since last summer, however, I've become aware 
> that
> I have two kinds of reactions to unasked for help.
> 
> 1.  Sometimes I'm grateful for help.  For example, I've been waiting 
> out
> and daydreaming and suddenly I'm in and I momentarily don't have a 
> clue
> what to do.  Or, I'm doing a complex dance that I've never done 
> before
> and need a little help to get over a bout of befuddlement.  Someone 
> will
> give me a reminder, and for this relief, much thanks.
> 
> 2.  But I find that my blood pressure really rises when the help
> continues.  The helper assumes that because I needed help at Point 
> A, I
> will also need it for Points B, C, . . . and thus offers it. 

I think it all boils down to being sensitive to the other dancers in your
line/set/circle/whatever. If someone really does look like they're not
sure what direction to go, what figure comes next, etc. it certainly
doesn't seem to me to be a problem for someone who does know to give them
a brief reminder (perhaps point in the right direction, give a one or
two-word prompt, et al), but once they're past that point it seems to me
presumptuous and rude to keep it up unless they're obviously lost and
causing the set to fall apart.

> The above individual was not one of those people who works his or 
> her way
> up and down the line automatically telling all encountered what to 
> do. 
> Such a person is an unalloyed nuisance.  

I've dealt with individuals who do this and indeed find them nuisances,
because in many cases their "help" isn't welcome or even necessary, and
it's insulting to the other dancers. In some cases where the individual
was especially presistent, I thought they might benefit greatly from
spending some time in a brank (a sort of metal hood that was used to
punish gossips in colonial America--it basically prevented them from
talking). (BTW, having been at many of the dances Mike's attended, I'd
like to offer my apologies to him if I've ever been guilty of that.)


Dawn Culbertson
Baltimore Md. USA



________________________________________________________________
Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today
Only $9.95 per month!
Visit www.juno.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 15:32:52 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 15:32:39 -0800
From: Chris Sackett & Brooke Friendly <friendsack-AT-opendoor.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <3DFD1116.A640C4A7-AT-opendoor.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; x-mac-creator=4D4F5353; x-mac-type=54455854; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021215.174135.-268059.23.dcculb-AT-juno.com>

Pointing. I ask dancers in our group to avoid pointing. More often than not
the person they are pointing for comes to them (seeing an outstretched hand)
rather than going in the direction being pointed at. And the pointer runs
the risk of having their arm in someone else's way and/or being late for
what they are supposed to be doing. And then when several dancers all point
at once...ack.

And when two or three people are giving one or two word prompts
simultaneously it is amazing how unhelpful it can be.

We have dancers in our group who, even though they may 'look' like they
don't know what to do next (and in fact may not know), don't find a lot of
help from other dancers on the floor to be helpful. In fact it often adds to
their frustration level. When they have a partner who is giving subtle and
silent cues (a big smile, a slight tilt of the head, standing still, lifting
hands for a turn a fraction before it's necessary...), they are much calmer
and able to pick up on what to to do.

Brooke Friendly
Ashland OR


"Dawn C. Culbertson" wrote:

> I think it all boils down to being sensitive to the other dancers in your
> line/set/circle/whatever. If someone really does look like they're not
> sure what direction to go, what figure comes next, etc. it certainly
> doesn't seem to me to be a problem for someone who does know to give them
> a brief reminder (perhaps point in the right direction, give a one or
> two-word prompt, et al), but once they're past that point it seems to me
> presumptuous and rude to keep it up unless they're obviously lost and
> causing the set to fall apart.

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 15:50:01 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 18:49:52 -0500 (EST)
From: JBGrun-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <7c.32c14d32.2b2e6f20-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


In a message dated 12/15/02 5:02:30 PM, franch-AT-juno.com writes:

<< But I find that my blood pressure really rises when the help
continues.  The helper assumes that because I needed help at Point A, I
will also need it for Points B, C, . . . and thus offers it.  >>

Yes, yes! Very annoying & humiliating. One of my particular peeves is the 
partner who, when one instinctively begins to move on  the upbeat -- how can 
one not? -- attempts to physically restrain one, whispering loudly, "not 
YET!" I'm always at a loss as to how to respond, because there's no WAY I'm 
not going to continue doing this (it's sort of beyond my conscious control.) 
Of course my friends & favorite partners begin moving before the downbeat as 
well so there's never a problem.

Judy Grunberg
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 19:17:52 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 22:17:43 -0500
From: Patricia Ruggiero <ruggierop-AT-earthlink.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000601c2a4b1$b28b5e80$b5c4c943-AT-g9tfz>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Mike wrote:

"....Maybe the corollary to Bruce's rule that I'm offering here is to help
when the dance floor behavior shows it's really necessary, but then not to
assume that further help is necessary without evidence that
it's needed......Comments?"

Agreed.  I assume that the dancer is intelligent enough to have learned from
the cue, and that subsequence cueing is not necessary unless requested or
*obviously* needed.

Pat
Charlottesville, Virginia

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 19:17:56 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 22:17:44 -0500
From: Patricia Ruggiero <ruggierop-AT-earthlink.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: when to move.  Was: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000701c2a4b1$b33e0cb0$b5c4c943-AT-g9tfz>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Judy wrote:
".... when one instinctively begins to move on  the upbeat -- how can one
not?"

I'm afraid I have to disagree that moving on the upbeat is "instinctive";
I'd say it is a matter of habit, developed because almost everyone else is
doing it.  How can one not?  Train oneself merely to rise off one's heels on
the upbeat, in anticipation of the next phrase.

Pat

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 20:04:16 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 23:03:57 -0500
From: Diane Schmit <dschmit-AT-ix.netcom.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.1.1.6.0.20021215224724.029c6888-AT-popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

At 05:41 PM 12/15/2002, Dawn wrote:

>If someone really does look like they're not
>sure what direction to go, what figure comes next, etc. it certainly
>doesn't seem to me to be a problem for someone who does know to give them
>a brief reminder


Often, the "someone who does know" doesn't really....

Diane
Maryland



================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 05:53:29 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 05:53:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of "turn"
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021216135326.36681.qmail-AT-web13104.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_QTILq4OSCN5h6fJEqRYi5g)"


--Boundary_(ID_QTILq4OSCN5h6fJEqRYi5g)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


My glances at Feuillet-notation English country dances (in Feuillet, Essex, Jayme &c.) suggests that often as not, the default "turn" where indicated (Essex usually leaves it out) is in fact a turn by the right hand--even where I might have expected to find a turn by two hands. You can indicate a turn in Feuillet--a little claw-like symbol appears, to the right or left or both of the foot-position symbols. When the hand or hands are released, a bar/slash appears at the base of the claw. 
In his notes to *The Assembly*, Tom Cook murmurs something about a general preference for going to the *left.* Which, arguably, has something to do with the relative frequency of clockwise motion (r-h turn; two-hand turns, which for us, go cw; passing by right shoulder; circles left). I'm not prepared to say that there is a species-wide preference for heading left, tho' it is the apparent direction of the sun's "movement" (check nearest sundial)--it's simply food for thought.     
Now you're going to ask me *which* dances I mean--and I'd have to go look them up.  
 Andy Peterson <lyrlsbro-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:--- Patricia Ruggiero wrote:
> The Strathspey List posed the question of what does the term "turn"
> mean, in original instructions, when unmodified by any other
> instruction.
> 
> Using _The Playford Ball_ (Keller and Shimer) as a way of comparing
> original instructions to reconstructions, I see that Sharp, Pat
> Shaw, and others interpret "turn" as being done with two hands. 
> The question is: how did they know that? Was this an arbitrary
> choice, or are there sources that say, or at least strongly imply,
> that a "turn" is a two-handed figure?

To me, "turn" doesn't at all imply that it be with two hands. The
person teaching should specify right, left or two handed turns when
teaching. The question is, how do you know as a teacher which it
should be? Experience? "Tradition"? Somebody else's written
instructions? Sometimes the previous or following figure might give a
hint by which hand is, or needs to be, free.

Andy in Portland

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com

Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_QTILq4OSCN5h6fJEqRYi5g)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE

<P>My glances at Feuillet-notation English country dances (in Feuille=
t, Essex, Jayme &amp;c.) suggests that&nbsp;often as not, the&nbsp;de=
fault "turn" where indicated (Essex usually leaves it out) is in fact=
 a turn by the right hand--even where I might have expected to find a=
 turn by two hands.&nbsp;You can indicate a turn in Feuillet--a littl=
e claw-like symbol appears, to the right or left or both of the foot-=
position symbols. When the hand or hands are released, a bar/slash ap=
pears at the base of the&nbsp;claw.&nbsp;
<P>In his notes to&nbsp;*The Assembly*, Tom Cook murmurs something ab=
out a general preference for going to the *left.* Which, arguably, ha=
s something to do with the relative frequency of clockwise motion (r-=
h turn; two-hand turns,&nbsp;which for us,&nbsp;go cw; passing by rig=
ht shoulder; circles left). I'm not prepared to say that&nbsp;there i=
s a species-wide preference for heading left, tho' it is the apparent=
 direction of the sun's "movement" (check nearest sundial)--it's simp=
ly food for thought.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<P>Now you're going to ask me *which* dances I mean--and I'd have to =
go look them up.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<P>&nbsp;<B><I>Andy Peterson &lt;lyrlsbro-AT-yahoo.com&gt;</I></B> wrote=
:
<BLOCKQUOTE style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT=
: #1010ff 2px solid">--- Patricia Ruggiero <RUGGIEROP-AT-EARTHLINK.NET>w=
rote:<BR>&gt; The Strathspey List posed the question of what does the=
 term "turn"<BR>&gt; mean, in original instructions, when unmodified =
by any other<BR>&gt; instruction.<BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; Using _The Playfor=
d Ball_ (Keller and Shimer) as a way of comparing<BR>&gt; original in=
structions to reconstructions, I see that Sharp, Pat<BR>&gt; Shaw, an=
d others interpret "turn" as being done with two hands. <BR>&gt; The =
question is: how did they know that? Was this an arbitrary<BR>&gt; ch=
oice, or are there sources that say, or at least strongly imply,<BR>&=
gt; that a "turn" is a two-handed figure?<BR><BR>To me, "turn" doesn'=
t at all imply that it be with two hands. The<BR>person teaching shou=
ld specify right, left or two handed turns when<BR>teaching. The ques=
tion is, how do you know as a teacher which it<BR>should be? Experien=
ce? "Tradition"? Somebody else's written<BR>instructions?=20

<a href=3D"http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.co=
m">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href=3D"http://rd.=
yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>


--Boundary_(ID_QTILq4OSCN5h6fJEqRYi5g)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 07:07:43 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 10:07:21 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFD3379C70.28578799-ON85256C91.004FDFAB-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


It can alleviate some of the bad vibes if the leader warns people in
advance that they may experience assistance from their peers on the floor
during the dance. I do this if I have reason to suspect that it WILL happen
in the upcoming number.  I encourage experienced dancers to communicate
help and reminders more by example or subtle suggestive moves than by words
or tactless remarks on the fly. For example, as a dancer I have often found
that simply by adjusting my postion to leave the new position wide open for
my neighbor, bewilderment in his/her face becomes a look of "Oh yeah, now I
remember" kind of enlightenment. I simple flourish of the hand, tilt of the
head, or shift of the eyes can send clueless couples into a figure eight
they had forgotten about just as a gentle weight emphasis in the joined
hand at the end of a circle might remind people of a corner cross. As you
know from our previous discussions, I feel the music is the most compelling
coach in the dance hall and verbal communications often interphere with
this. By too stridently drawing a dancer's attention away from the music,
you handicap them at the same time that you intend to help them.

Sorry - my points:
1) It does not hurt for the leader to remind dancers that "help" from their
peers during the dance is not usually INTENDED to be rude, humiliating or
critical, and
2) Coaching dancers on the non-verbal means of communication that are
sitting right there as part of the choreography are often all it takes to
compliment the instructions embedded in the music.

Cammy

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 07:07:56 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:41:36 -0500 (EST)
From: "Roger W. Broseus" <Roger-AT-just.net>
Subject: Mind Reading, or, Re: 'Helping' During Dances (Could be "Mars and Venus")
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
CC: franch-AT-juno.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <62036.148.184.176.32.1040049696.squirrel-AT-www.weitzman.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021215.165536.-370415.4.franch-AT-juno.com>

Hi, Mike and all,

After reading the interchanges on cues between dancers, etc., I'm moved to
make a comment about communication between peoples. And, forgive me if I
sound preachy - - it's hard to find just the right words when one means to
offer constructive criticism.
-- 
Roger W. Broseus

> Some time ago, Bruce Hamilton asked the list how we felt about receiving
> unasked help (prompting from other dancers) during a dance.  I gained a
> lot from his discussion of this issue last summer at Buffalo Gap,
> although I'm still not comfortable with a blanket prohibition on
> freelance prompting.  Since last summer, however, I've become aware that
> I have two kinds of reactions to unasked for help.

[snips]

> 1.  Sometimes I'm grateful for help.

[snip]

> 2.  But I find that my blood pressure really rises when the help
> continues.  The helper assumes that because I needed help at Point A, I
> will also need it for Points B, C, . . . and thus offers it.  I'm afraid
> that I have such a strong reaction to this that, a week ago at the
> practice session for the Germantown Ball, I was rude to a person who
> helped me when I really needed help, and then proffered directions in

I once participated in a professionally led discussion on communication
between spouses.  My reaction to your comment (and a few others on ECD) is
that the difficulty with your situation is an implicit expectation that
others can read your mind. It's like the classical spouse-to-spouse
communication situation in which one is expected to know what the other
one wants. We can not read one another's minds and if, as you pointed out,
one logical result of needing help is an assumption that it might continue
to be needed, well then, the person read you mind incorrectly. Withour
direct, mind-to-mind communication, this is likely to happen. I think you
correctly diagnosed the situation. In fact, thanks for the
self-examination and public expression of the difficulty.

*I* and others get frustrated in ECD when the reaction that is 'expected'
(read: mind-reading to some extent), in English country dance, is not the
response one gets. In particular, it seems to me that there is a whole set
of expectations of behavior in ECD that, when 'violated,' sometimes
results in subtle and not-so-subtle expressions of disapproval. This is
particualry unfortunate for the new comer, especially when the person is
striving to do his/her best and meets up with a dance constable (the ECD
variant of the contra dance police). Beware the self righteous guardians
of propriety who scare-off newcomomers and even those who have achieved a
'middle-level' of dance expertise.

Of course, even the un-selfrighteousness must beware, lest they are guilty
of the very thing they criticize. I, too, have been guilty of impatience
with the dancer who is forever on the learning curve, giving unappreciated
cues. (Someone let me know about this recently at a local dance. I, too,
got red in the face.)

In the end, I recall the words of Mary Kay Friday: she described our local
dance as being primarily a 'social dance.' For me, that means working to
be accepting of new dancers, helping them along as others did me (in my
case, with a major dose of toleration), and ejoying the interactions and
good fellowship with others. In short, enjoying the dance.

Best regards,

/Roger


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:19:04 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:18:55 -0800
From: bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Drive the Cold Winter Away
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <FC0B9DA2600ED4118F76009027AA5DDD038D6909-AT-ALEX2>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

I'm not near my notes now, but as I remember this is a non-progressive set for eight, in which only the 1s get to lead the chorus.  Has anyone tried adjusting it so that the chorus is led from other positions (pretty hard) or so that it progresses?

  -Bruce

bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com  Tel: +1 650 485 2818  Fax: +1 650 485 4917
Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:23:38 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 12:23:34 -0500
From: eba-AT-umich.edu
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Drive the Cold Winter Away
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <11496937.1040041414-AT-OphthyElecGX260.med.umich.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <FC0B9DA2600ED4118F76009027AA5DDD038D6909-AT-ALEX2>

I remember doing it somewhere where the bottom man got to lead the figure 
some of the time, but it wasn't equal, and those in between still missed 
out.  I don't remember who led it.

Eric Arnold



--On Monday, December 16, 2002 9:18 AM -0800 bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com 
wrote:

> I'm not near my notes now, but as I remember this is a non-progressive
> set for eight, in which only the 1s get to lead the chorus.  Has anyone
> tried adjusting it so that the chorus is led from other positions (pretty
> hard) or so that it progresses?
>
>   -Bruce
>
> bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com  Tel: +1 650 485 2818  Fax: +1 650 485 4917
> Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:41:35 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:41:32 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Drive the Cold Winter Away
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021216174132.72003.qmail-AT-web13115.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_Q84sYndeh9HRASgxMGK/KA)"


--Boundary_(ID_Q84sYndeh9HRASgxMGK/KA)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


"Drive the Cold Winter Away" is a set dance for 8 (four couples), not first edition, but I think pre-1670. It looks very much as though, in original form, the 1st man and then the 1st woman and then the first man lead, others participating, but not leading. 
I believe that Andrew Shaw has a version where the action is led by 1st man and 4th man, 1st woman and 4th woman, for the most part--so, very likely the same that Eric has danced [but now that I look at the original, it may be more or less the dance as written]. Still, not precisely "equal" (not that I think that's always important--why *should* everyone expect to be a 1, in every dance?). Tricky to phrase, in any version, and not for all tastes. 
 eba-AT-umich.edu wrote:I remember doing it somewhere where the bottom man got to lead the figure 
some of the time, but it wasn't equal, and those in between still missed 
out. I don't remember who led it.

Eric Arnold



--On Monday, December 16, 2002 9:18 AM -0800 bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com 
wrote:

> I'm not near my notes now, but as I remember this is a non-progressive
> set for eight, in which only the 1s get to lead the chorus. Has anyone
> tried adjusting it so that the chorus is led from other positions (pretty
> hard) or so that it progresses?
>
> -Bruce
>
> bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com Tel: +1 650 485 2818 Fax: +1 650 485 4917
> Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303



Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_Q84sYndeh9HRASgxMGK/KA)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<P>"Drive the Cold Winter Away" is a set dance for 8 (four couples), not first edition, but I think pre-1670. It looks very much as though, in original form, the 1st man and then the 1st woman and then the first man lead, others participating, but not leading. 
<P>I believe that Andrew Shaw has a version where the action is&nbsp;led by 1st man and 4th man, 1st woman and 4th woman, for the most part--so, very likely the same that Eric has danced [but now that I look at the original, it may be&nbsp;more or less the dance as written]. Still, not precisely "equal" (not that I think that's always important--why *should* everyone expect to be a 1, in every dance?). Tricky to phrase, in any&nbsp;version, and not for all tastes.&nbsp;
<P>&nbsp;<B><I>eba-AT-umich.edu</I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">I remember doing it somewhere where the bottom man got to lead the figure <BR>some of the time, but it wasn't equal, and those in between still missed <BR>out. I don't remember who led it.<BR><BR>Eric Arnold<BR><BR><BR><BR>--On Monday, December 16, 2002 9:18 AM -0800 bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com <BR>wrote:<BR><BR>&gt; I'm not near my notes now, but as I remember this is a non-progressive<BR>&gt; set for eight, in which only the 1s get to lead the chorus. Has anyone<BR>&gt; tried adjusting it so that the chorus is led from other positions (pretty<BR>&gt; hard) or so that it progresses?<BR>&gt;<BR>&gt; -Bruce<BR>&gt;<BR>&gt; bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com Tel: +1 650 485 2818 Fax: +1 650 485 4917<BR>&gt; Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Graham Christian<br>"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."<p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
<a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>

--Boundary_(ID_Q84sYndeh9HRASgxMGK/KA)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 10:17:45 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 10:17:47 -0800
From: Chris Sackett & Brooke Friendly <friendsack-AT-opendoor.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Drive the Cold Winter Away
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <3DFE18CB.1F094719-AT-opendoor.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; x-mac-creator=4D4F5353; x-mac-type=54455854; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <FC0B9DA2600ED4118F76009027AA5DDD038D6909-AT-ALEX2>

Yes, only the 1s get to lead it (first one side and then the other) and they lead it from both top and bottom of the set so the others in the set all get to do the turns (which Playford just says turn and Sharp has as 2-hand turns, the first one ccw
and the second cw).

The 3rd chorus repeats the first and in the past we've changed the 3rd chorus altogether to a modified progressive grand chain sort of thing. We are planning to do it tonight and may play with the handing of the turns - I'll let you know how it goes.

Brooke Friendly
Ashland OR

bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com wrote:

> I'm not near my notes now, but as I remember this is a non-progressive set for eight, in which only the 1s get to lead the chorus.  Has anyone tried adjusting it so that the chorus is led from other positions (pretty hard) or so that it progresses?
>
>   -Bruce
>
> bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com  Tel: +1 650 485 2818  Fax: +1 650 485 4917
> Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 10:19:28 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 18:16:19 +0000 (gmt)
From: Matthew Lewis <matthew.lewis-AT-ic.ac.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: London: Baroque Dance Steps for Country Dance
To: ECD List <ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0212161806020.15682-100000-AT-disraeli.ma.ic.ac.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


(Posting on behalf of Philippa Waite)

This is just to inform you all about a series of Workshops to be held at
Cecil Sharp House in London, starting in January 2003.

Full details at:

  http://homepage.ntlworld.com/p.waite3/classes/london-cd.html

Quick summary:

  An Introduction to Baroque Dance Steps for use in Country Dancing

                           Cecil Sharp House
                        Saturdays: 2.15 - 5.45

                     January 18th      March 15th
                       May 17th        July 19th
                    September 20th   November 15th

 Fees:  6 pounds per session (concessions/EFDSS members 5 pounds)

This series of workshops will concentrate on the Baroque dance technique
required to master steps typically used in the country dances of the late
17th and early 18th centuries.  In each workshop, the emphasis will be on
mastering the correct style of dancing Baroque steps that can be
incorporated in one or two country dances chosen for each workshop.

For further information, please contact Philippa Waite, tel: 029 2049 0680
mobile: 07976 374482

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 10:24:10 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:24:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Mind Reading, or, Re: 'Helping' During Dances (Could be "Mars and Venus")
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.03.10212161316520.27833-100000-AT-research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

This is an interesting discussion. It seems to me that the person mainly
responsible for hints is the partner.  If the dancing couple is clueless
after a walkthrough and two rounds, then the leader ought to intervene.  

When I ask someone to dance, the first thing we do is exchange names, if
my partner is new to me.  Then we have some social conversation about
dancing while the sets are forming, which gives me a good idea of my
partners experience level before we start.  If the person has no prior
dance experience then on the walk throughs I might try to make some short
additional comments about the figures-when we do a circular hey, we are
walking around a square and so on.  This gives me a prompt I can use
during the dance if my partner seems confuse-"walk around the square".
Cammy in his post alluded to a group of subtle techniques for giving cues
during the dance-finishing a turn giving a slight additional pressure to
give the direction for the next movement, incorporating a hand flourish
giving directions on figure eights into your dance style.  Courtesy
movements can become useful clues. For verbal cues it depends on how my
partner and I are doing, and my partners experience level.  With
experienced dancers who occasionally lose the figure, I wait until its
clear that theyve lost it-next time through I again wait at the same point
using discrete non-verbal clues if possible before the figure.You do want
to give your partner every chance to recover on their own. We cant be
mind readers, but we can be body readers.  With inexperienced dancers who
are trusting me to get them through the dance I do more.

Our attitude toward inexperienced dancers is really important; its easy to
be annoyed with them if you interpret their false starts as cues, then get
thrown off yourself.  It is enjoyable to try to rise to the challenge,
though. Think ahead so you hold the proper movements in mind, so you cant
be thrown off.  There is another opportunity for experienced dancers. By
dancing with you, an inexperienced partner is making herself vulnerable.
Vulnerability offers a way to make a connection. For me there are few
experiences better than making a difficult dance seem easy to an
inexperienced, but emotionally responsive partner.

Best,
 Terry


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 10:51:15 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:53:09 -0500
From: Alisa Dodson <alisa-AT-capercat.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <v03020900ba23d02b6dac-AT-[63.27.86.37]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Judy G wrote:

 One of my particular peeves is the
>partner who, when one instinctively begins to move on  the upbeat -- how can
>one not? -- attempts to physically restrain one, whispering loudly, "not
>YET!"

I've noticed the opposite problem:  someone moving well before the phrase
(and I don't mean on the upbeat, but just arriving way early and going on
early, not hearing the music) who offers me "help" because I have not moved
on early with them.  I like to stay in tune with my partner, but there are
limits... I usually just nod thanks but don't go til it's time.  Any good
advice for this kind of problem?

Alisa


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 11:00:03 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:59:56 -0500 (EST)
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.03.10212161356360.27833-100000-AT-research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT



On Mon, 16 Dec 2002, Alisa Dodson wrote:

> Judy G wrote:
> 
>  One of my particular peeves is the
> >partner who, when one instinctively begins to move on  the upbeat -- how can
> >one not? -- attempts to physically restrain one, whispering loudly, "not
> >YET!"
> 
> I've noticed the opposite problem:  someone moving well before the phrase
> (and I don't mean on the upbeat, but just arriving way early and going on
> early, not hearing the music) who offers me "help" because I have not moved
> on early with them.  I like to stay in tune with my partner, but there are
> limits... I usually just nod thanks but don't go til it's time.  Any good
> advice for this kind of problem?
> 
> Alisa
> 
> 
This is a problem if partner is finishing a move you have been standing
still for.  I try holding up my forefinger and smiling, thne making an
extra effort to connect when it is time to go, but it's not a sure
solution.

best,
Terry

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 11:12:55 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:12:50 +0000
From: Orly Krasner <okrasner-AT-hotmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Further Flights and Flying
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
BCC: 
Message-ID: <BAY1-F3965YXw9PCNM60001482f-AT-hotmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


Hi, All--
    For anyone interested in purchasing Wendy Crouch's books (Flights of 
Fancy, Further Flights of Fancy), I have several copies available.  And 
while we're on the subject of flying. . . if you haven't heard  "Taking 
Off," the debut CD by the Flying Romanos, then this should top your 
Gotta-have-it-for-the-Holidays list.  It's a fabulous mix of old favorites 
and soon-to-be favorites energetically played by RObin Russell, MArnen 
Laibow-Koser and NOrma Castle.  They're local talent to the New York scene, 
so we're a little jaded having heard them "grow up" (so to speak) .  But I 
guess the word is out now and we're going to have to share them.  They 
played for our regular dance last Tuesday (Graham Christian was our guest 
caller) and at the end of the evening everybody was raving about how great 
the dance was!  I don't have my copy with me at the moment so I can't post 
the contents of the CD.  For further info about buying them in the 
quantities you'll need to stuff all your stockings, contact Susan Amesse or 
Robin Russell--I think they're both on this list.
Ho, Ho, Ho,
--Orly Krasner
okrasner-AT-hotmail.com




_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 12:06:02 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 14:32:04 -0500
From: "Dawn C. Culbertson" <dcculb-AT-juno.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Another "Carol" to dance
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021216.150030.-268059.46.dcculb-AT-juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT



On Fri, 13 Dec 2002 15:45:20 -0500 Ellen Tepper <etepper-AT-juno.com>
writes:
> Another, though rarely sung "carol" in the ECD rep would be "Drive 
> the
> Cold Winter Away" sometimes indexed as "All hail to the days"
> The words, published by Durfey in 1702 (or so) speak of a benevolent
> attitude during the winter season.

Here's a version I have on a cassette by Owain Phyfe, a singer/guitarist
who's also a member of a group called the New World Renaissance Band. His
diction is a little unclear in parts, so there's a few words I'm not sure
of:

All hail to the days that merit more praise than all the rest of the year
And welcome the nights with double delights, as well for the poor as the
peer
Sweet blessings attend each merry man's friend, that over adversity may
(?)
Forgetting all wrongs, with poems and songs, to drive the cold winter
away.

'Tis ill for the mind with inclined to think of small injuries now
If frost thee do seek (?), doth lend her thy cheek, don't let her inhabit
thy brow
Cross out of thy books malevolent looks, for beauty and youth decay
And spend the long nights in honest delights, to drive the cold winter
away.

This time of the year is spent in good cheer, with neighbors together to
meet
To sit by the fire with friendly desire, with others in love to greet
All grudges forgot, a port in the pot (?), all sorrows aside they lay
The old and the young go carol this song, to drive the cold winter away.

Dawn Culbertson
Baltimore, MD

________________________________________________________________
Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today
Only $9.95 per month!
Visit www.juno.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 12:53:54 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 15:54:02 -0500
From: Alixe Dancer <alixed-AT-options.org>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU, ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <E18O2FW-0002K6-00-AT-nghost.nghsecure.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Alixe writes:

Reading these comments, it occurs to me that men and women have 
different experiences of being helped, and probably different socially 
acceptable ways of helping. For dancers used to "global" terminology, 
things might be different.


> Judy G wrote:
> 
>  One of my particular peeves is the
> >partner who, when one instinctively begins to move on  the upbeat -- 
how can
> >one not? -- attempts to physically restrain one, whispering 
loudly, "not
> >YET!"
> 
> I've noticed the opposite problem:  someone moving well before the 
phrase
> (and I don't mean on the upbeat, but just arriving way early and 
going on
> early, not hearing the music) who offers me "help" because I have not 
moved
> on early with them.  I like to stay in tune with my partner, but 
there are
> limits... I usually just nod thanks but don't go til it's time.  Any 
good
> advice for this kind of problem?
> 
> Alisa
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Alixe Dancer
alixed-AT-options.org
Mon-Fri cell # 541 643-4193

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:48:24 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:48:20 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: All hail to the poeticule!
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021216214820.48868.qmail-AT-web13104.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_RieE38lt6MvW6ZG69S5iNA)"


--Boundary_(ID_RieE38lt6MvW6ZG69S5iNA)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


"All hail to the days," as we have it now, is a mixture of Jacobean and Restoration verse. That is, Thomas D'Urfey preserved an existing song and lyrics from early in the 17th c. or so--perhaps 6 verses?--and added several more verses of his own in the same meter and a tolerable imitation of the earlier style (the older edition of the Oxford Book of Carols has the exact breakdown of trad-D'Urfey).

A beautiful tune and charming words. For the complete set of lyrics, you'd have to go to D'Urfey's collection, *Wit and Mirth*--modern Web and printed sources all simply seem to reproduce the same handful of verses selected by the Oxford editors.   

Poor old Tom D'Urfey gets a lot of bad press as a hack--but he was both ingenious and industrious (He wrote, among other things, "Wa is me"). We can't *all* be Milton or Marvell, you know.


Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_RieE38lt6MvW6ZG69S5iNA)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<P>"All hail to the days,"&nbsp;as we have it&nbsp;now, is a mixture of&nbsp;Jacobean and Restoration verse. That is,&nbsp;Thomas D'Urfey preserved an existing song and lyrics from early in the&nbsp;17th c. or so--perhaps 6 verses?--and added several more verses of his own in the same meter and a tolerable imitation of the earlier style (the older edition of the Oxford Book of Carols has the exact breakdown of trad-D'Urfey).</P>
<P>A beautiful tune and charming words. For the complete set of lyrics, you'd have to go to D'Urfey's collection, *Wit and Mirth*--modern Web and printed sources all simply seem to reproduce the same handful of verses selected by the Oxford editors.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</P>
<P>Poor old Tom D'Urfey gets a lot of bad press as a hack--but he was&nbsp;both ingenious and industrious (He wrote, among other things, "Wa is me"). We can't *all* be Milton or Marvell, you know.</P><BR><BR>Graham Christian<br>"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."<p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
<a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>

--Boundary_(ID_RieE38lt6MvW6ZG69S5iNA)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:57:05 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 16:55:51 -0500
From: Torbin Zimmerman <torbin-AT-sympatico.ca>
Subject: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD List - Post <ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <3DFE4BE7.5040805-AT-sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

ECD in Toronto wants to add a couple of paragraphs to its flyer that
will attract musicians to sit in at its weekly dances.

We're aiming people who have never heard of English country dancing; we
want to make playing for it sound interesting and give some idea of
what's expected. If anyone is willing to share some words that might do
the job, please let us know. Respond off list, if you want.

Many thanks,

Torbin Zimmerman
torbin-AT-sympatico.ca


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 14:13:26 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 17:13:19 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OF9D60F164.838791BF-ON85256C91.0078E420-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


Dear Torbin Zimmerman,
There is a page on my website dedicated to the sit-ins. I don't know that
it properly conveys the nature of the music, but I hope it conveys my
attitude toward sit-ins. I regularly have from 4-10 sit-ins at each dance.
In conversation with likely suspects, I tell them that, for the english I
am striving for a baroque ensemble sound - like chamber music.
Go to:
http://home.earthlink.net/~manystrings/dance3.html

then click on "Music" and see some sample downloadable pdfs, and midi
files. Near the bottom you will see my "rules for sit-ins."  I find it
helpful to start with ground-rules so that expectations are not
tremendously off base.

Besides the webpage, I provide the sit-ins with looseleaf noteboooks of
sheetmusic for them to read if they want it and I encourage them to tape
record the tunes. I also keep a mailing list of sit-ins and send them abc
format music between dances. One of them keeps a log of what dances and
tunes we did and who played etc... I feel that by doing these things I have
created a self perpetuating culture that makes it easy for new arrivals to
get up to speed quickly and feel appreciated early in their tenure.
Hope this helps,
Cammy

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 14:27:02 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 14:21:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing <winston-AT-SLAC.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <01KQ3PVZAR6GAJMPGJ-AT-SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; CHARSET=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Torbin wrote:

> ECD in Toronto wants to add a couple of paragraphs to its flyer that
> will attract musicians to sit in at its weekly dances.

> We're aiming people who have never heard of English country dancing; we
> want to make playing for it sound interesting and give some idea of
> what's expected. If anyone is willing to share some words that might do
> the job, please let us know. Respond off list, if you want.

What's worked for the Regency group in the Bay Area has been that one of our
regular musicians is active in sessions / jams  and recruits there.  It seems
to be orders of magnitude more effective to have someone who's heard you play
say "you should come play at the Regency dance on Friday" than to see a general
printed material.  

(The words on our flyer are "Musicians: Play for dancing and get in free!")

At the Palo Alto BACDS English dances which have sit-in musicians, my
impression is  that the  majority of sit-ins came to the dance as dancers
first, and might then have been inspired to pick up an instrument they'd laid
aside, sometimes years before.

-- Alan

===============================================================================
 Alan Winston --- WINSTON-AT-SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
 Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL   Phone:  650/926-3056
 Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA   94025
===============================================================================

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 14:39:29 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 22:37:35 +0000
From: Ron Hawkins <rhawk-AT-wmnt.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <MABBKHHLHFFIDCFJKJBBAELICMAA.rhawk-AT-wmnt.freeserve.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

 It seems
> to be orders of magnitude more effective to have someone who's
> heard you play
> say "you should come play at the Regency dance on Friday" than to
> see a general printed material.


I'd second that Alan.   I would probably never have gone to John Chapman's
club in Stratford on Avon to play for him, unless he and Dee had heard us
play and said "can you come and play at the club one Monday?".  If I'd just
heard that musicians could turn up and play I probably wouldn't have done
so.

Ron H


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 15:41:56 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 15:41:49 -0800 (PST)
From: Barbara Ruth <barbararuth-AT-rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Thomas Hardy Event--me too!
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021216234149.47225.qmail-AT-web13601.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

If Graham is going I am too.

Barbara

--- Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> I'd sign up for that tour--I've had the privilege of doing a little
> workshop with Mellstock, and I think they, and their project, are
> both marvelous. 


>  Gene Murrow <gmurrow-AT-juno.com> wrote:Sounds like a great evening,
> Ann.
> 
> Let the list know as soon as the next date is set. We state-siders
> might
> be able to organize a tour or something...
> 
> Gene
> 
> 
> On Sun, 08 Dec 2002 23:06:26 +0000 Ann Higley
> writes:
> > I have just returned from a simply wonderful Christmas event 
> > organised by
> > the Thomas Hardy Society together with the singers and musicians
> of the Madding Crowd Quire. 

=====
"There is no inverse relationship between freedom and security. Less of one does not lead to more of the other. People with no rights are not safe from terrorist attack."  Molly Ivins

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 17:04:34 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 17:04:24 -0800
From: Jon Berger <jberger-AT-sbcglobal.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <3DFE7818.740A0A47-AT-sbcglobal.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <MABBKHHLHFFIDCFJKJBBAELICMAA.rhawk-AT-wmnt.freeserve.co.uk>

Ok, I have a painful confession to make.  I don't know how to say this
without coming off as an elitist snob, and I grudgingly recognize the
possibility that that mean I *am* an elitist snob, but the sad fact is that
I really dislike "open band" English dances and generally don't play them. 
Playing with beginners who are stuggling, often unsuccessfully, just to
play the notes in the right order isn't that much fun for me.  To me,
what's fun about ECD playing is the interaction between the musicians, the
on-the-fly creation of arrangements, the unspoken "take a solo here and
I'll play harmony," and the beginners just can't participate in that, and
often unwittingly jump all over what everyone else is trying to do.

In half-hearted defense of my attitude, I'll point out that playing an
English dance every couple of weeks is not going to turn a beginner into an
intermediate player.  Someone who played a little clarinet back in
elementary school and decides to pull the old instrument out and play some
dances is going to be a beginner forever, and encouraging this (purely
hypothetical) person to come out and play is not going to have the desired
effect of increasing the ranks of core players, or paid band, or leaders,
or whatever term you want to use for the ones who get to play into the
microphones.  If the availability of dances as a performance venue
encourages someone to start practicing regularly, or take lessons, or do
whatever it takes to improve their playing, then I'm all in favor, but my
observation is that most people who play at open-band dances sound pretty
much the same from one to the next.

On the other hand, here's a true story: back in the mists of time, before I
started refusing to play open-band dances, I was setting up to play the
Berkeley English dance one night when this woman wandered in, said "I heard
it was ok to sit in with the band," and pulled out a soprano recorder. 
Controlling the powerful urge to roll my eyes heavenward, I said, through
only slightly gritted teeth, "Sure, that would be nice.  Why don't you sit
over there?", indicating a chair in the approximate vicinity of Outer
Mongolia.  She did.  And then we started playing, and she started whipping
out these perfectly in tune, precisely on the beat, utterly suited to the
tune, 16-to-the-bar improvisations around the melody line that demonstrated
a keenly developed understanding of the musical style, and a whole ****load
of practicing.  This, it turned out, was Judith Linsenberg, one of the top
Renaissance recorder players in the country, a noted recorder teacher, and
director of Musica Pacifica, a consort that has made numerous Baroque and
Renaissance CDs for the Dorian label.  So we invited her to sit a little
closer.  Judy is now one of the jewels of the Bay Area ECD music scene, and
I'm certainly delighted that there was a policy in place that let her play
that night.  But the Judys are few and far between, and I still don't much
like open bands.

As an alternative, it seems to me that recruiting from the ranks of people
who already play classical music of some sort, but haven't been introduced
to dance playing, would be a profitable way to go.  High school orchestra
teachers, college music departments, bulletin boards at instrument shops,
and classical-music discussion lists all seem like they'd be good places to
try.

-- 
Jon Berger
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jberger
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 18:52:24 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 21:39:37 -0500
From: Gene Murrow <gmurrow-AT-juno.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Music, dance, and elitism
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021216.213944.-522527.8.gmurrow-AT-juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Just read Jon Berger's post about sit-in musicians, with which I largely
agree (for whatever that's worth).

His fear of being perceived as an "elitist snob," and the current thread
about appropriate help for dancers, reflect the perennial struggle to
reconcile our desires to enlarge and strengthen our community with the
desires of accomplished and experienced musicians and dancers to enjoy
ECD on a high level among their peers.  

Why are "elitist" and "snob" so often linked?  One can be elitist without
being a snob (though the temptations are many).  There are times when it
is appropriate to be elitist; it keeps the accomplished folks interested,
and provides a goal for the newcomers, encouraging them to improve.  The
solution for ECD groups is not to try to be all things to all people at
all times, but to plan a variety of experiences to accommodate different
goals.  Music workshops for people who are not facile players but who
wish to play for dancing (viz. Marshall Barron's dance band workshops);
occasional "open mic" bands to give those folks a chance to play for the
"real thing" and be introduced to and helped by the experienced players;
"by invitation" sit-in bands to encourage accomplished players recruited
from orchestras, music schools, etc. to try their hand at ECD (as we
often do at Early Music Week at Pinewoods); evenings when no sit-ins are
allowed, to give the house band a chance to enjoy one another's music
making; beginning dancer workshops where lots of help is available to
beginners, from other dancers and the teacher; open dance parties for all
to build community; "elitist" dances for just the most experienced
dancers (no teaching, limited calling, challenging dances).

I recognize this is a big organizational challenge, both for small groups
with limited resources and large groups with organizational complexity,
but, IMHO, the principle is one worth keeping in mind and using when
planning our dance seasons.

Gene

P.S.  Next time you see me on the dance floor, ask me for the story about
the harp player who sat in at Pinewoods back in the early 70's ... 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Permanent address: <gmurrow-AT-post.harvard.edu> - for your Address book
ISP of the moment: <gmurrow-AT-juno.com>         - "Reply" button
destination
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:35:05 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 08:58:14 -0500
From: Maryn McKenna <mmckenna-AT-mindspring.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20021216084559.00a1ec40-AT-mindspring.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

a very interesting discussion. i've noticed that unnecessary helping 
sometimes arises from a mismatch in understanding, between helper and 
relucant help-ee, of what "beat" means. me, for instance, i feel a beat  as 
having a beginning, a middle, and an end - you can choose to land on any 
one of them, and my preference is to luxuriously use up as much of them as 
possible. i always get where i'm going on time, but not before time. 
someone who feels a beat as a unitary thing, though, will worry that i am 
in danger of getting there late and will try to chivvy me along. irksome, 
of course, because they are not just assuming i am ignorant of the dance, 
but implicitly criticizing my style choice as well.

this naturally does not apply to the times when my brain actually has 
melted and i am grateful for rescue...

maryn
atlanta



================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:45:34 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 22:45:35 -0500
From: Maryn McKenna <mmckenna-AT-mindspring.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Music, dance, and elitism
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20021216224052.00a2b9d0-AT-mindspring.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Gene's remarks on "elitism" call to mind the remark by either EB White or 
EM Forster (or White quoting Forster? i could look it up):
"I believe in an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky."
which always sounded like the sort of aristocracy, perhaps the only sort, 
that i would want to belong to - and come to think of it describes most of 
the English dancers of my acquaintance as well.

maryn, atlanta, allusively.


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:49:01 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:48:57 -0800
From: Jon Berger <jberger-AT-sbcglobal.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Music, dance, and elitism (no ECD content; snob content)
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <3DFE9EA9.DC6CA65D-AT-sbcglobal.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021216.213944.-522527.8.gmurrow-AT-juno.com>

Gene Murrow wrote:

> Why are "elitist" and "snob" so often linked?  One can be elitist without
> being a snob.

Indeed, the original snobs were quite the opposite of elitist.  The word
supposedly originated at the time that students from middle-class merchant
families began to be admitted to English universities.  When these students
were listed on the enrollment register, they were designated "s.nob.", an
abbreviation for "sine nobilitate," meaning approximately "not of the
nobility."  One supposes that these rich but low-born kids preferred to
hang out together than with their more blue-blooded colleagues.  

This is such a great word-origin story that it almost has to be apocryphal,
but my father reeled it off like it was Gospel truth, so who knows.

-- 
Jon Berger
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jberger
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 20:54:44 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 20:54:24 -0800
From: Sharon Green <mls-AT-panix.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Yet Another Christmas Dance
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20021216195702.01c5ad20-AT-popserver.panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Here are the directions to my "Merrily On High," an earlier version of 
which was taught by Helene Cornelius at Pinewoods in 1997.  Like Don Bell's 
"Trip to Woodstock" and Ellen Taylor's "Ding Dong, Merrily On High," it is 
set to the Officials' Bransle.  If the numbers work out, we'll dance it 
Wednesday in Mountain View [CA].  Otherwise, we'll be tripping along to 
Woodstock, courtesy of Don.
Happy holidays!
Sharon Green


Merrily On High
3-cu longways set

A1		Ones set and cast down [Twos lead up]
A2		Twos set and cast down [Ones lead up]
		[Ones and Twos face up; Threes face down]
B1	1-6	Morris Hey
	7-8	Ones cast into middle place [Twos lead up]
B2	1-3	Threes gate Ones down
	4-6	Twos gate Ones up
	7-8	Ones lead down to bottom while Threes cast up


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 21:20:56 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 21:20:49 -0800 (PST)
From: Andy Peterson <lyrlsbro-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of "turn"
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021217052049.98608.qmail-AT-web20009.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

-- Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:
> In his notes to *The Assembly*, Tom Cook murmurs something about a
> general preference for going to the *left.* Which, arguably, has
> something to do with the relative frequency of clockwise motion
> (r-h turn; two-hand turns, which for us, go cw; passing by right
> shoulder; circles left). I'm not prepared to say that there is a
> species-wide preference for heading left, tho' it is the apparent
> direction of the sun's "movement" (check nearest sundial)--it's
> simply food for thought.     

I recall a comment many years ago (it might have been made by Dudley
Laufman) that most dances with circles, or circular movements, at the
beginning always begin with a movement toward the left. Moving to the
right at the beginning of a dance was considered "the witches way". I
don't know what the scholarly authority for this comment might have
been.

Andy

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 21:23:47 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 00:23:37 -0500 (EST)
From: Tideswell-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: NY Ball
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <198.1265cb7d.2b300ed9-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Hello all!

Does anyone know the date of the 2003 CDNY ball?

An answer directly to <tideswell-AT-aol.com> would be much appreciated, since 
I'm not, er, um, see, I'm not getting much time to read the list lately.

Nilos, who hopes to have a life again someday.
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 22:31:23 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 22:31:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Andy Peterson <lyrlsbro-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021217063116.47790.qmail-AT-web20010.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

> Judy G wrote:
> > One of my particular peeves is the partner who, when one
> > instinctively begins to move on  the upbeat -- how can
> > one not? -- attempts to physically restrain one, whispering
> > loudly, "not YET!"
> 
--- Alisa Dodson <alisa-AT-capercat.com> wrote:
> I've noticed the opposite problem:  someone moving well before the
> phrase (and I don't mean on the upbeat, but just arriving way early
> and going on early, not hearing the music) who offers me "help"
> because I have not moved on early with them.  I like to stay in
> tune with my partner, but there are limits... I usually just nod
> thanks but don't go til it's time. 
> Any good advice for this kind of problem?

Over the years I've had people compliment me on the precise timing of
my dancing with the music. I have to agree with both Judy and Alisa
that I find it annoying when people are not dancing _to_ the music.
This is especially a problem with Contra dancers who aren't
instructed in the relationship between music and dance. (Not meaning
at all to insult the musicians among us, but on especially bad nights
I wonder why we bother having music. Why waste their time if the
dancers aren't going to listen to them?) 

Anyway, I digress...  I've been having a particular problem with a
dance that Nordlys has recently been doing frequently for
performances (now that we have enough people to do some of our eight
couple dances). It is a Swedish dance, an eight couple square
formation, and in one particular place the men are down on one knee
clapping, while the women dance around in a circle inside the square.
This is followed by two couple stars at the corners of the square,
right hand, then left hand. At the end of the left hand star the set
opens out into a large circle to the right. With my years of ECD and
the concept of flow and timing that I've been accustomed to for 35
years, I time coming out of the left hand star so that I continue
moving into the circle. Most peole get back "home" early and stop,
waiting for the next part of the dance. I've been trying for months
to get them to understand that there shouldn't be anybody standing
still at that point. The movement of the star flows directly into the
circle. Before the Scan Fair performance I even got flack from one of
the women that I'm getting back from the star late. Not true; I'm
getting back on time instead of early. You might argue that since its
a performing group, I should conform to everyone else, but the fact
that people are standing still at the beginning of the circle makes
it hard to get the circle moving. They shouldn't be stopping. I've
been fighting with this since last spring, when I started, during
rehearsals, calling out at that point in the dance to keep it moving.

Andy

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 23:00:51 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 07:00:43 +0000
From: catiegeist-AT-att.net
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Widdershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021217070043.QQHV20003.mtiwmhc13.worldnet.att.net-AT-mtiwebc09>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

When I first started Scottish Country Dancing 22 years ago, I was told that the 
circles always start to the left because that was the way the sun traveled and 
circling to the right first would be going "widdershins" (withershins), 
the "witches' way."

Catie Condran Geist, Palm Bay, Florida
English Country Dancer, Scottish Country Dancer, Contra Dancer, International 
Folk Dancer (take your pick)
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 00:52:04 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 02:54:11 -0600
From: Paul Stamler <pstamler-AT-pobox.com>
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <002601c2a5a9$df4b3820$9b86550c-AT-paulstam>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <MABBKHHLHFFIDCFJKJBBAELICMAA.rhawk-AT-wmnt.freeserve.co.uk> <3DFE7818.740A0A47-AT-sbcglobal.net>

Re Jon Berger's message:

I once had a similar experience, which I'll relate in a moment, but I think
he's right about being cautious about open band setups. Either you wind up
with perpetual beginners as he described, or (in some ways tougher to deal
with) you get highly-accomplished classical players who are incapable of
playing anything but the exact notes written on the page. They play them
beautifully. Then they play them again. And again. And again...The fact is
that playing for ECD requires an unusual blend of musical abilities -- quick
sight-reading and the ability to improvise, as well as the ability to move
improvisationally with other people.

Now the story. Back in 1992 I was at the Kimmswick dance weekend (mostly
contra). My musical partners and I were getting ready to play for an ECD
workshop when a small woman with dark hair came up and announced, "Hi -- I
play violin, and I'm going to sit in with you." We looked at each other --
but this was Kimmswick, where things are pretty loose, so I asked, "Have you
played this kind of music before?" "No." "Ummm, have you heard this kind of
music before?" "No." (Both replies with a cheerful grin.) "Ummmmm, what sort
of music *have* you played?" "Well, I was with the Hong Kong Philharmonic
for a couple of years."

Well. But it was Kimmswick, and like I said, things are loose there, so we
said, "OK, sure." Our recorder player asked if she'd like to go over a
couple of tunes before we started, and the lady said she would, so they went
around the corner while my other musical partner and I set up our gear. We
weren't quite finished when music that could only be described as angelic
came drifting around the corner. Not only angelic, but perfectly,
miraculously idiomatic for ECD. And when we played for the dancers, it was
like our fingers were connected; we turned corners perfectly together,
improvised together, and soared like we'd come from the same womb.

Her name, as some of you Midwesterners have guessed, was Pam Carson, and it
really was the first time she'd been exposed to this music. She was and is a
miracle, and we were blessed with her fiddling in the band for ten lovely
years, until we lost her to Cincinnati and another fiddler named Fred. So
miracles can happen, but, I think, only once in a lifetime. If you're lucky.

Peace,
Paul

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 04:18:30 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 12:18:10 +0000
From: Alan Corkett <alan-AT-bcorkett.freeserve.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <003101c2a5c6$5dfa7d40$51f786d9-AT-default>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT

This is an Open Invitation to all musicians to come and enjoy playing at
Halsway Manor for the Wassail Ceilidh.
I am leading what we call a "Come all Ye Band".  - entrance £5.per ticket in
advance.

The Manor is wonderfully decorated at this time of year. This is an amazing
evening of entertainment and dancing with mince pies and mulled wine served
up, as well as the bar being open.

Brian Heaton is the MC and Lord of Misrule, with guest callers, Wassailing
the Apple Tree, with West Somerset Morrismen, Bishopswood Mummers, Gerald
Stowell taking the Dickensian readings, Bonny Sartin offering a song,
tickets limited to one hundred. contact the office on 01984 618274. There
are a few left.

If you are worried at the thought of not being able to cope, just contact me
and I will enthuse you!

Alan Corkett. (enthuser!)


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 04:51:55 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 12:51:39 +0000
From: Alan Corkett <alan-AT-bcorkett.freeserve.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Fw: Attracting Musicians
To: EngCountryDance <ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <005301c2a5cb$0b92a820$51f786d9-AT-default>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

I forgot to say when!...Halsway Wassail Ceilidh 4th January 2003.
see www.halswaymanor.org.uk
Alan Corkett


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 05:14:15 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:14:05 -0500 (EST)
From: Will Linden <wlinden-AT-panix.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Widdershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.50.0212170813180.1702-100000-AT-panix2.panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021217070043.QQHV20003.mtiwmhc13.worldnet.att.net-AT-mtiwebc09>

 So why is the "line of direction" in the room constantly widdershins?

  Will, where people still think digital watches are a neat idea.



On Tue, 17 Dec 2002 catiegeist-AT-att.net wrote:

> When I first started Scottish Country Dancing 22 years ago, I was told that the
> circles always start to the left because that was the way the sun traveled and
> circling to the right first would be going "widdershins" (withershins),
> the "witches' way."
>
> Catie Condran Geist, Palm Bay, Florida
> English Country Dancer, Scottish Country Dancer, Contra Dancer, International
> Folk Dancer (take your pick)
>

Will Linden  wlinden-AT-panix.com
http://www.ecben.net/
Magic Code: MAS/GD S++ W++ N+ PWM++ Ds/r+ A-> a++ C+ G- QO++ 666 Y
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 05:59:17 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:59:09 -0500 (EST)
From: "Susan R. Lorand" <srl-AT-phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: NY Ball
To: Tideswell-AT-aol.com
CC: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.44.0212170858360.10286-100000-AT-tucson.Princeton.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

On Tue, 17 Dec 2002 Tideswell-AT-aol.com wrote:

> Hello all!
>
> Does anyone know the date of the 2003 CDNY ball?

saturday, april 5.  hope to see you there!

susie lorand

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 06:54:55 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:54:31 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFF3B5065D.3584A6DF-ON85256C92.005114AB-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


Andy said - ... I've been trying for months
to get them to understand that there shouldn't be anybody standing
still at that point. The movement of the star flows directly into the
circle. Before the Scan Fair performance I even got flack from one of
the women that I'm getting back from the star late. Not true; I'm
getting back on time instead of early. You might argue that since its
a performing group, I should conform to everyone else, ...

I agree wholeheartedly with your inclination to prefer unbroken movement
over the lurchy style that evolves when people concentrate on doing the
figures in isolation so much that they fail to use all the music that is
allotted to a figure. On the other hand, years of Morris dancing has given
me the dubious skill of being able to squelch what my very core says is the
preferred method in order to synchronize with the foreman-dictated style.
Unless it is a goal of your performance group to demonstrate that there
exist individual differences/preferences in social dance style and
interpretation (which I believe to be more worthwhile and realistic than
the canned perfornances of social dance that one often encounters) than one
must conform to the group dictate or consensus. The only solution is to
convince the group at large or the foreperson who rules that unbroken
movement is essential to the proper demonstration of this dance or this
genre.
Cammy

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 07:22:02 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 07:24:45 -0800
From: Norman Bradley <normanb-AT-pryanksters.org>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: Why do People join Dance Display Groups?
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <LPBBJKDHEJJOKCJNHOAEMEKIECAA.normanb-AT-pryanksters.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=Windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Olivia Mackay writes:
>
> I'm interested in obtaining people's reasons for joining a dance
display
> group. You may either reply on or off the list.
> Thanks, Olivia


My reasons were 3:

1) I wanted to perform at the Renaissance Faire but didn't want to just
walk around,

2) It looked like fun,

and (most importantly)

3) THAT'S WHERE THE GIRLS WERE.

For most of the history of our group there has been a "shortage" of men.
Maybe that's why most of our Directors have been women.

Norman Bradley
Merrie Pryanksters

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 07:30:46 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 10:30:39 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OF00B2E548.552DC5A3-ON85256C92.004F873C-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


Jon Berger wrote,
I really dislike "open band" English dances and generally don't play them.
Playing with beginners who are stuggling, often unsuccessfully, just to
play the notes in the right order isn't that much fun for me.  To me,
what's fun about ECD playing is the interaction between the musicians, the
on-the-fly creation of arrangements, the unspoken "take a solo here and
I'll play harmony," and the beginners just can't participate in that, and
often unwittingly jump all over what everyone else is trying to do.

Who says a "sit-in" is a "beginner?"

As an alternative, it seems to me that recruiting from the ranks of people
who already play classical music of some sort, but haven't been introduced
to dance playing, would be a profitable way to go.  High school orchestra
teachers, college music departments, bulletin boards at instrument shops,
and classical-music discussion lists all seem like they'd be good places to
try.

I have tried these with only occasional success. Unfortunately, I find it
just as hard to get a classically trained musician to play good dance music
as a complete novice. The hurdles to overcome are different, but the
mindset is often more entrenched than the amateur folk musician. Probably
the best source of musicians is the "Early Music" programs since in that
period a very large percentage of the repertoire was dance music.

I have now read the flurry of other Emails on the topic and see that there
are several examples (one is Jon's own) of how sit-ins have provided the
community with sensational talent. Although these are few and far-between,
it might be worth considering that if sit-inery were not allowed such
talent might never have graced our dance halls.
I agree that an "open band" that plays the same bad music dance after dance
and does not show progress over time is enabling the persistence of a low
standard. The sit-ins at my dances are of all technical levels from far
better than I will ever be to rank novices, but I try to stretch each of
them with what I think they can handle. I designate a featured tune or two
each time, that they are asked to practice with the intent that they will
blend with the band a little better on this one. Over the course of a year,
the sit-ins will have learned a dozen tunes that they feel they know.

I cannot think of one musician that I have hired in 25 years of calling
contras, ECD, and Scandinavian dance that did not make their start by
sitting in, including myself and all of them are eager and willing to
sit-in when the opportunity arises no matter their celebrity status. I feel
that depriving the musicians of this opportunity, and the dance community
of the rewards is a crime. Nor do I think that relegating sit-ins to
particular (and inevitably  less exciting) venues is the way to inspire
them. I know it is an unfavored view on this list, but I feel that
exclusive dances give community social dances a bad name.

But then again, I think that ECD is community social dance.
Cammy

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 07:58:19 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 10:56:59 -0500
From: Torbin Zimmerman <torbin-AT-sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <3DFF494B.3010909-AT-sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <OF00B2E548.552DC5A3-ON85256C92.004F873C-AT-biogen.com>

Campbell Kaynor wrote (in part):
> ...bulletin boards at instrument shops, and classical-music
> discussion lists...seem like they'd be good places to try.

Thanks for all your suggestions. With respect to the ones quoted, can 
you suggest a couple of paragraphs to post that will attract the kinds 
of musician so many commentators have described?

Torbin

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 07:58:33 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:58:29 -0600 (CST)
From: Jonathan Sivier <j-sivier-AT-ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of "turn"
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <200212171558.gBHFwTA25517-AT-staff2.cso.uiuc.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

> -- Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:
> > In his notes to *The Assembly*, Tom Cook murmurs something about a
> > general preference for going to the *left.* Which, arguably, has
> > something to do with the relative frequency of clockwise motion
> > (r-h turn; two-hand turns, which for us, go cw; passing by right
> > shoulder; circles left). I'm not prepared to say that there is a
> > species-wide preference for heading left, tho' it is the apparent
> > direction of the sun's "movement" (check nearest sundial)--it's
> > simply food for thought.     

   This is only the case in the northern hemisphere.

Jonathan

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:07:21 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 10:40:52 -0500 (EST)
From: "Roger W. Broseus" <Roger-AT-just.net>
Subject: Re: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <34892.148.184.176.32.1040139652.squirrel-AT-www.weitzman.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <200212171558.gBHFwTA25517-AT-staff2.cso.uiuc.edu>

Coriolis effect?

Coriolis was French and we speak her of ENGLISH country dance.
-- 
Roger W. Broseus

>> -- Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:
>> > In his notes to *The Assembly*, Tom Cook murmurs something about a
>> general preference for going to the *left.* Which, arguably, has
>> something to do with the relative frequency of clockwise motion (r-h
>> turn; two-hand turns, which for us, go cw; passing by right
>> shoulder; circles left). I'm not prepared to say that there is a
>> species-wide preference for heading left, tho' it is the apparent
>> direction of the sun's "movement" (check nearest sundial)--it's
>> simply food for thought.
>
>    This is only the case in the northern hemisphere.
>
> Jonathan



================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:24:06 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:24:01 -0800
From: robin hayden <robinhayden-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Judy Linsenberg:  mea culpa
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <Springmail.0994.1040142241.0.08901800-AT-webmail.pas.earthlink.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

I knew I'd have to come clean about this one day...

It was I who brought (dragged!) Judy Linsenberg to the dance Jon referred to. 
Earlier that summer I'd been in her (terrifying) High Intermediate Recorder
workshop at Early Music Week at Pinewoods.  When I learned that her home base
is in Berkeley (when she's not on international concert tours and whatnot,
that is), I urged her to get in touch with the Berkeley ECD group.  She was
quite ambivalent; in fact, as I recall, her first impression of ECD music was
that it was "boring," and not historically informed.  (The former: 
Impossible!!  The latter: True, but so what?)

However, I persevered.  In August I made my annual trip to the Bay Area to
visit my parents, and by prearrangement I called Judy and urged her to come to
the Wednesday dance.  "I have nothing to wear!"  she said.  I think she
envisioned us all in renaissance peasant smocks or something of that ilk. 
Footwear was also discussed, I believe.

In the event, I talked her into coming.  What she wore was just fine, and what
she played was, well, what Jon said.  :)

Robin Hayden (not an authorized agent for any aspiring ECD musicians, but I
knows one when I sees one) 
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:33:33 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:33:29 -0800
From: Jon Berger <jberger-AT-sbcglobal.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <3DFF51D9.FD887C09-AT-sbcglobal.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <OF00B2E548.552DC5A3-ON85256C92.004F873C-AT-biogen.com> <3DFF494B.3010909-AT-sympatico.ca>

Torbin Zimmerman wrote:
> 
> Campbell Kaynor wrote (in part):
> > ...bulletin boards at instrument shops, and classical-music
> > discussion lists...seem like they'd be good places to try.
> 
> Thanks for all your suggestions. With respect to the ones quoted, can
> you suggest a couple of paragraphs to post that will attract the kinds
> of musician so many commentators have described?

Well, that was actually me you were quoting, so I'll have a shot.  How
about:

Wanted: musicians to play for English country dances.  If you've seen
"Pride and Prejudice" on A&E, you've seen the general style of the dance,
but we do it without the fancy costumes and the snappy dialogue.  Requires
intermediate-level sight-reading and the ability to improvise accompaniment
lines based on a lead sheet with chords.  All sheet music will be provided,
and all instruments are welcome.  Much of the music is Baroque or
Renaissance in style, but it covers a range of styles, including Christmas
carols and ragtime.  Some money, not very much, but a wonderful opportunity
to play for an appreciative audience in a casual atmosphere.

That's just a first cut, and I'm sure others can suggest useful
modifications.  Of course, strike the final sentence if your ECD series
happens to pay musicians big bucks, but if it doesn't, it's nice to put
that up front from the start if you're advertising in a medium that's read
by pros.

I agree wholeheartedly with those that have pointed out that your basic
orchestra player is likely to just play the notes over and over.  Just
playing the notes over and over is not good.  What I think, though, is that
the ability to play the notes, as written, in tune, on the beat, reliably,
and with a reasonably pleasant tone, is a necessary but not sufficient
condition for an ECD player.  You need a lot of other qualities too, but if
you don't have that basic ability, it doesn't much matter how many of the
other qualities you have.  So I'm not by any means saying that people
recruited from the world of classical players are going to be sure-fire
successes as ECD players, but I am saying that someone who comes into it
with good reading and playing skills is a lot more likely to develop those
other qualities than someone who doesn't.   

-- 
Jon Berger
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jberger
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:42:47 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:42:36 -0800 (PST)
From: bob-AT-bobarcher.org
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Circles & widdershins
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <200212171642.IAA17316-AT-mail.eskimo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

To add to the apocryphal stories on the subject of which way to circle first, I heard that it came from a time when dances were done around churches, thus adding to the bad luck associated with widdershins.

Bob

----------------------------------------------------------
-- Bob Archer      bob-AT-bobarcher.org

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:48:43 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 11:48:36 -0500
From: eba-AT-umich.edu
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <9569453.1040125716-AT-OphthyElecGX260.med.umich.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <002601c2a5a9$df4b3820$9b86550c-AT-paulstam>

For all of the problems that "open-band" events create, from supporting 
"perpetual beginner" musicians to sounding the same over and over to 
encouraging musicians of uncertain abilities to attach themselves 
inopportunely to other bands which were not conceived as "open," they have 
some real virtues that go well beyond the occaasional real musical genius 
who takes to ECD like the duck to water.

One of these is that it provides a venue for some to make music at a level 
appripriate for them that they enjoy, and that is sufficient in itself to 
justify its existence.

But another, and one very much along the lines of the purpose of this 
discussion, is that it provides a very approachable and flexible channel 
for musicians of any ability to explore the possibilities; they may not get 
any farther than that level, but some who either already have the training 
or who have the energy and ability to learn, and who are excited about this 
music and the potential for making it their own, will get into regular 
bands or will make new ones as a result of this activity -- it lets the 
dance community know that they are interested, and if they are good, they 
get good exposure that often leads to invitations to play with established 
groups.  Through this, they then meet and earn the respect of the 
"established" musicians and get into a more elite level of activity.

So, even if it's far from the ultimate dancing experience, it's very much 
worth supporting.

Eric Arnold



================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:58:19 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:58:14 -0800
From: Jon Berger <jberger-AT-sbcglobal.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <3DFF57A6.504A683A-AT-sbcglobal.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Campbell Kaynor wrote:
> 
> Jon Berger wrote,
> I really dislike "open band" English dances and generally don't play them.
> Playing with beginners who are stuggling, often unsuccessfully, just to
> play the notes in the right order isn't that much fun for me.  To me,
> what's fun about ECD playing is the interaction between the musicians, the
> on-the-fly creation of arrangements, the unspoken "take a solo here and
> I'll play harmony," and the beginners just can't participate in that, and
> often unwittingly jump all over what everyone else is trying to do.
> 
> Who says a "sit-in" is a "beginner?"

There's certainly no law, but it's been my observation that the two usually
go together.  There are exceptions, and I even related one, but it seems
that generally when you say "all musicians welcome," you get a lot of
beginners.  (And the occasional bodhran.  Let's not even go there.)  One
could speculate about why this is; I suspect it may have something to do
with the high proportion of beginners to more advanced players in the
population of musicians as a whole, and perhaps with the lack of
opportunities for beginners to play in public.  But it seems to be the
general trend.

> Probably
> the best source of musicians is the "Early Music" programs since in that
> period a very large percentage of the repertoire was dance music.

Amen to that.  And, I gather, early-music people get trained in skills that
are useful for ECD players, like improvising bass lines from chords, or
figures, or whatever it is they use.  I have no such training myself, but I
agree that people with an early music background tend to be able to jump
right in a lot more readily than the general run of classically trained
musicians.
 
> I cannot think of one musician that I have hired in 25 years of calling
> contras, ECD, and Scandinavian dance that did not make their start by
> sitting in...

Well, I'll be breaking your streak at Monte Toyon Spring Weekend, then. 
Ok, I guess not, technically, since you didn't hire me.  But I didn't start
by sitting in with bands; I was in the house band, or paid band, or
whatever you want to call it, for both my very first ECD and my very first
contra.  (I've never sat in with a Scandinavian dance band, either,
although I own a hardingfele that I don't play very well.)

> But then again, I think that ECD is community social dance.

I do too.  But I don't know if that inescapably means that ECD music is
community social music.  It can be, of course; I've had plenty of
experiences where a group of musicians are hanging out together and strike
up a tune and a group of dancers standing nearby jumps into the dance, and
it really felt like we were all one big community of musicians and dancers,
and that was lots of fun.  But ECD playing, for the most part, feels to me
a lot more like a species of performance, with the community of social
dancers as the audience.  I think the community itself feels this way,
too.  I think that's why community dances so often make an attempt to pay
the musicians something, even if it's not very much: it's an
acknowledgement that the musicians were there to perform, not to
participate in the community activity.  If we were all there to participate
in a group social activity together, it would seem logical to charge us all
the same amount at the door, but that isn't the usual scenario.

-- 
Jon Berger
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jberger
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:44:24 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:49:23 -0800
From: Paul / Victoria Bestock <bestockp-AT-oz.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Circles & widdershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.1.20021217094642.00adad90-AT-mail.oz.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

At 08:42 AM 12/17/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>To add to the apocryphal stories on the subject of which way to circle 
>first, I heard that it came from a time when dances were done around 
>churches, thus adding to the bad luck associated with widdershins.

Yes, the circle was protective, and the early people danced sunwise.  But 
the way I heard it, it was the church that made people start dancing to the 
right because right was, well RIGHT, and left was sinistre, associated with 
evil in the Catholic world.  In any case most EARLY European dances 
went  sunwise, and later ones to the right, widdershins, counterclockwise.

Victoria



================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:47:53 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 12:47:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Mary Railing <mrailing-AT-kiva.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0212171243160.29235-100000-AT-mayhem.kiva.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

  I can't help suspecting that a preference for clockwise turns is simply 
a consequence of a preference for doing things right-handed, rather than 
anything to do with the sun, witches, etc.  If two people take right hands 
and circle, the result is a clockwise turn.
  Now someone somewhere may have decided that of course all 
right-thinking, moral people do things the right-handed way and only the 
wicked would do things backwards...

--Mary Railing (left-handed)

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:53:33 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 09:53:34 -0800
From: Chris Sackett & Brooke Friendly <friendsack-AT-opendoor.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Handing & Drive the Cold Winter Away
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <3DFF649D.3A679D1E-AT-opendoor.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; x-mac-creator=4D4F5353; x-mac-type=54455854; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <FC0B9DA2600ED4118F76009027AA5DDD038D6909-AT-ALEX2> <3DFE18CB.1F094719-AT-opendoor.com>

We did Drive the Cold Winter Away last night and did one handed turns rather than the two handed turns indicated by Sharp. I liked it a lot better. For the first turn, the #1 turns with the #3 on opposite side such that the #1 goes between the #3 and #4
at the start of the turn. The next turn with the #4 is by the other hand. (same concept on the way back up which means the handing is in the opposite order)  This makes the flow of figures work very nicely and gets the #1 moving into the appropriate
place in a natural manner. Much nicer than 2-hand turns which can work but is more cumbersome.

Although it did start snowing.

Brooke Friendly
Ashland OR

Chris Sackett & Brooke Friendly wrote:

> Yes, only the 1s get to lead it (first one side and then the other) and they lead it from both top and bottom of the set so the others in the set all get to do the turns (which Playford just says turn and Sharp has as 2-hand turns, the first one ccw
> and the second cw).
> We are planning to do it tonight and may play with the handing of the turns - I'll let you know how it goes.
>
> Brooke Friendly
> Ashland OR

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 11:11:46 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 14:07:41 -0500
From: "Dawn C. Culbertson" <dcculb-AT-juno.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Drive the Cold Winter Away
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021217.141137.-306967.0.dcculb-AT-juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT



On Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:41:32 -0800 (PST) Graham Christian
<bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> writes:
> 
> "Drive the Cold Winter Away" is a set dance for 8 (four couples), 
> not first edition, but I think pre-1670.> >

Actually, there's a version "for as many as will" in the first edition of
Playford, but the instructions are confusing and unclear. I tried to
reconstruct it as a version for a 3-couple set several years ago, but
fear I only muddled things more. Has anyone else tried their hand at it?

Dawn Culbertson
Baltimore, MD

________________________________________________________________
Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today
Only $9.95 per month!
Visit www.juno.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 11:12:54 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 11:12:30 -0800 (PST)
From: Barbara Ruth <barbararuth-AT-rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Handing & Drive the Cold Winter Away
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021217191231.78187.qmail-AT-web13601.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


--- Chris Sackett & Brooke Friendly <friendsack-AT-opendoor.com> wrote:

> We did Drive the Cold Winter Away last night 

You were very effective.  It got warmer all the way out here.  Can I
ask you to do again at the end of January, just to make sure we get
good weather for the New Haven Ball?

Barbara




=====
"There is no inverse relationship between freedom and security. Less of one does not lead to more of the other. People with no rights are not safe from terrorist attack."  Molly Ivins

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 12:17:25 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 15:17:17 -0500 (EST)
From: David.Millstone-AT-valley.net (David Millstone)
Subject: Re: Music, dance, and elitism
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <21794572-AT-enfield.VALLEY.NET>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

I'm enjoying this recent thoughtful discussion.

Someone, somewhere-- perhaps on this very list in the last year or so-- pointed
out that English country dancing of the Playford variety (as opposed to the
so-called traditional dances) were originally not intended to be danced easily
by anyone who showed up. Witness the proliferation of dancing masters who kept
in business by teaching their clients how to make their way comfortably through
the figures with grace and elegance. In short, historic ECD was not a folk
dance.

In contrast, in our contemporary ECD scene, we generally encourage folks to walk
in off the street and join the dancing, expecting them to pick up figures and
style as we all set and merrily turn single. 

In short, we're welcoming as many as will into an event featuring a dance form
that may not be suited to that kind of mass participation. Given that, we have a
situation with some inherent tension, such as the desire to be socially
welcoming and the desire to dance well.

David Millstone
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 12:27:31 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 15:27:28 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OF7809B5F6.6CB7DB26-ON85256C92.006D6573-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


Dear Jon Berger,
I think we come from very different and yet similar places on this issue. I
am excited to meet you in CA and we can discuss more there. Just the end of
your last bit:
" I think that's why community dances so often make an attempt to pay
the musicians something, even if it's not very much: it's an
acknowledgement that the musicians were there to perform, not to
participate in the community activity.  If we were all there to participate
in a group social activity together, it would seem logical to charge us all
the same amount at the door, but that isn't the usual scenario."

If the hall were free and expenses minimal, we could have a truly community
affair without paying anyone. I pay the hired band for the priviledge of
advertising them on the publicity and for their willingness to make a
commitment to be there. I do not request any commitment from nor
necessarily advertise the sit-ins so I don't pay them no matter who they
are. Although the majority of my sit-ins are less skilled than I, it is not
unusual for someone far better than I to be improvising in the background.
Such people as Lissa Schneckenberger, Matt Glazer, Jay Unger, and any
number of musicians from Western Massachusetts (including Kaynors) are
always likely to drop in. Whether they are paid or not, band or not, they
come because it is fun and educational. (Except for wedding gigs my dances
rarely pay more than a pitance).
Although I have occasionally used musicianship as barter for admission in
the way one can sweep or lug sound gear to barter, I encourage everyone to
contribute to the financial solvency of the event. You may have noticed on
my general rules for sit-ins from the webpage:

4) The same donation policy that we apply to dancers applies to sit-ins. If
you can contribute to the survival of the dance by donating some cash to
the money box, please do so. If financial hardship makes this a burden,
consider yourself welcome just the same and maybe look a little harder for
some other way that you can lend a hand (e.g., floor sweeping).


Cammy

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 12:34:31 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 15:34:29 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Music, dance, and elitism
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFF0DB4B81.B59CBA9D-ON85256C92.0070DA86-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


...Given that, we have a
situation with some inherent tension, such as the desire to be socially
welcoming and the desire to dance well.

David Millstone


Well-said except that you make it sound a little mutually exclusive.
Cammy

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 15:07:36 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 18:07:27 -0500 (EST)
From: Christopher Levey <cgl-AT-nimbus.dartmouth.edu>
Subject: Re: ...other Christmasy repertoire
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <200212172307.SAA24330-AT-nimbus.dartmouth.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

On the Christmasy English Dance repertoire theme but at the risk of
going slightly off eCd topic, this fall my teenage boys team
wrote a morris dance to the Christmas carol "Deck the Hall" (but played
in minor)...a wonderful morris tune.  Bledington style dance for 8 with
two long sticks each.  Notation for this is posted at our website:
http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/~cgl/youthmorris where you'll also
find video clips of some of our other dances (I haven't had a chance to
post a clip of Deck the Hall yet, though over 5000 people have seen our live
performances of it in a local show).

--Chris Levey
  email: chris.levey-AT-Dartmouth.EDU
  http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/~cgl
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 15:38:59 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 23:38:43 +0000
From: Alan Corkett <alan-AT-bcorkett.freeserve.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Judy Linsenberg:  mea culpa
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <00e501c2a625$70872120$51f786d9-AT-default>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Hi Robin
I was interested in your ...coming clean re Judy

I remember filling an evening session down at Hastings with friends where we
were stuck and my wife had come up with this idea of discussing how we all
started folk camping and/or dancing.
I had thought one or two might have interesting contributions, even if the
majority refrained from entering into the spirit of thing. But I have to say
I was amazed that this topic kept people talking for over an hour and a half
and highly entertaining I remember it was too.
But more amazing, was the nature of the things that people came clean about.
For instance, some friends whom I had (plead guilty here) introduced to this
activity and now are firmly entrenched in all that goes on and and have many
friends everywhere, suddenly turned to me and said. "BUT why Alan, didn't
you introduce us to this earlier? Having know them for some considerable
time I suppose I had made the value judgement that they would not be
interested, until it happened.

I have to admit, it was all my own fault!

But I am glad someone persuaded me to join in playing when I first started,
I wonder who that was! Gosh 1954 ! I just can't remember, short term memory
loss!

Alan Corkett

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 18:36:06 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 21:35:58 -0500
From: Patricia Ruggiero <ruggierop-AT-earthlink.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000301c2a63e$327f6c70$77c4c943-AT-g9tfz>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Mary wrote:

" I can't help suspecting that a preference for clockwise turns is simply a
consequence of a preference for doing things right-handed, rather than
anything to do with the sun, witches, etc.  If two people take right hands
and circle, the result is a clockwise turn."

I dunno.  Sounds too sensible to be true.....

Pat

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 20:53:54 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 20:53:41 -0800
From: Chris Sackett & Brooke Friendly <friendsack-AT-opendoor.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Drive the Cold Winter Away
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <3DFFFF55.560701E1-AT-opendoor.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; x-mac-creator=4D4F5353; x-mac-type=54455854; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021217.141137.-306967.0.dcculb-AT-juno.com>

Yes. The first edition does say as many as will but we've done it as a
longways set of 4 couples. We did it last night and it worked nicely. It
would work ok with a few more couples but would leave the people in the
middle of the line out on the turns. And if the line got too long it would
be a heck of a sprint for the number one to make it down to the second to
last in the time alotted.

Brooke Friendly
Ashland OR

"Dawn C. Culbertson" wrote:

> On Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:41:32 -0800 (PST) Graham Christian
> <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> writes:
> >
> > "Drive the Cold Winter Away" is a set dance for 8 (four couples),
> > not first edition, but I think pre-1670.> >
>
> Actually, there's a version "for as many as will" in the first edition of
> Playford, but the instructions are confusing and unclear. I tried to
> reconstruct it as a version for a 3-couple set several years ago, but
> fear I only muddled things more. Has anyone else tried their hand at it?
>
> Dawn Culbertson
> Baltimore, MD
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today
> Only $9.95 per month!
> Visit www.juno.com

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 21:11:15 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 00:09:48 -0500
From: Carl Friedman <carlfriedman-AT-alumni.williams.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <EE82AD95-1246-11D7-B220-000393C225F4-AT-alumni.williams.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Interesting ideas brought out by Mike Franch's query about how much to 
help. While it seems to me obvious that there is no clear answer other 
than "not to much, but not too little," simply discussing the topic 
makes us to think about how much to help in any given circumstance, and 
that is quite valuable. For if you are thinking about whether you may 
be irritating someone by helping too much, but are also thinking about 
avoiding letting a lost dancer become too frustrated to enjoy 
him/herself, you are doing your fellow dancers a great service.

Carl Friedman 
   

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 21:34:27 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 00:32:10 -0500
From: Carl Friedman <carlfriedman-AT-alumni.williams.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <0E667AEC-124A-11D7-B220-000393C225F4-AT-alumni.williams.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Another interesting discussion, which I have just been able to catch up 
on...

In Baltimore, we have a "rehearsed open band" for our ECD series. They 
formed on their own, and asked to be scheduled to play. While we have a 
core of hired musicians of varying levels of talent and experience, not 
everyone who would like to play for our dance series is "ready for 
prime time." Anyone, however, can "join" the open band, come to 
rehearsals, and then play when the "Geud Band of Baltimore" is 
scheduled to play. There were ten musicians on stage when they played 
this past Monday, and they sounded great. There were some minor tempo 
and interpretation issues, but overall they were quite danceable, had 
lots of variation of orchestration (the product of the "rehearsed" 
aspect of the band), and everyone - musicians and dancers - had a fine 
time.

It was also good for community spirit to include more musicians - some 
dancers, some potential dancers. It included several musicians who play 
for contra dancing on our contra dance open band nights and want to 
move into playing ECD, and at least one musician who is hired regularly 
for contra and, recently, also for ECD (another source of ECD musicians 
besides the classical world). It included some musicians who sight-read 
well but have not yet figured out how to get their nose out of the 
printed page; but they will one of these days, I'm confident.

Is it the setting in which I enjoy playing for ECD? Frankly, no. I love 
the magic of the small ensemble, trade-lead-and-harmony setting that (I 
think it was) Jon Berger praised. But the dancers had as good a time 
this past Monday as when our hired musicians play, so absolutely 
nothing was lost, and for the musicians in the Geud Band, it was an 
entirely positive experience.

Carl Friedman

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 05:42:38 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 05:42:30 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021218134230.6942.qmail-AT-web13106.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_gLKLSncKC4p7LVkeZBieMQ)"


--Boundary_(ID_gLKLSncKC4p7LVkeZBieMQ)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


I'm a little dubious about theories that predicate a forbidding Church or free-spirited witchery--at least without written evidence. 
I'll point out also that--our universe being what it is--if you turn right hand in right hand, you're moving to the *left* (perhaps in some other reality, you could turn right and move right, but...). So, the progression of the sun and an undeniable and longstanding prejudice against the southpaw notwithstanding, right-left and cw-ccw cannot really be separated.
 
 Mary Railing <mrailing-AT-kiva.net> wrote:I can't help suspecting that a preference for clockwise turns is simply 
a consequence of a preference for doing things right-handed, rather than 
anything to do with the sun, witches, etc. If two people take right hands 
and circle, the result is a clockwise turn.
Now someone somewhere may have decided that of course all 
right-thinking, moral people do things the right-handed way and only the 
wicked would do things backwards...

--Mary Railing (left-handed)


Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_gLKLSncKC4p7LVkeZBieMQ)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<P>I'm a little dubious about theories that predicate a forbidding Church or free-spirited witchery--at least without written evidence. 
<P>I'll point out also that--our universe being what it is--if you turn right hand in right hand, you're moving to the *left* (perhaps in some other reality, you could turn right and move right, but...). So, the progression of the sun and an undeniable and longstanding prejudice against the southpaw notwithstanding, right-left and cw-ccw cannot really be&nbsp;separated.
<P>&nbsp;
<P>&nbsp;<B><I>Mary Railing &lt;mrailing-AT-kiva.net&gt;</I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">I can't help suspecting that a preference for clockwise turns is simply <BR>a consequence of a preference for doing things right-handed, rather than <BR>anything to do with the sun, witches, etc. If two people take right hands <BR>and circle, the result is a clockwise turn.<BR>Now someone somewhere may have decided that of course all <BR>right-thinking, moral people do things the right-handed way and only the <BR>wicked would do things backwards...<BR><BR>--Mary Railing (left-handed)<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Graham Christian<br>"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."<p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
<a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>

--Boundary_(ID_gLKLSncKC4p7LVkeZBieMQ)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 06:06:38 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 09:06:15 -0500 (EST)
From: MartinezPC-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Mind Reading, or, Re: 'Helping' During Dances (Could be "Mars and Venus")
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <a8.16a6622f.2b31dad7-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_sk+goPeJP6F/r5RJ3I142w)"


--Boundary_(ID_sk+goPeJP6F/r5RJ3I142w)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


> ".....  If the person has no prior
> dance experience then on the walk throughs I might try to make some short
> additional comments about the figures-when we do a circular hey, we are
> walking around a square and so on."

From a teacher's standpoint, I would caution against verbal help from dancers 
to their partners during the walk throughs, though I appreciate the intent.  
More than one voice giving instructions at the same time can be 
counterproductive - confusing to the new dancer, a disturbance for the nearby 
dancers and for the teacher who is trying to be sensitive to everyone's (and 
particularly the newcomers') needs.

Carol




--Boundary_(ID_sk+goPeJP6F/r5RJ3I142w)
Content-type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2>
<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">"..... &nbsp;If the person has no prior
<BR>dance experience then on the walk throughs I might try to make some short
<BR>additional comments about the figures-when we do a circular hey, we are
<BR>walking around a square and so on."</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BR>
<BR></FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">From a teacher's standpoint, I would caution against verbal help from dancers to their partners during the walk throughs, though I appreciate the intent. &nbsp;More than one voice giving instructions at the same time can be counterproductive - confusing to the new dancer, a disturbance for the nearby dancers and for the teacher who is trying to be sensitive to everyone's (and particularly the newcomers') needs.
<BR>
<BR>Carol</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">
<BR></FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">
<BR></FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">
<BR></FONT></HTML>

--Boundary_(ID_sk+goPeJP6F/r5RJ3I142w)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 07:39:32 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 10:39:23 -0500 (EST)
From: David.Millstone-AT-valley.net (David Millstone)
Subject: Re: Music, dance, and elitism
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU, Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <21821328-AT-enfield.VALLEY.NET>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

replying to Cammy's comment...

I didn't mean for "socially welcoming" and "the desire to dance well" to be
mutually exclusive. On the contrary, every ECD group I've danced with seems to
be trying to make both things happen. I just wanted to note that it ain't always
easy to reconcile the two. 

The "socially welcoming" tendency pushes us to call simpler dances and to pay
less attention to timing and posture and precision and fancy stepping (skip
change, rants, etc.), any one of which can make  newcomers feel comfortable. The
"dancing well" tendency pushes us to spend more and more time on those very
nuances that can make ECD so rewarding. Every time we lead a dance, we're making
a decision of how to balance the two impulses, depending on the particular
people in the hall that evening, our connection with them, our long-term agenda,
the expectations of the sponsor, and so on.

The same tension exists in the contra universe. In general (and this is a VERY
broad generalization), contra dance series historically have emphasized the
"socially inclusive" aspect of dancing, and ECD events come down a little more
on the "dancing well" side of the balance, which is one reason why we have
larger crowds at contra dances than at English country dances.

David
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 08:24:35 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:24:25 -0500
From: eba-AT-umich.edu
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <6406968.1040210665-AT-OphthyElecGX260.med.umich.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021218134230.6942.qmail-AT-web13106.mail.yahoo.com>

> I'm a little dubious about theories that predicate a forbidding Church or
> free-sp

--On Wednesday, December 18, 2002 5:42 AM -0800 Graham Christian 
<bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:

[snip]

> I'll point out also that--our universe being what it is--if you turn
> right hand in right hand, you're moving to the *left* ...

In the usage with which I'm familiar, "right" and "left" are defined 
relative to an individual, and are directions (in the horizontal plane for 
someone who is standing) perpendicular to "forward,", which is the 
direction in which one would travel when walking normally with whatever 
orientation one's body has at the moment, and in which direction one is 
facing if the head isn't turned.  If right hands are joined, that puts 
"forward" in the direction of tangent to the circle and a motion in this 
direction, constrained to a circle by the joined hands.  Since this is the 
path that dancers actually follow, it is neither left nor right; the 
dancers are moving ahead.

Only in the circumstance in which dancers face _into_ the circle, as they 
do when constrained by the joining of both hands on either side with the 
adjacent neighboring dancer, is the clockwise motion of the group a motion 
to one's individual left.  In the few dances which have the dancers facing 
outward in a circle formation, a clockwise circle is a circle right.  In 
both of these circumstances, dancers are not walking "normally" in the 
sense of going in the direction that their bodies are oriented, unless they 
twist their bodies within the constraints of holding hands with neighbors 
so that they face along the circle and can walk forward instead of 
sideways, but even if they do that, as the line of connection from one 
dancer to another has the left hand on the "leading" side, it makes full 
sense to think of it as a "circle left.

But in a right-hand turn or right-hands-across, one is basically walking 
forward, and indeed the direction of turning from this forward direction to 
follow the required circular path is to the _right_ of this direction. 
This is emphasized in some dances by a following loop or turn-single left 
at the end of the figure which distinctly contrasts with the feeling 
previously of turning right, since it is impossible to move to the left 
without breaking the connection to the other dancers.

So "right" and "left" are not properties of clockwise or counterclockwise 
(anticlockwise for our friends over the puddle) rotation per se, but depend 
on some additional specification of one's orientation with respect to that 
circle.

Eric Arnold


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 08:25:55 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 23:22:52 -0500
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-research.neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Circles & widdershins
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5FA83D34-1240-11D7-9D3C-000393B84248-AT-research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


On Tuesday, December 17, 2002, at 11:42 AM, bob-AT-bobarcher.org wrote:

> To add to the apocryphal stories on the subject of which way to circle 
> first, I heard that it came from a time when dances were done around 
> churches, thus adding to the bad luck associated with widdershins.
>
> Bob
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> -- Bob Archer      bob-AT-bobarcher.org
>
>

let's see if there is an intrinsic cultural bias one way or another--in 
your experience which way do skaters move in a rink where they must 
move in a circle? I believe they follow the right hand rule, with the 
thumb pointing up.

(By the way, Physics convinced me that God is right-handed a long time 
ago!)

best,
  terry

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 08:38:46 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:38:28 -0500
From: eba-AT-umich.edu
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Circles & widdershins
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <7249671.1040211507-AT-OphthyElecGX260.med.umich.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <5FA83D34-1240-11D7-9D3C-000393B84248-AT-research.neu.edu>


> On Tuesday, December 17, 2002, at 11:42 AM, bob-AT-bobarcher.org wrote:
>
> > To add to the apocryphal stories on the subject of which way to circle
> > first, I heard that it came from a time when dances were done around
> > churches, thus adding to the bad luck associated with widdershins.

Last weekend on a "Prairie Home Companion" brodcast (which I think was 
either live or recent from NYC, but I'm not sure) Garrison Keillor opened 
the show with a Norwegian (I believe) song from a Bergmann film in which a 
family on Christmas morning dances into the room with the Christmas tree 
and circles, it, dancing and singing, _counterclockwise_.  He made a 
special emphasis of the direction, and observed that it was very unusual 
for Lutherans to dance in this direction.  He didn't dwell on this except 
to remind us of this unusual direction once or twice later in the story. 
Perhaps he could shed additional light on the connection between religion 
and the direction of circles and the traditions that surround them...

Eric
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 08:44:01 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:37:29 -0500
From: "Stephen D. Corrsin" <corrsin1-AT-hotmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: musicians, their causes and cure
To: ecd-digest-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
BCC: 
Message-ID: <F972WvMn6evlikwr6r20000a1af-AT-hotmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

All this talk about musicians reminds me of one of my favorite stories from 
Sutton's book on "the rise and fall of merry England" (I think that is the 
one: I think it was about p.47 but don't swear to it.)

Hutton refers to a record of an occasion upon which a bull was turned loose 
on the musicians. 16th century, I think maybe even in Abbots or Pagets 
Bromley, a place which may be familiar. I'll have to look it up.

Now *that* is a reenactment I would pay serious money to attend.

wistfully yrs
Steve C.


Steve Corrsin
5166 Patrick Rd.
West Bloomfield MI 48322
tel 248-661-6283
fax 248-661-6288




_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 08:48:27 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:51:27 -0500
From: "Michael J. O'Connor" <mjoconor-AT-erols.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: The Bull
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <006201c2a6b5$b55604c0$3ded7ad1-AT-oemcomputer>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_/xEb+fCw3IyeolRlOwVQ2w)"

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

--Boundary_(ID_/xEb+fCw3IyeolRlOwVQ2w)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

It danced, maybe, Black Nag?

--Boundary_(ID_/xEb+fCw3IyeolRlOwVQ2w)
Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1126" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It danced, maybe, Black 
Nag?</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

--Boundary_(ID_/xEb+fCw3IyeolRlOwVQ2w)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 09:03:03 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:01:54 -0600
From: Mike Mudrey <mgmudrey-AT-mhtc.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.2.20021218110129.02210e50-AT-mail.mhtc.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_PtaHcGQ1rIjPkTxYJx0z/A)"
References: <20021218134230.6942.qmail-AT-web13106.mail.yahoo.com>


--Boundary_(ID_PtaHcGQ1rIjPkTxYJx0z/A)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Right on, Eric!!


>So "right" and "left" are not properties of clockwise or counterclockwise 
>(anticlockwise for our friends over the puddle) rotation per se, but 
>depend on some additional specification of one's orientation with respect 
>to that circle.
>
>Eric Arnold
>

--Boundary_(ID_PtaHcGQ1rIjPkTxYJx0z/A)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<html>
<body>
<font size=3>Right on, Eric!!<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>So &quot;right&quot; and
&quot;left&quot; are not properties of clockwise or counterclockwise
(anticlockwise for our friends over the puddle) rotation per se, but
depend on some additional specification of one's orientation with respect
to that circle.<br><br>
Eric Arnold<br><br>
</font></blockquote></body>
</html>

--Boundary_(ID_PtaHcGQ1rIjPkTxYJx0z/A)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 09:04:21 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 12:03:58 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFC20D914B.163B95E9-ON85256C93.005D496B-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


I love this description. I think it is what I strive for by posting tunes
in advance but rehearsing a little could really help in the orchestration
of harmonies and balancing of sound. One additional thing that may evolve
in scenes like this - I have noticed that the dancers gradually begin to
interact with the sit-ins as much as the hired band and as I begin to hire
them for dances, it feels that they have the support and encouragement not
only of me but of the dancers as well. It is almost as though the dancers
feel a sense of ownership toward the sit-ins.
Cammy


                                                                                                                                   
                      Carl Friedman                                                                                                
                      <carlfriedman-AT-alumni.will        To:       ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU                                    
                      iams.edu>                        cc:                                                                         
                      Sent by:                         Subject:  Re: Attracting Musicians                                          
                      owner-ecd-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.S                                                                                    
                      TANFORD.EDU                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                   
                      18-Dec-2002 12:32 AM                                                                                         
                      Please respond to ECD                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                   




Another interesting discussion, which I have just been able to catch up
on...

In Baltimore, we have a "rehearsed open band" for our ECD series. They
formed on their own, and asked to be scheduled to play. While we have a
core of hired musicians of varying levels of talent and experience, not
everyone who would like to play for our dance series is "ready for
prime time." Anyone, however, can "join" the open band, come to
rehearsals, and then play when the "Geud Band of Baltimore" is
scheduled to play. There were ten musicians on stage when they played
this past Monday, and they sounded great. There were some minor tempo
and interpretation issues, but overall they were quite danceable, had
lots of variation of orchestration (the product of the "rehearsed"
aspect of the band), and everyone - musicians and dancers - had a fine
time.

It was also good for community spirit to include more musicians - some
dancers, some potential dancers. It included several musicians who play
for contra dancing on our contra dance open band nights and want to
move into playing ECD, and at least one musician who is hired regularly
for contra and, recently, also for ECD (another source of ECD musicians
besides the classical world). It included some musicians who sight-read
well but have not yet figured out how to get their nose out of the
printed page; but they will one of these days, I'm confident.

Is it the setting in which I enjoy playing for ECD? Frankly, no. I love
the magic of the small ensemble, trade-lead-and-harmony setting that (I
think it was) Jon Berger praised. But the dancers had as good a time
this past Monday as when our hired musicians play, so absolutely
nothing was lost, and for the musicians in the Geud Band, it was an
entirely positive experience.

Carl Friedman





================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 09:13:02 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:05:08 -0600
From: Mike Mudrey <mgmudrey-AT-mhtc.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Circles & widdershins
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.2.20021218110302.02299a40-AT-mail.mhtc.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_XZrUFCVMoDnjRzbb2N5Ziw)"
References: <5FA83D34-1240-11D7-9D3C-000393B84248-AT-research.neu.edu>


--Boundary_(ID_XZrUFCVMoDnjRzbb2N5Ziw)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


>Last weekend on a "Prairie Home Companion" brodcast (which I think was 
>either live or recent from NYC, but I'm not sure) Garrison Keillor opened 
>the show with a Norwegian (I believe) song from a Bergmann film in which a 
>family on Christmas morning dances into the room with the Christmas tree 
>and circles, it, dancing and singing, _counterclockwise_.  He made a 
>special emphasis of the direction, and observed that it was very unusual 
>for Lutherans to dance in this direction.  He didn't dwell on this except 
>to remind us of this unusual direction once or twice later in the story. 
>Perhaps he could shed additional light on the connection between religion 
>and the direction of circles and the traditions that surround them...
>
>Eric


Yup,, caught it too,  (it is a polska that is being played, but with a very 
mazurka feeling).   Is is not uncommon to dance this at Swedish homes 
during the Xmas season.  It is a light running dance, more like a springleik.

The only Scandinavian dance that I know that goes sunwise (clockwise) is 
the Lang dans fro Solleron, a long dance in syncopated 3/4 which dates to 
at least 1100 AD.  All others, dance counter clockwise.

mm  

--Boundary_(ID_XZrUFCVMoDnjRzbb2N5Ziw)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<html>
<body>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font size=3>Last weekend on a
&quot;Prairie Home Companion&quot; brodcast (which I think was either
live or recent from NYC, but I'm not sure) Garrison Keillor opened the
show with a Norwegian (I believe) song from a Bergmann film in which a
family on Christmas morning dances into the room with the Christmas tree
and circles, it, dancing and singing, _counterclockwise_.&nbsp; He made a
special emphasis of the direction, and observed that it was very unusual
for Lutherans to dance in this direction.&nbsp; He didn't dwell on this
except to remind us of this unusual direction once or twice later in the
story. Perhaps he could shed additional light on the connection between
religion and the direction of circles and the traditions that surround
them...<br><br>
Eric</blockquote><br><br>
Yup,, caught it too,&nbsp; (it is a polska that is being played, but with
a very mazurka feeling).&nbsp;&nbsp; Is is not uncommon to dance this at
Swedish homes during the Xmas season.&nbsp; It is a light running dance,
more like a springleik.<br><br>
The only Scandinavian dance that I know that goes sunwise (clockwise) is
the Lang dans fro Solleron, a long dance in syncopated 3/4 which dates to
at least 1100 AD.&nbsp; All others, dance counter clockwise.<br><br>
mm </font></body>
</html>

--Boundary_(ID_XZrUFCVMoDnjRzbb2N5Ziw)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 09:14:45 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 12:14:43 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Mind Reading, or, Re: 'Helping' During Dances (Could be "Mars and Venus")
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFC0313BBA.B06738DD-ON85256C93.005E35FD-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


From a teacher's standpoint, I would caution against verbal help from
dancers to their partners during the walk throughs, though I appreciate the
intent.  More than one voice giving instructions at the same time can be
counterproductive - confusing to the new dancer, a disturbance for the
nearby dancers and for the teacher who is trying to be sensitive to
everyone's (and particularly the newcomers') needs.

Carol


This is sometimes true, but I have often found that the "help" offered by
adjacent dancers is better tailored to suit the needs of each confused
dancer. What we as leaders try to provide is the generic form that will
strike meaning to all who are struggling rather than crafting our comments
to an individual (unless there is only one individual who is struggling).
When hubbub increases during a walk-through, I quickly assess whether the
help from neighbors is more helpful than what I can provide ensemble. If it
is not I ask everyone to quiet down so they can listen to the explanation.
If it is, I sit back and let the dancers teach each other for 30 seconds.
Cammy


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 10:31:42 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 12:36:51 -0500
From: Allison M Thompson <allisonthompson-AT-juno.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Mind Reading, or, Re: 'Helping' During Dances (Could be "Mars and Venus")
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
CC: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021218.133243.-1787577.4.AllisonThompson-AT-juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

As a caller, I don't like it when people give verbal "helps" while I am
trying to teach because 1) very frequently they are wrong (it is the
people who know the least who like to talk the most) and 2) then no one
can hear me & my brilliant insights.

Allison (don't interrupt me) Thompson
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 10:46:10 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 01:43:08 -0500
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-research.neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Mind Reading, or, Re: 'Helping' During Dances (Could be "Mars and Venus")
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <F80000B6-1253-11D7-9D3C-000393B84248-AT-research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


I am sensitive to what Carol is talking about. If the caller does a 
good job of describing a circular hey to beginners then I don't say 
anything. I can use some of the callers words as the cue. If I'm 
dancing with a beginner, and the caller says "do a circular hey" with 
no word of explanation beyond that, then I say something.

I appreciate Cammy's point of view very much on this issue.

best,
  terry

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:20:26 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:20:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Country Dancers of Westchester <cdw_ecd-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Experienced Dance Event Saturday, 21 December
To: ECD List <ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <20021218192019.20798.qmail-AT-web12204.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Here's a CDW special-event for experienced dancers led
by emcees Mary Jones & Gary Roodman and featuring the
talented band, MGM [Margaret Ann Martin, Gene Murrow,
and Mary Lea].

The dance is at 8pm, Saturday, December 21, at the
Church in the Highlands, 35 Bryant Ave., White Plains,
NY.

Admission is $12.00; CDW members pay $10.00. Festive
refreshments served!

Directions to the church and other information about
CDW are available at its website:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/2225/

The event is easily accessible from NYC. Take Metro
North's Harlem Line from Grand Central to White Plains
(about a 30-minute ride). You can call Susan Murrow at
(914) 762-8619, and she'll bring Bluebell to drive you
to the church.

Note several more upcoming special events including a
just-arranged one-hour piano concert with commentary
by Jacqueline Schwab followed by dancing led by
Jacqueline, Beverly Francis, & Leslie Lassetter. It
all happens on Saturday, January 11, 2003. Check the
website for an application.

For more information, call Susan or Leah Barkan at
(914) 693-5577.


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:39:48 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 11:39:40 -0800
From: bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: "Helping" During Dances
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <FC0B9DA2600ED4118F76009027AA5DDD038D692A-AT-ALEX2>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

This thread has split into "'Helping' During Dances"  and  'Mind Reading.'  I'm replying to both here.

Carl Friedman <carlfriedman-AT-alumni.williams.edu> wrote:
> Interesting ideas brought out by Mike Franch's query about 
> how much to 
> help. While it seems to me obvious that there is no clear 
> answer other 
> than "not to much, but not too little," simply discussing the topic 
> makes us to think about how much to help in any given 
> circumstance, and 
> that is quite valuable. For if you are thinking about whether you may 
> be irritating someone by helping too much, but are also thinking about 
> avoiding letting a lost dancer become too frustrated to enjoy 
> him/herself, you are doing your fellow dancers a great service.

Carl's combination of (a) having a generous intent, and (b) being aware of your choices and their consequences, is a good recipe for anything that happens in real time.  Notice that it says nothing about information-gathering, or analyzing which choice will have the best overall effect, or about making a choice at all.  Things go by too fast for that.  But if we pay attention to our generous spirit and the fact that we have choices, our subconscious does a pretty good job of the rest.

There are two dimensions to this, and both are interesting to play with between emergencies.  First, this thread has already discussed when/whether to help, and pointed out a tendency to over-help.  I was amazed the first time I found myself helping at times when I *knew* that my partner did not need it.  So I began watching for that, and the more I looked the more I found.  

The second dimension, which Carol, Brooke and others have mentioned, is the method(s) to use. I've found it useful to ask myself about some choice, X:
* What if everyone in the set does X at the same time?
* If this person is mentally overloaded, will my doing X make that better or worse?
* Where do I want their attention to go?  If I do X, will their attention go there?
* What kind of attention is this person paying? Are they looking? Where?  Are they listening?  To the caller? To the music?
* Is the person already moving?  What will happen if I just let them keep moving?
* If I just dance my part, what clues will that provide to this person?
* Can I explain what this person is doing by assuming that they are thinking ahead?  If so, what would acknowledge that they're on the right track, and that thinking ahead is good dance practice?

None of these has led me to a specific Thing To Do, but they all play into the general recipe, by giving me a clearer view of my choices and their likely effects.

  -Bruce

bruce_hamilton-AT-agilent.com  Tel: +1 650 485 2818  Fax: +1 650 485 4917
Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 13:22:11 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 21:21:06 +0000
From: Michael Barraclough <michael.barraclough-AT-tgis.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <001001c2a6db$60f4cda0$0200a8c0-AT-ntworld.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

We are talking about left and right in terms of direction whereas I
suspect we should be talking as much about feet.  As I recollect, prior
to the formalisation of the minuet by the French Royal Academy of
Dancing set up by Louis XIV which started on the right foot for both men
and women, all Western European dance (which is the root of ECD/contra)
started movements with the left foot and/or moving to the left.  The
movement to the left in a circle leads to starting with the left foot.
I believe that there is significant evidence to suggest that movement
contrary to the sun was considered unlucky in previous (Western
European) cultures - hence the movement to the left in the circular
pre-cursors to ECD (bransles etc) and the movement forward and left in
processional dances (eg pavane).  It is not surprising, therefore, that
when choreographic elements like turns came about that they should move
clockwise and start with the left foot.  However, this is not a
"universal" rule.  Inspection of orseographic notations such as Lorin,
Feuillet and Dezais show that it is possible, but rare, for a movement
to start anti-clockwise.  For example, La Baptistine (Dezais, 1712,
Paris) has an anticlockwise two-hand turn followed by a clockwise two
hand turn (for the other corner).

Michael Barraclough
http://www.mab.tgis.co.uk


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ecd-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
[mailto:owner-ecd-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU] On Behalf Of eba-AT-umich.edu
Sent: 18 December 2002 16:24
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Re: meaning of 'turn'

> I'm a little dubious about theories that predicate a forbidding Church
or
> free-sp

--On Wednesday, December 18, 2002 5:42 AM -0800 Graham Christian 
<bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:

[snip]

> I'll point out also that--our universe being what it is--if you turn
> right hand in right hand, you're moving to the *left* ...

In the usage with which I'm familiar, "right" and "left" are defined 
relative to an individual, and are directions (in the horizontal plane
for 
someone who is standing) perpendicular to "forward,", which is the 
direction in which one would travel when walking normally with whatever 
orientation one's body has at the moment, and in which direction one is 
facing if the head isn't turned.  If right hands are joined, that puts 
"forward" in the direction of tangent to the circle and a motion in this

direction, constrained to a circle by the joined hands.  Since this is
the 
path that dancers actually follow, it is neither left nor right; the 
dancers are moving ahead.

Only in the circumstance in which dancers face _into_ the circle, as
they 
do when constrained by the joining of both hands on either side with the

adjacent neighboring dancer, is the clockwise motion of the group a
motion 
to one's individual left.  In the few dances which have the dancers
facing 
outward in a circle formation, a clockwise circle is a circle right.  In

both of these circumstances, dancers are not walking "normally" in the 
sense of going in the direction that their bodies are oriented, unless
they 
twist their bodies within the constraints of holding hands with
neighbors 
so that they face along the circle and can walk forward instead of 
sideways, but even if they do that, as the line of connection from one 
dancer to another has the left hand on the "leading" side, it makes full

sense to think of it as a "circle left.

But in a right-hand turn or right-hands-across, one is basically walking

forward, and indeed the direction of turning from this forward direction
to 
follow the required circular path is to the _right_ of this direction. 
This is emphasized in some dances by a following loop or turn-single
left 
at the end of the figure which distinctly contrasts with the feeling 
previously of turning right, since it is impossible to move to the left 
without breaking the connection to the other dancers.

So "right" and "left" are not properties of clockwise or
counterclockwise 
(anticlockwise for our friends over the puddle) rotation per se, but
depend 
on some additional specification of one's orientation with respect to
that 
circle.

Eric Arnold


---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
 

---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
 

Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 15:16:52 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Return-Path: <John.Garden-AT-aph.gov.au>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:16:40 +1100
From: "Garden, John (DPL)" <John.Garden-AT-aph.gov.au>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <D915DF838686C64AA0E51D9C9407B5300474CD-AT-email2.parl.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE

Another factor which might be considered relevant is that of the rela=
tive position of M and W and the need for the sense that the M is lea=
ding the W. Once western European dance tradition (and I know it is a=
 very different story in central and eastern Europe) moved to conside=
r the natural position for the woman as being on the right of the man=
 (perhaps because most M are right handed so 'occupy' their left side=
 with their sword hilt, perhaps for some other reason), and once you =
have the M expecting to have the sensation of leading the W, then, ir=
respective of which foot starts (though the direction does favour a l=
.f. start and may have resulted in the initial preference for such a =
start) an inward-facing all-hands-joined circle has to go to the left=
 (that is 'following' the M cw) and a column of couples has to go acw=
 (counter-cw) around a dance space (that is the M taking the shorter =
route and guiding the W on the longer outside route)... if it were th=
e other way in either instance it would be the woman effectively lead=
ing the M. In microcosm, the same principle couple apply to a small c=
ircle of two couples, and even a 2 hand turn - if the man is to be ef=
fectively leading the W on his right hand, the circle or turn has to =
be cw. Just some thoughts. John Garden
http://earthlydelights.com.au

-----Original Message-----
=46rom: Michael Barraclough [mailto:michael.barraclough-AT-tgis.co.uk]
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 8:21 AM
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: RE: meaning of 'turn'


We are talking about left and right in terms of direction whereas I
suspect we should be talking as much about feet.  As I recollect, pri=
or
to the formalisation of the minuet by the French Royal Academy of
Dancing set up by Louis XIV which started on the right foot for both =
men
and women, all Western European dance (which is the root of ECD/contr=
a)
started movements with the left foot and/or moving to the left.  The
movement to the left in a circle leads to starting with the left foot=
.
I believe that there is significant evidence to suggest that movement
contrary to the sun was considered unlucky in previous (Western
European) cultures - hence the movement to the left in the circular
pre-cursors to ECD (bransles etc) and the movement forward and left i=
n
processional dances (eg pavane).  It is not surprising, therefore, th=
at
when choreographic elements like turns came about that they should mo=
ve
clockwise and start with the left foot.  However, this is not a
"universal" rule.  Inspection of orseographic notations such as Lorin=
,
Feuillet and Dezais show that it is possible, but rare, for a movemen=
t
to start anti-clockwise.  For example, La Baptistine (Dezais, 1712,
Paris) has an anticlockwise two-hand turn followed by a clockwise two
hand turn (for the other corner).

Michael Barraclough
http://www.mab.tgis.co.uk


-----Original Message-----
=46rom: owner-ecd-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
[mailto:owner-ecd-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU] On Behalf Of eba-AT-umich.ed=
u
Sent: 18 December 2002 16:24
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Re: meaning of 'turn'

> I'm a little dubious about theories that predicate a forbidding Chu=
rch
or
> free-sp

--On Wednesday, December 18, 2002 5:42 AM -0800 Graham Christian=20
<bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:

[snip]

> I'll point out also that--our universe being what it is--if you tur=
n
> right hand in right hand, you're moving to the *left* ...

In the usage with which I'm familiar, "right" and "left" are defined=
=20
relative to an individual, and are directions (in the horizontal plan=
e
for=20
someone who is standing) perpendicular to "forward,", which is the=
=20
direction in which one would travel when walking normally with whatev=
er=20
orientation one's body has at the moment, and in which direction one =
is=20
facing if the head isn't turned.  If right hands are joined, that put=
s=20
"forward" in the direction of tangent to the circle and a motion in t=
his

direction, constrained to a circle by the joined hands.  Since this i=
s
the=20
path that dancers actually follow, it is neither left nor right; the=
=20
dancers are moving ahead.

Only in the circumstance in which dancers face _into_ the circle, as
they=20
do when constrained by the joining of both hands on either side with =
the

adjacent neighboring dancer, is the clockwise motion of the group a
motion=20
to one's individual left.  In the few dances which have the dancers
facing=20
outward in a circle formation, a clockwise circle is a circle right. =
 In

both of these circumstances, dancers are not walking "normally" in th=
e=20
sense of going in the direction that their bodies are oriented, unles=
s
they=20
twist their bodies within the constraints of holding hands with
neighbors=20
so that they face along the circle and can walk forward instead of=
=20
sideways, but even if they do that, as the line of connection from on=
e=20
dancer to another has the left hand on the "leading" side, it makes f=
ull

sense to think of it as a "circle left.

But in a right-hand turn or right-hands-across, one is basically walk=
ing

forward, and indeed the direction of turning from this forward direct=
ion
to=20
follow the required circular path is to the _right_ of this direction=
.=20
This is emphasized in some dances by a following loop or turn-single
left=20
at the end of the figure which distinctly contrasts with the feeling=
=20
previously of turning right, since it is impossible to move to the le=
ft=20
without breaking the connection to the other dancers.

So "right" and "left" are not properties of clockwise or
counterclockwise=20
(anticlockwise for our friends over the puddle) rotation per se, but
depend=20
on some additional specification of one's orientation with respect to
that=20
circle.

Eric Arnold


---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
=20

---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
=20

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 16:01:31 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Return-Path: <John.Garden-AT-aph.gov.au>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 11:01:16 +1100
From: "Garden, John (DPL)" <John.Garden-AT-aph.gov.au>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: meaning of 'turn'
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <D915DF838686C64AA0E51D9C9407B5300474D1-AT-email2.parl.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE

A futher thought... perhaps the relative position of the M and W and =
need for the sense that the M is leading the W is directly related to=
 direction but perhaps the causation I suggested in the message a min=
ute ago might actually be the other way around... it was not that cir=
cles moved to the left because the M was on the left of the W, but th=
at the M's natural position started to be on the left of the W becaus=
e circles originally moved to the left. In central Europe it is certa=
inly clear that couples dancing came out of circles, and there are 'm=
issing-link' dances in Austria and Slovenia in which dancers starting=
 in curved lines (broken circle) and then couples breaking off from t=
he top, turning each other and rejoining the line/cirlce at the other=
 end. So if a very early (religious?) imperative drove circles to the=
 left, then this, together with the sword theory, may have contribute=
d to M starting to pair off with the W on his right, which in turn re=
inforced the circling and turning cw preference... There you go, such=
 an imprecise discipline is dance history and such an instant tool of=
 communication is the web, that its possible to have two contrary the=
ories from the same contributor less than 2 minutes apart.
John Garden
http://earthlydelights.com.au
-----Original Message-----
=46rom: Garden, John (DPL)=20
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 10:17 AM
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: RE: meaning of 'turn'


Another factor which might be considered relevant is that of the rela=
tive position of M and W and the need for the sense that the M is lea=
ding the W. Once western European dance tradition (and I know it is a=
 very different story in central and eastern Europe) moved to conside=
r the natural position for the woman as being on the right of the man=
 (perhaps because most M are right handed so 'occupy' their left side=
 with their sword hilt, perhaps for some other reason), and once you =
have the M expecting to have the sensation of leading the W, then, ir=
respective of which foot starts (though the direction does favour a l=
.f. start and may have resulted in the initial preference for such a =
start) an inward-facing all-hands-joined circle has to go to the left=
 (that is 'following' the M cw) and a column of couples has to go acw=
 (counter-cw) around a dance space (that is the M taking the shorter =
route and guiding the W on the longer outside route)... if it were th=
e other way in either instance it would be the woman effectively lead=
ing the M. In microcosm, the same principle couple apply to a small c=
ircle of two couples, and even a 2 hand turn - if the man is to be ef=
fectively leading the W on his right hand, the circle or turn has to =
be cw. Just some thoughts. John Garden
http://earthlydelights.com.au

-----Original Message-----
=46rom: Michael Barraclough [mailto:michael.barraclough-AT-tgis.co.uk]
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 8:21 AM
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: RE: meaning of 'turn'


We are talking about left and right in terms of direction whereas I
suspect we should be talking as much about feet.  As I recollect, pri=
or
to the formalisation of the minuet by the French Royal Academy of
Dancing set up by Louis XIV which started on the right foot for both =
men
and women, all Western European dance (which is the root of ECD/contr=
a)
started movements with the left foot and/or moving to the left.  The
movement to the left in a circle leads to starting with the left foot=
.
I believe that there is significant evidence to suggest that movement
contrary to the sun was considered unlucky in previous (Western
European) cultures - hence the movement to the left in the circular
pre-cursors to ECD (bransles etc) and the movement forward and left i=
n
processional dances (eg pavane).  It is not surprising, therefore, th=
at
when choreographic elements like turns came about that they should mo=
ve
clockwise and start with the left foot.  However, this is not a
"universal" rule.  Inspection of orseographic notations such as Lorin=
,
Feuillet and Dezais show that it is possible, but rare, for a movemen=
t
to start anti-clockwise.  For example, La Baptistine (Dezais, 1712,
Paris) has an anticlockwise two-hand turn followed by a clockwise two
hand turn (for the other corner).

Michael Barraclough
http://www.mab.tgis.co.uk


-----Original Message-----
=46rom: owner-ecd-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
[mailto:owner-ecd-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU] On Behalf Of eba-AT-umich.ed=
u
Sent: 18 December 2002 16:24
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Re: meaning of 'turn'

> I'm a little dubious about theories that predicate a forbidding Chu=
rch
or
> free-sp

--On Wednesday, December 18, 2002 5:42 AM -0800 Graham Christian=20
<bray1699-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:

[snip]

> I'll point out also that--our universe being what it is--if you tur=
n
> right hand in right hand, you're moving to the *left* ...

In the usage with which I'm familiar, "right" and "left" are defined=
=20
relative to an individual, and are directions (in the horizontal plan=
e
for=20
someone who is standing) perpendicular to "forward,", which is the=
=20
direction in which one would travel when walking normally with whatev=
er=20
orientation one's body has at the moment, and in which direction one =
is=20
facing if the head isn't turned.  If right hands are joined, that put=
s=20
"forward" in the direction of tangent to the circle and a motion in t=
his

direction, constrained to a circle by the joined hands.  Since this i=
s
the=20
path that dancers actually follow, it is neither left nor right; the=
=20
dancers are moving ahead.

Only in the circumstance in which dancers face _into_ the circle, as
they=20
do when constrained by the joining of both hands on either side with =
the

adjacent neighboring dancer, is the clockwise motion of the group a
motion=20
to one's individual left.  In the few dances which have the dancers
facing=20
outward in a circle formation, a clockwise circle is a circle right. =
 In

both of these circumstances, dancers are not walking "normally" in th=
e=20
sense of going in the direction that their bodies are oriented, unles=
s
they=20
twist their bodies within the constraints of holding hands with
neighbors=20
so that they face along the circle and can walk forward instead of=
=20
sideways, but even if they do that, as the line of connection from on=
e=20
dancer to another has the left hand on the "leading" side, it makes f=
ull

sense to think of it as a "circle left.

But in a right-hand turn or right-hands-across, one is basically walk=
ing

forward, and indeed the direction of turning from this forward direct=
ion
to=20
follow the required circular path is to the _right_ of this direction=
.=20
This is emphasized in some dances by a following loop or turn-single
left=20
at the end of the figure which distinctly contrasts with the feeling=
=20
previously of turning right, since it is impossible to move to the le=
ft=20
without breaking the connection to the other dancers.

So "right" and "left" are not properties of clockwise or
counterclockwise=20
(anticlockwise for our friends over the puddle) rotation per se, but
depend=20
on some additional specification of one's orientation with respect to
that=20
circle.

Eric Arnold


---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
=20

---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
=20

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 18:24:32 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 20:24:15 -0600
From: "M.G. Mudrey, Jr." <mgmudrey-AT-mhtc.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Note of appreciation (and plug) to the Urbana, Illinois ECD Crowd
To: "ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU" <ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.2.20021218202106.00b558b8-AT-mail.mhtc.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_FKgfMyfIRVVYMEGFcGw3pw)"


--Boundary_(ID_FKgfMyfIRVVYMEGFcGw3pw)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Jonathan and Jenifer,

Got your flyers for the English-American Dance and Music Weekend March 
21-23, 2003 in Urbana, Illinois.

Looks, good,, and I will pass them on to the contra and english crowd here 
in Madison.

I will let them know to look the detailed information up at
http://www.prairienet.org/ciecd/weekend.html

Mike


Please send me an email if you wish to be moved from this mail notification 
list
         "Mike - remove me from MECD"<mgmudrey-AT-mhtc.net>

Madison Wisconsin English Country Dancing

The Madison (Wisconsin) English Country Dance Society meets
on the first and third Mondays of the month from 7:30-9:30 PM.

Dancing
         October through May at the Wilmar Center,
                 953 Jenifer St., Madison, Wisconsin
         June through September in front of Memorial Library,
                 University of Wisconsin-Madison,
For more information, contact
         Mike (mgmudrey-AT-mhtc.net),
         Jean (608-231-1040) or
         Don (608-238-9951)
Website
images
http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/mecds/home.htm
no images
http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/mecds/hometext.htm

--Boundary_(ID_FKgfMyfIRVVYMEGFcGw3pw)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<html>
<body>
Jonathan and Jenifer,<br><br>
Got your flyers for the English-American Dance and Music Weekend March
21-23, 2003 in Urbana, Illinois.<br><br>
Looks, good,, and I will pass them on to the contra and english crowd
here in Madison.<br><br>
I will let them know to look the detailed information up at<br>
<a href="http://www.prairienet.org/ciecd/weekend.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.prairienet.org/ciecd/weekend.html</a><br><br>
Mike<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3><i>Please send me an email if you wish to be moved from this
mail notification list<br>
<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>&quot;Mike
- remove me from MECD&quot;&lt;mgmudrey-AT-mhtc.net&gt;<br><br>
</i><b>Madison Wisconsin English Country Dancing<br><br>
</b><i>The Madison (Wisconsin) English Country Dance Society meets<br>
on the first and third Mondays of the month from 7:30-9:30 PM. <br>
&nbsp;<br>
Dancing <br>
<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>October
through May at the Wilmar Center, <br>
<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab><x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>953
Jenifer St., Madison, Wisconsin<br>
<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>June
through September in front of Memorial Library, <br>
<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab><x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>University
of Wisconsin-Madison,<br>
For more information, contact<br>
&nbsp;</i><x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab><i>Mike
(mgmudrey-AT-mhtc.net),<br>
<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>Jean
(608-231-1040) or <br>
<x-tab>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</x-tab>Don
(608-238-9951)<br>
</i>Website <br>
images<br>
<b><a href="http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/mecds/home.htm" eudora="autourl">http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/mecds/home.htm</a><br>
</b>no images<br>
<b><a href="http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/mecds/hometext.htm" eudora="autourl">http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/mecds/hometext.htm</a><br>
</font></b></body>
</html>

--Boundary_(ID_FKgfMyfIRVVYMEGFcGw3pw)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 06:22:12 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 09:22:04 -0500 (EST)
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Mind Reading, or, Re: 'Helping' During Dances (Could be "Mars and Venus")
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.03.10212190912110.16714-100000-AT-research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT



On Wed, 18 Dec 2002, Allison M Thompson wrote:

> As a caller, I don't like it when people give verbal "helps" while I am
> trying to teach because 1) very frequently they are wrong (it is the
> people who know the least who like to talk the most) and 2) then no one
> can hear me & my brilliant insights.
> 
> Allison (don't interrupt me) Thompson
> 
Ok, here's a perfect example of what I was talking about. last night we
did "Portsmouth". In the version we did last night, ther wre hey's on the
women's side, men's side, a half figure eight and 4 chnages of rights and
lefts. The dancing couple in my minor set did not know any of these
figures. heys had been been done once that night, but they hadn't gotten
them then either. Since most of the dancers were very experienced, the
caller did not want to spend time going over the figures again,which was a
defensible decision. The caller could have split the couple up. In this
situation it seemed very reasonable to me to use some verbal prompts as we
were walking the figure.

Using cues I was able to get a first time dancer through" terpsicourant"
last night which we wre both very pleased about.

Best,
 Terry

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 06:59:43 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 06:59:35 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Dancing and Helping
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021219145935.58261.qmail-AT-web13101.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_qzBb1nPGwMbh1pTcmOBq0A)"


--Boundary_(ID_qzBb1nPGwMbh1pTcmOBq0A)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


Like Allison, I don't much like being interrupted or second-guessed--it may interfere with dancers' learning, and certainly interferes with my authority as a caller (sounds of laughter!). 
But I also recognize it as inevitable, especially in a large or crowded dance, that I may not be able to see and address all questions or problems, especially if there is some sense of time pressure. And it is inevitable too that, especially in such situations, dancers will try to help each other. If I know the constituency to some degree (many familiar faces), and the stars are aligned correctly, I can *see* a flurry of panic over at one side or wherever, and make a snap judgement. "Oh, they have Jane, they should be fine." And I may check with Jane--"Is there a question I can answer?" and Jane will usually say, "No, we're fine now." But I may see that they have Hopeless John, who nevertheless is trying to direct traffic, and in that case I'll say, "I see there is some confusion about [this figure]. Let's walk that again."
So, dancers do help, and sometimes that help is welcome, sometimes not: it's a matter of judgement.    


Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_qzBb1nPGwMbh1pTcmOBq0A)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<P>Like Allison, I don't much like being interrupted or second-guessed--it may interfere with&nbsp;dancers' learning, and certainly interferes with my authority as a caller (sounds of laughter!). 
<P>But I also recognize it as inevitable,&nbsp;especially in a large or crowded&nbsp;dance, that I may not be able to see and address all questions or problems, especially if there is some sense of time pressure. And it is inevitable too that, especially in such situations, dancers will try to help each other. If I know the constituency to some degree (many familiar faces), and&nbsp;the stars are aligned correctly, I can *see* a flurry of panic over at one side or wherever, and make a snap judgement. "Oh, they have Jane,&nbsp;they should&nbsp;be fine." And I may check with Jane--"Is there a question I can answer?" and Jane will usually say, "No, we're fine now." But I may see that they have Hopeless John, who nevertheless is trying to direct traffic, and in&nbsp;that case I'll say, "I see there is some&nbsp;confusion about [this figure]. Let's walk that again."
<P>So, dancers do help, and sometimes that help is welcome, sometimes not: it's a matter of judgement.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</P><BR><BR>Graham Christian<br>"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."<p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
<a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>

--Boundary_(ID_qzBb1nPGwMbh1pTcmOBq0A)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 07:33:42 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 07:33:37 -0800 (PST)
From: SUSAN BOOKER <susantiq-AT-prodigy.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Benefit Concert for Robin Loeffler of Louisville, KY
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021219153337.67943.qmail-AT-web80208.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_+u1sBklDk86y5xot8T1FwQ)"


--Boundary_(ID_+u1sBklDk86y5xot8T1FwQ)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


I am forwarding this message concerning the December 29th benefit concert for Louisville's Robin Loeffler, who suffered a left-brain stroke recently. Robin is making a good recovery and her doctors and therapists are optimistic, but her ability to play her hammered dulcimer is presently impaired. I am told that she is still receiving therapy. Her band, Ten Penny Bit, plays for contra and occasional English country dances in addition to playing Irish music.
I hope that those of you who are in this area or nearby on December 29th will be able to attend this concert, and that you will spread the word to others about this very worthy event.
Best holiday wishes to all,
Susan Booker
Lexington, KY
 "Barbara E. Ramlow" <beraml4-AT-pop.uky.edu> wrote:Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 08:18:54 -0500
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: "Barbara E. Ramlow" 
Subject: More details on Benefit Concert for Robin

Sunday,  December 29, 2002, 2-6 p.m.
Special Event --  Irish Holiday Celebration
Kentucky Theater in Louisville, Fourth Street
Benefit for Robin Loeffler (hammer dulcimer player with Ten Penny Bit)
You can help by attending this event, bringing a friend and/or spreading the word to all you know who treasure live Irish music.

Robin is the hammer dulcimer player for Ten Penny Bit and recently suffered a stroke. Her prognosis for recovery looks good, but she's a self-employed, uninsured musician, and therefore money is tight. Her many friends are trying to help her out. The concert is Sunday, December 29th from 2-6 p.m at the Kentucky Theater, 641 South Fourth Street, Louisville.  **** Tickets are available at the door or online: www.kytheater.org or call Ten Penny Bit at 502-819-9698 to reserve tickets.  **** Ticket price is $15.00.
**** Donations can be sent to the Robin Loeffler Fund in care of Karie Hubbard, 5th/3rd Bank, 3901 Dixie Highway, Louisville, KY 40216.

**** Featured artists include Galloglas, Kentucky Standard, Ten Penny Bit, Tenrec, Curtis and Ruth Burch, Drowsy Maggie and Nancy Harris Trio.. All proceeds will benefit Robin Loeffler.  The concert is being organized by Joannie and Sonny Prentice and by John Gage.  Please see directions below:

Directions from the North:
I-71 south to I-64 west. Take 3rd Street exit. Go south (only way you can) to Broadway. Park on the street near there or in the Brown Hotel lot. Walk right one block to 4th Street. Turn right (north). The Kentucky Theater is 125 feet north of Broadway at 651 South 4th Street, Louisville.

Directions from the East:
Take I-64 west to Louisville. Take 3rd Street exit. Go south (only way you can) to Broadway. Park on the street near there or in the Brown Hotel lot. Walk right one block to 4th Street. Turn right (north). The Kentucky Theater is 125 feet north of Broadway at 651 South 4th Street, Louisville.

Directions from the South:
Take I-65 north to Broadway exit. Turn left (west) on Broadway to 3rd Street. Park on the street near there or in the Brown Hotel lot. Walk right one block to 4th Street. Turn right (north). The Kentucky Theater is 125 feet north of Broadway at 651 South 4th Street, Louisville.
Come enjoy great music and friends while helping out a great cause!

To get to Kentucky Theater, DON'T turn down 4th Street; our city fathers made that an impossibility about 25 years ago. Instead, continue down 3rd St to the 600 block (between Chestnut and Broadway). This is, oddly enouth, about six blocks from the river. Park and walk to 4th St. You could park on the street, or in a lot, or you could park along Broadway or even 5th Street if you can find a spot. I recommend 3rd St. just south of Chestnut.
Barbara Ramlow
Lexington Traditional Dance Association
(859) 277-1621 h
(859) 257-6441 w 

--Boundary_(ID_+u1sBklDk86y5xot8T1FwQ)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE

<P>I am forwarding this message concerning the December 29th benefit =
concert for Louisville's Robin Loeffler, who suffered a left-brain st=
roke recently. Robin is making a good recovery and her doctors and th=
erapists are optimistic, but her ability to play her hammered dulcime=
r is presently impaired. I am told that she is still receiving therap=
y. Her band, Ten Penny Bit, plays for contra and occasional English c=
ountry dances in addition to playing Irish music.
<P>I hope that those of you who are in this area or nearby on Decembe=
r 29th will be able to attend this concert, and that you will spread =
the word to others about this very worthy event.
<P>Best holiday wishes to all,
<P>Susan Booker
<P>Lexington, KY
<P>&nbsp;<B><I>"Barbara E. Ramlow" &lt;beraml4-AT-pop.uky.edu&gt;</I></B=
> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT=
: #1010ff 2px solid">Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 08:18:54 -0500<BR>To: (Re=
cipient list suppressed)<BR>From: "Barbara E. Ramlow" <BERAML4-AT-POP.UK=
Y.EDU><BR>Subject: More details on Benefit Concert for Robin<BR><BR><=
B>Sunday,&nbsp; December 29, 2002, 2-6 p.m.<BR></B>Special Event --&n=
bsp; Irish Holiday Celebration<BR>Kentucky Theater in Louisville, Fou=
rth Street<BR>Benefit for Robin Loeffler (hammer dulcimer player with=
 Ten Penny Bit)<BR>You can help by attending this event, bringing a f=
riend and/or spreading the word to all you know who treasure live Iri=
sh music.<BR><BR>Robin is the hammer dulcimer player for Ten Penny Bi=
t and recently suffered a stroke. Her prognosis for recovery looks go=
od, but she's a self-employed, uninsured musician, and therefore mone=
y is tight. Her many friends are trying to help her out. <B>The conce=
rt is Sunday, December 29th from 2-6 p.m at the Kentucky Theater, 641=
 South Fourth Street, Louisville.</B>&nbsp; **** Tickets a

<DIV align=3Dcenter><B>Come enjoy great music and friends while helpi=
ng out a great cause!<BR><BR></B></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=3Dcite cite type=3D"cite"></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>To get=
 to Kentucky Theater, DON'T turn down 4th Street; our city fathers ma=
de that an impossibility about 25 years ago. Instead, continue down 3=
rd St to the 600 block (between Chestnut and Broadway). This is, oddl=
y enouth, about six blocks from the river. Park and walk to 4th St. Y=
ou could park on the street, or in a lot, or you could park along Bro=
adway or even 5th Street if you can find a spot. I recommend 3rd St. =
just south of Chestnut.</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P></X-SIGSEP><FONT size=3D4><B>Barbara Ramlow<BR>Lexington Tradition=
al Dance Association<BR>(859) 277-1621 h<BR>(859) 257-6441 w</FONT></=
B> </P>


--Boundary_(ID_+u1sBklDk86y5xot8T1FwQ)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 07:48:54 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 09:48:46 -0600 (CST)
From: Jonathan Sivier <j-sivier-AT-ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Note of appreciation (and plug) to the Urbana, Illinois ECD Crowd
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <200212191548.gBJFmkG19381-AT-staff2.cso.uiuc.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

M.G. Mudrey, Jr. writes:
> 
> Got your flyers for the English-American Dance and Music Weekend March 
> 21-23, 2003 in Urbana, Illinois.
> 
> Looks, good,, and I will pass them on to the contra and english crowd here 
> in Madison.

   I've also sent some to various people listed as contra dance contacts
in Madison, so you may not need to worry about the contra dances, just the
English group.  Take a look at the contra dances though and let me know
if for some reason they failed to get to the correct person and get put
out at the dances.

   Thanks for letting me know that they have arrived.  You send these things
out and cross your fingers that they get to where you sent them and get
put out at dances.

Jonathan

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 07:54:53 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:54:35 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Mind Reading, or, Re: 'Helping' During Dances (Could be "Mars and Venus")
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFA6D554AC.2870F8F5-ON85256C94.0054A9E6-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


Terry's comments made me think of another bonus to having dancers assist
each other when newcomers are involved. In the course of the interaction
with one's neighbors, a newcomer may feel like they have a "friend" in the
set - someone (or several) who have demonstrated their eagerness to include
them in the dance. When I have assisted someone on a particular figure, I
notice as the dance goes on that often that person will remember the figure
if they simply catch a glimpse of me. So I guess the other dancers in the
set can act like human landmarks/reminders to the newcomer.

Now all of this is predicated on several things:
1) It is necessary that the one offering help actually know the figure as
it is being taught by the leader. Since there is not much quality control
of this on the dance floor, it is up to the leader to be astute enough to
recognize when this is not the case and intervene. (My suggestion about
sitting back and letting the tutorials proceed is only if you are fairly
certain it will lead to a satisfactory outcome). For example, call a stop
to the instruction if I want everyone to do oblique siding and a helpful
dancer is teaching the newcomer C# siding.
2) The manner and attitude of the helper must be one of courtesy, respect,
and genuine generosity. Help should feel like a "gift" from a fellow dancer
and NOT A REPROACH. (Too often, comments from fellow dancers seem to be
rude, patronizing, and motivated by the selfish desire to have the dance
flow without interruption of the helper's fun. Many times this is not the
case but it "seems" so to the newcomer).
3) Help is not help if it interferes with the other person's ability to
concentrate on what the caller is saying. Part of not being rude is not to
speak when others are speaking. No words during the caller's instruction,
but gestures can be helpful if they do not unduly draw attention away from
caller's instruction (I just thought of some gestures that are almost never
helpful, but that is not what I meant). Even if the caller is saying
something "wrong" (i.e., if you follow the instructions literally it won't
work) it is courteous and respectful to add your 2 cents later when the
walkthrough is complete and then only if necessary.  (It is surprising how
often the "wrong" explanation still manages someway or other tho get
everyone through a figure - usually on account of those neighbors who
already know how it is supposed to be danced).

To the dancers - I say be a friend, give a gift, be generous
To the caller - I say watch for trouble and intervene when it arises;
rudeness, interuption, mistakes in the figure. The intervention should
always be done in a friendly and helpful manner, with the same spirit of
generosity, and should not come across as a reprimand.
Cammy

P.S. Don't think that I follow all these rules - I can be as rude as the
worst at times or at least seem so.

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 21:25:28 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 21:25:36 -0800
From: Alan Ackerman <alan.ackerman-AT-earthlink.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Widdershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <p05200f01ba285905834f-AT-[209.179.212.90]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <20021217070043.QQHV20003.mtiwmhc13.worldnet.att.net-AT-mtiwebc09>

>When I first started Scottish Country Dancing 22 years ago, I was 
>told that the
>circles always start to the left because that was the way the sun traveled and
>circling to the right first would be going "widdershins" (withershins),
>the "witches' way."
>
>Catie Condran Geist, Palm Bay, Florida
>English Country Dancer, Scottish Country Dancer, Contra Dancer, International
>Folk Dancer (take your pick)

I have read that it is very bad luck to go around a church 
widdershins. (In England, maybe other places.)  I hadn't heard about 
the connection with witches.  Care to elaborate? (Try widdershins on 
your spell-checker. Mine didn't like it. It gave me, among other more 
obvious replacements, "direction".)

-- 
Alan Ackerman, alan.ackerman-AT-earthlink.net
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 21:49:08 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 05:49:04 +0000
From: catiegeist-AT-att.net
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Widdershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021220054904.IUWM9286.mtiwmhc11.worldnet.att.net-AT-mtiwebc16>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

In reply to Alan Ackerman:

I think that the ban on circling to the right first in Scottish Country Dances 
because it's widdershins (that's the spelling in _Webster's Ninth New 
Collegiate Dictionary_ but "withershins" is the first spelling in _Webster's 
New World Dictionary_ with "widdershins" as the second spelling) comes from a 
long history of pagan and druidic folklore and old tales from the mists of 
time. It's like saying that it's bad luck to walk under a ladder or to let a 
black cat cross your path. My first SCD teacher (who was from Scotland 
originally) told me that you should always start the circle to the left (four, 
six, or eight hands round and back) because starting to the right 
was "widdershins" and that was the "witches' way." That's all I know.

Catie Condran Geist (who always listens to what the teacher says)  
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 22:34:27 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 22:35:39 -0800
From: "Ed St.Germain" <Patriot1-AT-AmericanRevolution.org>
Subject: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD list <ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <3E02BA3A.95FC54E-AT-AmericanRevolution.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; x-mac-creator=4D4F5353; x-mac-type=54455854; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Recently, someone posted dance instructions to the list which included a
"Morris hey."

Try as I might, I haven't been able to find out what that is, so I'll
swallow my pride and ask the source.

What is a Morris hey?

Best regards,
Ed


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 23:45:29 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 23:21:35 -0800
From: Alan Ackerman <alan.ackerman-AT-earthlink.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <p05200f02ba286b91dc4e-AT-[209.179.252.68]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <MABBKHHLHFFIDCFJKJBBAELICMAA.rhawk-AT-wmnt.freeserve.co.uk> <3DFE7818.740A0A47-AT-sbcglobal.net>

I drifted from contras to English, largely because I just love the 
music of the English dances. (And Jon Berger is certainly one of the 
best of the local musicians who play for those English dances.) In 
the last year, we have taken up Scottish Country Dancing. My wife was 
thrilled to join an "open" band playing for our Monday night Scottish 
intermediate class. This band is "open" in the sense that it requires 
no auditions to join, but not in the sense that anyone can just show 
up and noodle along. They send out music in advance and expect the 
musicians to both practice and attend a rehearsal.

My wife pointed out that the Scottish open band play almost entirely 
in unison, while the musicians at our English dances play in harmony. 
The Scottish band plays 3-5 tunes per dance, while the English dances 
usually have only one tune (although the band sometimes throws in 
another). The Scottish dances cost $4, the English $7-8. The reason 
for the cost difference is that the English bands get paid (I don't 
know how well), while the Scottish bands do not. (We use the same 
halls.)

I am too new to Scottish dance, and too poorly travelled, to know 
whether these are merely local differences, or more widespread.

Certainly the professional music is better. I am certainly willing to 
pay the difference. But the open band is more than adequate for the 
Monday night class. The Scottish spend a fair amount of time on 
warm-ups, and fair amount of time just practicing footwork. I suspect 
the English bands would find that pretty boring.

I think there is room for both -- in English or in Scottish. I would 
certainly go for professional musicians for your parties and balls, 
and whenever you can afford them. But I wouldn't be embarrassed to 
have an open band, either.


-- 
Alan Ackerman, alan.ackerman-AT-earthlink.net
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 23:45:46 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 23:45:35 -0800
From: Sharon Green <mls-AT-panix.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20021219230119.01c72da8-AT-popserver.panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

At 10:35 PM 12/19/2002 -0800, Ed St.Germain wrote:
>Recently, someone posted dance instructions to the list which included a
>"Morris hey."
>
>Try as I might, I haven't been able to find out what that is, so I'll
>swallow my pride and ask the source.
>
>What is a Morris hey?

Best of all possible questions!   I'm assuming you're accustomed to dancing 
a symmetric or mirror image hey [sometimes called a Grimstock hey], in 
which you have the opportunity to take your partner's hand when you are at 
the ends of the set but separate from your partner in the middle of the set 
["bulge in the middle"] to let another couple through.  Kelsterne Gardens 
opens with a mirror hey, for example.

A Morris hey is the opposite of a mirror hey: rather than bulging in the 
middle, it's wasp-waisted, or hourglass-shaped.  Here's a description from 
The Round's Elements of English Country Dance [a very charming commentary 
on ECD that can be found on Hugh Stewart's web site, I believe]:
"instead of leading in from the end the middle couple lead up the middle 
while the tops cast out to meet in the middle and lead down as the bottom 
couple cast up.  This is exactly the same path used in the Grimstock hey, 
but danced in the reverse direction."

A bit more detailed description, from the Pat Shaw collection, v.1:
Morris Hey:
         1st couple cast down outside 2nd couple, who lead up between them.
         1st couple lead down between 3rd couple, who cast up outside them.
         2nd couple cast down outside 3rd couple, who lead up between them.
         2nd couple lead down between 1st couple, who cast up outside them.
         3rd couple cast down outside the 1st couple, who lead up between them.
         3rd couple lead down between 2nd couple, who cast up outside them.
         All begin dancing at the same time.

Folks occasionally panic in Morris heys because they're unsure which couple 
goes through the middle first.  It's probably the casting into the hey that 
disorients them, because they don't have problems doing straight heys, and 
if you cut out the initial casts, you basically have two straight heys, in 
which the men's line dances a L-shoulder hey for 3 while the women's line 
dances a R-shoulder hey for 3.  I love Morris heys, which are way too much 
fun to be the exclusive property of Morris dancers. (~:   Try them: even if 
you go wrong, you'll have a good time milling about with friends.

Cheers,
Sharon Green


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 00:51:42 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 02:51:17 -0600
From: Charlene Charette <perronnelle-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <3E02DA05.56AED7FD-AT-earthlink.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <5.1.0.14.0.20021219230119.01c72da8-AT-popserver.panix.com>

Sharon Green wrote:

> Best of all possible questions!   I'm assuming you're accustomed to dancing
> a symmetric or mirror image hey [sometimes called a Grimstock hey], in
> which you have the opportunity to take your partner's hand when you are at
> the ends of the set but separate from your partner in the middle of the set
> ["bulge in the middle"] to let another couple through.  Kelsterne Gardens
> opens with a mirror hey, for example.

I'd never heard of this hey, either.  Sounds fun.  Is this figure used
much in ECD?  If so, what are the earliest dances that use it?

Thanks,
--Charlene

-- 
All music is folk music.  I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.  --
Louis Armstrong
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 02:17:20 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 10:17:00 +0000
From: Alan Corkett <alan-AT-bcorkett.freeserve.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <002e01c2a810$efdd5c40$cc2c86d9-AT-default>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

...Quote from Alan Ackerman "The reason for the cost difference is that the
English bands get paid (I don't  know how well), while the Scottish bands do
not.

UK Scene
(High) Fees for musicians are often quoted as being the reason that Country
Dance clubs & Folk Dance clubs in England have to dance to record or tapes,
only having live music on special occasions. (Similar situation occurs in
weekly Scottish country dance classes)

As regards the difference between Scottish country dance music bands and
English CD bands and their respective fees; I have played in both situations
and would have thought from personal experience that the Scottish scene may
have the slight edge on fees, though generally it is all poorly paid in the
UK unless you are funded on some permanent agency arrangement or are one of
the few top names who on rarity alone command higher figures.
Alan Corkett


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 06:45:54 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:45:48 -0500 (EST)
From: "Priscilla M. Burrage" <pburrage-AT-zoo.uvm.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.A41.4.51.0212200942440.124944-AT-elk.uvm.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <5.1.0.14.0.20021219230119.01c72da8-AT-popserver.panix.com>

On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, Sharon Green wrote:

> At 10:35 PM 12/19/2002 -0800, Ed St.Germain wrote:
> >Recently, someone posted dance instructions to the list which included a
> >"Morris hey."
> >
> >Try as I might, I haven't been able to find out what that is, so I'll
> >swallow my pride and ask the source.

For those of you who are also Scottish dancers,  John Drewry's the Duchess
Tree has a crossover Morris hey in it.  but don't try teaching that dance
by telling your Scottish dancers that it's just a Morris hey. . .


> >What is a Morris hey?
>
> Best of all possible questions!   I'm assuming you're accustomed to dancing
> a symmetric or mirror image hey [sometimes called a Grimstock hey], in
> which you have the opportunity to take your partner's hand when you are at
> the ends of the set but separate from your partner in the middle of the set
> ["bulge in the middle"] to let another couple through.  Kelsterne Gardens
> opens with a mirror hey, for example.
>
> A Morris hey is the opposite of a mirror hey: rather than bulging in the
> middle, it's wasp-waisted, or hourglass-shaped.  Here's a description from
> The Round's Elements of English Country Dance [a very charming commentary
> on ECD that can be found on Hugh Stewart's web site, I believe]:
> "instead of leading in from the end the middle couple lead up the middle
> while the tops cast out to meet in the middle and lead down as the bottom
> couple cast up.  This is exactly the same path used in the Grimstock hey,
> but danced in the reverse direction."

Excellent description, Sharon!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Priscilla Burrage       Vermont US
(pburrage-AT-zoo.uvm.edu)

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 08:46:42 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 11:46:24 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OF81D09328.7A269904-ON85256C95.005B4AE1-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

                                                                                                                                     
                      Alan Ackerman                                                                                                  
                      <alan.ackerman-AT-earthlink.        To:       ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU                                      
                      net>                             cc:                                                                           
                      Sent by:                         Subject:  Re: Attracting Musicians                                            
                      owner-ecd-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.S                                                                                      
                      TANFORD.EDU                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                     
                      20-Dec-2002 02:21 AM                                                                                           
                      Please respond to ECD                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                     








... This band is "open" in the sense that it requires
no auditions to join, but not in the sense that anyone can just show
up and noodle along. They send out music in advance and expect the
musicians to both practice and attend a rehearsal.

My wife pointed out that the Scottish open band play almost entirely
in unison, while the musicians at our English dances play in harmony.
The Scottish band plays 3-5 tunes per dance, while the English dances
usually have only one tune (although the band sometimes throws in
another). The Scottish dances cost $4, the English $7-8. The reason
for the cost difference is that the English bands get paid (I don't
know how well), while the Scottish bands do not. (We use the same
halls.)...
Alan


I am blessed with 4 young children (7-13) who are all taking lessons on 1-2
instruments. I have been making up harmonies to the tune "featured" at my
4th Friday dance that are crafted to fall within the capabilities of my
children. The result is a 4-part (three in treble clef and one in bass for
the cellist) arrangement that has a line suited for each skill level. One
line is mostly one note per step and mostly open strings. Another is as
involved as the melody but strive to provide some contrapuntal variety....
The "sit-ins" have been finding this a useful source of alternative lines
to play when the melody seems like too much of a struggle at first. This
has also brought a richness to the sound that was absent when all the
sit-ins played only the melody and often not very in tune.
Cammy





================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:36:40 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:36:07 -0800
From: Sharon Green <mls-AT-panix.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20021220085832.01c53938-AT-popserver.panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <5.1.0.14.0.20021219230119.01c72da8-AT-popserver.panix.com>

At 02:51 AM 12/20/2002 -0600, Charlene Charette wrote:

>I'd never heard of this hey, either.  Sounds fun.  Is this figure used
>much in ECD?  If so, what are the earliest dances that use it?

Grimstock, from the Dancing Master of 1651, is one of the earliest: hence, 
the alternate name of Grimstock hey for a mirror hey.  Adson's Saraband & 
The New Exchange, from the same edition, have "interrupted" mirror heys [at 
the halfway point in the hey, there's a set and turn single.  Kelsterne 
Gardens, which I mentioned earlier, has a 1727 date, and may be a bit late 
for your group.

Happy dancing!
Sharon Green


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 11:15:24 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 14:15:56 -0500
From: Susan <susan-AT-generalist.org>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: New York City - Regency Dance Workshop Sunday Jan. 5th
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
CC: susan-AT-generalist.org
Message-ID: <E18PScm-0008VK-00-AT-black.generalist.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


(Regular posting, which will recurr right after the holidays in case peoples'
brains melt over the next two weeks)


For the New York City-accessible and historically curious:

EAS Regency Dance Workshops
Sunday, January 5, 2003  1:00-4:00pm

Starting with the new year, my regular monthly dance workshop will
go to exclusively early 19th-century (English Regency, Jane Austen,
Napoleonic Wars, etc.) English dance forms.  It will also go
primarily to first Sundays of each month.  A full calendar is at
http://www.elegantarts.org/calendar03.html, although it is regrettably
short on details at the moment.

In general, these workshops will look at a range of the popular dances
of the first quarter of the 19th century, including country dances and
quadrilles (in their myriad variations), Scotch reels, and waltzes.
We are most interested in dances popular in England in this period
rather than American ones, although we reserve the right to make
occasional geographic detours.  No previous experience is needed and
most of the material is not sequential; come any month!  We will cycle
month by month through:

English country dances - Danse Ecossoise - French Quadrilles
Slow Waltz - Sauteuse and Quick Sauteuse Waltz - Wilson's Waltz Sequence*
Classic Foursome Reel - Wilson's New Reel For Four - EAS Reel Sequence*

The starred material is sequential in that that part of the workshop
will be "for those who know" the parts of the sequence already.  



The details for January (subject to change):

Danse Ecossoise - my latest research passion: figures and steps for
this new country dance trend of the late 1810's.

Sauteuse Waltz - the lively French "hop waltz" as described in 1816.

Scotch Foursome Reel - the classic set-and-hey sequence with steps
from 1805.  Kilts are welcome but howling should be kept to a minimum!

All material is taken directly from primary sources and reconstructed
by yours truly.  If you have questions about it, email me directly.



Cost is $15 in general; $10 if this is your first time at one of our
workshops.  Full-year subscriptions are $160 (a small savings), payable
in quarterly payments.

PLEASE RSVP to: meredith-AT-elegantarts.org - the number of people we
are expecting affects how I prepare for the class!

Location:
Hop, Swing, and a Jump, 132 Crosby Street #2
for directions, see our webpage, http://www.elegantarts.org/classprac.html/



For more information about the Elegant Arts Society, please see our website:
http://www.elegantarts.org

To receive these announcements directly, please email
info-AT-elegantarts.org to be added to our mailing list.

Happy Holidays!

Susan






================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 12:42:35 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 20:40:56 +0000 (GMT)
From: gmurrow-AT-juno.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re:Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
CC: 
Message-ID: <20021220.124137.10255.441821-AT-webmail3.wlv.untd.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Has anyone mentioned yet that the "Morris hey" is a figure from the tradition of Morris dance centered in the Cotswold region of Oxfordshire and Gloucestire?  These dances were done in sets of 6 dancers.  

The trick to making it work well is that the top "couple" must cast sharply and move through middle place so that there's time for the bottom couple of get through, followed by the middle returning to their place.
 
Gene



---------- Charlene Charette <perronnelle-AT-earthlink.net> writes:

From: Charlene Charette <perronnelle-AT-earthlink.net>
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 02:51:17 -0600

Sharon Green wrote:

> Best of all possible questions!   I'm assuming you're accustomed to dancing
> a symmetric or mirror image hey [sometimes called a Grimstock hey], in
> which you have the opportunity to take your partner's hand when you are at
> the ends of the set but separate from your partner in the middle of the set
> ["bulge in the middle"] to let another couple through.  Kelsterne Gardens
> opens with a mirror hey, for example.

I'd never heard of this hey, either.  Sounds fun.  Is this figure used
much in ECD?  If so, what are the earliest dances that use it?

Thanks,
--Charlene

-- 
All music is folk music.  I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.  --
Louis Armstrong




================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 12:51:04 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 20:52:19 +0000
From: Michael Barraclough <michael.barraclough-AT-tgis.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: RE: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <000a01c2a869$b01b3240$0300a8c0-AT-ntworld.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

But the $64,000 dollar question is which came first.  At the time that
ECD was developing the majority of references to morris depict circular,
linear or solo dancing - not the 3 and 4 couple sets collected by Cecil
Sharp in the C20.  It seems just as, if not more likely, that the morris
"stole" the hey figure from the country dance.

Michael Barraclough
http://www.mab.tgis.co.uk


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ecd-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
[mailto:owner-ecd-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU] On Behalf Of
gmurrow-AT-juno.com
Sent: 20 December 2002 20:41
To: ECD-AT-ssrl04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Re:Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...

Has anyone mentioned yet that the "Morris hey" is a figure from the
tradition of Morris dance centered in the Cotswold region of Oxfordshire
and Gloucestire?  These dances were done in sets of 6 dancers.  

The trick to making it work well is that the top "couple" must cast
sharply and move through middle place so that there's time for the
bottom couple of get through, followed by the middle returning to their
place.
 
Gene



---------- Charlene Charette <perronnelle-AT-earthlink.net> writes:

From: Charlene Charette <perronnelle-AT-earthlink.net>
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 02:51:17 -0600

Sharon Green wrote:

> Best of all possible questions!   I'm assuming you're accustomed to
dancing
> a symmetric or mirror image hey [sometimes called a Grimstock hey], in
> which you have the opportunity to take your partner's hand when you
are at
> the ends of the set but separate from your partner in the middle of
the set
> ["bulge in the middle"] to let another couple through.  Kelsterne
Gardens
> opens with a mirror hey, for example.

I'd never heard of this hey, either.  Sounds fun.  Is this figure used
much in ECD?  If so, what are the earliest dances that use it?

Thanks,
--Charlene

-- 
All music is folk music.  I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.  --
Louis Armstrong




---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
 

---

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.426 / Virus Database: 239 - Release Date: 02/12/02
 

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 13:12:32 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 16:12:28 -0500 (EST)
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.03.10212201611090.2583-100000-AT-research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

I think my favorite dance with a Morris hey is the "Old Mill".
best,
 Terry


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 13:33:02 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 13:32:55 -0800 (PST)
From: Graham Christian <bray1699-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: The old what?
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021220213255.36577.qmail-AT-web13113.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

I think our friend Terry means "The Merry Salopians,"
a dance of the 1710s, danced in Tom Cook's
interpretation to the modern tune, "The Old Mill."
(Salop=Shropshire, in case you're curious)
[Sorry, Terry, I'm a stickler for this kind of
detail!].
Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-neu.edu> wrote:
> I think my favorite dance with a Morris hey is the
> "Old Mill".
> best,
>  Terry
> 
> 


=====
Graham Christian
"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 13:40:36 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 16:40:33 -0500 (EST)
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: The old what?
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.03.10212201635400.2583-100000-AT-research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

When I first learned it we called it "THe Old Mill"--later was told the
correct title. If you want to hear what the tune sounds like, it's the cut
entitled "The Old Mill" on "Favorites of the Boston Centre" vol 1.

Best,
 Terry

On Fri, 20 Dec 2002, Graham Christian wrote:

> I think our friend Terry means "The Merry Salopians,"
> a dance of the 1710s, danced in Tom Cook's
> interpretation to the modern tune, "The Old Mill."
> (Salop=Shropshire, in case you're curious)
> [Sorry, Terry, I'm a stickler for this kind of
> detail!].
> Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-neu.edu> wrote:
> > I think my favorite dance with a Morris hey is the
> > "Old Mill".
> > best,
> >  Terry
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> =====
> Graham Christian
> "Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow."
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
> http://mailplus.yahoo.com
> 

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 00:37:28 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 02:39:28 -0600
From: Paul Stamler <pstamler-AT-pobox.com>
Subject: Fire and Ice, or Demo and then some
To: ecd list <ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <005801c2a8cc$7a9e88c0$5f69550c-AT-paulstam>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Hi folks:

Sometimes you get more excitement than you bargain for. Our ECD group and
band were hired to do a demo and teach some dances for the Ethical Society's
winter holiday party; the band would also play some seasonal and other
stuff, and a good time would be had by all.

During sound check someone decided to plug three coffee urns into the same
outlet. The breakers promptly blew...and took out our sound system. All the
outlets at that end of the building were kaput (and the maintenance guy was
nowhere to be found), so I hauled out the Big Orange extension cord and we
hunted until we found one a few rooms down that worked. (The coffee urns
were removed to the kitchen.)

So we did sound check and swung into the Helston Furry Dance version of "I
Saw Three Ships", and were just getting done when a man came through the
room telling everyone we had to leave, NOW, because there was a fire in the
foyer. (I don't *think* it was the coffee urns, but I couldn't swear for
sure; we did hear later that it had been an electrical fire.) So we grabbed
instruments and headed out the door -- I was so preoccupied with grabbing
guitars that I quite forgot coat, gloves, etc.. This proved to be a mistake.

We were outside for some 50 minutes; immediately on feeling the cold air I
realized that if I didn't keep playing the guitar, my hands would freeze up,
probably for the whole night. So I played, and we did our demos out there,
in cold but not quite freezing weather. "Scotch Cap", "Sellenger's",
"Mistwold", and a couple more I'm too fried to remember at the moment, all
done on a National steel guitar (for volume's sake, not to mention pitch
stability compared to the wood guitar, which suffered). All danced from
collective memory, as the calling cards were still inside. The callers
called splendidly, the dancers danced splendidly (on concrete), and thanks
to Becky Coalson for draping a coat over my shoulders.

Well, the fire brigade came and we didn't offer them anything to read
(sorry, I was listening to Dylan Thomas this afternoon), but they eventually
let us go back into the building, where we heated the house up with "Syrto
Home" -- clearly there were some International folk dancers in the crowd --
then resumed our demos, songs and participatory dances. The rest of the
night went splendidly, the Ethical Society folks enjoyed our dancing, and a
goodly number got up and danced with us.

Oh, the fire damage was minor; good thing it happened while people were
there, though. Perhaps someone could write a dance in memory of fiery
holidays, "Mrs Prothero's Delight".

Merry Christmas!

Peace,
Paul

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 06:18:39 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 09:18:22 -0500 (EST)
From: Dfhart24-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Fire and Ice, or Demo and then some
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <19e.e095c21.2b35d22e-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_0VhftbZ5r88GSqLNHKkaCA)"


--Boundary_(ID_0VhftbZ5r88GSqLNHKkaCA)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

In a message dated 12/21/2002 3:39:24 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
pstamler-AT-pobox.com writes:


> We were outside for some 50 minutes; immediately on feeling the cold air I
> realized that if I didn't keep playing the guitar, my hands would freeze 
> up,
> probably for the whole night. So I played, and we did our demos out there,
> in cold but not quite freezing weather. "Scotch Cap", "Sellenger's",
> "Mistwold", and a couple more I'm too fried to remember at the moment, all
> done on a National steel guitar (for volume's sake, not to mention pitch
> stability compared to the wood guitar, which suffered). All danced from
> collective memory, as the calling cards were still inside. The callers
> called splendidly, the dancers danced splendidly (on concrete), and thanks
> to Becky Coalson for draping a coat over my shoulders.
> 
> Well, the fire brigade came and we didn't offer them anything to read
> (sorry, I was listening to Dylan Thomas this afternoon), 
> 

Funny thing, even before I read that last line, I was thinking "A Child's 
Christmas in 
Wales".

Thanks for your All's-well-that-ends-well tale.  

Too bad you weren't able to Dance Around the Coal Fire in the Fields of Frost 
and Snow in the Bleak Midwinter.

Cheer,
Deborah


--Boundary_(ID_0VhftbZ5r88GSqLNHKkaCA)
Content-type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">In a message dated 12/21/2002 3:39:24 AM Eastern Standard Time, pstamler-AT-pobox.com writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">We were outside for some 50 minutes; immediately on feeling the cold air I<BR>
realized that if I didn't keep playing the guitar, my hands would freeze up,<BR>
probably for the whole night. So I played, and we did our demos out there,<BR>
in cold but not quite freezing weather. "Scotch Cap", "Sellenger's",<BR>
"Mistwold", and a couple more I'm too fried to remember at the moment, all<BR>
done on a National steel guitar (for volume's sake, not to mention pitch<BR>
stability compared to the wood guitar, which suffered). All danced from<BR>
collective memory, as the calling cards were still inside. The callers<BR>
called splendidly, the dancers danced splendidly (on concrete), and thanks<BR>
to Becky Coalson for draping a coat over my shoulders.<BR>
<BR>
Well, the fire brigade came and we didn't offer them anything to read<BR>
(sorry, I was listening to Dylan Thomas this afternoon), <BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
Funny thing, even before I read that last line, I was thinking "A Child's Christmas in </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Wales".<BR>
<BR>
Thanks for your All's-well-that-ends-well tale.&nbsp; </FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><BR>
Too bad you weren't able to Dance Around the Coal Fire in the Fields of Frost and Snow in the Bleak Midwinter.<BR>
<BR>
Cheer,<BR>
Deborah<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></HTML>

--Boundary_(ID_0VhftbZ5r88GSqLNHKkaCA)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 07:29:35 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 10:29:27 -0500 (EST)
From: DavBarnert-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <187.1338e4af.2b35e2d7-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Gene wrote:

 >Has anyone mentioned yet that the "Morris hey" is a figure from
 >the tradition of Morris dance centered in the Cotswold region of
 >Oxfordshire and Gloucestire?

Michael wrote:

 >But the $64,000 dollar question is which came first.

It should also be pointed out that the hey figure in the Morris
dances of the tradition of Adderbury is referred to as a "Country
Dance Hey." It is a parallel hey (right shoulder from the top) as
in The Black Nag (but simultaneous on both sides).

  ______      /\/\/\/\
 <______>     | | | | |  David Barnert
 <______>     | | | | |  <davbarnert-AT-aol.com>
 <______>     | | | | |  Albany, N.Y.
 <______>     \/\/\/\/

Ventilator   Concertina
  Bellows      Bellows
(Vocation)   (Avocation)

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 07:29:41 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 10:29:31 -0500 (EST)
From: DavBarnert-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Attracting Musicians
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <4b.283e3aff.2b35e2db-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Cammy wrote:

 >... I have been making up harmonies to the tune "featured" at my
 >4th Friday dance that are crafted to fall within the
 >capabilities of my children... The "sit-ins" have been finding
 >this a useful source of alternative lines to play when the
 >melody seems like too much of a struggle at first.

This is a fine idea, and arrangements along these lines can be seen
in Marshall Barron's books, as well. They are available at CDSS:

     http://www.cdss.org/sales/english_dance.html#books

When they first started coming out, in the 1980s, it got so I
could recognize who had the books and who didn't by listening to
the harmony lines coming off the stage at a dance.

  ______      /\/\/\/\
 <______>     | | | | |  David Barnert
 <______>     | | | | |  <davbarnert-AT-aol.com>
 <______>     | | | | |  Albany, N.Y.
 <______>     \/\/\/\/

Ventilator   Concertina
  Bellows      Bellows
(Vocation)   (Avocation)
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 10:10:33 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 13:10:23 -0500 (EST)
From: SFORDNYC-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Widdershins/Withershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <1bb.b2f800b.2b36088f-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable:

No listing under "Widdershins" 

"Withershins"
An old English word, still in use in Scotland and in north-country dialects, 
denoting a movement in a contrary direction to that of the sun -- as of a 
clock whose hands are going backwards (Icelandic "vithr" against; "sinni" 
movement).  Hence, contrariwise, topsy-turvy.  The opposite of withershins is 
"deiseal" a Gaelic word meaning righthandwise.

No mention of witches.  

Happy Solstice to All & Sundry!
Suzanne
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 14:46:43 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 17:40:32 -0500
From: stepstately-AT-juno.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021221.174038.-3805151.0.stepstately-AT-juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

> Gene wrote:
>  >Has anyone mentioned yet that the "Morris hey" is a figure from
>  >the tradition of Morris dance centered in the Cotswold region of
>  >Oxfordshire and Gloucestire?
> 
> Michael wrote:
>  >But the $64,000 dollar question is which came first.

Many of you will recall that, as previously posted on this list, the
noted historian S. Corrsin, after much research, unequivocally stated
that the figures of English country dance originated in the sword dance
tradition. It is therefore more than likely that the Morris came later.

Bob

________________________________________________________________
Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today
Only $9.95 per month!
Visit www.juno.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 17:18:33 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 20:18:11 -0500
From: "Emily L. Ferguson" <elf-AT-cape.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Fwd: Lippincott Award
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <a05100302ba2ac32ec4ae-AT-[140.186.55.23]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

 From another list I'm on.

>Society of Dance History Scholars
>Call for Nominations: Gertrude Lippincott Award
>
>The Gertrude Lippincott Award is an annual prize of five hundred dollars
>for the best English-language article on dance history or theory
>published during the preceding calendar year. Named in honor of its
>donor, a devoted teacher of modern dance in the Midwest and mentor to
>many students, it was established to recognize excellence in the field
>of dance scholarship.
>
>The Gertrude Lippincott Award Committee invites submissions of
>candidates for this award for calendar year 2002. Both members and
>nonmembers of the Society of Dance History Scholars are eligible to
>apply. Because dance history and theory are broadly defined, articles
>submitted may be focused on the history, theory, and analysis of any
>genre of dance from any methodical perspective.
>
>Articles must have been published between 1 January and 31 December
>2002. Articles may be submitted by their authors or by editors,
>publishers, and members of SDHS. Only one entry per author or advocate
>will be accepted. Members of the SDHS board of directors and the SDHS
>editorial board are not eligible to apply.
>
>To enter an essay in the competition, send four copies of the published
>article and a cover letter with the name, postal address, telephone
>number, and e-mail address (if available) of the author to Lizbeth
>Langston, SDHS Corresponding Secretary, Information Services, Science
>Library, University of California, Riverside, CA 92517-5900.
>
>All submissions must be received by 20 February 2002. No submissions
>will be accepted via fax or e-mail. Written inquiries may be addressed
>to the chair of the award committee, June Vail, Department of Theater
>and Dance, 9100 College Station, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011.
>June's e-mail address is jvail-AT-bowdoin.edu; and her fax number is
>207-725-3372.

-- 
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.vsu.cape.com/~elf
http://www.beetlecat.org/store.html#yrbook

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 22:59:36 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 00:59:46 -0600
From: Charlene Charette <perronnelle-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance, but...
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <3E0562E2.FD093E95-AT-earthlink.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <5.1.0.14.0.20021219230119.01c72da8-AT-popserver.panix.com> <5.1.0.14.0.20021220085832.01c53938-AT-popserver.panix.com>

Sharon Green wrote:
> 
> At 02:51 AM 12/20/2002 -0600, Charlene Charette wrote:
> 
> >I'd never heard of this hey, either.  Sounds fun.  Is this figure used
> >much in ECD?  If so, what are the earliest dances that use it?
> 
> Grimstock, from the Dancing Master of 1651, is one of the earliest: hence,
> the alternate name of Grimstock hey for a mirror hey.  Adson's Saraband &
> The New Exchange, from the same edition, have "interrupted" mirror heys [at
> the halfway point in the hey, there's a set and turn single.  Kelsterne
> Gardens, which I mentioned earlier, has a 1727 date, and may be a bit late
> for your group.

I just realized I misread your original description.  We dance Grimstock
and I'm familiar with this hey.  One of those *duh!* moments.

--Charlene

-- 
All music is folk music.  I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.  --
Louis Armstrong
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 09:39:55 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 09:39:49 -0800 (PST)
From: William McDonald <mcdjr-AT-swbell.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Widdershins/Withershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021222173949.92279.qmail-AT-web80208.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

--- SFORDNYC-AT-aol.com wrote:
> "Withershins"
> An old English word, still in use in Scotland and in
> north-country dialects, 
> denoting a movement in a contrary direction to that
> of the sun -- as of a 
> clock whose hands are going backwards (Icelandic
> "vithr" against; "sinni" 
> movement).  Hence, contrariwise, topsy-turvy.  The
> opposite of withershins is 
> "deiseal" a Gaelic word meaning righthandwise.
> 
> No mention of witches.  
> 
> Happy Solstice to All & Sundry!
> Suzanne


Well now *I'm* confused...

All this talk about the sun's movement is getting me
twisted around.  Facing North the Sun comes up on the
right and moves to the left (counterclockwise).  But
facing South, the sun appears to come up on the left
and appears to move to the right (clockwise). Of
course in truth (a fact admittedly probably not known
when the term was coined), it's the earth that moves.
But this doesn't lend much clarity either: When viewed
from outer space, looking down on the Northern
hemisphere, the earth is turning
LOD/withershins/counterclockwise/whatever.  From the
perspective of our southern brothers and sisters the
earth is moving clockwise/leftwise, right? I mean
correct?

Oooh.  All this spinning is making me dizzy...

McDjr

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 10:04:51 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 12:04:33 -0600
From: "M.G. Mudrey, Jr." <mgmudrey-AT-mhtc.net>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Widdershins/Withershins
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.2.20021222120350.019c3920-AT-mail.mhtc.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_EWHz0MyiWlAWa+WSWlkyhA)"


--Boundary_(ID_EWHz0MyiWlAWa+WSWlkyhA)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


>e
>
>
>Well now *I'm* confused...
>
>All this talk about the sun's movement is getting me
>twisted around.  Facing North the Sun comes up on the
>right and moves to the left (counterclockwise).  But
>facing South, the sun appears to come up on the left
>and appears to move to the right (clockwise).


Place stick in the ground and watch the shadow.  The shadow moves "sunwise" 
or "clockwise"



--Boundary_(ID_EWHz0MyiWlAWa+WSWlkyhA)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

<html>
<body>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font size=3>e<br><br>
<br>
Well now *I'm* confused...<br><br>
All this talk about the sun's movement is getting me<br>
twisted around.&nbsp; Facing North the Sun comes up on the<br>
right and moves to the left (counterclockwise).&nbsp; But<br>
facing South, the sun appears to come up on the left<br>
and appears to move to the right (clockwise).
</font></blockquote><br><br>
Place stick in the ground and watch the shadow.&nbsp; The shadow moves
&quot;sunwise&quot; or &quot;clockwise&quot;<br><br>
<br>
</body>
</html>

--Boundary_(ID_EWHz0MyiWlAWa+WSWlkyhA)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 08:53:17 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 08:53:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Glenn Fulbright <gfulb2-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021224165310.80691.qmail-AT-web10706.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_Nn/Z6NBfv+42iNTQWEqAlQ)"


--Boundary_(ID_Nn/Z6NBfv+42iNTQWEqAlQ)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

SET NO MAIL


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

--Boundary_(ID_Nn/Z6NBfv+42iNTQWEqAlQ)
Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

SET NO MAIL<p><br><hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>
<a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Mail Plus</a> - Powerful. Affordable. <a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com">Sign up now</a>

--Boundary_(ID_Nn/Z6NBfv+42iNTQWEqAlQ)--
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 08:04:31 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 11:04:20 -0500 (EST)
From: DavBarnert-AT-aol.com
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Widdershins/Withershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <f2.26e361c0.2b3c8284-AT-aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

 >Well now *I'm* confused... 
 >
 >All this talk about the sun's movement is getting me twisted
 >around. Facing North the Sun comes up on the right and moves to
 >the left (counterclockwise). But facing South, the sun appears
 >to come up on the left and appears to move to the right
 >(clockwise).

We are in the Northern hemisphere, so the sun stays to the South
of us. If we were to try the above experiment facing North as
suggested, at noon we would find ourselves having to bend over
backward to see the sun. Any reasonable person would just turn
around and face South.

In the Southern hemisphere, it would all be turned around, and
Widdershins/Withershins would presumably be counterclockwise. In
the tropics, such a notion probably wouldn't exist because the sun
passes overhead (or nearly so).

  ______      /\/\/\/\
 <______>     | | | | |  David Barnert
 <______>     | | | | |  <davbarnert-AT-aol.com>
 <______>     | | | | |  Albany, N.Y.
 <______>     \/\/\/\/

Ventilator   Concertina
  Bellows      Bellows
(Vocation)   (Avocation)
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 09:50:14 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 12:50:05 -0500 (EST)
From: Terence Gaffney <gaff-AT-neu.edu>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Celebrate New Year's in Boston
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.4.03.10212261248310.11522-100000-AT-research.neu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT


Dear Friends,

Happy Boxing Day! Those of you in Boston for New Years Eve might be
interested in our annual Holiday party for our Wednesday series, which
will be on New Years Day this year. The dance is at the Park Avenue Church
in Arlington.  Directions for the dance can be found at our website:
http://www.cds-boston.org/english.html#wed.

This will be our first New Years party dance in recent memoryIve asked our
leaders to choose dances reflecting the two-sided nature of the New Year.
So bring your hopes and fears for the New Year to the dance and well
celebrate our hopes and dance away our fears!

As a plug for future events, Im happy to announce that Michael Ciccone
will be our regional caller this year. Michael will be leading our
Wednesday dance on January 22. Hope to see everybody then, too.

Best,
 Terry


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 18:40:57 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 18:42:18 -0800
From: "Ed St.Germain" <Patriot1-AT-AmericanRevolution.org>
Subject: Thank you
To: ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Message-ID: <3E0BBE08.2586A1A3-AT-AmericanRevolution.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; x-mac-creator=4D4F5353; x-mac-type=54455854; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
References: <00A19034.E1112C61.1-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu>

My thanks to everyone who responded both on- and off-list to my query
about the "Morris hey".

I always consider it to be a good day when I learn something new. The
kind list members have provided me with several good days.

Best regards,
Ed


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 03:03:05 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2002 17:41:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Barbara Ruth <barbararuth-AT-rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Westchester New Year's Eve dance - driveshare
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <20021228014156.20278.qmail-AT-web13605.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Anyone from north of the Westchester New Year's Eve Dance heading
that way who would like to share the drive?  I'll be going south on
I-95 from New Haven.  Willing to drive or be passenger.

Barbara

=====
"There is no inverse relationship between freedom and security. Less of one does not lead to more of the other. People with no rights are not safe from terrorist attack."  Molly Ivins

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 03:03:12 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2002 11:26:19 -0500
From: Campbell Kaynor <Campbell_Kaynor-AT-biogen.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Widdershins/Withershins
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <OFB6B13D2B.2F31DEDB-ON85256C9C.005A293C-AT-biogen.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

                                                                                                                          
                      DavBarnert-AT-aol.com                                                                                  
                      Sent by:                         To:       ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU                           
                      owner-ecd-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.S        cc:                                                                
                      TANFORD.EDU                      Subject:  Re: Widdershins/Withershins                              
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
                      26-Dec-2002 11:04 AM                                                                                
                      Please respond to ECD                                                                               
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          







... at noon we would find ourselves having to bend over
backward to see the sun. Any reasonable person would just turn
around and face South.

FIRST TIME I EVER THOUGHT I MIGHT BE CONSIDERED A "REASONABLE" PERSON!!!

In the Southern hemisphere, it would all be turned around, and
Widdershins/Withershins would presumably be counterclockwise. In
the tropics, such a notion probably wouldn't exist because the sun
passes overhead (or nearly so).


CARTWHEELS?


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 03:03:22 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2002 15:43:26 +0000
From: Colin Hume <colin-AT-colinhume.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Val McFarlane
To: ECD Mailing List <ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <E18Rwmk-0001TO-00.2002-12-27-15-52-30-AT-mail17.svr.pol.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Many dancers on both sides of the Atlantic will know Val McFarlane - caller,
dancer and organiser from Buckinghamshire in England.  Just before Christmas
she and her mother were involved in a car crash.  Her mother was killed.  Val
has four broken ribs, a broken collar-bone and a cracked sternum.  She spent
two nights in hospital and is now recovering at home - she says she can feel an
improvement each day, but she is on strong pain-killers and I imagine it will
be a while before she recovers fully.

I don't know when she will be reading emails, but you can write to her at
vmcf-AT-valmail.f9.co.uk or to Ian at imcf-AT-biclab.force9.co.uk

Please contact me off-list if you would like her snail-mail address.

Colin Hume

Email colin-AT-colinhume.com      Web site http://www.colinhume.com


================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 11:11:38 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 11:11:34 -0800 (PST)
From: Country Dancers of Westchester <cdw_ecd-AT-yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Last-minute dance reminder
To: ECD List <ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <20021231191134.13362.qmail-AT-web12204.mail.yahoo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Just a few hours till the 9:00pm start of Country
Dancers of Westchester's New Year's Eve dance party.
It's at St. John's Episcopal Church at Fountain Square
in Larchmont, NY.

Directions to the Church:
http://www.geocities.com/cdwestchester/directn_stj.htm

More information at the C.D.W. website:
http://www.geocities.com/cdwestchester/

Admission for this special event is $20.00 for all.


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 11:42:33 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 19:42:16 +0000
From: Alan Corkett <alan-AT-bcorkett.freeserve.co.uk>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: Last-minute dance reminder
To: ECD-AT-PLAYFORD.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Message-ID: <003b01c2b104$ba257e00$a1fd86d9-AT-default>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Subject: Last-minute dance reminder


To the Country Dancers of Westchester 

Just a few hours till the ...

From the UK -  Best Wishes for a Happy New Year, when it reaches you all!
Thinking of You
Alan Corkett

================================================================================
Archive-Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 17:27:57 PST
Sender: owner-ecd-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 13:46:16 +0000
From: Colin Hume <colin-AT-colinhume.com>
Reply-To: ECD-AT-playford.slac.stanford.edu
Subject: Val McFarlane
To: ECD Mailing List <ECD-AT-SSRL04.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>
Message-ID: <E18TXff-0005n2-00.2003-01-01-01-27-49-AT-mail17.svr.pol.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Val has gone back into hospital - it seems they let her out too soon - but Ian
is confident that they will deal with the problem.

I've written her a dance, which I have just called at my New Year's Eve Dance
in Letchworth - the one which Val and Ian would have gone to.  I've put the
music and instructions on the web at http://www.colinhume.com/val.htm so if
someone in the States is really quick you could call it at your New Year's Eve
Dance!

Colin Hume