Date:
Fri, 1 Mar 1996 05:34:24 -0500
Reply-To: zorro@netdepot.com
Sender: Renaissance Dance Mailing List <RENDANCE@MORGAN.UCS.MUN.CA>
From: David Marcus & Peggy Lamberson <zorro@NETDEPOT.COM>
Subject: Renaissance Country Dance?? (was introduction:
Dale J. Reid)
In-Reply-To: <960229135404_434729796@mail04.mail.aol.com>
In
email on Thu, 29 Feb 1996 13:54:05 -0500, Dale J. Reid
wrote:
|
Hello All,
> I am from Los Angeles, California. I have been
dancing English Renaissance
> for about 11 years now. Of that time I have been
teaching for 8. My
> performances are at the Renaissance Pleasure Faires
in Southern and Northern
> California. My repertoire consists mainly of John
Playford's English Dancing
> Master vol.1, as interpreted by Cecil Sharp
in England and past on to Richard
> Chase. Then to Doug Burger, to Ron Collins, and
finally to me. I have about
> 35 to 40 country dances currently in my repertoire.
I have also been Morris
> dancing for about 10 years. Of these, I have a
repertoire of about 52. If
> you have any questions or comments for me, I will
try my best to respond to
> all.
> Thank you.
>
I
have been waffling about responding to this post. The
problem is that there's no way to convey "tone"
via e-mail, and I very much _don't_ want to sound hyper-critical.
So please accept my welcome to the mailing list, and
know that the following is meant as a sincere desire
to understand some issues, not to jump on you for an
"error".
What's
bothering me is that you say you are doing Renaissance
dance, and yet you say you are doing mostly Playford
as interpreted by Sharp. [In my humble opinion], even
authentic Playford is not Renaissance, and Sharp's
versions are downright modern.
The
first edition of Playford was in 1651. By my working
definition, that is Baroque rather than Renaissance.
(I realize that defining and marking the limits of
these terms is a contentious subject in itself. That's
why I say my "working definition".) However,
I have heard arguments (tho not seen published research)
that at least some of the dances in Playford were fairly
old before he published them. This would certainly
be flirting with, if not downright in, the Renaissance
period.
However,
I generally think of country dances as Baroque, not
just because of the date of publication of The Dancing
Master, but also because of issues of style and practice.
Having done numerous balli, cascardi, etc., it is easy
to see the _roots_ of country dancing in Renaissance
court dances. They differ greatly from the country
dances in many respects, however.
Just
for example, the Renaissance court dances do not generally
repeat whole sections without either some variation
(e.g., men do X 1st time thru, ladies do X second time
thru), or alternation of sections (A,B,A,C, etc.--some
country dances do this, too, admittedly).
Renaissance
court dances frequently change time signature from
section to section within a dance. This is one of the
things that makes them challenging and stimulating
for musicians and dancers alike. Country dances are
generally the same time signature throughout (often
just the same AABB tune played repeatedly).
Also,
the Renaissance court dances use a much larger step
vocabulary than country dances. Even if you do 17th
century country dances using 17th century steps (pas
de bourree, pas de menuet, contretems ballone, balance,
etc.), you are still not approaching the variety of
steps used in Renaissance court dances.
If
you do the 17th century country dances as _Sharp_ described
them, however, they qualify as neither Renaissance
or Baroque, [in my opinion]. He was recording the practice
during his lifetime, which had evolved into a much
simpler style capable of being enjoyed by almost anyone,
regardless of dance training. When I do English Country
Dance today, I am doing what Sharp codified--and I
love it. But I do _not_ consider it either Renaissance
or Baroque. When I do early country dances using Baroque
steps, I'd put it under the label "Baroque contredanses".
I honestly don't think there's a true genre of "Renaissance
country dance", unless you start talking about
_folk_ dancing, which is a whole 'nother can of worms.
I'd
love to hear other opinions--I'm really not trying
to set myself up as an authority.
Thanks,
Peggy
Lamberson52
