> > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 13:43:28 -0400 > From: tavi merrill <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Callers] What is a becket? > Message-ID: > <ca+hgdsx+dqgktzgpjgpvxi3km1bsbxtbddgv5ur-5wkvyqw...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > To pick up on John's point from this side of the pond, there are plenty of > duple improper dances that end with a partner swing for the active couples. > > There are quite a few dances which could be started in either becket > formation or duple improper, allowing further scope in the pairing of dance > and music: i recently had the challenge of trying to pair a dance with > "Staten Island Hornpipe", which has very assertive balances in measures 3 > and 4 of the b-part. One of the few satisfying moves there would be "walk > in to wavy lines", but off the cuff i couldn't think of any dances with > those "trip to" wavy lines in the B part (I'm sure they're out there, > though....). Becket variations of existing dances provided some options. > > I guess what i'm [being overly abstract about] here is the idea that saying > a dance requires certain moves to be a "becket dance" - or that a certain > formation precludes certain moves - unnecessarily confines the form. > Associating a dance with the composer's intended "starting formation" > allows us to not only focus on the choreographic flow that starting > formation provides, but to create variations when it's advantageous. >
My favorite progression is circle four - slide left - circle four with new neighbors - which can only be done in Becket formation unless it is done in the middle of the sequence.
