I have much experience teaching the Colonial Social Dances for Children program. I'll try to write something about it tomorrow.
By the way, Rich, are you in the Old Sturbridge Village dancers? Art Martin asked me about 'Barrel of Sugar' the same day you posted your question about it here. We danced it that night at the Wayside Inn but I came down with a very nasty bug the next day and I'm still recovering from it. Jacob On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 12:00 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Send Callers mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Callers digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: 1820s-1830s Dances (James Saxe) > 2. 1820s-1830s Dances (rich sbardella) (joda_rogers) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 13:15:11 -0700 > From: James Saxe <[email protected]> > To: rich sbardella <[email protected]>, Caller's discussion list > <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Callers] 1820s-1830s Dances > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed; > delsp=yes > > Rich, > > Two books come to mind that might have material somewhat relevant > to your request, though not exactly on target: _Heritage Dances of > Early America_ by Ralph Page (abbreviated HDoEA below) and _Colonial > Social Dancing for Children: Social Dancing of Washington?s Time > arranged for Today?s Young People_ by Charles Cyril ("Chip") > Hendrickson [CSDfC below]. Here's a little more information about > them, with the caveat that I don't have my copy of either book at > hand and my memory may be faulty on some of the details. > > * * * * * * * * * * > > HDoEA was published in or about 1976 by the Lloyd Shaw Foundation. > It appears to be out of print. It's indexed in Michael Dyck's > contra dance index, and many of the dances in it (or versions of > them) appear in other sources. You can find them by going to > > http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/index/by_title.html > > and searching for the string "HDoEA". (The page > > http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/index/sources.html > > is a key to the source abbreviations.) > > IIRC, the dances in HDoEA are from sources dating from the 1790s > through the first decade or two of the 1800's, so a little earlier > the period you asked about, though some may have remained popular > for some time after. All or almost all are longways triple minors, > though some might be of the sort that are readily adapted to duple > minor form. For each dance, Page give both the description as it > appeared in the original source and an interpretation in modern > terminology. > > The part about being "easy enough for children" could be > problematical to say the least, for reasons that will be evident > to anyone who has tried teaching relatively "easy" contras to > groups (whether children or adults) where almost all are unfamiliar > with how progression works, dancing to the phrase, etc. Even > experienced contemporary contra dancers could have difficulties > with things like triple-minor progression, right-and-left four > from proper position (in communities where older dances like > "Petronella" and "Hull's Victory" have disappeared from repertoire), > crossover heys for three, or choreography that asks you to turn a > four-person star just halfway around in eight beats. > > * * * * * * * * * * > > CSDfC and a companion CD appear to be currently available from the > Colonial Music Institute > > http://www.colonialmusic.org/CSD-bkcd.htm > > As the title implies, the book is specifically oriented to > presenting the material to children. But (without having the > book at hand to refresh my memory) I'm pretty sure it's mainly > about situations where the material can be presented over multiple > sessions and not just a single afternoon or evening. > > I have essentially no experience teaching/leading dance for > children (except for occasions when a small number of children > show up among a mostly-adult group), and no experience using the > material in CSDfC with dancers of any age. And, while I'm a > dabbler in dance history, I don't know enough about the early > American era to have a clear idea of the similarities and > differences in the dancing of the era covered CSDfC vs. that of > small town New England in 1820-1840. > > I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who does have experience > using CDSfC, or from anyone who can offer knowledgeable comments > about how either the choreography or the general teaching methods > it offers would transfer to 1820-1840 era. > > --Jim > > On Mar 17, 2014, at 8:11 PM, rich sbardella wrote: > > > I am looking for some period dances that might have been danced in > > small New England towns in 1820-1830. Should be easy enough for > > children. > > Any suggestions? > > > > Also, does any know the steps to "Barrel of Sugar"? Recommended > > music? > > > > Rich Sbardella > > Stafford, CT > > > > > > ________________________________ > > _______________________________________________ > > Callers mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 21:17:53 -0700 > From: joda_rogers <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Callers] 1820s-1830s Dances (rich sbardella) > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > There is also An Elegant Collection of Contras and Squares by Ralph Page. > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > > > End of Callers Digest, Vol 115, Issue 11 > **************************************** >
