Hi,
I always treat the dancers facing counter-clockwise as the active
dancers who get to do everything first, so they could be considered the #1s. I
believe this is a common convention. Promenades are usually done
counter-clockwise, which is also the normal Line of Dance for ballroom dances
and free-style waltzes, so it is natural to think of CCW as the primary
direction. Many traditional dances end with a Swing & Change where the two
couples have to dance around each other swinging or polkaing (or Poussetting if
you go back further). I believe that the EFDSS issued a directive in the 1950s
stating that the direction should always be counter-clockwise, in order to
avoid crashes which had been occurring! Again CCW is the norm.
One of the early references to the Sicilian Circle formation is in "The
Modern Dancing Master" by G.M.S. Chivers (1822):
http://contrafusion.co.uk/Dances/EFDS4802-CircassianCircle.html
Only one minor set is active initially, then the dance propagates in
both direction so that eventually, when everyone has joined in it looks like a
modern Sicilian Circle.
The term "Circassian Circle" obviously lost out to the more popular
term "Sicilian Circle", in much the same way that the term "Rifleman Formation"
lost out to the term "Becket Formation" - the Americans won the marketing
campaign! http://contrafusion.co.uk/Dances/EFDS4911-Rifleman.html
As it say in a Scottish publication: "The most extravagant novelty was
the Chivonian circle invented by Chivers himself which consisted of the four
couple sets of La Tempête arranged around the room like the trio sets of
Dashing White Sergeant. These new formations tended to have rather exotic
names such as Mescolanzes, Spanish Dances, or Swedish dances. These were merely
names, of course, and in particular, the Circassian circle has nothing whatever
to do with Circassia."
There are challenges with doing many contras in a Sicilian Circle.
Long Line Forward & Back and Tidal Waves are obvious challenges. When
choreographing Sicilian Circles we often have the action (e.g. Ladies' Chain,
Right & Left Through) around the circle, rather than across the set. As a
contrast, try to get some modern contra dancers to dance this:
http://contrafusion.co.uk/Dances/EFDS7703-CelebrationSpecial.html - The dancers
tend to swing to the side of the set rather than finishing facing up and down!
But, yes, you could do many contra dances in a Sicilian Circle, as long
as you check them carefully for spacing and orientation problems first.
There are Becket Sicilians, but the dancers need to make sure they stay
in their own inner or outer circle as they progress!
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected] 01233 625 362 & 07802 940
574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
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