Hi Jim, My collection of CDSS Newsletters doesn’t go back to 1984 (when it was published there), but in the collection “Both Sides of the Atlantic” the figure in A2 is described as follows:
First man goes down the outside, around the second woman and back up the middle, while the first woman goes down the middle around the second man and back up the outside (8) Ones swing in the centre; end facing down (8) Then, the comments include this: In A2 the ones dance individually around their standing neighbours, both moving clockwise; they should try to keep eye contact. English country dancers will realize that this movement owes a debt to the dance Mad Robin. The collection was published in 1997, but Philippe was quite meticulous and I have no doubt that what he published was what Beverly intended. She is a wonderful dancer and caller of ECD, so it makes sense that she would import the figure as ECD dancers did it at the time into this contra choreography. My assumption is that the change to a “double Mad Robin” (all 4 dancers moving) was folk process. And, of course, you could contact Beverly and ask her. David > On Jun 29, 2023, at 4:51 PM, jim saxe <[email protected]> wrote: > > David, > > Do you know whether the directions for "Manhattan Chowder", as originally > published in the 1980s, suggested that the active dancers to maintain eye > contact during the figure under discussion? I don't have a guess one way or > the other and I wouldn't want to make assumptions based on evidenceE such as > videos of the dance made after the current contra dance interpretation of the > words "Mad Robin" became popular. > > By the way, I can recall learning to do the English country dance "Mad Robin" > in a style where the "casting" dancers did briefly turn away from their > partners, but where they looked over their shoulders to maintain eye contact > until the last possible moment before turning away and then quickly > re-established it. I can imagine someone describing such a styling with words > about eye contact that might be easily be misinterpreted as suggesting that > dancers face directly across the set towards their partners throughout the > figure. Assuming Beverly Francis indeed intended the latter interpretation of > the action, verbatim quotation of her original dance instructions would > provide more compelling evidence than a modern paraphrasing. > > --Jim > >> On Jun 29, 2023, at 5:06 AM, David Smukler via Contra Callers >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> The ACDOL database gives the date of Saint Paddy's Day as Oct 14, 1982. >> According to Philippe Callens' book Both Sides of the Atlantic, Beverly >> Francis's dance Manhattan Chowder was written earlier - in 1981. The figure, >> as described by Philippe, is more like in the eponymous English country >> dance, in that only one couple is moving. However, I've also seen this dance >> called with the double Mad Robin figure that is more common in contra dances >> nowadays. >> _______________________________________________ >> Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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