To continue this discussion a little longer - I hope the horse isn't
already dead - we danced French Fours at the Nelson dance last night,
with lots of teens and younger dancers. French Fours is a proper dance
and it has one of the greatest distinctions between the actives and the
inactives. (Page 91 in the Tolman/ Page Country Dance Book) Active are
very active all the time, while the inactives participate in the R&L
over and back in the B2 part and nothing else.
I think that most in the hall thought it a good selection (although
there may have been a few who wanted something more active). It was
called by a younger caller after a more active and complicated dance and
later in the evening. French Fours gave dancers a bit of a rest - at
least if they were not active. And it does have a move that is uncommon
in the A1 part to keep it interesting. The inactives were all jigging in
place and moving forward and back in time to make room for the actives
to get by. As the dancers got into the grove of the music it was fun to
watch them all dancing smoothly together, and it was clear that most of
them enjoyed the change of pace.
Rich.
David Millstone remarked on 3/6/2008 5:21 PM:
At the risk of overstating the case-- and thank you, Jack, wherever you are, for
chiming in- I'll quote from another of David Smukler's essays. In this case,
he's discussing Chorus Jig but his comments about the role of the twos are
relevant in the Rory O'More context:
-----
Valuing the role of the "supporting cast"
As in many other chestnuts, the twos have an important and perhaps
underappreciated role... Just think of your slow progress toward the top of the
hall as paying your dues in the contra world. Keep dancing. Sooner or later,
whether this time or another, you will reach the head of the set. Your turn will
come to be a number one couple for time after time, supported by all those other
dancers whom you helped out on other occasions.
But, aside from the importance of being there for the ones, could it be that
there are other hidden opportunities in the number two role? Absolutely! First
of all, you have the gift of time. You can watch other dancers, and learn from
observing them, an increasingly rare opportunity in our contemporary
everyone-moving-all-the-time contra choreography. Some of this observation is
social (Who's dancing with whom tonight? Look at the amazing matching smiles on
those two!), and some is dance-related (Oh, that's how Mary and Tom do that
really neat balance!) (Aha! They only go six steps down the center and then they
take two full beats to turn alone).
Another benefit can be found in the reduced physical demand placed on you as a
dancer. After being active for a while, enjoy this time to relax as an
"inactive," required only to ensure that turning contra corners goes well. A
program that varies the activity level from dance to dance will allow more
people, young and old, to participate in dancing, and to feel energized and not
exhausted by their participation. However, if you are not ready for a rest, you
have an invaluable opportunity as a number two dancer to improvise some clogging
steps during the first half of Chorus Jig. This sort of "jigging"--a free-form
way to play along with the band--has become rare in the contemporary dance
scene. Freestyle clogging while standing out as a number two dancer is only
possible if the inactives are, well, inactive. If everyone is moving, there
simply is no opportunity for the solo foot percussion that resonated on dance
floors in years past.
Speaking of the band, the number two role also offers you the chance to devote
more of your conscious attention to the music.
------
As Jack says, some of these older dances really validate the notion of this
being a community-centered dance form, rather than the couple-centered activity
that many seem to think it is.
David
P.S. Shameless plug: CDSS is publishing Cracking Chestnuts, the collection of
essays by David S. and myself on some twenty classic dances. Music, detailed
commentary, an appendix with more suggested dances... We're told that it should
be available by this fall.
_______________________________________________
Callers mailing list
call...@sharedweight.net
http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers
