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
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