Petronella & The Clap. I’m a dancer who grew up with Petronella and Rory O’More as local stable in David Woodsfellow calling. (I find it funny when callers say, “as in Petronella,” or, “as in Rory O’More,” and look around and think there’s only one or two in the hall that have dance either.) David was our main caller in Santa Barbara and my introduction and teacher to Contra Dancing until David moved away and I started calling in 1985. Thus the clap has me thinking of the evolution of folk arts. In Beth Tolman & Ralph Page’s book he introduces Patronella as a dance where the active couple really showed off their virtuosity by their fancy footwork. He does describe it as an only the active couple is doing the “turn & balance.” (I’m using the now archaic labels actives & inactives as this dance was very unequal and those were the common terms of the time.)
By the time we were dancing Petronella it had turned into actives and inactives joined in a square and the whole set was doing the turn & balance. And we did spend time learning to do fancy balances from a step-swing step-swing with feet swinging up to shoulders or fancy percussive footwork striving to impress other dancers and getting asked to teach such footwork. Then those of us able would spin around twice or daringly three times to have our hands join in those rings right on the beat. It was exhilarating.’ Thus when dancers got infected with the clap virus, I watched interest in fancy footwork disappear. Thus I didn’t like the clap: to me it was a de-evolution of the dance. But when I told an upcoming caller that we should demonstrate good dancing and not do the clap he replied, “But I like it!” I realized we lost something when we gained the clap. So, I accept it, the clap, and know it’s fun, though I still don’t clap My body no longer lets me spin three times around and my fancy footwork isn’t as fancy as it once was. But I still favor my “Old Ways.” On sound: as a musician, I object and even wrote an article about one person clapping down the hall. Since when that sound gets back to the band the time delay getting to that person and back to the band, it is no longer with the beat and I find that very irritating. But when the whole hall is doing the clap, it loses that sound delay since it’s more of a “smear.” Erik Hoffman Okland, CA
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