I agree there is a lot of confusion between "counts" and "positions" in the 8CB and that is partially what makes it so awful. For non-musically trained and trained alike, it is very hard to dislodge the idea that the "8" represents 8 beats of music. I have often thought (coming from ballet experience) that if they were called "first (position)," "second (position)," etc it might make the distinction clearer -- particularly so for the many who have had ballet training as a child (which will be a lot of your follows). Or even clearer, call them A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H.
I have always understood the 8CB as analogous to a "kata" in martial arts, ie, a floor exercise which artificially strings vocabulary together to allow major positions and scenarios to be remembered and practiced and entrained into muscle memory. (Except, of course, for the obvious difference that a single person performs a kata.) For those who do not know much about martial arts, here is a definition of kata: "What is kata? ... a prescribed sequence of steps, strikes, and blocks combined in such a manner as to allow us to practise them with a view to achieving all of balance, speed, power, precision, and grace of execution." and here is an example of a kata: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IGC--9E7H8 CS PS I have an inspiration! How about ... Dasher Dancer Prancer Vixen Comet Cupid Donner and Blitzen? ;) Or the seven dwarves...of course there are only seven, but I am sure we all agree the back step should be dropped anyway ;) Keith wrote: > If step-counting is widespread, it must be a European and/or American > phenomena > because I've rarely come across it in BsAs. However, some teachers do use > count > numbers in the 8CB to identify certain positions, such as the 2 and the 5. > Gavito for > example always did this and would teach how to go directly from the 2 to the > 5, for > example. > ... -- Carol Ruth Shepherd Arborlaw PLC Ann Arbor MI USA 734 668 4646 v 734 786 1241 f http://arborlaw.com corporations • copyrights • collections • contracts _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
