[Callers] Pre-existing dance?

Tue Oct 18 12:25:57 PDT 2016

Recently it has pretty much been the custom to attribute dance authorship to the first one who came up with the sequence. I agree that Luke came up with this sequence independently but someone else did that before him. It's only fair, since it's not unlikely that the second author (Luke, me, you anyone) actually picked up the dance somewhere and remembered the basic figures.. It would be nice if we could attribute "co-authorship" like was done by Gene Hubert and Steve Schnur with "Summer of '84". In that case it didn't matter who came up with the dance *first*, both authors recognized that the other came up with the sequence independently and agreed to co-authorship. .. It seems to me that there are plenty of dance sequences in the modern (vast) repertoire that have credit taken by separate authors. I have no problem with that either.. That being said, I'd be happy with "If you can walk you can dance" being a unique title..

All that being said, I have memorized this sequence for future use as a "beginning of the dance" dance. It's a good one.

bill

________________________________
From: Callers <callers-bounces at lists.sharedweight.net> on behalf of Neal Schlein via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 6:59 PM
To: Luke Donforth; callers
Subject: Re: [Callers] Pre-existing dance?

As someone with an academic background in the field of Folklore, the way we talk about attribution and authorship bothers me.

(NOTE: what I'm talking about here is distinct from trying to track down the source of a dance you collected somewhere, or according respect to the first person to dream up a sequence.  Both of those goals are entirely legitimate.)

The dance Luke described was created by him, not Mark Goodwin.  The sequence happens to be the same as one dreamed up by Mark Goodwin at a previous place and time, which is very important to know, but Luke's creation was independent and should be attributed to Luke.  If we attribute everything to the first person ever to dream up a sequence, we are grossly misrepresenting how dances are created and spread.

When we attribute Luke's dance to Mark, we are saying that Luke (and everyone else) got the dance from Mark, or from a source tracked back to Mark.  That is factually incorrect in this case; Luke can point to when and why he came up with the dance.  Legally, it would also mean we are claiming that Mark holds the only legitimate copyright claim, which is again both incorrect and total nonsense (as copyright usually becomes when applied to folk genres).

As both an academic and participant in our tradition, I want to know if many people independently came up with the same dance (making it a FOLK DANCE).  Otherwise, I am falsely giving credit and responsibility to a single creative genius.  The difference between those two is a significant matter in the question of how folklore is created and who owns it.  Personally, I feel our cultural tendency to accord authorial rights has misled us.

So please...if you came up with a dance put your name on it along with some of the details---and then tell me who else came up with it, too.  Don't just stick their name on it.

Just my 2 cents.
Neal

Neal Schlein
Youth Services Librarian, Mahomet Public Library

Currently reading: The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist
Currently learning: How to set up an automated email system.

On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 8:31 AM, Luke Donforth via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:callers at lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
Thanks. I'll attribute it to Mark Goodwin.

On Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 11:03 PM, Michael Barraclough via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net<mailto:callers at lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
I have that exact dance as To Wedded Bliss by Mark Goodwin (2014). I use that in my Lesson and then, after teaching ladies chain and right & left through, follow that with my dance The Lesson (2009) which is

A1 -----------
(8) Neighbor Do-si-do
(8) Neighbor swing
A2 -----------
(8) Ladies chain
(8) Long lines, forward and back
B1 -----------
(8) Right & left through
(8) Partner promenade across
B2 -----------
(8) Circle Left 3/4
(4) Balance the Ring
(4) Pass through

and yes, I know it doesn't have a swing - it's in the lesson and I want to  minimize the use of partner swings so that new couples don't get bad habits.

Michael Barraclough
www.michaelbarraclough.com<http://www.michaelbarraclough.com>

--

On Mon, 2016-10-17 at 22:45 -0400, Luke Donforth via Callers wrote:
Hello all,

I was thinking about what I do at the "welcome to our contra dance" introduction, and what dance would easily move in to that. Noodling around with moves, I thought of a sequence with glossary moves, but I didn't have it in my box. Anyone recognize it?

Improper

A1 -----------
(8) Neighbor Do-si-do
(8) Neighbor swing
A2 -----------
(8) Men allemande Left 1-1/2
(8) Partner swing
B1 -----------
(8) Promenade across the Set
(8) Long lines, forward and back
B2 -----------
(8) Circle Left 3/4
(4) Balance the Ring
(4) Pass through

During the introduction, I often teach the progression with a "ring balance, walk past this neighbor", and I wanted something that included that. There are lots of great accessible dances with that (The Big Easy, Easy Peasy, etc), but I'm not seeing one with a partner promenade (something I also use in the introduction; to go from a big circle to lines of couples for a contra set).

If someone already wrote it, I'll happily give them credit. If not, I'll call it "If you can walk, then you can dance" (which I'll note is not an if and only if statement).

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Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth at gmail.com<mailto:Luke.Donev at gmail.com>

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