3 Jun
2013
3 Jun
'13
12:10 p.m.
On Sat, 1 Jun 2013 11:55:13 -0500, Jonathan Sivier wrote:
The name, and figure, almost certainly come from the
English
country dance Mad Robin (Playford 1687) as reconstructed by Cecil
Sharp in 1922. In this dance the 1's do the figure of dancing
around their neighbor, usually while maintaining eye contact with
their partner, and then the 2's do it.
No, that's the American way rather than the Cecil Sharp way. The ones
are already progressed at this point, and Sharp says "First woman
moves up the middle and casts down to second place; while the first
man casts up and moves down the middle into the second place." The
fixed stare at partner is an American thing. Playford also uses the
word "cast" - you can see the facsimile at:
www.izaak.unh.edu/nhltmd/indexes/dancingmaster/Dance/Play4204.htm
Sharp and Playford then have the ones doing it the other way round -
man up the middle and cast, woman cast up and move down the middle -
though I quite understand callers wanting the twos to have a go!
On Sat, 1 Jun 2013 14:11:47 -0400, Andrea Nettleton wrote:
I have also hard the move called a shuttle, which I
think
diminishes the flirty part too much.
Again, the flirty part is an American invention. I call it a shuttle
because I think it's a good descriptive word. I've also heard it
called Sliding Doors, but (to be pedantic) sliding doors just slide
there and back; they don't go round each other!
Colin Hume
Email colin(a)colinhume.com Web site http://www.colinhume.com