17 Oct
2016
17 Oct
'16
10:42 p.m.
It's good to be reminded that "swing" had various meanings. I'm pretty
sure I've seen "Swing all four" in old dance instructions for what we would
call "Circle to the left".
About Chorus Jig, I seem to remember that Ralph Page wrote in one of his books (around
1950?) that he didn't like the innovation of a swing at the end, but that he thought
it was going to stick.
Richard
On Oct 17, 2016, at 6:35 PM, Winston, Alan P. via Callers wrote:
On 10/17/2016 3:26 PM, Neal Schlein via Callers wrote:
Thanks for pointing that out! I was aware of the fact but didn't think of it here.
The older New England swings also would have been 2-hand swings, which lend themselves to
a different choreographic flow--for example, swinging and casting down the outside. Not a
very nice transition from a ballroom swing, but perfectly lovely from a 2-hand turn and
showcasing the English heritage.
I call and dance English (and Regency, so I have a specialty in dances of the Chorus Jig
time period) as well as contra, and you're right about it not being ballroom swings
(which seem to come in around 1900), and likely two-hand turns (although the instruction
"swing corners" in Regency-era dance manuals seems to mean hand turns at least
part of the time, and comes out to be contra corners).
But I really don't mind the transition into casting off from a ballroom swing in a
proper dance. You shouldn't twirl out of it, but you can just face up at the end of
the spring and peel off (away from the pointy end); it's pretty smooth.
For comparison, the typical reconstruction of the English "Trip to Tunbridge"
(originally using 3 out of 4 of the same standard figures Chorus Jig uses) finishes with a
progression that has the old 2s turning two hands in first place, ready to cast off, while
the old 1s cast to the bottom of the three couple set. I don't really like the
two-hand-turn into down-the-outside transition any better than the swing-face-up into down
the outside transition.
-- Alan
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