1 Jun
2013
1 Jun
'13
1:11 p.m.
I've been trying to rename it to "Angry Bird", but I haven't got much
buy-in yet.
On Sat, Jun 1, 2013 at 12:55 PM, Jonathan Sivier <jsivier(a)illinois.edu>wrote;wrote:
On 6/1/2013 11:10 AM, James Saxe wrote:
Can any of you pinpoint who introduced term
"Mad Robin" with
it's current contra dance meaning, or when, or what dance they
were describing?
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. In the figure as it has been imported into contra modern contra
dances it is usually done with everyone moving at once.
An idea for a workshop. Do a variety of older dances, ECD and early
American, with various figures now considered to be standard in contra and
square dance as well as modern dances with those figures. Possibilities
would be Hunsdon House (1665) with a grand square and Mad Robin as well as
any one of several different dances from the 1600's and 1700's with heys
and contra corner type figures. I think I will propose this as a possible
workshop for our local dance group, though it will have to be in the fall
since our summer schedule is already set.
Jonathan
-----
Jonathan Sivier
Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances
jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
Dance Page:
http://www.sivier.me/dance_**leader.html<http://www.sivier.me/dance_lead…
-----
Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: It depends on what dance you call!
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