1 Jun
2013
1 Jun
'13
4:55 p.m.
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
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Jonathan Sivier
Caller of Contra, English and Early American Dances
jsivier AT illinois DOT edu
Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html
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Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: It depends on what dance you call!