Hi all,

              Seth asked “Is "Levi Jackson Rag" an English Dance?”.

              The answer is very simple.  It was written by an English man so, yes, it is an English dance!

              Modern American ECD is a small subset of English country dancing!

              See also: http://contrafusion.co.uk/EnglishAmerican.html

              I have asked many times for the American ECD callers to define exactly what American ECD is, but no-one has been able to give an answer.  Basically because it is the subset of dances that a particular group want to use in their community at a particular time.

              The best definition I could come up with is the one I put in Wikipedia: “While English Folk Dance Clubs generally embrace all types of country dance, American English Country Dance (ECD) groups tend to exclude modern contra dances and square dances.”  I have been to American ECD sessions where a wider range of dances are used, and if you look through some of the groups’ archives you will find a much wider range of dances fifty years ago.

            Happy dancing,                         

                   John                                  

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574                         

http://contrafusion.co.uk/KentCeilidhs.html for Live Music Ceilidhs                       

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent

http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive DVDs