28 Jun
2023
28 Jun
'23
2:47 p.m.
Anyone know the date / 1st contra dance to use the Mad Robin figure?
28 Jun
28 Jun
4:08 p.m.
The earliest use I know of in a contra dance of the _action_ of dancing the track of a
do-si-do around one person while maintaining eye contact with another person was in
"Saint Paddy's Day" by Kirston Koths, written in 1982:
http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=3998
http://www.quiteapair.us/calling/acdol/dance/acd_137.html
Kirston, however, did not use the words "Mad Robin" to describe the figure, but
referred to it as a "full sashay".
I believe the first use of the words "Mad Robin" to describe such a figure in a
contra dance was in connection with "One Hundred Years of Mischief" by Susan
Kevra.
http://www.ibiblio.org/contradance/thecallersbox/dance.php?id=3156
The description of the dance in _Give-and-Take_ says "Written for Mary Lea and Earl
Gaddis' 50th birthday in March 1995."
As I'm sure you (Brooke) are well aware, though some other readers may not be, the
English country dance "Mad Robin"
https://playforddances.com/dances/mad-robin/
does not actually include the contra dance action to which the name is now attached.
However I've sometime seen playful dancers maintain eye contact with partners
throughout the figures in the first four bars of the B parts (instead of turning away as
the word "cast" would suggest), and I presume that whoever first used the name
"Mad Robin" in connection with the contra figure (I'm guessing Susan Kevra
herself, but I don't know for sure) had also seen this improvisation.
--Jim
On Jun 28, 2023, at 2:47 PM, Brooke Friendly via
Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Anyone know the date / 1st contra dance to use the Mad Robin figure?
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29 Jun
29 Jun
5:06 a.m.
The ACDOL database gives the date of Saint Paddy's Day as Oct 14, 1982. According to
Philippe Callens' book Both Sides of the Atlantic, Beverly Francis's dance
Manhattan Chowder was written earlier - in 1981. The figure, as described by Philippe, is
more like in the eponymous English country dance, in that only one couple is moving.
However, I've also seen this dance called with the double Mad Robin figure that is
more common in contra dances nowadays.
5:23 a.m.
New subject: [External] Re: Mad Robin
That's fascinating.
I first danced Manhattan Chowder in Tallahassee in mid 90s. I only danced it with both
couples moving. So the folk process and time and distance must have changed it!
Seth
Seth Tepfer, MBA, CSM, PMP (he, him, his)
Senior IT Manager, Emory Primate Center
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________________________________
From: David Smukler via Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2023 8:06 AM
To: contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [External] [Callers] Re: Mad Robin
The ACDOL database gives the date of Saint Paddy's Day as Oct 14, 1982. According to
Philippe Callens' book Both Sides of the Atlantic, Beverly Francis's dance
Manhattan Chowder was written earlier - in 1981. The figure, as described by Philippe, is
more like in the eponymous English country dance, in that only one couple is moving.
However, I've also seen this dance called with the double Mad Robin figure that is
more common in contra dances nowadays.
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To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
1:51 p.m.
David,
Do you know whether the directions for "Manhattan Chowder", as originally
published in the 1980s, suggested that the active dancers to maintain eye contact during
the figure under discussion? I don't have a guess one way or the other and I
wouldn't want to make assumptions based on evidenceE such as videos of the dance made
after the current contra dance interpretation of the words "Mad Robin" became
popular.
By the way, I can recall learning to do the English country dance "Mad Robin" in
a style where the "casting" dancers did briefly turn away from their partners,
but where they looked over their shoulders to maintain eye contact until the last possible
moment before turning away and then quickly re-established it. I can imagine someone
describing such a styling with words about eye contact that might be easily be
misinterpreted as suggesting that dancers face directly across the set towards their
partners throughout the figure. Assuming Beverly Francis indeed intended the latter
interpretation of the action, verbatim quotation of her original dance instructions would
provide more compelling evidence than a modern paraphrasing.
--Jim
On Jun 29, 2023, at 5:06 AM, David Smukler via Contra
Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
The ACDOL database gives the date of Saint Paddy's Day as Oct 14, 1982. According to
Philippe Callens' book Both Sides of the Atlantic, Beverly Francis's dance
Manhattan Chowder was written earlier - in 1981. The figure, as described by Philippe, is
more like in the eponymous English country dance, in that only one couple is moving.
However, I've also seen this dance called with the double Mad Robin figure that is
more common in contra dances nowadays.
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To unsubscribe send an email to contracallers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
3:33 p.m.
Hi Jim,
My collection of CDSS Newsletters doesn’t go back to 1984 (when it was published there),
but in the collection “Both Sides of the Atlantic” the figure in A2 is described as
follows:
First man goes down the outside, around the second woman and back up the middle, while the
first woman goes down the middle around the second man and back up the outside (8)
Ones swing in the centre; end facing down (8)
Then, the comments include this:
In A2 the ones dance individually around their standing neighbours, both moving clockwise;
they should try to keep eye contact. English country dancers will realize that this
movement owes a debt to the dance Mad Robin.
The collection was published in 1997, but Philippe was quite meticulous and I have no
doubt that what he published was what Beverly intended. She is a wonderful dancer and
caller of ECD, so it makes sense that she would import the figure as ECD dancers did it at
the time into this contra choreography. My assumption is that the change to a “double Mad
Robin” (all 4 dancers moving) was folk process. And, of course, you could contact Beverly
and ask her.
David
On Jun 29, 2023, at 4:51 PM, jim saxe
<jim.saxe(a)gmail.com> wrote:
David,
Do you know whether the directions for "Manhattan Chowder", as originally
published in the 1980s, suggested that the active dancers to maintain eye contact during
the figure under discussion? I don't have a guess one way or the other and I
wouldn't want to make assumptions based on evidenceE such as videos of the dance made
after the current contra dance interpretation of the words "Mad Robin" became
popular.
By the way, I can recall learning to do the English country dance "Mad Robin"
in a style where the "casting" dancers did briefly turn away from their
partners, but where they looked over their shoulders to maintain eye contact until the
last possible moment before turning away and then quickly re-established it. I can imagine
someone describing such a styling with words about eye contact that might be easily be
misinterpreted as suggesting that dancers face directly across the set towards their
partners throughout the figure. Assuming Beverly Francis indeed intended the latter
interpretation of the action, verbatim quotation of her original dance instructions would
provide more compelling evidence than a modern paraphrasing.
--Jim
On Jun 29, 2023, at 5:06 AM, David Smukler via
Contra Callers <contracallers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
The ACDOL database gives the date of Saint Paddy's Day as Oct 14, 1982. According to
Philippe Callens' book Both Sides of the Atlantic, Beverly Francis's dance
Manhattan Chowder was written earlier - in 1981. The figure, as described by Philippe, is
more like in the eponymous English country dance, in that only one couple is moving.
However, I've also seen this dance called with the double Mad Robin figure that is
more common in contra dances nowadays.
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5 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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Brooke Friendly -
David Smukler -
jim saxe -
Tepfer, Seth