HR 645 - designating "square dance" the "national folk dance"
Gloria Krusemeyer
dance as the national folk dance. It was introduced 2/5/03 and has been
refered to the House Judiciary Committee.
Some people on this list will be delighted to hear that, if/when this
Promenade Act becomes law, contra dance will be a subset of square dance -
something akin to designating pi equal to 3.
The full bill, as introduced, is below. Progress can be tracked at
http://thomas.loc.gov
According to the United Square Dancers Association (USDA), thirty one states
currently have adopted square dance as their state folk dance.
http://www.usda.org/folkdn.htm
Gloria Krusemeyer
Northfield, MN
==================================
HR 645 IH
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 645
To amend title 36, United States Code, to designate the square dance as the
national folk dance.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 5, 2003
Mr. WHITFIELD (for himself and Mr. SAXTON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
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A BILL
To amend title 36, United States Code, to designate the square dance as the
national folk dance.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.
(a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Promenade Act'.
(b) FINDINGS- The Congress finds as follows:
(1) The square dance has been a popular tradition in America since early
colonial days.
(2) The square dance has attained a revered status as part of the folklore
of this Nation.
(3) The square dance is a joyful expression of the vibrant spirit of the
people of the United States.
(4) The square dance promotes the practice of good manners and proper
etiquette.
(5) The square dance is a traditional form of family recreation that fosters
family unity, a basic strength of this Nation.
(6) The square dance embodies democratic principles by dissolving arbitrary
social distinctions among its participants.
(7) The square dance includes the round dance, the contra dance, the line
dance, the heritage dance, and clogging.
SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF THE SQUARE DANCE AS THE NATIONAL FOLK DANCE.
(a) DESIGNATION- Chapter 3 of title 36, United States Code, is amended by
inserting after section 304 the following new section:
`Sec. 305. National folk dance
`The square dance is the national folk dance.'.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS-
(1) The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 36, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
`CHAPTER 3--NATIONAL ANTHEM, MOTTO, FLORAL EMBLEM, MARCH, AND FOLK DANCE
`Sec.
`301. National anthem.
`302. National motto.
`303. National floral emblem.
`304. National march.
`305. National folk dance.'.
(2) The table of chapters for subtitle I of title 36, United States Code, is
amended by striking the item relating to chapter 3 and inserting the
following new item:
301'.
END
Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr
<danc...@charter.net> writes:
[snippage]
Oh, geeze, again?
This seems totally pointless, as well as off in a little world of its own.
(Which is to say, I'm ashamed that I give a flying fig about it,
when there's so much else going on that it makes sense to give your
Representative your opinion about.)
Was somebody sneaky enough to wait to reintroduce this until everybody was
distracted by the Iraq Question?
Let's see:
>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.
>
>(a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Promenade Act'.
>
>(b) FINDINGS- The Congress finds as follows:
>
>(1) The square dance has been a popular tradition in America since early
>colonial days.
While the early colonials may have danced some dances in square formation,
it's hardly the square dance as we think of it now. (Early colonial days
would have to be the 1600s, right? Although cotillions are around from
maybe the 1730s, and are ancestral to quadrilles, which are probably
ancestral to recognizable modern squares, recognizable modern squares
don't really show up until the second half of the 1800s, which is just not
colonial.)
Finding 7 is supposed to be the out for this, since it defines the square
dance as approximately every folk dance form there is, possibly including
English Country.
So this is basically a lie, but perhaps sidestepped by the claim that
square dance includes every dance.
>
>(2) The square dance has attained a revered status as part of the folklore
>of this Nation.
By being the form taught in school that persuades people that they never
want to mess with this dance stuff again.
By being the form that persuades people that you have to dress weird to
dance.
Or to put it another way, huh?
>
>(3) The square dance is a joyful expression of the vibrant spirit of the
>people of the United States.
No argument; good squares rock. (Good contras rock, good Cajun couple
dancing rocks, good Breton dance/music rocks, good ECD rocks.)
>
>(4) The square dance promotes the practice of good manners and proper
>etiquette.
In what way?
>
>(5) The square dance is a traditional form of family recreation that fosters
>family unity, a basic strength of this Nation.
Ah, we actually mean "family dance", not square dancing. Or to put this
another way, on what planet?
>
>(6) The square dance embodies democratic principles by dissolving arbitrary
>social distinctions among its participants.
Contagious disease embodies democratic principles by dissolving arbitrary
social distinctions among its victims.
Binge drinking embodies democratic principles by dissolving the
consciousness of arbitrary social distinctions among its participants.
Tournament bridge embodies democratic principles by dissolving arbitrary
social distinctions among its participants.
The Grateful Dead Concert embodies democratic principles by dissolving
arbitrary social distinctions among those participants who remain conscious
at all.
This seems like a fairly pointless claim.
>
>(7) The square dance includes the round dance, the contra dance, the line
>dance, the heritage dance, and clogging.
"the line dance"? Could we have a reading on whether that's
Country-Western line dance, four-hand-reels, or Balkan line/circle dances,
or the Bunny Hop, or the Conga, or the Locomotion?
What the heck is "the heritage dance"? Is that ethnic heritage - that is,
is square dance soaking up every form of folk dance (including passionate
Midwestern polkaers) - or historical American heritage, in which case it's
soaking up all Early American dance, plus all the Victorian/Edwardian stuff
reintroduced by Henry Ford, plus possibly ragtime, swing, jive and disco.
This basically says "square dance includes all participatory dance forms".
Given that, it's meaningless to designate it the national folk dance, since
it says "the national folk dance is all participatory dance forms".
(Actually, it would be cool to to do that explicitly.)
I certainly hope this doesn't pass the House. I suppose it's too much to
hope that the "authors" get censured.
-- Alan
===============================================================================
Alan Winston --- WIN...@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056
Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025
===============================================================================
Mario Herger
news:v4pa09k...@corp.supernews.com...
> There is another bill in the House of Representatives to designate square
> dance as the national folk dance. It was introduced 2/5/03 and has been
> refered to the House Judiciary Committee.
Isn't it too early for april fools ?
Mario
jared
Colorado Revised Statutes:
24-80-909.5. State folk dance.
Square dancing, the American folk dance which traces its ancestry to the
English country dance and the French ballroom dance, and which is called,
cued, or prompted to the dancers and includes squares, rounds, clogging,
contra, line, the Virginia reel, and heritage dances, is hereby made and
declared to be the state folk dance of the state of Colorado.
Deb Karl
music licensing rules proposed in the UK....
--Deb
Susan
> >(6) The square dance embodies democratic principles by dissolving arbitrary
> >social distinctions among its participants.
Without disagreeing with Alan in the slightest overall, I had to point
out one additional aspect of the silliness of #6 here.
One of the virtues of the early "square" dances, the quadrilles and
cotillions, was that you could most undemocratically choose to dance
it only with a small group of your friends or social equals. You
don't have to mingle with the hoi polloi of an entire set as in
longways forms. One reason it caught on was its exclusivity.
Nowadays that could be read as "get the folks you know dance well to
form a set".
So, um, it embodies class distinctions because it actively encourages
exclusion. I'm sure they won't let the black-is-white aspect bug 'em.
Doesn't Congress have anything better to do?
Susan
Bruce Hamilton
> Isn't it too early for april fools ?
Yes, this is absurd, but it's far from pointless. If "square dance" becomes
the national folk dance, then organizations calling themselves "square
dance" organizations -- especially if they have a lot of members and are
politically sophisticated -- can squeeze out other folk dance organizations
for grant money and dance space. And there are such organizations. Please
read Julie Mangin's article at
http://www.tackytreasures.com/julie/sqdconsp.html.
This is actually pretty scary, folks. Square dance clubs are urging their
representatives to vote for this trojan horse. I think it'd be a good idea
for us to follow the advice at http://www.usda.org/folkdn.htm, but change
their sample letter and petition.
-Bruce Hamilton
bruce_h...@agilent.com Tel: +1 650 485 2818 Fax: +1 650 485 4917
Agilent Technologies MS 24M-A, 3500 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto CA 94303
Gloria Krusemeyer
> >(5) The square dance is a traditional form of family recreation that
fosters
> >family unity, a basic strength of this Nation.
>
> Ah, we actually mean "family dance", not square dancing. Or to put this
> another way, on what planet?
To the best of my knowledge, the strongest growing segment of the Modern
Western Square Dancers is the gay square dance community. Most segments
are, and have been, in a decline.
===
The National Square Dance Conventions are notoriously family un-friendly.
1) Frog stickers are available for those who welcome young dancers in their
squares. The majority of the (geriatric) dancers prefer having the youth
dance elsewhere.
2) Dancers under 18 can dance in a "youth hall", and nobody over 18 is
allowed to dance therein - including family members.
Does this sound like a recreational activity that fosters family unity?
Gloria Krusemeyer
Northfield, MN
peanutjake
""Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr" wrote
> While the early colonials may have danced some dances in square formation,
> it's hardly the square dance as we think of it now. (Early colonial days
> would have to be the 1600s, right? Although cotillions are around from
> maybe the 1730s, and are ancestral to quadrilles, which are probably
> ancestral to recognizable modern squares, recognizable modern squares
> don't really show up until the second half of the 1800s, which is just not
> colonial.)
Just a historical note.
The earliest printed mention of the term "Square Dance" is in the first edition of Playford's
Dancing Master. It was printed in 1651.
The dance is "Fain I would" A Square Dance for eight.
The couples were numbered
First couple back to the music
Second couple to the left of the first couple
Third couple opposite first couple
Fourth couple to the right of the first couple.
PJ
Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr
If we're going there, I'll point out that the Grand Square figure (not by that
name) occurs in Playford in "Hunsdon House", which is still 1600s. But, while
square, it's still not what anybody means nowadays by square dancing.
Susan
> In article <3e4d6e0e$1...@news.teranews.com>, "peanutjake" <peanut...@spam.usa.com> writes:
> >Just a historical note.
> >The earliest printed mention of the term "Square Dance" is in the first edition of Playford's
> >Dancing Master. It was printed in 1651.
> >The dance is "Fain I would" A Square Dance for eight.
> > The couples were numbered
> >First couple back to the music
> >Second couple to the left of the first couple
> >Third couple opposite first couple
> >Fourth couple to the right of the first couple.
>
> If we're going there, I'll point out that the Grand Square figure (not by that
> name) occurs in Playford in "Hunsdon House", which is still 1600s. But, while
> square, it's still not what anybody means nowadays by square dancing.
And if we want to play terminology, the term "square dance" as a dance
for four people in a square dates back to at least 1602 and Negri's
various dances "in quadrangolo". That's not what people mean by
square dance nowadays either of course, although it's been suggested
that there is a connection between the Italian repertoire and the
English country dances, with "Parson's Farewell" being one
oft-mentioned dance picked out as having Italian connections.
Certainly the "longways for as many as will" form was known in Italy
for c200 years pre-Playford.
Totally irrelevantly,
Susan
peanutjake
""Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr"" <win...@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> wrote in message
news:00A1B815...@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU...
> In article <3e4d6e0e$1...@news.teranews.com>, "peanutjake" <peanut...@spam.usa.com> writes:
> >
> >""Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr" wrote
> >> While the early colonials may have danced some dances in square formation,
> >> it's hardly the square dance as we think of it now. (Early colonial days
> >> would have to be the 1600s, right? Although cotillions are around from
> >> maybe the 1730s, and are ancestral to quadrilles, which are probably
> >> ancestral to recognizable modern squares, recognizable modern squares
> >> don't really show up until the second half of the 1800s, which is just not
> >> colonial.)
> >
> >Just a historical note.
> >The earliest printed mention of the term "Square Dance" is in the first edition of Playford's
> >Dancing Master. It was printed in 1651.
> >The dance is "Fain I would" A Square Dance for eight.
> > The couples were numbered
> >First couple back to the music
> >Second couple to the left of the first couple
> >Third couple opposite first couple
> >Fourth couple to the right of the first couple.
>
> If we're going there, I'll point out that the Grand Square figure (not by that
> name) occurs in Playford in "Hunsdon House", which is still 1600s. But, while
> square, it's still not what anybody means nowadays by square dancing.
>
> -- Alan
In the nineteenth century Grand Square was one of the traditional variations in the fifth figure of
the Lancers Quadrille. That's the way Margot Mayo head of the American Square Dance Group taught it
in the 1940's.
PJ
Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr
I sure thought the fifth figure of the Lancer's (or "Lanciers", in some
manuals) was the characteristic Lancers figure. This figure (which compresses
the square into a longways set of four) was popular enough that there were
a whole bunch of spinoff quadrilles with "Lancers" in the title and pretty much
only the formation and that figure in common; eg, the Waltz Lancers, the
Caledonian Lancers.
But there was a lot of nineteenth century, so this could well be right as well.
Susan
> In article <3e4e701c$1...@news.teranews.com>, "peanutjake" <peanut...@spam.usa.com> writes:
> >""Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr"" <win...@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> wrote in message
> >news:00A1B815...@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU...
> >> In article <3e4d6e0e$1...@news.teranews.com>, "peanutjake" <peanut...@spam.usa.com> writes:
> >> >""Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr" wrote
> >> name) occurs in Playford in "Hunsdon House", which is still 1600s. But, while
> >> square, it's still not what anybody means nowadays by square dancing.
> >
> >the Lancers Quadrille. That's the way Margot Mayo head of the American Square Dance Group taught it
> >in the 1940's.
>
> I sure thought the fifth figure of the Lancer's (or "Lanciers", in some
> manuals) was the characteristic Lancers figure. This figure (which compresses
> the square into a longways set of four) was popular enough that there were
> a whole bunch of spinoff quadrilles with "Lancers" in the title and pretty much
> only the formation and that figure in common; eg, the Waltz Lancers, the
> Caledonian Lancers.
The oldest two Lancers that I know about are:
Strathy's (Edinburgh, 1822) single "Les Lanciers" figure, which
contains the longways & cast figure also ends with the grand square
done twice.
Duval's Lancers Quadrille; I have no definite date but it appears to
be late 1810's or possibly early 1820's - other researchers suggest
1817, but I don't know why. This also ends with the Grand Square (and
has the longways figure as well.) Duval is "Duval of Dublin". I have
a transcription of a handwritten Lancers that might be as old as 1822
and appears to closely parallel Duval, but I'd have to get home to
check to see if it includes the squares - I seem to recall it
simplified some figures (esp. the first) somewhat. It also might well
be from much later in the 19thc.
Without having the particular urge to research this right at the
moment, but based on my experience with later 19thc Lancers
variations, I'd make a wild-ass guess that the grand square conclusion
fell off because the figure was really long and complicated.
(Strathy's is 96 bars 4x, Duval's is 48 bars 4x + 32b Square
conclusion.)
As a random note, I was flipping through a 1762 manual (de la Cuisse)
and they show the Grand and Petit Carre as contredanse figures.
(Keeping in mind that contredanse in this case might well mean a
square, as that was typical, although far from universal, in 18thc
France.) Wilson (1816) also shows those figures in his quadrille
manual.
Susan
Jonathan Sivier
Here is The Lancers quadrille from New Harmony, IN in 1826
- right and left all round
- ladies hands 4 round and back, while gents lead round the dance to the right
- set to partner, turn them to places
- 1st couple balance forward and return to places facing outward
- 2nd couple turning round take places behind the 1st couple
- 3rd couple do (the same)
- 4th do (the same)
- gents chasee to the right and ladies to the left, balance, return and balance
- gents and ladies lead outward to the right and left and return forming 2
lines
- balance forward and back twice
- set to partners and turn them to places
- grand square
repeat: 2nd, 3rd and 4th couple taking the lead alternately
Jonathan
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