irish dancing

[michael]

 Elizabeth Gilmore <gilm...@eou.edu> Dec 19 09:00AM -0800  

Elizabeth.

If I understand correctly.. you posted this video to show people not dancing traditional.....[but of course, similar 16th cent is traditional in France!

I think the style you call trad is straight line dancing with arms by the side. This unnatural style was imposed by the church to prevent people touching, for to do so implied a sexual relationship , which was sinful. Ring dances such as shown in your video have been around in  Euro countries from the Middle Ages and no doubt beyond. There are handkerchief ring dances (carols when sung to religious words) where the couple must jointly hold a handkerchief between them until they are married, for to touch would imply instant engagement  - or  worse!.  It strikes me as strange that the natural joy & abandonment you illustrate is against God. I prefer the religious culture around the Kama Sutra where people take their pleasures in God’s name – a pleasure which brings a peace ‘which passeth all understanding.’  Men should think on this when they turn violent. In Scotland 100 years ago the fiddle was called ‘a wee sinful thing’ because it was used for dancing, but a cello was acceptable! (Verbatim)

As ring dances are natural and ancient we should perhaps call them ‘traditional’ which would certainly be confusing. But dance, like language, undergoes constant change. I think you should accept both types of dance, but ring dancing in its various forms will always be more popular because it is such fun – a bit rumbustious perhaps, but fun for all that.  Village dances were in the past controlled by the elders, who allowed the more energetic dances bit by bit as the evening wore on. The young were never allowed to get out of hand. The ends of Fr dances was often signalled by playing  g e f d slowly a few times , thus bringing a controlled & quiet ending. ] Michael
I recently talked with a friend who went to Ireland... he is an
accomplished fiddler and was looking forward to finding a session to join
while there... What he said he discovered was that in Ireland there are
different forms of sessions... When he asked a local where the music was
the local said" which do you want? "trad" or one of the other s (I forgot
what he called the others) ...  [Modern?]
So any of you that have gone to Ireland.. did you find this true? If so...
the same thing is going on there as is here ....
 
I enjoy and want to promote tradition... but part of me really enjoys the
fact that there is this music that gets people up and dancing in groups
WITH each other. In France there are many dances which do this (inc 16^th cent)
In this video... even though it is perhaps is not ‘traditional’... look how much
fun they are having and how many people are involved. The music for this need not be elaborate and may be only one tune constantly repeated on a small whistle pipe. (E & C  Europe)
I have also noticed that the younger generation tends to want to do the
more energetic dancing and will inject that energy into the dance
anyway....I remember doing that myself when I was younger.
 
AS far as dancing traditional.. maybe no one has actually taught these people
what the tradtion is... and maybe they think they are dancing as everyone
else does..
 

So keep them both going, but distinct. The 1^st part of the evening cd be Trad & ending with ‘modern’

 

 

 

 Digest for hurdy...@googlegroups.com - 8 Messages in 2 Topics

"michael" <mic...@muskett-music.co.uk> Dec 19 12:57PM