pas d'espagne
Helen Winkler
is frequently mentioned in articles about dances of Eastern European
Jewish Communities, but I get the impression that it was/is a ballroom
dance of some description.
Thanks,
Helen
Helen Winkler
wink...@hotmail.com
Helen's Yiddish Dance Page
http://www.angelfire.com/ns/helenwinkler
Calgary Folkdance Fridays
http://www.cadvision.com/winklerj/cff.html
Michel Landry
Pas d'Espan is an old fashion Russian ballroom dance, with a waltz rhythm,
who was popular throughout Europe. The name is French ans means "Spanish
Step". There are several possible figures in the dance, not necessarily
danced in a certain order.
Hope it helps.
--
Michel Landry (Montréal)
edu...@videotron.ca
http://www.cvm.qc.ca/mlandry/folklore/
Helen Winkler
danced in Sweden and Finland. There is even a Finnish site that has
little feet that trace the footwork (all annotated in Finnish so I
couldn't read it). I wonder why the Scandinavian countries kept this
dance as opposed to the rest of Europe.
Jim Lucas
> Thanks Michel. I've noticed by searching the web that it is
> is still danced in Sweden and Finland. There is even a Finnish
> site that has little feet that trace the footwork (all annotated
> in Finnish so I couldn't read it). I wonder why the Scandinavian
> countries kept this dance as opposed to the rest of Europe.
Isn't that a bit like wondering why some families attend the symphony and
others don't? Different tastes, different experiences, and different
histories can be expected to produce different results, especially over
many generations, but we're a long way from being able to predict what
will happen or even identify cause and effect in such complex cultural
situations.
But do you know whether Pas d'Espagne is popular throughout Sweden and
Finland or just in a few areas? (I don't believe I've seen it at the
dances I've attended in Skåne, the southern province near Denmark.)
You've gotten me curious about the dance, too, and if you let me know the
URL's of the web sites you found, I might see how much of them I can
understand, though at least the Finnish will require *heavy* use of a
dictionary. I'd be happy to pass on anything I come up with.
One of the Swedish dances, at least in Skåne, is the Engelska, i.e., the
"English". It bears some resemblance to the English 4-, 6-, or 8-hand
reels, though the tunes aren't English. On the other hand, folks on the
little Danish west-coast island of Fyn do turning dances to a wide variety
of tunes, some of which are recognizable as Playford tunes, which have
apparently remained in local tradition for centuries as the dances they
were once associated with have been forgotten.
Regards, /Jim Lucas
Helen Winkler
The Finnish site with the little dancing feet is:
http://sato.satakuntatalo.fi/tanssit/pde-3.htm
It has two versions of the dance.
The written Finnish information is at:
http://sato.satakuntatalo.fi/tanssit/
This German site
http://home.t-online.de/home/juttaskiste/folklore.htm has a list of
dances and puts the Pas d'Espagne under Sweden.
I've noticed it mentioned in passing on several other Swedish or
Finnish sites in connection with fancy parties.
Antonia
>But do you know whether Pas d'Espagne is popular throughout Sweden and
>Finland or just in a few areas?
I don't know about Sweden, but in Finland Pas d'Espagne (along
with a few other dances) is generally known I believe. This
probably has a lot to do with the tradition of the next-highest
class in high school (gymnasium) dressing up and dancing
traditional dances in the early spring when the highest class
leave regular school to concentrate on the finals, celebrating
that they are now the eldest in school. And since a large part of
the cohorts go to high school almost everyone has come into
contact with these dances in some way.
This dance (along with a few others) are also danced at academic
feasts of different kinds, like the yearly formal part/ball of
student organisations.
I don't think that these dances are very common among
folk-dancers though. I have encountered them now and then in that
context, but they don't seem to be part of any "standard
repertoire".
--
Antonia (Tona) Palmén
HTML is great. On the web. Not on usenet. Not in my inbox.
f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgrmmng.
Laura Billmers
> I don't think that these dances are very common among
> folk-dancers though. I have encountered them now and then in that
> context, but they don't seem to be part of any "standard
> repertoire".
For many years I dancied in New York City at Folk Dance House (in the
1960's) and Pas d'Espan was a regular part of our repertoire. Now I
dance in the greater Boston area and Pas D'espan is still a part of our
regular repertoire.
It is a Russian ballroom couple dance. As a matter of fact, my
grandmother learned this dance in Odessa in the early 1900's and brought
the dance to this country along with her 78 rpm Kismet records when she
came to the US in the early 1900's. Other dances popular at that time
in Russia and still danced by us here are Kohanochka, Karapyet,
Korobushka and Lezginka.
--
Laura Billmers
Jim Lucas
> But do you know whether Pas d'Espagne is popular throughout
> Sweden and Finland or just in a few areas?
I've now checked with one traditional-dancing friend in Skåne, who says
she's never heard of Pas d'Espagne. We will check further.
/Jim
peanutjake
"Laura Billmers" <bill...@rcn.com> wrote
> For many years I dancied in New York City at Folk Dance House (in the
> 1960's) and Pas d'Espan was a regular part of our repertoire. Now I
> dance in the greater Boston area and Pas D'espan is still a part of our
> regular repertoire.
>
> It is a Russian ballroom couple dance. As a matter of fact, my
> grandmother learned this dance in Odessa in the early 1900's and brought
> the dance to this country along with her 78 rpm Kismet records when she
> came to the US in the early 1900's.
> Laura Billmers
I too danced pas d'espagne with the Hermans in the 1940's and 1950's. But I
doubt that your grandmother brought the Kismet 78 rpm recording with her
from europe. I used to work at the Kismet Record Shop located at 227 E. 14
St. NY, NY where the recording was made and sold.
PJ
Michel Landry
what is writen on my old FolkDancer MH-1061 of Michael Herman. Pas d'Espan
was recorded too by Kismet (A-109) and by Columbia (20295).
Laura Billmers
I stand corrected on the location of the Kismet Record Shop. Hey, I was
just a little girl at the time. BUT she DID dance that dance, and
others, in Russia and DID teach those dances to us. On those facts, I
am crystal clear!
Thanks for the clarification.
--
Laura Billmers