strathspey Archive: The Triumph

Elissa writes:
Oh, and I don't like that dance much, either. :-)

Hi Elissa

Some dances are fascinating from a historical point of view though, and this
often changes how I feel about dancing them.

Some Cornish dancers told me that in their part of the country The Triumph
is a wedding dance, and there are lots of variations or triumphs throughout
the British Isles. The first couple represent the bride and groom, the
second the brides parents, the third the grooms parents and the fourth the
best man and maid.

See: http://www.an-daras.com/dance/d_danceindex_p_triumph.htm

Best wishes
Fiona
Bristol, Sout West England.

More info from website above:

TRIUMPH: BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Informant: Mrs Baker, Rilla Mill, 1981

Old Cornwall Society Magazine (1925 31) The Recorder of the Old Cornwall
Society summarizes a lecture concerning the West Looe May Fair held in a
field (or barn if wet) the Triumph along with the Cushion dance are referred
to as stately, being slow and graceful. She comments that the Triumph was
still being done in Looe (i.e. 1925 1930) and that the other dances named
were last used in the district down to about '25 years ago'. Other dances
mentioned are the four handed, six handed and eight handed reels noted
elsewhere in Corollyn. Unfortunately these dances seemed to have been viewed
as fairly commonplace by the Looe Old Cornwall Society and not worth noting
in detail. Mrs Baker, whom we met in May 1981 (?), could remember the
Triumph being done when she was a small girl. She was unable to describe the
moves or pattern but she was emphatic about the steps which were a vigorous
stamp hop, as she demonstrated to us in her wellington boots! The Triumph is
a fairly well known British dance with variants recorded from Scotland down
to Cornwall. Sometimes called the 'Old Triumph' it is listed as a Berkshire
long ways set in the Carey manuscripts, La Triumph in the 'Ladies Pocket
Book' by Stalker and the Triumph quadrille in Blessi's art of dancing l831.
Cecil Sharp noted this dance as did Bult in 'Old Devon Dances'. These are
all kept at the Vaughan Williams memorial library, Cecil Sharp House and
make fascinating reading. In order to add `flesh` to the references we had
to triumph we borrowed the pattern of the dance as noted by Bult. With some
reservation it might be added as this clearly comes from the wrong side of
the Tamar! People unfamiliar with this part of Cornwall might feel that
geography is on our side as the moves we have borrowed come from but a few
miles further East. Culture is not on our side, however, as there continues
a strong tendency in this area to disassociate with traditions English and
Devonshire over the Tamar border. Mrs Baker describes a 'stamp hop' hornpipe
step and this we have used, hopefully reconstructing the vigorous dance she
remembers. DANCE NOTATIONS Formation

A three couple long ways set. Step: A Stamp Hop step throughout. Bars (A)

1 8 First Lady and second man lead down the centre of the dance while first
man crosses the set and goes down behind the ladies. First and second man
bring lady back up the centre lady holds outside hands of both men, they
join inside hands to form an arch over her head. First lady is returned to
her place.
9 16 Repeat bars 1 8, this time with second lady and first man leading down
the set and second man crossing to go down behind the ladies. (B)
17 24 Head Couple lead down the set and return.
25 32 Head couple swing down the set (elbow link) and as they pass each
couple casts UP the set and swings until all the couples are swinging. Dance
is repeated three times

TUNE/SONG The suggested tunes for this dance are Syans Den Bal, Zeak Waltz
and Maggie May's Hornpipe, although any 32 bar Hornpipe would be suitable.

Fiona wrote:

> Some Cornish dancers told me that in their part of the country The Triumph
> is a wedding dance, and there are lots of variations or triumphs throughout
> the British Isles. The first couple represent the bride and groom, the
> second the brides parents, the third the grooms parents and the fourth the
> best man and maid.

There is a description of this dance in Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
(Chapter Seven - The Tranter's Party) published in 1872 -
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2662/2662.txt for those people who don't have a copy
to hand. (Bill Ireland pointed this out to us at St Andrews about 10 years ago)

Malcolm L Brown
York

Thanks for the great background information. It certainly makes it
more interesting.

Elissa
On Mar 21, 2006, at 3:17 AM, Fiona Grant wrote:

>
>
> Some dances are fascinating from a historical point of view though,
> and this
> often changes how I feel about dancing them.
>
> Some Cornish dancers told me that in their part of the country The
> Triumph
> is a wedding dance, and there are lots of variations or triumphs
> throughout
> the British Isles. The first couple represent the bride and groom, the
> second the brides parents, the third the grooms parents and the
> fourth the
> best man and maid.
>

Malcolm wrote:
There is a description of this dance in Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas
Hardy
(Chapter Seven - The Tranter's Party) published in 1872 -
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2662/2662.txt for those people who don't have
a copy to hand. (Bill Ireland pointed this out to us at St Andrews about 10
years ago)

Hi Malcolm
This is one of the most eloquent, entertaining, exhilarating descriptions of
country dancing I have ever read! It's worth reading the next chapter too:
CHAPTER VIII: THEY DANCE MORE WILDLY

Many thanks for sharing the link with us.
Fiona
Bristol, UK

Fiona Grant wrote:

> This is one of the most eloquent, entertaining, exhilarating descriptions
> of country dancing I have ever read!

I've put chapters 7 and 8 of the book on the Strathspey Server; you can get it
from the »History« section (for lack of a better place to put it).

Anselm
--
Anselm Lingnau, Frankfurt, Germany ..................... anselm@strathspey.org
Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your
house, you can never tell. -- Joan Crawford