strathspey@strathspey.org:27652

Anselm Lingnau

Re: What do you think about this?

Oct. 2, 2001, 10:32 a.m. (Message 27652, in reply to message 27615)

Lee Fuell <xxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx> writes:

> It's a bit of a conundrum, actually - it's the technique that makes 
> SCD Scottish; but it's the technique that makes it hard.  Without 
> the technique, it's not SCD, but with too much emphasis on 
> technique, no one does SCD...

I think we need to accept the fact that SCD, like most other sports/
performance arts/social pastimes requires a minimal commitment from
participants to learn. This is not to say that everybody should make it
their most important goal in life to be on the Younger Hall demo team,
but as a teacher I like to think that a Scottish country dancer should
at least be prepared to make an honest effort to, say, mentally
associate `rights and lefts' with a certain floor pattern and use of
hands, so they do not have to rely on their fellow dancers to shunt them
around the set merely because they themselves can't be bothered to think
along.

These are the places where `technique' counts most, not steps and foot
pointing (which, make no mistake, are nice when they work right, and
which many dancers still find important enough to try and master).
However the basic formations, phrasing and similar properties of being a
dancer _in_a_set_of_other_dancers_ are the technical prerequisites for
making SCD social and fun for all -- not just for oneself. I don't feel
it is asking too much of dancers to at least try and get a handle on
these. Everything else that comes on top of that is, at the end of the
day, a luxury that is up to personal ambition, of which some dancers
seem to have much more than their fair share and others none at all;
it's usually the former who you're going to find at workshops and other
venues of self-improvement but the latter can be just as sociable, fun
to be with, and important for their groups/clubs/...

In other words, we're not all Michael Schumacher but that doesn't make
us second-class drivers; we can still go places in our cars and get
there without bumping into objects on the way (mostly!).

Anselm
-- 
Anselm Lingnau .......................................... xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx
While I dance I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from
life. I can only be joyful and whole. That is why I dance.          -- Hans Bos