strathspey@strathspey.org:28005

Patricia Ruggiero

RE: Lead up - which hand?

Nov. 1, 2001, 4:07 p.m. (Message 28005, in reply to message 28002)

Eric asked:

"Why do we have a strong tradition of RHJ when LHJ is more elegant and gives
better contact with your partner?  Should not tradition aim to promote the
best choreography?  Can anyone tell us how the tradition arose, and why it
should be applicable in this case?"

My understanding is that the "lead" in Renaissance dance and in 17th c. and
18th c. country dance was always a *nearer hand* configuration, and that the
RHJ developed in the 19th c.  This understanding is based primarily on my
dancing experience and secondarily on random readings for dance of the time,
not on exhaustive research.  For that, perhaps we will hear from Marjorie
McLaughlin or Richard Goss.

When country dance was revived in the 20th c., it was left to those who
reconstructed the dances to determine style.  To what extent they tried to
follow what was done in a given historical period, to what extent they
blended styles from various periods, and how much owes to their own
interpretations of ambiguous material is a subject for endless discussion
today.

In ECD today the lead is always nearer hands, unless indicated otherwise, no
matter from what time period the dance occurs; whereas in SCD today the lead
is RHJ unless otherwise indicated, again, no matter from what time period
the dance occurs.

Pat