strathspey@strathspey.org:44563

Anselm Lingnau

Re: Difference Between Briefing a dance and Recapping a Dance

March 8, 2006, 12:18 p.m. (Message 44563, in reply to message 44561)

Ian Brockbank wrote:

> I don't know if we're arguing different things here.  The original
> posting had the instructions given twice before the dance started,
> and the subsequent explanation implied the first set of instructions
> was a full teach of the dance.  To me that's overkill.  It's too
> much to take in all at once, and it won't stop me going wrong.

I also think this is strange.

IMHO, the full written instructions for a dance should never be read aloud -- 
not in class and definitely not in a social situation. They're much too 
tedious for that! Their place is on the teacher's desk when he or she 
prepares their lesson, and their purpose is to communicate to the teacher how 
the dance is meant to go, so they can figure out how to explain it to the 
class -- often preferably by way of demonstration rather than reading out 
chapter and verse, and not necessarily from the beginning of the dance 
straight through to the end.

If you're a computer person, think of full dance descriptions as assembly 
code. They are necessary to communicate to others exactly what is going on, 
but they are not usually what one wants to think »in« during the creative 
process. When I make up a dance, I usually think in terms of movements of 
imaginary people in my head (or squares and circles on a piece of paper), 
like »the dancing couple goes down the middle and up and the 2s move up«. 
Only when I have arrived at something that appears workable as a dance I try 
to translate that to formal SCD-speak, as in »9-16: 1st couple lead down the 
middle and up (2nd couple move up on 11-12)«.

Anselm
-- 
Anselm Lingnau, Frankfurt, Germany ..................... xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx
In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one
equals nothing.                                           -- Ninon de L'Enclos