strathspey@strathspey.org:27368

Patricia Ruggiero

Machine w/o Horses, additional thoughts

Sept. 13, 2001, 4:21 a.m. (Message 27368)

Richard Goss wrote:

>...At the time of publication, "Machine..." had no living tradition as
being danced, so the
Society had to rely on Rutherford, 1772 for its source of information.
Rutherford does not specify
how the 2s get to the top. Often, when the seams are a bit ragged in our
dances, it is an indication that the Society has misinterpreted the original
instructions. My reading of R1772 indicates that this may well have happened
in this case.

I don't have a copy of R1772 and it doesn't seem to be in the Library of
Congress online dance archives.  I was wondering, Richard, if you could post
the *original* instructions to this dance.

The thought occurred to me that, possibly, in the original version, only the
1s dance the track of bars 17-24.  The 2s would step up on bars 23-24.  The
Society, in reconstructing the dance, might have had the idea that letting
the 2s follow the 1s would add interest.  In a further great speculative
leap, I imagine the Society deciding that the 2s should dance straight into
place, rather than cast, so as to maintain continuity with what the 2s in
1772 were doing on bars 23-24.

Which is why it would be ever so enlightening to read the original
instructions.....

Pat