Proposed List of Core Dances

Rosemary Coupe

Jan. 27, 2006, 9:23 p.m. (Message 43883)

Martin Sheffield writes,

> One reason I would be against having a core program for the whole world is 
> that if it were promulgated by the RSCDS, it would be bound to contain a 
> bunch of RSCDS-published dances that no-one really wants to do, and 
> exclude excellent dances of other origins. . . . Martin,
> in Grenoble, France

It would be interesting to hear other opinions on this proposal by the 
Membership Services Committee. Of course the list would contain some DMUP 
dances from the 19th century--they were still alive and well when the 
Society was founded and its primary aim was to preserve them. However, the 
Committee's publicity release explicitly says the list would include good 
dances not published by the Society.

There's much to be said on both sides of this issue, but it's certainly 
worth careful thought. We wondered, for example, whether it might lead not 
only to a list but to a published collection of dances, once the copyright 
issues had been sorted out. We also wondered about periodic updating, which 
of course would be difficult if a collection were to be published.

Rosemary Coupe
Vancouver