strathspey@strathspey.org:37480

Rosemary Coupe

Re: Left shoulder petronella: historical vs traditional dances

Jan. 9, 2004, 1:38 a.m. (Message 37480)

Yes, Pat, I'm here!

I absolutely agree with your distinction between "historical" and
"traditional" dances. Two quick comments about these terms as they apply to
dancing in Scotland:

Many of the "historical" dances may have been quite ephemeral as their
publication was tied to passing fashion--they were the "top 20" dances of
1790, 1791, etc. The title of the 1740 MS you mention (McConachie's source)
makes this clear: "A Collection of the newest Countrey Dances Perform'd in
Scotland, Written at Edinburgh by Da. Young, W.M. 1740."  We're far from the
timeless world of the traditional ballad!

In Scotland the notion of "traditional" dances is complicated by the
authority and influence of the dancing masters in the rural as well as urban
regions. What they taught would strongly influence the repertoire of dances
in a particular area. For example, the 1805/06 MS from Blantyre Farm seems
to be at the opposite pole from David Young's MS. The writer makes no claim
to represent the "newest" or "most favourite" dances. He does not give his
credentials as W.M. for Writing Master or produce an elegant, lovingly
embellished MS including music as well as dance instructions. Instead, he
uses everyday cursive handwriting, gives no details of the music, and does
not worry about standard spelling. However, he does provide an authority:
these are dances "according to Mr. William Seymour from Kilbride, which he
teached at Blantyre farm, above date." The dances seem to cover a wide
range. At the "traditional" end is "The Bounky," a version of "The Bumpkin,"
a dance which seems to have been stable throughout Scotland. At the
"historical" or "fashionable" end is the "French Cotillion" which Burns in
"Tam o' Shanter" regards as a novelty. So did the visiting dancing master
try to bring a little elegance to Blantyre Farm!

This is also, incidentally, the MS in which "The Duke of Perth" first
appears, in a style associated with the countryside rather than the assembly
room, in those famous opening words "hook your partner." This seems to be
the linked-arm turn which has survived as the "traditional" way of dancing
the D of P. So (I think) the distinction between "historical" and
"traditional" is very useful, but it's often hard to draw a definite line
between them.

Rosemary Coupe
Vancouver

Original Message ----- 
From: "Patricia Ruggiero" <xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: <xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 6:40 PM
Subject: RE: Left shoulder petronella


I'm going to digress and say something about the difference between the
terms "historical" and "traditional." This is based on discussions in
workshops at Pinewoods English weeks and may not reflect the thinking of
professional dance scholars and researchers or even of other amateur country
dance historians (among whom I count myself, with emphasis on the word
"amateur"); nevertheless, I find it a helpful distinction and offer it here
in that spirit.

"Historical" refers to those dances known only from the written record.

"Traditional" refers to the living expression of the dances; that is, when
Sharp and Miss Milligan and other collectors of folk dance and song were
going about, these are the dances that people were doing, or they remembered
doing, or their parents, grandparents remembered doing -- in other words,
dances within the living memory of a group of people, and not necessarily
written down.

Traditional dances, and traditional ways of dancing, did not stop just
because some folklorist wrote them down.  People continued doing their
dances, and the dances and dancing styles evolved over time, right up to the
present.

. . .

The RSCDS books derive from both traditional and historical sources.

Now to return to Ron's observation -- 

Wilson put forth his "complete system"; to what extent it was actually
followed we will probably never know.  Even if dancers in the early 19th c.
did scrupulously attend to his directions, as the years passed and country
dancing became less the dancing of the formal ballrooms taught by dancing
masters and more the provenance of villagers and other rural people, later
dancers adapted the footwork and modified the dances to suit themselves.
Thus was born "regional variation" in dance style and content, and these are
the traditional dances of some village, some county, some group of people
(the Army).

Knowing less about traditional dances and dancing than about historical
dances, I'm hoping someone with more solid information will corroborate or
refute what I've said in this last paragraph (Rosemary and Marjorie, are you
there?  I know you are!)

Pat