strathspey@strathspey.org:8436

Trans Vector Technologies, Inc

RE: Mairi's Wedding

Aug. 3, 1997, 8:02 a.m. (Message 8436, in reply to message 8427)

Kerstin Kuhn writes:

>And it annoys and hurts me when people try to tell me it¥s wrong
>to find the JOY OF DANCING in exuberance; that you¥re supposed to
>have fun _exclusively_ in covering and phrasing and in "being good".

For some reason, I am reminded of the great philosopher/singer/moonwalker,
Michael Jackson, who repeatedly exclaimed: "I'm bad, I'm bad, I'm bad",
meaning of course, that he was very good. I guess that means it is good to
be bad. :)

I like exuberance in a dancer. Also, like Kerstin and Monica, I dislike it
intensely when some dancers appoint themselves as judges of whether _other_
dancers are dancing suitably. I think such self appointments are way out of
line. I also think dancers should take personal responsibility and judge
for themselves if their own behavior is appropriate.

Now, regarding embellishments: Lets not confuse embellishments with
exuberance and fun. I think there is a place for embellishments and that
they can be fun when they are performed skillfully and are not at the
expense of other dancers. Embellishments can be very un-fun if somebody is
confused, battered or injured because of them.

Who said that passing left shoulders for a diagonal reel of 4 is not fun?
Who said that doing a dance or formation correctly is not fun? Who said
that phrasing well is not fun? Maybe it was somebody with a broken fun
meter.

SCD is a group activity. I submit that most of the fun we derive in a dance
owes to our interactions with the other dancers--not so much from the
specific formations and their sequence but from the opportunities they
provide to interact.

Some forms of embellishment such as twiddles (extra twirls) are either
socially neutral or anti-social (especially when poorly executed). A
well-executed twiddle adds nothing to the social feeling of the set. It is
fun for the twiddler because it allows the dancer to push his/her own
envelope of skill. If the twiddle is performed successfully, the rest of
the set can be impressed by the twiddler's prowess. But do not be deceived
that twiddles improve the sociability of the dance. A twirling dancer is
not interacting socially with the other dancers--a twiddle is danced
primarily for self gratification. I will be the first to admit that
self-gratification can be very healthy. But if you need large doses of it,
there are dance forms such as Highland dancing and Country Western line
dancing where individual prowess is really appreciated. For Scottish
Country Dancing, however, I can't imagine anything more boring or sterile
than a set of dancers trying to impress each other with their individual
prowess (Ho, Hum; big YAWN!).

[Speaking of individual prowess, I am reminded of Michael Flatley at the
end of Lord of the Dance, strutting around the stage, arms uplifted,
yelling YES! YES! YES! to the unending applause of the audience. After
about the fourth encore my 12-year-old son exclaimed, "Boy is that guy full
of himself or what!"]

Now, if you really want to impress the other dancers by doing twiddles in
the middle of diagonal reels of 4, be sure you do it with a LEFT shoulder
pass--it is much more demanding than with a lazy right shoulder pass!
(Ooops, I think I have admitted to some skill with a socially neutral
behavior...)

Cheers, Oberdan Otto.

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