From: dgreen@thor (David Greenebaum)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Dance video (was Re: out-of-period dancing)
Date: 6 Nov 1992 01:58:32 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.berkeley.edu

Greetings to the Rialto from Bjalfi Thordharson!

Lonnie Harvel writes:
>
>Now back to the more noble dancing.  You know it might be 
>a great service to the Society if one of the marvelous
>Dance teachers and a group of good dancers would provide
>a video, with a companion instruction manual and audio
>tape.  This might be a great way to distribute dances to
>groups not lucky enough to have a local expert.  Sheet 
>music would also be a nice accompaniment to the package.
>There could be discussion about various interpretations
>of the dance, and even show various accepted forms.
>References would also be nice.  A whole series could be
>done with various dance groups submitting tapes with
>different dances.
>
>Any comments?
>
You betcha!  (I may not be the first, and I sure won't be the last.)
In principle, it sounds like a good idea.  I can see a bunch of dance
mavens having fun with it, too.  But there are problems.

First, what dances shall be included?  There are too durn many to put
on a single tape.  One could conceive of, say, an Arbeau tape, a Negri
tape, a Playford tape, etc, but now you're talking MAJOR production.

Second, who will teach, and how?  I have had good and bad dance teachers,
have learned different dances well or poorly from the same teacher,
have taught different dances well or poorly, and have taught the same
dance well or poorly on different occasions.  It has been my experience
that with dance, as with many other things, how well you know it and
how well you teach it have little to do with each other.

Third, how will it be distributed?  With the kind of production you
describe, there will be a considerable expense involved.  Enough that
your basic bread-and-butter local group will probably not be able to
afford it, especially if a limited run is produced.

Fourth, what about regional variations?  Pavane steps and almain steps
are danced differently in the East and the West, for one example.  Certain
flourishes are added to certain dances in certain places.  Which regional
style will be imposed over the rest of the Known World, and how will the
local-group-with-the-tapes interact with the bigger-group-in-the-next-
county-with-a-dance-mistress-who-teaches-a-different-style at the once-
a-year dance event they throw in common?

Now, having said all that, let me say one other thing:

I DO NOT THINK THIS IS A BAD IDEA.  IN FACT, I THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA.

I think it is a problematical idea, but I do think it is a good one.
Unfortunately, I see the problems as so numerous and so large that
I doubt it will ever come to fruition.  If there are those out there
who feel otherwise and would like to try to make it happen, more power
to you.  If you are serious about it, I'd even like to hear from you
and might be convinced to help out.

---------------------  Bjalfi Thordharson/College of St. Katherine/Province of
 |\  | |\  |\  |// |       the Mists/Principality of the Mists/West Kingdom
 | > | |\\ | \ |/  |   David Greenebaum/University of California/Berkeley, CA
 |<  | | \ |   |   |   dgreen@athena.berkeley.edu, dgreen@garnet.berkeley.edu
 | > | |   |   |   |
 |/  | |   |   |   |   "I make mistakes, but I am on the side of good -- by
---------------------  accident and happenchance." -- the Golux
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