In 1909, Cecil Sharp published his first book on country dancing: \u00abCountry Dance Book, part I\u00bb describing twenty dances he had collected in six counties: Devonshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Somerset.<\/p>\n
They include 4 wholeset dances, 9 longways for as many as will \u2013 duple minor set and 7 longways for as many as will \u2013 triple minor set (4 of which liable to be danced as duple minor set). Parts 2, 3, 4 and 6 of the \u00ab Country Dance Book \u00bb are devoted to country dances published by \u00a0Playford, father and son, reconstructed from the available editions, in particular the dances published by \u00a0John Playford from 1651 to 1686.<\/p>\n I believe a difference can be made between the two sides of Cecil Sharp\u2019s work: his descriptions of traditional dances he actually saw performed, and his reconstruction of old dances from handwritten pages. There can be no doubt as to the first but what he made up based on Playford\u2019s notes may, I think, be examined and sometimes contradicted.<\/p>\n After Sharp, the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) led by Douglas Kennedy went on centralising dance collecting from various parts of Britain, with a few inputs from the USA. The result can be seen in 7 precious leaflets covering 129 dances, the Community Dances Manuals \u00bb (CDM 1 to 7). They were prepared between 1949 and 1967 by Douglas Kennedy, EFDSS President, later by Peter Kennedy, then Michael Bell and Jack Hamilton.<\/p>\n In his introduction to CDM 3, Douglas Kennedy wisely reminds us of the dangers of creating stereotypes when writing down dances : <\/p>\n In 1909, Cecil Sharp published his first book on country dancing: \u00abCountry Dance Book, part I\u00bb describing twenty dances he had collected in six counties: Devonshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Somerset.<\/p>\n They include 4 wholeset dances, 9 longways for as many as will \u2013 duple minor set and 7 longways for as many as will \u2013 triple minor set (4 of which liable to be danced as duple minor set). Parts 2, 3, 4 and 6 of the \u00ab Country Dance Book \u00bb are devoted to country dances published by \u00a0Playford, father and son, reconstructed from the available editions, in particular the dances published by \u00a0John Playford from 1651 to 1686.<\/p>\n I believe a difference can be made between the two sides of Cecil Sharp\u2019s work: his descriptions of traditional dances he actually saw performed, and his reconstruction of old dances from handwritten pages. There can be no doubt as to the first but what he made up based on Playford\u2019s notes may, I think, be examined and sometimes contradicted.<\/p>\n After Sharp, the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) led by Douglas Kennedy went on centralising dance collecting from various parts of Britain, with a few inputs from the USA. The result can be seen in 7 precious leaflets covering 129 dances, the Community Dances Manuals \u00bb (CDM 1 to 7). They were prepared between 1949 and 1967 by Douglas Kennedy, EFDSS President, later by Peter Kennedy, then Michael Bell and Jack Hamilton.<\/p>\n In his introduction to CDM 3, Douglas Kennedy wisely reminds us of the dangers of creating stereotypes when writing down dances : <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1909, Cecil Sharp published his first book on country dancing: \u00abCountry Dance Book, part I\u00bb describing twenty dances he had collected in six counties: Devonshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Somerset. They include 4 wholeset dances, 9 longways for as many as will \u2013 duple minor set and 7 longways for as many as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-histoire"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nIn our \u00ab Sugar and Spice \u00bb CD we recorded \u00ab Speed the Plough \u00bb, one of the typical longways collected by Sharp in the early 20th<\/sup> century. They all show signs of an evolution with, in nearly all the chosen dances, progression occurring by couples changing places, with no trace of introductions or set and turns.
\nSharp also collected dances in the USA: in the Appalachians, and published them in the fifth part of his \u00abCountry Dance Book\u00bb. He also devoted lots of time and energy to Morris Dancing, a dance for 6 or 8 men in two lines.<\/p>\n
\n\u00abDance versions differ from village to village : the sequence of movements may change overnight and an unintentional variation may become the established local practice. The production of a text book of folk material inevitably tends to stereotype performance, but I hope that all those who use this one will be brave enough to interpret the notations liberally. Where there is so much local tolerance of form and style, he is bold indeed who would say \u2013 that is right \u2013 and \u2013 that is wrong\u2026 \u00bb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nIn our \u00ab Sugar and Spice \u00bb CD we recorded \u00ab Speed the Plough \u00bb, one of the typical longways collected by Sharp in the early 20th<\/sup> century. They all show signs of an evolution with, in nearly all the chosen dances, progression occurring by couples changing places, with no trace of introductions or set and turns.
\nSharp also collected dances in the USA: in the Appalachians, and published them in the fifth part of his \u00abCountry Dance Book\u00bb. He also devoted lots of time and energy to Morris Dancing, a dance for 6 or 8 men in two lines.<\/p>\n
\n\u00abDance versions differ from village to village : the sequence of movements may change overnight and an unintentional variation may become the established local practice. The production of a text book of folk material inevitably tends to stereotype performance, but I hope that all those who use this one will be brave enough to interpret the notations liberally. Where there is so much local tolerance of form and style, he is bold indeed who would say \u2013 that is right \u2013 and \u2013 that is wrong\u2026 \u00bb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n