European Dance Practice

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I started up a dance group in the Lexington area for SCA style European dancing. I am currently researching dances from other countries and hoping to get information exchanges going with our European counterparts.

I have included reports submitted to the local Minister of Arts and Science (MOAS) and reports printed in the local SCA monthly newsletter: Southern Midrealm Living.

Jan 2001 to MOAS

Practices:

Shillito Park, Lexington Aug 2/ Aug 23/ Aug 30/ Sept 6.
Lawn next to Student Center, UK Sept 13.
Old Student Center Room 363, UK Sept 27/ Oct 4/ Oct 11/ Oct 25/ Nov 1/ Nov 8/ Nov 15/ Nov 29/ Dec 6.
Blazer Hall, UK Oct 18.

Practice Notes:

Practices went slowly during the summer. However, did conduct a small, quick demo with a children's group Aug 2. Once school began, fliers were placed, made the front page of the school newspaper, and the room situation was settled, dance began to flourish. 18 people showed up on Oct 4. After a few weeks, there were eight "core" dancers with usually two or three others dancing each practice.


Situation for next semester looks great. The room is confirmed for the entire semester and the "core" group has expressed their will to return. Plus, several of these individuals have said they are looking to bring more people to practice. Also, I have plenty of fliers to put up at the beginning of the semester. And I continue to place dance in the Ace Magazine listing. Furthermore, I will add dance to the Chevy Chaser activities board.

Blazer Hall, UK 23 October.
*School Demo, Frankfort 3 November.
Kirwin Tower, UK 16 November.

Demo Notes:

The Demo at Blazer Hall saw a decent turn out of 12 people (8 students). They danced basic and fun (and mostly period) dances. The demo lasted about 90 minutes. Of course, I instructed them about the dances as well as teaching the steps. This demo served as a "floor project" for Blazer and Hagen Halls; pizza and drinks were served as part of the program. Everyone seemed to enjoy the program. However, I failed to gain any new dancers for practice from this demo… at least to date.


*The school demo at Frankfort went well; however, there was little time for dancing (about 10 minutes). I had 6 couples dance the Carolingian Pavanne. Would have danced the non-period version of the Maltese Bransle as well; however, the school bell cut short the dancing.


The Kirwin Tower demo proved more of a demonstration than a lesson. I had six people from the "core" dancers dress in garb and dance Carolingian Pavanne, Heart's Ease, and Official Bransle. Afterwards, we took everyone present (about 20-25 students) and taught them Korobushka. Though not period and somewhat challenging for beginners, they picked it right up (in about 5-10 minutes) and had a blast. Unfortunately, this demo came right before Thanksgiving break (had only 2 practices afterwards) and so this demo failed to pick up any new dancers as well.


The situation for demos looks really nice. I have several dancers who are willing to put on small dancing demos and lots of demo opportunities on campus. Hopefully, these demos will lead to more dancers. I feel that with proper scheduling and a good site for a demo, we will gain several new dancers.

Events:

Dragonsbransle, 28 October.

Event Notes:

This event proved a pleasant surprise for me. I had expected to dance after the feast. However, after conferring with Richard (James Dingus) and my "core" dancers, I decided to teach three dance classes during the event. The classes had six, seven, and ten dancers attend. After feast, there were 12-20 dancers for the first two acts. By the third, however, the numbers shrank down to single digits and I was forced to change the last program. However, the dancers were extremely happy with everything anyway.


I believe based on the demand for dance classes during the day that I'll offer classes whenever site space allows. Furthermore, this event proved to me that an event in the area could have three hours of dancing after feast. I believe things are looking up for European dancing in the area.

May 2000: Southern Midrealm Living

Greetings all,

During the summer, dance will be held with fencing at Shillito Park. The dance agenda for the month will continue to cover the basics, though I try to get in the intermediate dances such as "Picking of Sticks." Come out when you can. I promise it will be interesting.

Also, I'd like to report that I've conducted a bit of research for dance lately. I'm a Russian historian by trade and thus, dance manuals and such have proven to be a whole new world to me. Once I get some dances (and sheet music) from these sources, I'll be adding to the Barony of Cynnabar's dance repertoire. Furthermore, I wish to add that I hope to gain new Germanic and Scandinavian dances by emailing groups in Europe. I have noticed several Finnish groups only dance. Assuming that I can strike up an acquaintance, I'll be acquiring new dances that way as well. If you know of anyone with European dances, please let me know. Cynnabar had about 120 dances, which is nice; however, far from complete.

April 2000: Southern Midrealm Living

Dance agenda until the end of May:

Italian Ballroom: Amoroso& Petit Vriens; English Country: Picking of Sticks, Heralds in Love, Gathering Peascods, and Heart's Ease; Russian: Korobushka; Scottish: Posten's Jig and Road to the Isles; Pavanne: Carolingian.

Please note that we will not get to every dance every night.