[SCA-Dance] Horses
Barbara Webb
bwebb at inf.ed.ac.uk
Tue Apr 28 10:35:45 EDT 2015
>> Horse's Bransle:
>>
>> http://members.ozemail.com.au/~grayn1/Horses.html
>> says Arbeau says "... the young man held the damsel by both hands.".
We've been doing Horses using the most straightforward way of interpreting
this - i.e. face your partner and take both hands (rather than a promenade
or some other two-hand hold). The doubles left and right are then done in
the corresponding small circle formed by this single couple, effectively
changing places back and forth with your partner. Drop hands but keep
facing each other while each does the the horsy taps, single and turn,
ending where they started to take hands again.
In practice this makes for a fun dance, easy to teach to complete novices.
I *think* I have seen at least some other groups do it this way, but
possibly outside the SCA.
For multiple couples, each can just pick their own space on the dance
floor (effectively you will stay on this spot) or you can line up men
opposite women, or if already in a circle just turn to face your partner,
or make a double circle with men on inside and women on outside - it
doesn't really matter. If you really want a partner swap, the last
formation works, using either the singles or the turns to shift one or
more partners along.
Caitlin
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