[SCA-Dance] A few more random thoughts about the Volta

Del del at babel.com.au
Mon Feb 6 23:05:03 EST 2006


Happy to weigh in on the volta discussion, although I probably can't
add more than to agree with what's been said already.

 > In my opinion, the "volta" shown in the movie "Elizabeth" is pretty far
 > off the mark as a reconstruction of the dance described by Arbeau. ...

The main issue that I have with it is the timing.  The holds are all
wrong, and this causes Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) to be leaping off
while pushing down on Dudley's (Ralph Fiennes) arms at the elbow and
upper arm.  Don't try this at home, kiddies, the woman's weight needs
to go into a vertical line down the man's center line, that means
hips and shoulders are the places to bear the load.  Doing otherwise
is going to hurt your back, and in the case of the movie it threw out
the timing of the dance so that it no longer matched the same subject
line as the music.

If you have the DVD then go over the director's commentary at that
point -- Shekar Kapur says "we had to film this scene 30 times or
more before they got it right".  Well, silly rabbit, if you'd got
the holds right and the weight distribution correct then they'd
probably have nailed it first go, at least after a few practice
runs.

So weight distribution is very important as getting that wrong is
going to throw out the rest of the dance with it.

> Has anyone taken a look at the various Volta/Lavolta music out there, 
> and looked for tactus clues? It might give some hints on the "jump on 3 
> or 4?" thread. Just a thought.  -Lyev

I find that William Byrd's tune "La Volta" is just about the perfect
tune for the volta.  It's got the right air to it and the accents
and tactus clues are all in the right spot.  YMMV, I'm not a musician
myself.

> "I see a (green) door and I want to paint it black (and gold)." -Mick 
> Jagger filk

Having trouble calming down after the superbowl, eh, LJ?

-- 
Del



More information about the Sca-dance mailing list