[SCA-Dance] Branle de l'Official

[Alex Clark]

At 04:25 PM 1/22/2007 -0800, Greg Lindahl wrote:
>On Mon, Jan 22, 2007 at 02:28:07PM -0500, spanogle at excite.com wrote:
>
> >  In proper 16th century
> >  costume, the man could use the lady's busk to help lift her.  It is
> >  a bit odd that Arbeau would discuss this for la Volta, but not
> >  here.  It would make the dance very uncomfortable for any lady in
> >  garb not including a corset, since she would be lifted by a hand in
> >  her stomach.
>
>Note that La Volta danced today is rarely done by grasping the busk,
>and it is not uncomfortable to lift someone without a busk.

But part of this lift is done by the leg. In the branle de l"Official, all 
the lifting is done through the hands. It seems like it would be more 
comfortable for the hands to be placed at the sides, and it might help if 
the women put their hands over the men's hands.

> >  Arbeau says the man takes the woman by "le faulx du
> >  corps", which is translated in the standard edition as "hips".  I

Sutton's note says, "narrow part of the body above the hips". I don't see 
what she's on about, because if any narrow part other than the waist were 
meant by this, then why would the definition place it relative to the hips?

> >  didn't find "le faulx" translated as a body part in the French
> >  dictionary mentioned a few posts ago.
>
>Look under "faux de corps": "The Wast, or Middle."

This seems to be missing an article. When I googled for it, I found that 
"faux du corps" and "faulx du corps" were kind of rare, but with "de" they 
were not found at all.

-- 
Alex Clark (Henry is puzzled by the word "google" and not sure if he wants 
to sign this.)