[SCA-Dance] Branle de l'Official
Benjamin Pung
ben at houseofpung.net
Tue Jan 23 07:41:01 EST 2007
Katherine Mercer was teaching Official with kicks this past Pennsic,
and it went over very well. It makes for a more interesting (and
accurate) dance, and also clears up some timing issues with the jump.
After the singles, there are four beats to do the two kicks and jump:
1: Kick with the right foot.
2: Kick with the left foot, turning toward your partner. During this
beat you must also set hands on waist and shoulders for the jump.
3: Ladies jump.
4: Ladies land.
In the version that I was originally taught, all there was to do
during these four beats was the jump. This means that either the lady
is in the air for a long time (unlikely unless one or both partners
is unusually athletic), or there is extra time where nothing is
happening. The long jump is helpful when doing the partner switching
version, but of course Arbeau says nothing about switching partners
in this dance.
In this reconstruction there is no problem with the partners kicking
each other. The first kick is executed before the turn, and the
second kick comes during the turn, with the foot that is on the
trailing side of the turn. I do this kick slightly to one side, and
in fact leave my foot out there to brace myself for the lift.
--Lorenzo
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