[SCA-Dance] Translating Dance Names
Bruce Padget
bapadget at pop.mail.yahoo.com
Mon Jul 9 05:10:41 EDT 2007
At the last Portrero War, we had a couple of dance classes with a little
twist. Instead of teaching Petit Vriens, Gelosia, Anello, and
Villanella, the teacher taught Little Nothings, Jealousy, The Ring, and
Country Girl.
Of course, she also called the dances by their original names, but she
mostly referred to them in translation. I had not previously
encountered someone who did this. (I had hoped to ask her about it at
KWDS, but she didn't make it.) So far I've taught using the original
names of dances, but I'm pondering a change.
Saying the names in the original language has a certain exotic appeal,
but the names can be pretty charming in English, too. I am a firm
believer in
calling things what they would have been called in period. But to the
folks who did the dance, "Villanella" wouldn't have sounded exotic. So
is
it better re-creation to use the Italian name or the translated name?
There could also be a practical aspect to this. I'm sure we've all
heard the complaint, "I know the dances, I just don't remember the
names." Would it help to have the names in English? It might help with
the phenomenon of dreadful mnemonics. For example, way too many folks
remember Petit Vriens by calling it "Italian bumper cars." If they
remember it as "bumper cars," should it be surprising when they dance it
like bumper cars?
Anyway, has anyone here tried calling dances chiefly by their translated
names? Did it seem to make any difference in learning?
Regards,
Niccolo
bapadget at yahoo.com
PS: I have tried this teaching games. For example, the games usually
called "Fallus" and "Todos Tablas," I teach as "Drop Dead" and "All
Tables." It seems to help students learn the games. However, games are
often named for a distinctive feature of the game, so translation aids
learning quite directly.
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