[SCA-Dance] Greetings and question

[Del]

Catriona A. Morganosa wrote:
> Well, I think I can put a potential spin on that one. Shakespeare wrote
> "Romeo and Juliet" within our SCA time period (pre-1600), and in it, Act IV
> Scene 5 to be precise, Peter requests the musicians play Heart's Ease.
> Heart's Ease is a Playford, and evidence of one Playford is arguable
> evidence of all the others.

Whoa!  I wouldn't normally touch a straight line like that with a
barge pole, but following the same logic:  Shakespeare wrote many
poems about birds (well known fact amongst literature trivialists
is that he wrote more words about birds than any other poet).  Birds
fly, and hence this is arguable evidence for all other things that
fly, for example Boeing 747s and the space shuttle.

I pretty much concur with Katherine's and Justin's logic -- if a
dance in Playford looks vaguely like a dance in period, then I
would teach it.  The longways as-many-as-will dances do not look
especially like anything found in period.  The question to ask
ones self is "what would happen if I time traveled back to 1570
and taught this dance?".  If the dancers of 1570 are likely to
say "wow, that's cool, a bit like that other one we know well",
then it's probably appropriate for SCA use.  If the dancers of
1570 are likely to laugh at you, or burn you at the stake, then
it's probably not appropriate for SCA use.  How you decide on
that is up to your own judgement, but my starting point is that
"Hearts Ease" would probably garner the former response, and
"the chicken dance" would probably earn the latter.

-- 
Del
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