[SCA-Dance] Quadran Pavan

[Jane & Mark Waks]

Mary Railing wrote:
> The fact of the matter is that the Old Measures were a set of dances, fixed
> by tradition, and perpetuated in their traditional form by the Inns of
> Court long after such dances were out of fashion elsewhere.  It goes
> against the spirit of such a dance to fancy it up.

Yaas. The thing that's remarkable about the Old Measures is how *little* 
they changed. For something like 75 years, they did more or less the 
same dances, with (as far as we can tell) fairly little variation. 
That's extraordinarily unusual, and is closely related to the particular 
culture they were embedded in.

Also remember, they weren't meant to be danced on their own. First you 
do the Old Measures -- *then* you do the au courant stuff. That makes 
for an interesting and unusual Ball. (I did one of these about ten years 
ago; it was a fun and broadly successful experiment.)

				-- Justin