[SCA-Dance] On siding and arming

[Felice Debbage]

Seriously interesting question, Cai.

I think that also falls into the category of what foot you start on for
doubling, siding, etc, and also which way you set and turn first (or both
times, for that matter), since you're right-- it's ambiguous.

In the Barony of Middle Marches (and in Flaming Gryphon) (so, Columbus and
Dayton, Ohio), we start the footwork always on the left, but do arming and
siding with the right side first.

I've often wondered if the left footwork thing had its origins in the "left
is weaker so it goes first" ideas presented by Caroso. I'm totally
paraphrasing him here, but he does offer an explanation in Nobilita about
why you start on the left foot when the right foot is clearly the dominant
one. Perhaps that methodology was present in England during the mid 17th
century? (Probably, the best way to tell would be to see if people still
bought into rationales like the ones Caroso presents during that time
period.)

As for Recuil de Contradanses... do you know, Gregory, if that particular
book delineates which foot goes first? I haven't studied it closely. Could
it have "telephoned" into "right" first by the early 18th century? After
all, a number of more modern-looking dances start their basic movements on
the right foot. (I'm thinking Scottish country dance, here.)

Aaaand... finally. If Cai's asking the question, "How many groups side left
first," I want to know this: "How many groups alternate R and L set and
turning, or even alternate the turn singly move in dances like Gathering
Peascods?"

I hadn't seen anybody doing the alternations on those until KWDS 9 this past
summer, but I hadn't been traveling far out of the Middle Kingdom before
then.





On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 4:00 PM, Tim McDaniel <tmcd at panix.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, 28 Sep 2009, Jeffrey Hoskinson wrote:
>
> > Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:33:30 -0400
> > From: Jeffrey Hoskinson <jeffhos at eclecsia.org>
> > To: "sca-dance at sca-dance.org" <sca-dance at sca-dance.org>
> > Subject: [SCA-Dance] On siding and arming
> >
>  > So this is something I've alway been curious about. Here in the
> > Debatable Lands (Pittsburgh, PA), we side & arm left first, then
> > right. Just for clarification, that means we side to meet left
> > shoulders first. At _every_ dance event I've been to outside of our
> > local area, siding and arming have been done right first, then left.
> >
> > So I have two questions here:
> >
> > 1. Are we really the _only_ group in the Known World that sides & arms
> > this way? Or have I just not run into any of the others?
> >
> > 2. I know Playford was pretty ambiguous on this (typically saying
> > "Sides all. That again" and the like). Is there any reason that one us
> > more likely than the other?
> >
> > Thanks to all who respond.
> > -- Cai o'r Llyn
> > Dancemaster, Barony-Marche of the Debatable Lands
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-- 
Good dancing to you!

Felice




"Sharona: Adrian, you have to sit. This is a picnic.
Monk: I - I don't sit on the ground. Animals do things on the ground -
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