[SCA-Dance] Did pavanes go away?

[Mary Railing]

Most likely, people figured out how inauthentic most SCA pavan choreographies are, and stopped doing them in favor of more appropriate dances. Since I don't think most of them were that popular anyway, it would be easy to let them die of neglect. Earl of Salisbury *almost* passes muster as a measure, and it is still danced fairly often in the Midrealm. Carolingian is still done a lot. I have been trying to encourage people to do improvised solos instead of the ridiculous "man gets down on one knee while the woman goes around him" thing. (By the way, I saw a Youtube clip of an otherwise very authentic renaissance dance performance in Russia that ended with this, so SCA pavans are alive there...)

--Urraca


________________________________
From: "tmcd at panix.com" <tmcd at panix.com>
To: sca-dance at sca-dance.org
Sent: Saturday, August 6, 2011 12:28 AM
Subject: [SCA-Dance]  Did pavanes go away?

I am looking at my tape of the "Ansteorran Kingdom Dance Workshop July
1990".  A fellow named Marcus il Volpe made a dance tape (all
synthesizer) of 28 dances.  This is the list on the label:

Side A:

1. Hole in the Wall
2. Earl of Salisbury Pavane
3. Montard
4. Maltese Bransle
5. Hermit Bransle /
6.     Burgundian Bransle /
7.     Clog Bransle
8. Horse Bransle
9. Lazy Robin (damn, I like that dance!  Post-1940, alas)
10. Nonesuch
11. Gathering Peascods
12. Black Nag
13. Rufty-Tufty
14. Spagnoletto

Side B:
15. Dit de Bourgignon
16. Half Hannigan
17. Pepper's Black
18. La Pavanne Inconstante
19. Stirling Rant
20. Joyeaussance Vous Donnerais /
21.     Signature Pavanne
22. So Ben Mi Ch'a Buon Tempo
23. Catena d'Amore
24. Il Canario
25. Tourdion Magdelena
26.     & Basse Dance
27. Korobushka
28. Pavanne Venitzia

What immediately struck me was the number of pavanes.  If "So Ben Mi
Ch'a Buon Tempo" can be danced as a pavane (I only vaguely remember
it), that's 5?  I think this is my only recording that has any
pavanes.  I tried to think back to the last time I've done a pavane at
an SCA event ... I don't think I've done it in years.  Maybe Earl of
Salisbury a few years back at Terpsicore?  But when I was starting in
dance in the mid-90s in Dallas, we did Earl of Salisbury, Mannschaft,
So Ben?, pretty regularly.

Was that just an unusual repetoire for the time?  If not, what
happened?

Danett de Linccolne
-- 
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at panix.com
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