pennsicdance: Sellengers (was: OOP Dance)

[cclark at vicon.net]

From: "Greg Lindahl" <lindahl at pbm.com>
> ... I have not seen *anyone* ever suggest that
>we should include dances like Sellenger's Round into the list of
>dances that don't get done before midnight.

Then let me be the first. :-/

To the best of my knowledge, Sellengers Round has never been done in the
SCA, except for the few times in the last two years or so that I have taught
it. There are various substitutes for Sellengers Round that are commonly
done in the SCA, all of which deviate from the conventions of early 17th
century country dancing. Some of these could not even have been intended to
be accurate versions of the Playford dance, while the rest are, at best,
highly implausible. Most or all are based on the modern Cecil Sharp version
and are done to a modern adaptation of the Byrd tune with an added repeat of
four bars.

Since the dances that go by the name Sellengers Round in the SCA tend to be
modern adaptations, and fit neither the Playford instructions, nor the Byrd
tune, nor the documented traditions of early country dancing, they are
useless for the purposes of recreating a period setting or re-enacting
period pastimes. Why should we waste our time on such modern dances when we
could be doing real Playford dances instead?

Alex Clark/Henry of Maldon


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