pennsicdance: ball suggestions

[Matthew Underhill]

Greetings to all!

I do believe this is the first time posting to the list, but have been
reading the conversations for quite some time.  I am relatively new to the
SCA, and am located in EK South to give a geographic approximation.  I know
quite a few names by now from either dance classes at Pennsic, or repeated
postings on here.  I have a few thoughts to share, from the point of view of
someone who's very interested in dancing, though not nearly as familiar with
it as most, if not all, of you.

I have to agree with Zhenya's statement that there are people on the sides
saying, "Not another Italian!" and "Italian is Italian."  To me (so far)
there's not a real noticeable difference between 15th and 16th century.  I
will admit that there's undoubtably people on the other side of the fence
saying "Not another ECD!"

In my area, ECD is definitely the most prominent and most popular.  It
actually wasn't until *after* Pennsic 30 that a noticeable Italian influence
was introduced to our dance practices, at least as far as I could tell.  Of
course, I'm still at the stage of saying, "Pavine, I know I've danced that
one before, but what was it?"

At the ball, especially, but also at many of the dance parties and at the
barn and such, it does seem like (to the novice) that you'll have one dance
that you'll know, followed by 3 that you don't.  And people don't want to
take the time, especially at night, to teach.

I think that's a large part of the popularity of ECD all around, or at least
in our area and assuming farther.  :-)  ECD has repeated styles of verses
and you just need to learn the choruses, many of which share a lot of basic
movements.  Italian, at least from my perspective, is very open, very
dynamic, and the only thing I can tell that repeats is the style of
steps....

... and yes, that makes it very beautiful...

... and yes, I would *love* to learn it, and thus be able to dance it....

... but I think I can speak for many newbies in saying that I feel *very*
intimidated (especially in Italian) trying to dance with the "masters" at
the ball (etc.) after having only 45 minutes of class yesterday... so I
choose to sit out.  Especially watching how graceful and gorgeous many of
you are on the dance floor... I feel like the 6'4" 215 lb. lumbering fool
that I am.  :-P

And then, of course, back to home, where we don't practice it, or the
practices that we do rehearse a different style and I can't make it because
of classes or something (yes, I'm a college student).

I, for one, would be excited to see two separate balls for primarily the ECD
and Italian styles and a third one evenly mixed.

It's just very frustrating to an individual who's not as well versed in
dance to attend the dancing events at Pennsic since we can't make it to
every dane class, even if we wanted to.  Personally, I try my best to evenly
distribute my days between my other SCAdian interests, such as games,
archery, cooking, and dabbling in some A&S, water bearing, and chiurgeon
point.  And I think that the vast majority of people in the SCA are like me
in that way, okay, maybe not as varied as myself, but still I think you
understand what I mean.

And of course there's the fun of cheering your warriors to victory in the
large battles!  ;-)  Come on now, all of you have to admit that the field
battle is an impressive sight!

Anyway, I'm thinking 2 major points at the end of all of this...
1) As Gwommy said, you can't make everyone happy.  I don't expect to know
every dance, but I think that it does at least seem like there's dance
"clumping" at the events.  My suggestion: Find out what dances are the most
popular, most widely known.  Mark those down in concrete places in the list
order, and fill in the blanks.
2) I think that we all need to take a deep breath, settle down, and approach
the whole subject with a fresh, more open view.  Take every side into
account.  See #1 for help in starting that.  Just remember, it's all about
**FUN**, not who-can-recreate-this-dance-the-best.  A fighter out there
might be the best skilled warrior on the field, but he'll not become king if
he doesn't do it with a smile and light attitude.  This list seems to have
become too serious, too much in-fighting.  Relax, smile, volunteer, attend
Pennsic dance meetings and vote on what to do next year, and then someone
volunteer to get it done.  And at the end....

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who made the Pennsic dancing happen this year.  My
little cousin-in-law-to-be Robyn thanks you (she's the cute little blonde
girl that knows most dances better than the grown-ups and was at
*everything* she possible could this year).  The smile on her face every
night is really what it's all about.  Remember that.

Yours in service,
(mka) Matthew Underhill


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gwommy Anpurpaidh" <gwommy at hotmail.com>
To: <pennsicdance at pbm.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 6:08 PM
Subject: Re: pennsicdance: ball suggestions


> It's obvious that it's going to be impossible to make everyone happy.
> I'd suggest having an English-based dance ball, then an Italian-based
> dance ball, and then a combo of the two or something?  I just thought
> I'd throw that suggestion up in the whether it's a good idea or not.
>
> The Purple Dancer,
> Gwommy
> "Purple is not just a color, it is a way of life." - Author Unknown
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