pennsicdance: RE: Separate Balls

[Judithsca at aol.com]

Okay, here is *why*  I think it is a REALLY bad idea so have two separate 
Balls.
       About six years ago, when I was first starting to get active in the 
Pennsic Dance Scene (TM), I attended my fist Pennsic Ball.  I had had a bad 
introduction to Italian dancing (using the older, awkward and stilted 
step-reconstructions), and I was an ECD freak (can you imagine? ;).  I was 
standing on the sidelines, sans partinaire, when an older knight approached 
me and invited me to dance the next dance with him.  I explained that I did 
not know the next dance, but he smiled encouragingly and promised that not 
only could I do it, but that he would lead me through it.  So, I agreed, and 
he lead me through it amiably.  And I LOVED it.  As it turns out, I 
discovered that the name of the dance was Rosti Boli Gioioiso, and you can 
imagine my shock when I *enjoyed* dancing an Italian.
     here is the thing.  If that ball had been an ECD only Ball, I never 
would have discovered that I did indeed enjoy Italian style dances because I 
sure as *hell* would never have attended an all Italian ball.
     In my mind, the Pennsic Ball should be the venue not only where everyone 
dances, but where everyone gets a flavoring of the variety and varying levels 
of complexity that the Renaissance period of dance has to offer.  And you 
know, it never killed anyone to do the Renaissance thing and *watch* someone 
else dance, or hold witty conversation during a dance that they would prefer 
to sit out.  Dancing was a social activity, not merely a marathon to dance 
every dance.
       After all, it is *really* hard to make appropriately snipey comments 
about other people's clothing when one is out of breath.... ;-)
      In summation, the Pennsic Ball might be the only place that a 
completely new person would see a particular dance and say, "Hey, I want to 
learn how to do that..."
      Parties are where the specialization should occur.  The Ball should be 
a sort of "Survey of Dance is Renaissance Europe", and I think that it fits 
that nicely.

J
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