[Ansteorra] iso european dancers ??

[Randy Shipp]

On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 4:17 PM, Jeffrey Clark <jmclark85 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Is there also, perhaps, an issue with the availability of music? I would also like to pint at the lack of "individualisation" currently available in EuroDance. We teach dancers some basic steps, and then focus on existing choreographies; whereas -- IIRC -- ME dance teaches "moves" and then allows for a great deal of room for personal interpretation. Perhaps we should shift the way that wester dances are taught and thought about.
>
> I had a very interesting discussion with one about the idea of swapping music for certain dances (to make things more interesting for the musicians -- after three passes of something, we are usually ready for something else), and I saw a fair amount of resistance to this idea. Perhaps we should focus less on the reconstruction of period art and more on the creation of new art in period style and aesthetic.
>
> -- AS Zorzi

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I'm all in favor of reconstructing period art where we're able to do
so, but when the evidence begins to thin out I think there's some
benefit to being a bit more speculative.  As long as we're willing to
be shown later that our "best guess" is contradicted by some new
research, I don't see any harm in that.  It seems better than just
willfully doing ahistorical stuff or, even worse, doing stuff that
isn't fun (like the repetition you mentioned).

As for your last sentence, absolutely!  I think it's a GREAT idea for
musicians who have a solid grounding in a particular musical tradition
to compose their own pieces in that style.  That seems like the very
essence of this kind of "participatory research" or whatever you want
to call it.  Another person might study period rolls of arms and
heraldic style and then create their own barony's roll of arms in a
period style.  Neither is a copy of a period example, but both are
fine for teaching ourselves and others something about what was
actually done in period.

--Antoine