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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Wow, take a break from e-mail and see what
happens. Sorry to join the conversation late and to have missed Yule
Revel – how did the dancing go?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>After having read all the e-mails, I have
a few comments (not in any order of importance – just how they occur to
me):<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<ol style='margin-top:0in' start=1 type=1>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:navy;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Coronation
would be fine for a guild meeting. Since we haven’t done
anything according to our by-laws lately, I think simply getting restarted
is a more important issue than the letter of the law. It would be
nice to have the meeting in print somewhere though. I’ll bring
whatever guild paperwork (my notes, etc.), unsold KWDS booklets, etc. that
I might still have in my possession to the meeting to pass along to the
new proctor. <o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:navy;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I
agree that costume is not really a focus for dance. Although I
admire the overall look of the Ren Fair dancers all being dressed in
similar time period and locale, it has never been my experience that we
get that cohesiveness in SCA dance and that is OK. Goodness, my 1350’s
French persona wouldn’t even have a chance to know most of the
dances that we do and while I consider making some really nice Renaissance
garb, I like my cotehardies too much – provide good support and have
really awesome swishy skirts and sometimes, sleeves. <o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:navy;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>My
own involvement slacked for many reasons – graduate school being a
big one, lack of anyone to dance with locally also being a big
factor - although I really didn’t mind holding class with just
my one student and would travel up to three hours weekly to teach others
and play with other dancers. Another big factor is that my husband
is no longer interested. I take his lack of interest to be more like
a regular SCA person’s vs. mine, as a dance geek. He stopped
dancing for two main reasons: he no longer found it fun (partly because
the people who were dancing had a different goal – i.e. becoming a
dance geek vs. just enjoying the social aspect, and political posturing)
and he got really annoyed by the “Nazi” mentality that anyone
could really claim “This is exactly how it was done in period.”
or “This is THE correct way to do this dance.” As with
cooking, his other SCA passion, he believes we can never really replicate
exactly how things were in period, we can only approximate them and make
them as “tasty” and “medieval to our minds” as
possible. Learn a dance, but then have fun with it! This
really fits Aurore’s ideas. Many of the dance masters talk
about styling and learning it through playing around with the dance –
pretend your partner is your long-lost love, pretend the same but sadly
you are already married to another and must be faithful because he (or the
priest or your father) are in the room, pretend you are forced to dance
with the most loathsome creature on earth, etc. When Steppes had its
largest dance group, play was part of the dances. Okay, I’d be
really annoyed when the cloaks and vampire teeth were pulled out to John
Tallow’s Cannon to the “Woo-woo” music, but the group
was huge with a good mix of long-time dancers, high-schoolers, singles,
married couples, etc. The first group I taught in loved doing Snoopy
set-and-turns and trying to mess up each other on those “simple”
dances. I thought taking him to KWDS in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region>
and exposing him to a completely different group of dancers, would
reinvigorate him, especially since KWDS in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Boston</st1:place></st1:City> is still my all-time favorite
event, but the dance Nazism and political posturing of a couple/few was the
nail in the coffin. It is less fun to go to events without him and
it means precious time apart if I choose to go on my own.<o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:navy;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Along
those lines, why do people still love Hole in the Wall as a general rule
of thumb (I always thought it had too much reverencing)? Because it’s
a dance game and you get to switch partners. There are a few people
who come to dance to only dance with one person, but for the most part,
people want to mingle with many partners. There are plenty of dance
games and many other dances that lend themselves to playing around. Don’t
get me wrong, I do think there is a time and a place for doing dances to
the best of one’s ability, striving for perfection, and for
performance. But, for the most part, dance is meant to be a social
event. Do you chat while dancing? Do you laugh? Do you
get to know someone better? I know you need a certain level of
comfort with the dances (or with yourself) to do these and still get
through the dance, but we all have led complete beginners through any
number of dances. If it’s more complex, just let them know
they should go ahead and give it a try and as long as no one gets hurt,
what does it matter if they mess up. While not a complete newbie, my
husband hadn’t ever danced Whirligig, yet Estril successfully pulled
him through it as a performance in court. At Pennsic, we regularly
pulled in complete beginners and those who were a few sheets to the
wind. They had a great time and we had more people to dance with,
thus we also had a good time. <o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:navy;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I
did go to Crystal Ball this year. I must confess that after having
only attended four events in as many years (all dance events and all
out-of-kingdom), I was not up to my old standards, but I still had a
blast. I had good friends there from other kingdoms, which made the
sleepless weekend worthwhile. Granted, I still don’t know many
of the people from Shattered Crystal very well, but I always have a
blast. Attending Pennsic and Crystal Ball really made me realize how
much I still love dance and how badly I miss it. Although our dance
is not for individuals, I figure I can still do a whole lot of dancing by
myself here at me house and can still travel to dance with others. Perhaps,
I’ll even motivate myself to scrounge up some new people for a class
again. Speaking of Crystal Ball, it is always HUGE and has no “official”
teaching or calling at the ball. Part of the reason, it’s so
huge is because a large number of the dances are OOP or SCA inventions and
primarily the same dances are done every year, so most people feel
comfortable doing a good number of them. I, personally, think we
should try to do period dances, but we need to be sure to include the
elements of the OOP that people find so appealing – energetic,
playful, “game,” partner-swapping, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:navy;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I
wholeheartedly agree that AGED should be about PR, promotion, and
teaching. The proctor (or a deputy/designee) should be about knowing
who is willing to teach, how far they are willing to drive and matching
them up with prospective dancers desiring a teacher. This and other
good ideas were started a few years back and the remnants are on the web
page. We could definitely revive this and update information. <o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:navy;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>In
regards to getting higher-level folks dancing, I think it is just as
important that we are visible to them – both as dancers and as SCA individuals
with wider scopes (service, other arts, etc.). We do need to make a
concerted effort to get dancing back on to the event schedules and to
entertain others during feasts, etc. We also need to remember “you
scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” All people are
much more willing to be accommodating if you can also be
accommodating. Find out if they are not dancing or watching dancing
because of another conflict and see if dance can’t be done when they’re
free. Pick-up dancing CAN happen as spontaneously as pick-up
fighting. Again, part of the draw of KWDS Boston was the opportunity
to dance pretty much 24/7 for 5 days straight. Classes would end,
impromptu classes would happen on the stage or in the halls, the ball would
end and we’d simply move to another venue – dancing in the
streets, etc, 2 or 3 would get together and start discussing something and
just have to try it out (can we do Gelosia for 9 – YES!). Once
you’ve got the higher-up there, make sure you do something that will
flatter them and intrigue them. If they look good in front of others
while dancing, they’ll keep doing it. If they feel
uncomfortable, they won’t. <o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:navy;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Okay,
enough blabbering, I should go to bed. I’m so excited that
others are feeling a renewed interest at the same time I am. I can hardly
wait to see what happens! ;-)<o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
</ol>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Michelle (AKA Capricia)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</blockquote>
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