[Bg-dance] [discussion] Lazy Robin tune question

star7fisher at aol.com star7fisher at aol.com
Wed Aug 24 11:24:25 PDT 2011


Lazy Robin / Robin Ddiog

FYI: below is an on-going discussion from music guild and some dance members - I added the bg-dance list to ensure all interested parties are able to add their own 2 cents if they feel it worth adding.


Although the dance looks fun to do, I'm thinking curmudgeonly too.  Now most of the moves are easily in alignment with period dance steps (except, possibly, backing through an arch).

However, it is clear in what online information I could find that the choreography was created in the 20th Century.  

Arguably, we do dance Korobushka, which we now have researched to be created from Russian (some say Ukranian) immigrants after they settled in America in 1900's.  However, we dance Korobuskka, despite knowing better, because it is an SCA-Traditional dance.  This means that it was introduced and proliferated in the SCA, before we got more diligent about dance origins.  

To my knowledge, the Robin Ddiog, was not adapted into the SCA or well-spread throughout it if it was.  So it does not meet my standards - yes I do have some - of the types of dance I promote:

1) pre-1650 dances of European origin (really 1699 for me <grin>)
2) SCA Traditional dances
3) SCA-created dances (member choreography), preferably based on authentic pre-1650 dance styles and music.

If you want to dance the dance, it might be best to pursue it with a group focused on folk dances rather than our own specific period and location preferences.  There are a number of folk dancing groups around town.

@Cindy <evil grin> The Macarina does not qualify as a bransle, because it does not actually use sideways steps as is required for bransles.

Star




-----Original Message-----
From: Zach Most <clermont1348 at yahoo.com>
To: bryngwladearlymusicguild <bryngwladearlymusicguild at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wed, Aug 24, 2011 10:42 am
Subject: Re: [bryngwladearlymusicguild] Fwd: Lazy Robin tune question


 



I'm always up for learning a new song.  I've honestly been thinking that it would be fun to do Metallica covers with early instruments.
  But philosophically, we have some obligation to keep things pre-1600.  It gets hard for dance since that limits them to choreography from the 15th and 16th centuries.  If there's anything earlier than that I'd LOVE to see it.  But there's a ton of material from the era that we haven't explored.
  I wish I'd been able to find a diplomatic way to express this last night when the song was requested.  I'm sure the song is lovely and fun to dance to, but I think we can find something more inspirational pre-1600.
  Gaston (who apparently is being a bit of curmudgeon today)




From: Cindy Schaufenbuel <harponyou at yahoo.com>
To: "bryngwladearlymusicguild at yahoogroups.com" <bryngwladearlymusicguild at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: [bryngwladearlymusicguild] Fwd: Lazy Robin tune question


  
I'm not a dance expert, so I have no idea whether any steps in the dance itself "could not" have been done pre-1600. The tune itself could easily have been written in period, even though it wasn't. But that's true of a lot of "folk music." 

For that matter, I'm sure we could adapt the Macarena to something resembling period and do that, too. Call it a bransle! Gaston, I can hear it as a hurdy-gurdy solo. 

I'm kidding about that, of course, but I found this about the origins of the "Lazy Robin" dance:

Lois Blake, a founding member of Cymdeithas Ddawns Werin Cymru (Welsh Folk Dance Society), devised the non-partner version of this dance to an old Welsh tune in the 1940s. Michael and Mary Ann Herman introduced Blake's version around 1952.  

http://www.phantomranch.net/folkdanc/dances/robinddi.htm

If we want to pass a mid-20th century dance off as pre-1600, we could do anything, really.

Cecilia 



From: s1ren <s1renwoman at gmail.com>
To: David Shankle <gatsbydave at yahoo.com>; Hugh Ryan <saporling2 at yahoo.com>; Cindy Schaufenbuel <cindy.schaufenbuel at gmail.com>; bryngwladearlymusicguild at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 9:08 AM
Subject: [bryngwladearlymusicguild] Fwd: Lazy Robin tune question


  
Morning, everyone!  I'm forwarding this email from Ld. Daniel de Lincoln, containing a couple of music files and a video for Lazy Robin, the dance tune that he was asking us about last night at PiP.  (Cindy, you weren't there, but I thought you might be interested).  

>From what [little] I could find out on the web with a quick glance is that it's a "traditional" Welsh dance tune, possibly from the 1700s.   Daniel's wondering if the music could be adapted to a more SCA-period style and instrumentation, and danced to by our dance guild.  

I like it, and I think it could definitely work (heck, if we do Darabuska, we can do this one, tee-hee).  What do you guys think? 

~ Madylyne

P.S. - I also found dance instruction to go with that video, if anyone's interested: 
http://www.pluckandsqueeze.com/Robin%20D.htm  




---------- Forwarded message ----------






On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 10:17 PM, <tmcd at panix.com> wrote:

This is the tune I mentioned at PIP.  I am wondering whether it sounds
at all plausible for a pre-18th century dance tune.  (Yeah, SCA period
is pre-17th C, but we go long with English country ...)

Easier to pass URLs around than files.

http://www.panix.com/~tmcd/lazy_robin.ogg
http://www.panix.com/~tmcd/lazy_robin.mp3

This is a dance being performed to this tune and others.  There are 6
parts to the medley, and 1, 3, and 5 are the tune in question
(actually, the one above is a variant of this).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVUe01_psdY

Denyel Lincoln
--
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at panix.com

















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