[Bg-dance] Notes on the Earl of Essex Measure

[tmcd at panix.com]

Some dance neepery about the Earl of Essex Alman.

When starting to draft the Candlemas dance cheat booklet, I decided to
look up the Earl of Essex Measure.  The Terpsichore booklet has

[4x] -Double L forward; Single R back
Slow side L; Slow side R
Double L forward; Double R back

which is how we do it (though it shows a double back at double speed,
half a measure!).  But other Web pages end with

...
Double L forward; Single R back

which perturbed me.  I found more discussion in

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeryeh4/dance/Practise%20for%20Dauncinge.html#essex

Turns out that one source, Bodleian Library, Douce 280 (circa 1606),
has

Honour
One double forwardes & one single backe 4 tymes, 2 singles syde, one
    double forward & one single backe (againe all) honour & soe ende/

but five other sources have it ending as we do it, double forward
double back.  The authors here, Patri and someone else, do not
consider the possibility of a shortened double as we do.  With that
constraint, to get two full doubles, you need 8 beats, so you have to
bum that time from the single left-single right time: you have do the
sideways left in two beats and sideways right in two beats.  But then
you're getting out of synch with the cadence of the music.  So they
take Douce 280's version in preference to the others, because it fits.

Given five other sources saying specifically double forward double
back, I feel a little happier with our version having a shortened
double forward double back.

Browsing thru the article, I see further that the version of an alman
double we do is closest to the French version per Arbeau:

    When doing this, the raised leg should be bent at the knee with
    lower leg and foot relaxed, while the rear leg is straight. Arbeau
    specifies that this "pied en l'air" is made without a jump
    (Arbeau, Orchesography (1589), 1948, p. 125).

But there's an Italian version too, and it includes something I find
humorous: "push the left foot half a palm's length forward, and two
finger breadths to the side of the right foot".  On my hand, that's
about 2 inches forward and 1 1/2 inches to the side.  Apparently
Italian ren really does have really little steps just like Perronnelle
has been saying for years.  Fancy that.

Danielis Lindum Colonia
-- 
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at panix.com