Research and Dance

[storytimewithjoe]

 

OK, I promised that I would talk about my entries once all was said and done. I’ll start with some entries that really cannot be shown in a photograph, per se – Dance , and Composition: research. 

 

In the 1990’s, a new discovery went public. In a very small town outside of London, a manuscript was discovered containing music and dance descriptions from Tudor England. In the world of dance scholarship, this is a MUNDO HUGE deal, as it is the earliest known set of distinctly ENGLISH dance choreographies that we now have. That is the good news. The bad news is, the manuscript is hugely incomplete. Like a very, very annoying Rosetta Stone, the manuscript lists over 90 names of dances, lists around 30 different choreographies, probably 20-something music scores, leading to a total overlap of about 8 or 9. ARGH! SUCH a tease! Out of the original 90, we have less than 10 complete dances. Needless to say, the ones for which we have both music and steps, SCA people have pretty much thoroughly reconstructed the dances and are doing them on a fairly regular basis. But what about the other stuff?

 

My performance and research paper involved a dance for which we had only the steps. It is known by two names in the manuscript – “Roty Ioly Ioy” or “Rawty”. In and of itself, there is not a lot that one can do with just the very, very raw step description. However, the title itself gave me a huge springboard. Backing up a little bit, my study of dance involves several styles of historical dance, but my biggest interest is 15^th century Italian. My absolute favorite 15^th century Italian dance is known as the “rostibolli gioiso.” The Rostibolli was an extremely popular dance in Italy that actually survived in many incarnations, appearing with slightly different titles and variations in steps in different countries in the 15^th century. In fact, we have more than one version in Italy, a German version, and a French version. Is it much of a leap (no pun intended) to think that the English might also have a version? 

 

Taking the overall floor-pattern of the Italian version, I used the step descriptions from the Rawty to flesh out the dance and give it some penache. And working with the wonderfully talented Finella, we ended up with complimentary black-dots-on-a-page in the right style. Is the dance the exact same thing danced by the English under the reign of Henry VII? No one will ever know for certain. But is a very, very possible incarnation of the dance, and absolutely within the realm of what *could have appeared* at the time. And for me, the real magic happened as I was teaching my performance crew the dance. The first time I saw it performed in front of me in its entirety, I got kinda teary, I must admit. Sure, I envisioned it in my head. And yes, the dancers did exactly what I saw in my head. But actually seeing it performed gave me something new – it wasn’t just *technically correct* or *matching the manuscript steps.* Instead… it was… pretty! It was a very pretty, and very sweet little dance. And for me, THAT was the magic. Here we had something new that was cool, and different and fun. Yet, it wasn’t new. It was old – very old – five hundred years old. But here it was, new and alive, and bringing about smiles just as it hopefully did so long ago. That right there – THAT is the victory.

 

Is it technically correct? Yes. Is it reconstructed in a probable manner? Absolutely. But going beyond dance theory and scholarly geakiness is what will ultimately be the most important thing – it is a fun and sweet little dance that is now accessible. I think people will enjoy it, and I really, really hope it catches on. 

Comments

[georgie-bird.livejournal.com]

Oh! That sounds lovely. Reckon you could send your apprentice, the dance and music Laurel a copy of the docs?

[joeguppy.livejournal.com]

I could.... or I could make you wait as they are going to be submitted to the Complete Anachronist editor. :-)

[j-i-m-r.livejournal.com]

Congrats on doing so well in the competition.
Will the dance be circulating so those of us outside CAID can see it?

[joeguppy.livejournal.com]

My twisted partner in crime, Mistress Finella, and I are planning on doing a Complete Anachronist that will cover it.

[cormac.livejournal.com]

In reading your description of the incomplete dance manuscript and how you borrowed knowledge of dances from other cultures in the same time period and filled in the blanks, I was suddenly reminded of the scene in Jurassic Park, where they're explaining how the gaps in the dinosaur DNA were filled in with data from frogs. Then I started imagining your dancers escaping from their holding pen and terrorizing the rest of Pentathlon. And then I imagined you in a helicopter fleeing the carnage, looking into a piece of amber with a bit of manuscript in it, saying "My god, what have I done?"

[jillaw.livejournal.com]

Cormac! That's exactly what happened! Didn't you see everyone fleeing from Giles??

[cormac.livejournal.com]

I must admit, I spent most of my time cloistered in the gym with the heraldic submissions. I always miss the good parties. (ETA: deleted duplicate comment)

[joeguppy.livejournal.com]

Snort! It wouldn't be the first time.

[aliskye.livejournal.com]

This is so very cool. I can't wait to see it performed.

[jillaw.livejournal.com]

I sure as heck enjoyed it and would even want to learn it! I had high expectations, and this was something I was really looking forward to seeing. And my expectations were surpassed. :)

[joeguppy.livejournal.com]

High praise indeed! Thank you so much!

[gottasing.livejournal.com]

Heehee-now I'm looking forward to working on the CA article. how cool will it be if we go to Pennsic or something some time in the future and see/hear people doing this dance?

[joeguppy.livejournal.com]

That would be made of AWESOME!!!