Greet's Middle Ages

This monkey is focused on A&S...

...unlike me these days.  Then again, I've managed to avoid being the target of the atlatl field lately.

Right, so I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been turning my life upside down, moving in the midst of the holidays, and I'll get back to my normal post format soon.  I hope.  (My bookmarks overfloweth!)

Recap, because A&S reports are due, and I shamelessly use this blog to keep track of what I do:

Since I last posted (gah! two whole months ago!), I've:

Practiced music (recorder and voice) with Oldenfeld's Ensemble (Trimaris), weekly.  Learned various Christmas pieces for playing at Yule, and worked on "Say Love", an Elizabethan piece we learned from its original entablature, which is funky stuff, yet fun.  I'm hoping for geeky music stuff at Gulf Wars.

Appeared at an elementary school demo where we performed many of these pieces, and danced some, largely the Maltese Bransle, since asking kids to dance like an elephant, or as if the ground is a thousand degrees hot, is very entertaining.  Weekly dance practice happened too, and most of the time I was there.

Sewed garb for my mother, particularly so she would have late-period garb for dance demos, and enough garb for a weekend without borrowing from me.  I did most of the construction on some 16th Florentine clothing for her, modeled after Drea Leed's 1515 Florentine gown.  I taught mom how to cardweave trim directly onto the cuffs of her detachable sleeves.  I also put together a 16thc Persian pirahan (that's the base layer), and did rough construction of a vest-caftan and a coat.  She is responsible for the finishing of said items - so she practiced rolling a hem on her neckline, etc.  And I threw together a standard unbleached linen gored t-tunic for her to use alone, or with some yet-to-be-woven peplos garment.  Of course I do not have pictures.

Attended Oldenfeld's Yule, where I performed twice with the Ensemble, danced one dance in a class as a plant, and got to be HRH's herald in court...fortunately they had no business, I just did the flowery/funny intro.  People laughed when I wanted them to - that was good.  I put an extra syllable in Her Highness' name - eh, not so good.  I should have asked for clarification.

I knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's Maltese Fisherman's Hat for my new shire's gift swap, which proved popular enough that I'm knitting a couple more.  I have no idea how historical this pattern is...it's one of those "traditional" forms that might be ancient, or might be Victorian.  Most probably the latter, but it's cute and practical, with ear flaps.  When I finish another one, I'll post its picture.

I attended Rising Stone's Menhir, mostly to support a friend teaching for the first time, but it was good to attend an A&S event - I haven't in some time, and people had missed me.  I got to use an atalatl, which is a lever that propels a spear farther than one could throw it alone.  (I am so bad at this, that apparently "throwing a spear alone" for me would be most effective if the target just ran up onto it.)  But it was cool to watch other people.  Appropriately for someone who has always walked on her toes, even my spear throwing is "lofty".  I'd like to play with this more - I hope Ianka brings her stuff to Gulf Wars.

 

Ullrich and Finna.  See how Finna is actually holding the stick, not the dart?  I think she's holding it better (with more power) than I did...must try that way.  The hollow dart end rests in a notch on the atlatl (the stick)...I wonder how to calculate the extra force on the dart?  Would the force be increased by increasing the length of the atlatl?  Ianka had two shapes of atlatl, one was straight and the other a gentle arc.  I found the arched one to be much more comfortable and dependable to use, but I only threw four darts.

Dart launched from atlatl.

 

Illariia's classes were about Early Rus.  Back at Pennsic, I attended a Rus clothing class, in order to gather data for Maudey and Mordan, and I'd shared my notes with Illariia.  I now realize I didn't bring anything new back to her- she is incredibly knowledgeable.  I attended a general history class, and a two-parter on clothing. I now feel much more grounded in that culture, and that I could totally create that costume if I needed to.

A teenager in my life has led me to start poking around in places I haven't yet: she's talking about wanting an Irish persona, and I suspect she means later period.  And one of the prom dresses she admired recently is an Elizabethan court gown, made over in lace.  "See, I could wear something like this later, for SCA!"  Fortunately, I have the book for such things, Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion, but I'd foolishly said once upon a time, "oh sure, I could make that, but I don't want to wear it, so I'm not really interested..."  Murphy strikes again.  It would be nice to check the square though, as a personal challenge.

Plans for future play:  My local group's event, Convivium Collegialis, is happening at the end of February, and I'm looking forward to a bog coat class and the camp cooking workshop.  And then Gulf Wars is coming up fast - I'm planning on attending the later half of that, and showing the teenager around, since she's never been before.

Saltare 2008

Saltare is billed as an 'all-dance' event, but apparently there's some broader history having to do with performing arts.

There were three tracks of classes: two European, and one Middle Eastern.  I took:

Gracca Amorosa - which is a fun and detailed Italian dance with lots of foot wiggles.  Tap dance memory skills.
Safavid Persian Dance - 16th c, with Mistress Sindokht.  This was a great intro to Persian, and Sindokht was very helpful about pointing out differences and common themes ("I'm so cute!").  I'll be doing more of these.
Improvisational Dance, European - This really shot over my head; it was about various recipe dances that provide a structure within which you can invent.  Since I don't have much vocabulary (though I can parrot anything) my conversations are rather one-sided.
Mixed Bransles (from Arbeau) - This was a really helpful way to present a dance type; start with a very simple version and move up through progressively more complicated iterations.  Now I'm feeling like I know what a bransle is.  See rant below.
North African Trance Dances (the Guedra) - Mistress Maysun - I liked this a lot, and I could see myself giving it a try once I see it done a few more times.  Weird, but neat.

Now it's time for the rant.  I really really hate that when I attend regional-kingdom level events with dancing, I don't know what I'm doing.  I've taken a bunch of dance classes, and their usual problem is that it's an exercise in short term memory.  We plow through 3-5 dances in 60-90 minutes, and two hours afterwards I'm not sure what I learned.

The big issue is, of course, that there's no dance practice in Phoenix Glade (yet - Melbrigda and I are going to change this), so it's months between opportunities.  However, I do appreciate Dance People's recognition of the problem, and Alasais addressed it very well with her graduated bransle class.  Now I'm just going to have trouble keeping each of those straight.

(The point was made several times over the weekend that it's a fair bit of folly to separate the dance from the music - so 'learning' the dance is really also learning the music, which I also appreciate, and am going to make a stronger try, so as not to have to be talked through all the dances at Gulf Wars, which is just a nuisance.)

Whirligigs and 3-man heys

I'm going to Kingdom A&S in two weeks, and there's going to be a ball.  Here's the list of dances (the ones marked with a * are the ones Mel knows).  I know I've done Petit Vriens and Amoroso, and possibly Black Alman - that's what happens when you say to any man in the room - "teach me this!"  It'll take me a while to sort out what I've done before...

Set 1
Bransle Charlotte*
Rostiboli Gioioso & Piva*
Jenny Pluck Pears*
Chirintana

Set 2
If All The World Were Paper
Petit Vriens
Black Alman*
Ballo Del Fiore & Galliard

Set 3
Bransle De Guerre
Chestnut
Amoroso*
Heart's Ease*

Set 4
Scotch Cap
Contrapasso
Ly Bens Dystonys
Whirligig

Whirligig is the only one I tried at Gulf Wars where our set fell apart.  The problem was that only three of us knew anything about it.  I understand now, that it's a difficult dance.  But difficult = worth doing in Greet's world, so of course I mean to figure it out.

From Lord Eoin:

I think the clearest description of the Whirligig hey (so far I've only
seen it in that one dance) is probably to be found on Del's Dance Book
webpage... I think I gave you the URL in the previous note. If not, a
search engine will. 
My recollection is, M1 and F1 either hey one pass (basically trade
places) OR arm once around (trade places and continue in the same
direction returning to original places). Naturally one takes longer 
than
the other--2 counts or 4. Then F heys one pass with M2 while M1 pivots 
2
counts, M2 and M1 while F pivots 2 counts, so on until they get back to
places. How many changes it takes to get back to places depends on how
far M1 and F1 go around in the first exchange. I think there are 16
counts for everything. (at the same time, F2 is doing the same with
couple 3; after 16 counts, everyone's back to place and they do it 
again
F2 with couple 1 and M2 with couple 3 for another 16).

The problem for most people I've tried to do it with is their (and
occasionally my) steps don't take consistent time or distance, so
someone winds up ahead or behind. But my venting frustration about that
will probably not help you.

It may help you to note, though, that you don't have to take hands in a
hey. Playford doesn't say to, or not, for the most part. Some of them
are easier (especially for new dancers who have difficulty keeping 
track which side to pass) with hands; some I think are easier without. I 
can't tell about this one. Also, the mnemonic you may have been given for
what to do at the end of a hey-in-a-line, about imagining an invisible
person or pole that you turn around to put your same hand (as previously
touched a live human)back in... that works more or less well in different
circumstances also,and can be counterproductive in a hey with precise 
timing (where the end of the line needs a pivot in no time, rather than
an outside turn in 2-4 counts most people take with the imaginary pole).
Mostly these work less well with hands anyway. 
Example: Hay Bransle. 4 dancers in a line, DL DR DL DR, hey 16 counts,
repeat. at 2 counts per change in the hey, everyone can get back to their
starting place.

Place to find music for Whirligig

Mission San Luis

On the Tally trip this past weekend, we went to see friends (Eoin and Theadora) dance at the Mission San Luis.

Now I had no idea there was a historical site this old in Tallahassee.  I went to graduate school there, and HAD NO IDEA.  And it's right in the middle of town!

If you're in Tally, go.  The campus is wonderful, and apparently I should be forgiven for not learning about it sooner, since it's only in very recent years that it's been so well taken care of.  There's a bunch of wonderful adobe buildings that are very cool on a summer's day (I'll talk about how I think this works later on Front Step Design) as well as an effort to represent the support stuff for the people living there - though of course the veg gardens and animal pens aren't nearly large enough, and they could be more closely packed (per the illustrations that I've been collecting).

Those are vineyards behind the dancers, and I recently found a recipe on Path to Freedom for preserved grape leaves, and apparently the small leaves can go straight into salads.  I don't know how old stuffed grape leaves are as a menu item, but I'm not sure I care.  I'd stuff them with lentils rather than rice, though - rice is not as easy to raise, in period, and mundanely contributes both methane in its growth and burns petroleum to get to me.  Greet is now anti-rice.

By this time, I was about to shout 'Theadora' to get her to look towards me...except it should have been 'Theresa!'

There she is!

They were bouncing up and down many times in this dance - it was quite funny.

And the end.

Thank you musicians!

Greet Dancing

Honnora brought these pics she'd taken of me back in um, January.

I think I'm learning a dance called Korobushka - which has lots of turning and clapping.

This is a good shot of my crocheted cap.

Thanks so much, Honnora - these are great.

GW: Dancing!

Here's a crummy picture of several of the people I danced with.  As usual, click to enlarge.

This was taken on the Known World Ball night.  From the left, closest to us is (please comment and correct my spelling if you see yourself): Thorin, Palfi Jozsa (good Romanian name, backwards) then Duchess Katrina of Iron Mountain and her apprentice Lord Runolfr, then Lord Edwardus with Rose Eriksdottir in pink, and turned away from us is Count Sir Corwin (duchess-tosser) and Francesca dei Rossi with beauteous furry garb. (updated 6/7/07, after Kingdom A&S - thank you all for your help.)

Hey, here's a good site for MIDI files! - I've checked out several, and these arrangements seem to be more or less complete...but there's no Black Nag.  Onward...

Ooh, here's a searchable database...I think I'm set now!  I guess it's safe to volunteer to run dance practice this Sunday.

GW: Dance classes-2 of 2

15th century Italian Dance Intrigue

This is the soap opera part of the SCA dance floor.  Frankly, these dances rely more on your ability to flirt, and act, and remember detail, than on bouncing around energetically.  Your preference may vary greatly depending on who's out on the floor with you.  Lots of flirting built into the choreography here.

Amoroso - Ambrosio/Gugliemo, 1475 (Edwardus calls this "two ways to leave your lover", which is a good mnemonic)

A: 12 Pive (Peevah - like a chassee' or gallop or skip forward)
B: M leaves F: 2 steps, 1 piva, then 3 steps, stop.  F does same to catch up to her place beside him.
C: M leaves F: 3 pive.  F does same to catch up ('what's going on?')
D: M leaves F: 2 steps, 1 piva, 3 steps, stop.  Turn around to reconsider F, both reverence.  Returns with 3 pive
A: Start again, F leaves on second repeat.

Gelosia (Domenic 1450) - The fickle, fickle men.  Try not to be F2, you're always being left.
3 couples in processional formation, four steps apart.

All do 8 salterelli (step, step, step, hop)
M1 crosses in front of F1, flirting madly BUT drops her for F2, weaves around F2, THEN goes on to F3.  M2 leaves F2 for F1, and M3 goes to F2.
All do 8 pive steps forward - "now we're all so happy"
C1 casts off, piva back to place, C2, C3 same.
All take right hands and change places with 3 steps.  Repeat other hand.
All take partners, face up the hall and REPEAT ALL

I have notes for La Chirintana, but we didn't do it.  I also took a class on the history of SCA dance, which was very interesting and helpful to keep the various kinds of dances straight.

Other dances we did (that I can remember!):
Hole in the Wall - This is not period, but a great favorite, since in all the casting off there's great opportunity to 'shark' (nonperiod term) or 'poach' (period term) your partner.  I was 'poached'  many times (meaning various men tried to outdo each other to dance with me) which was great fun, and Very Flattering.  One good way to prevent from being broken up by a poacher is to put extra turns in the  pass-through part of the dance, ballroom-style.  And I turn well, so once my partners figured that out, they had an easier time keeping me.

You all line up in a long line, with an even number of couples.  C1 bow, cast off, go around & thru C2, bow.  C2 repeats up the hall.  M1 bows and exchanges with F2, bow.  F1 bow and exchange with M2.  All four join hands and rotate left to original positions - but now C1 is behind C2, and is C1 to the next C2 behind.  It's very beautiful-looking, and all the bowing is funny, but a good improv opportunity.  One night the musicians performed an acapella 'bow, bow-bow-bow-bow, bow-bow" verse.

The Official Bransle (that's pronounced 'brawl') - Also called Toss the Duchess, and yes, I was certainly tossed!  Whee!  Done to one of the Christmas carols.

Large circle, alternating MFMF.  [Double left (kick?), double right (kick)] x 2.  Grapevine six times to the left, turning to look at your front foot each time (step behind first = look left).  F steps up to M, and jumps in place.  Repeat grapevines.  F jumps again, but now M 'guides' her across him to the next place in line.  Flying into the air is optional, but fun.

We also did Petit Riens, and Black Alman , and Hearts Ease , but I don't remember them well enough to recount them.  And lots of others.  The only one that went really badly was Whirligig, and that is listed as an advanced dance.  It has a 3-man hey in it that I am not straight on.  There was one wonderful switching one for 3 couples that I don't remember the name of, that was lots of fun because it had this complicated interlaced diagonal switching that got much faster the second repeat.

GW: Dance classes-1 of 2

Both of these were taught by Lord Edwardus the Wise, of Trimaris, who is a lovely dance partner as well as a patient and clear teacher.

ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCING

We got the message that English country dances always have three distinct parts, that are very nearly always in the same order: Walking, Siding, and Arming.  This helps the memory a great deal.

I'm going to replicate some dance text that you can find elsewhere, but that's because I want to reinterpret it.  Dance is hard to describe in print, and I figure you can use as many different points of view as you can find.  I have a ballet/jazz/modern/ballroom/tap background, so I'll be drawing on all of that.

All of these are from John Playford's 1651 treatise "The English Dancing Master: Or, plain and easie Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances"

The Black Nag  (I love this one.)
Three couples line up behind each other facing the head of the hall, ladies on the right, holding hands.  This is a set.

Verse 1 - Walking: (Double up and back) x 2
Chorus 1 - Slide up (like chassee', or sideways gallop) first couple (1&2&3&4), then second, then third - everyone turns around.  Reverse (3-2-1), everyone turns around.
Verse 2 - Siding right shoulder then left (this is a double to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your partner - the whole set makes one line - you could do Rockette kicks!) and then backwards to your original place.
Chorus 2 - M1 and F3 exchange places diagonally.  Then M1 and F1 change.  Then M2 and F2 change.  Then everyone turns in place.  Repeat, returning to original places, turn around.
Verse 3 - Arming - Grasp your partner's right arm and walk around in 360 circle, clap when return to place.  Repeat with the left.
Chorus 3 - Male hey - which is the same as an allemand.  M1 turns to M2 with his right arm extended, continues with his left to M3, in a weaving pattern.  You must repeat hands when you get to the end (imagine a pole you're going around at the end with the unused hand).  Everyone turns in place.  Now female hey.  Everyone turns in place.
Repeat, with Couple 1 casting off down the hall (during the first four beats) and all moving up to new positions.

Grimstock
Also from Playford, also 3 couples

Verse 1 - Walking: (Double up and back, set and turn) x 2
Chorus 1 - In and Out Hey: C1 passes inside C2, goes outside C3; turns and passes inside C2.  Other couples follow accordingly.
Verse 2 - Siding: Side right, set and turn, side left, set and turn
Chorus 2 - Arches Hey: All couples make arches with hands joined; C1 goes under C2, over C3. Other couples follow.
Verse 3 - Arming: Arm right, set and turn.  Arm left, set and turn.
Chorus 3 - Crossover Hey: M1 & F1 exchange places, and then face down the hall to do hey with opposite sides - when get to 3rd place they cross back and return via their own side.

Goddesses
Playford, for four couples facing up the hall

Verse 1 - Walking: (Double forward & back) x 2
Chorus 1 - C1 casts off and goes to the end of the line, followed by others.  As C1 gets to end of line, C1 slaps hands again and returns up the hall, followed by others.
Verse 2 - M take hands and M1 leads in 3 slipping steps (gallops) around Fs, stop and reverse (8 slips) back to place.
Repeat Chorus
Verse 3 - F do verse 2
Repeat Chorus
Verse 4 - M take hands, 16 slips all the way around Fs
Repeat Chorus
Verse 5 - F do verse 4
Repeat Chorus
Verse 6 - Ms take hands in circle, 8 slips clockwise, then reverse back to positions
Repeat Chorus
Verse 7 - Fs do verse 6
Repeat Chorus
Verse 8 - All take hands in large circle, 8 slips cw, and reverse back.
Repeat Chorus
Verse 9 - Ms do single hey within set, back to place
Repeat Chorus
Verse 10 - Fs do single hey within set,  back to place
Repeat Chorus
Verse 11 - Grand Hey - integrate male and female hey - C1 & C4 hey together.  C1 starts final chorus.
Last Chorus.

The Black Nag

I just went over to the Gulf Wars site looking for an A&S classes lineup, and instead found a schedule of dances for the nightly balls.  Woohoo!

Except I don't know hardly any of these.  I have learned so far, a pavan, Korobushka, and the Black Nag.  As I expect I'll throw myself madly into learning dances, I figure I'd better take notes.

The Black Nag.  Here's a cheat sheet.   But what do all those terms mean, "slip" and "siding" and "hey"?

"Slip" - is what a ballet teacher calls "chasse'" - even little children do these gallops around the room.  You can gallop front and back, but mostly you chasse' sideways.  Which is what "slipping" is.

"Siding" - is a step-together, step-together (that's a "double", or a chasse' in slow-motion) to slip your shoulders parallel to your partner's, back-to-back.  Then you do the other side.

"Hey" - is what American square dancers call an "alamande".  I am well familiar with this one, as it looks wonderful in choreography.  In the Black Nag, since there's an odd number of people doing it, you have to cheat at the end, and discard one of your grips, so you come back around to the line with the corrent hand, i.e., the one you just used.  I can't tell you how many hours of my life have been spent waiting through arguments about why the alamande isn't working, and it's all because whoever's in charge has forgotten to use their math brain.  (And for some reason they think shouting will fix it.  ~sigh)  At least in FP, it wasn't 3 am with theater call at 10 the same morning.  Ay-eye.

We did the Black Nag, complete with the apparently requisite arguing, last FP, and it was lots of fun.  Of course I wanted to do sixteen repetitions of the whole thing, but as I wasn't on an end, I wasn't getting winded by the diagonal changing places part, and therefore was overruled.  Next time I should take an end position.

And next practice, we need to focus on these lists!  I see Hole in the Wall on there twice, and lots of bramsles, and Amoroso twice...I suppose I could take responsibility and read ahead on the cheat sheets.  Cool how many of these dances are done with only a few people.

Bellydancing!

Okay, okay, I'm way late on posting these, but I gave my camera to someone else to take pics, and she went a bit nuts.  I had so many to go through, it got put off, and fine, I'll just post the pics.
Of course we felt a little silly.
That's me, Liz, Elspeth, and Angel.
We attracted a bit of interest.  Look beyond Edwin, there.
We'll practice this at odd moments, like in the grocery line.
Hips we got.
You can see Alicia, our teacher, here.
And here I try to shoulder roll out of my chemise, while Deb looks on.
Do I really look like I'm whining, here?  'Fraid so.
Still, it was fun!