|
[fool's maze] |
Historical Dances
Well, one idea is to use Fool's Maze to perform some mock-historical dances. It's an idea I've been looking at for ages, but it crystallised when I saw Rose Moresk. Now, don't get me wrong, they're good at what they do, but I'm not a great fan of the way they're used their admittedly impeccable research. I reckon that the dances before there were written record were parodies of the court dances of the period, and certainly one of my Old Morris pictures shows dancers who, unless anatomy has changed a lot since 1450, are clearly female.
So, since I've choreographed a couple of two-person dances (Whiffler and Pelican Gunner) which have been mixed and matched to give other combinations, I thought I'd try the same thing with some of the Salisbury Catholicon material. I'm following the model of the two contemporary border ones I wrote: three or four set figures with differing choruses, using the traditional steps - single, double, bransle, reprinse. Since no-one will want to watch too much of this stuff, the intention has always been to limit the project to four dances with the same 'figures' and different 'choruses' informed by the step sequences from four of the Salisbury dances.
And, putting my money where my mouth is, so to speak, I'll show you the workings. [more...]