Dance Evolution

[Albanaich]

Here is a classic example. . .

Cape Breton Step dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKHWq4_uF3c&feature=related

Highland Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTNOGKjePvc&feature=related

The Cape Breton Scots Gaelic community in Canada was isolated from the Scots Gaelic community and retained traditions that were lost in the Scotland in the early 20th century.

Cape Breton retained the tradition of 'Mouth Music' that of singing unaccompanied dance music with the dancers feet providing the 'rhythm' section of the tune.

In Scotland the traditional Highland Dance was recorded by formally trained ballet dancers as a dying art form in the early 20th, and re-choreographed in a way and action that is completely different from the original cultural intention.

[elisedance]

then you have to also include the concept of darwinian natural selectoin. I think this was a major factor in the evolution of slow waltz from the vieneese. It was initially a village dance that permitted sensual and even sexual communication between youngsters that were banned from physical contact by social conventions.

[Steve Pastor]

I know this is a bit of overkill, but I spent a lot of time putting this together.
Those peasants, you know.
And BTW, many folk dances involved hand holding, but not the "embrace" that we now associate with couples dancing. Somewhere I read someone's making much of the fact that the waltz came along just about the time the individuals were becaming more improtant, as opposed to groups and heirarchies.

There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim. The French philosopher Montaigne wrote of a dance he saw in 1580 in Augsburg, where the dancers held each other so closely that their faces touched. Kunz Haas, of approximately the same period wrote that, "Now they are dancing the godless, Weller or Spinner, whatever they call it."[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-0) "The vigorous peasant dancer, following an instinctive knowledge of the weight of fall, untilizes his surplus energy to press all his strength into the proper beat of the measure, thus intensifying his personal enjoyment in dancing".[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-1) The wide, wild steps of the country people became shorter and more elegant when introduced to higher society. Hans Sachs wrote of the dance in his 1568 Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände(1568).[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-2)
At the Austrian Court in Vienna in the late 17th century (1698) ladies were conducted around the room to the tune of a 2 beat measure, which then became the 3/4 of the Nach Tanz (After Dance), upon which couples got into the position for the Weller and waltzed around the room with gliding steps as in an engraving of the Wirtschaft (Inn Festival) given for Peter the Great.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-3)
The peasants of Bavaria, Tyrol, and Styria began dancing a dance called Walzer, a dance for couples, around 1750. The Ländler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A4ndler), also known as the Schleifer, a country dance in 3/4 time, was popular in Bohemia, Austria, and Bavaria, and spread from the countryside to the suburbs of the city. While the eighteenth century upper classes continued to dance the minuet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuet), bored noblemen slipped away to the balls of their servants.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-4)
Describing life in Vienna (dated at either 1776 or 1786[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-5)), Don Curzio wrote, " The people were dancing mad [...] The ladies of Vienna are particularly celebrated for their grace and movements of waltzing of which they never tire." There is a waltz in the second act finale of the opera "Una Cosa Rara" written by Martin y Solar in 1786. Solar's waltz was marked Andante con moto, or "at a walking pace with motion”, but the flow of the dance was sped-up in Vienna leading to the Geschwindwalzer, and the Galloppwalzer.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-6)[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-7)
In the transition from country to town, the hopping of the Ländler, a dance known as Langaus, became a sliding step, and gliding rotation replaced stamping rotation.[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-8)
In the 19th century the word primarily indicated that the dance was a turning one; one would "waltz" in the polka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polka) to indicate rotating rather than going straight forward without turning.
The Viennese custom is to slightly anticipate the second beat, which conveys a faster, lighter rhythm, and also breaks of the phrase. The younger Strauss would sometimes break up the one-two-three of the melody with a one-two pattern in the accompaniment along with other rhythms, maintaining the 3/4 time while causing the dancers to dance a two-step waltz. The metronome speed for a full bar varies between 60 and 70, with the waltzes of the first Strauss often played faster than those of his sons.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-9)
Shocking many when it was first introduced,[11] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-10) the waltz became fashionable in Vienna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna) around the 1780s, spreading to many other countries in the years to follow. It became fashionable in Britain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) during the Regency period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_period).[12] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltz#cite_note-11)

[Steve Pastor]

Poor people on marginal land in the Appilachian mountains in the US maintained Old World traditions more so that people on the coast and in the more fertile river valleys. Of course, it was influenced by the African American population, too. This mix of differnt music and dance traditions also gave rise to new forms of both in the Americas.

[Albanaich]

Good stuff Steve, but you are missing the point here. Highland and Cape Breton dance was not a result of the of the music - but part of it.

[Elizabeth]

I think you're overstating your case a bit. While there is certainly evolution going on, it's not at all clear that Highland and step dancing were the same form. Certainly both were known forms. Also the way I heard it, far from being a dying art, the reason people took steps to codify Highland was because competitions were popular, but without a standard to judge to there were all the arguments you might expect over judging. While some of the people involved in writing the official text did have ballet training, I don't think it was as drastic a change as you suggest. Also, the video that you link to for Highland is not a good example. The dancer is actually doing a medly of steps from the national dances, starting out with steps from 'Barracks Johnnie', a dance that was choreographed as a means of recruiting men to the army for WWI. It's in the Highland tradition, but not one of the more traditional dances. A quick you-tube search turns up a better example of Highland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emCIxAJCe2g&feature=PlayList&p=67E6292CDB075642&index=4

[Albanaich]

There has been some debate in the Gaelic community and consensus is that the step dance is the original form. It might be better to say there is a formally taught version and an informal version similar to the Cape Breton dance.

When I was in a Scots Army regiment in the 1970's 80's (assault engineers) we had soldiers who were transferred to us from the infantry. At that time Highland dancing was part of basic fitness training and they generally danced in the informal step dance pattern when doing it for amusement rather than display.

The Cape Breton dance is much close to the display I saw in the bar of the JNCO's club than those young girls performance.

I think we can safely make an analogy with ballroom and latin dance in that the dance form we see in high level competions is quite unlike the social form dance forms of the early 20th century or modern latin American dance.

The act of codification changes the dance form and produces an artificial standard.

A similar debate occurs in 'gaelic singing'. At one stage judges were chosen for their musical knowlege rather than their gaelic knowledge, the result was that the informal and improvised gaelic music was moving to a formal rigid format completely different in form and intention from the original - this has since been changed.

http://www.siliconglen.com/culture/gaelicsong.html

"This became an annual, competitive event known as the National Mod. Unfortunately, since few or no Gaels were musically literate, the music for these competitions was written by outsiders, and the performances were judged by outsiders. It takes a long, long time to learn about a different musical tradition. These people thought - we are all British after all - that it was easy. Scales and rhythms were adapted to the well-tempered Western European norm. They probably decided that deviations from this were just native errors.

The character of a dance done by young girls MUST be vastly different from one done by young men showing off thier fitness and military prowess, yet its only since WW2 that women were allowed to compete.

Similarly, the rhythms, beat patterns and syncopations to be found in gaelic music are quite different from modern military music and this two has probablly had effect on the way the dance is performed.

If you fail to tell someone that the music is from the Highlands of Scotland most people think it is from SE Asia, - its is clearly separate from the European tradition we are familar with.

[Albanaich]

repeat

[Albanaich]

A link to the history of Scottish 'Old Form' Step dance

http://www.celticcafe.com/archive/Scotland/highland/highlandarts.htm