Folk Dance as Cultural Continuity
Anglo-Celtic Dance
English Folk Dance dates back to the Playford manuscripts of 1651, but is still a living tradition integral to village festivals and with choreographic competitions such the Australian National Folk Festival (I can put you in contact with one of the frequent winners). If you've seen a Jane Austen film, then you've definitely seen these dances.
English Country Dance as we know it now is the product of the English Folk Dance and song society started by Cecil Sharp who went around the English countryside collecting songs, stories, dances and other folksy traditions from working class people. There is a certain amount of controversy as to whether these songs really are ancient English songs or songs written and made popular during the C19th. You can read about this in NEED TO FIND IT! This is in contrast to Scottish Dance, which has a strong anti-colonial/resistance sentiment, and Irish dancing which is a true unbroken tradition. Scottish dance also has an equivalent to RAD (RSCDS), which controls both performance (through competitions) and social dancing (through teaching), which is very different to how English and Irish dancing work. Irish Dancing also has a very regimented school/competition circuit but social dancing is very open-ended and allows lots of regional variation.
Heather Clarke has just finished a PhD thesis on the history of dance in Australia with special emphasis on the colonial period. You can find out about her work at Australian Colonial Dance, which includes such gems as The Transit of Venus (a dance celebrating Captain Cook's voyage), a sextion on clog dancing (precourser to tap dancing), and references to dancing in early C19th police reports (having fun was sometimes a crime)! She is happy to be contacted for interviews and workshops (she lives in Brisbane, but sometimes teaches elsewhere in the country). If you're into ballet history, you definitely want to talk to her about the sorts of dances upper class young ladies learned at school dancing masters - you'll definitely see alot of links.
As a living tradition, English country dance (especially Morris Dancing) has a certain counter-cultural 'geek' appeal. You can read about this in Continuity, change and performativity in leisure: English Folk Dance and modernity 1900-1939.’
Contacts for this:
English Country Dance as we know it now is the product of the English Folk Dance and song society started by Cecil Sharp who went around the English countryside collecting songs, stories, dances and other folksy traditions from working class people. There is a certain amount of controversy as to whether these songs really are ancient English songs or songs written and made popular during the C19th. You can read about this in NEED TO FIND IT! This is in contrast to Scottish Dance, which has a strong anti-colonial/resistance sentiment, and Irish dancing which is a true unbroken tradition. Scottish dance also has an equivalent to RAD (RSCDS), which controls both performance (through competitions) and social dancing (through teaching), which is very different to how English and Irish dancing work. Irish Dancing also has a very regimented school/competition circuit but social dancing is very open-ended and allows lots of regional variation.
Heather Clarke has just finished a PhD thesis on the history of dance in Australia with special emphasis on the colonial period. You can find out about her work at Australian Colonial Dance, which includes such gems as The Transit of Venus (a dance celebrating Captain Cook's voyage), a sextion on clog dancing (precourser to tap dancing), and references to dancing in early C19th police reports (having fun was sometimes a crime)! She is happy to be contacted for interviews and workshops (she lives in Brisbane, but sometimes teaches elsewhere in the country). If you're into ballet history, you definitely want to talk to her about the sorts of dances upper class young ladies learned at school dancing masters - you'll definitely see alot of links.
As a living tradition, English country dance (especially Morris Dancing) has a certain counter-cultural 'geek' appeal. You can read about this in Continuity, change and performativity in leisure: English Folk Dance and modernity 1900-1939.’
Contacts for this:
- Lots of middle aged and aged people in the Playford Dancers Group in Marrickville,
- Lots of young [people at Black Joak Morris in Rhodes. This group has lots of people in their 20s who would be delighted to talk at length about why they take so much pleasure in dancing with bells and handkerchiefs and other silly props. Some members are also involved in continuing English song and story telling traditions.
Eastern European / Gypsy Dance
Contacts:
Kenguru are a Hungarian music and dance group who hold dance practices every week in Kingsgrove and holds dance events every month or so (usually in Marrickville, sometimes in Ashfield or near Campbelltown) which have a very good mix of ages. Although most people who attend are Hungarian they welcome all newcomers and will teach you the steps. They are also teaching traditional dance at the Hungarian Scout group in Strathfield (which was formed specifically with the intention of cultural continuity). the musicians and dance teachers all speak fluent English and would be great for interviews. As parents they'd probably give you permission to interview school students as well.
Last dance for the year is 11/11/18 7pm in Ashfield. Ms Carmyn has details and will definitely be there (cause the music is awesome!) Bring some dance friends if you go and you'll be guaranteed a good time.
Dance Education
Teaching dance from contextual perspectives in the New Zealand curriculum makes some suggestiosn about teahing cultural dance at school
Other
I also have contacts for Barvarian, Estonian and Swedish (and possibly Russian) Dance groups and will chase these up later.
I also know someone whose mum is doing her PhD on Australian colonial dances as danced by convicts. Not sure if that's of use but it any link to the Anglo-Celtic stuff
I also know someone whose mum is doing her PhD on Australian colonial dances as danced by convicts. Not sure if that's of use but it any link to the Anglo-Celtic stuff
An option for how to approach this topic
1. Define what you mean by 'cultural dance', including the function of the dances (cultural continuity, resistance to colonisation, cultural retrieval etc)
2. Outline how cultural dance functions on a global scale, including UNESCO projects (dance as intangible heritage)
3. Investigate how cultural dance operates in different cultural traditions: (eg)
(a) Indigenous Australia
(b) Anglo-Celtic dance styles
(c) European dance styles (eg German, Swedish, Estonian)