| Hall CD 4 THE TODDLER Music for
dancing english country dances : Early
dance and traditional english tunes and second tunes specially devised for the
dance
Longways
for as many as will” are the very heart of a country dance ball. Just
as « mixers» they draw together people who do not know one another and
might not otherwise dance together; but they are far more elaborate.
Progressing up and down the set makes the dance interesting; as the
dancers repeat the figures, they get over the initial difficulties and
eventually take pleasure in recreating each figure with new neighbours.
CHESTNUT and the Papa Richard musicians are happy to present this new
selection of 17 tunes for dancing. Except for The Toddler and Black
Almain, all are “longways duple or triple minor set”, most of them
taken from different editions of the Dancing Master. It was not easy
to make a choice among so many enticing possibilities. What should be
dropped? We tried to take into account newcomers to the repertoire as
well as of experienced dancers familiar with the sequences. We picked
up dances wich offer a contrast in atmosphere and rhythm presenting a
representative sample of the different sequences used in progression
dances. But above all we let ourselves be guided by the beauty and
variety of the music, in carefully choosing the instruments which would
best enhance the poetry unique to each dance.
Titles
: Enfield Wash, Old Noll's Jig, Black Almain, Mad Robin, Bonny Cate,
Slaughter House, Nobody's Jig, Lord Byron's Maggot, The Toddler, Doway,
Nancy's Fancy, Northdown Waltz, Dorset Triumph, Ormond House, Greenwich
Park, The Country Farmer, Vienna
Dance reconstruction : Cécile LAYE
Hall
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