CONTENTS COUNTRY 1971 No. 4 Published by: COUNTRY DANCE AND SONG SOCIETY Articles OF AMERICA DANCE DOWN THE OUTSIDE: DANCES OF NEW ENGLAND TODAY EDITOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dudley Laufman •..•.•.•••••••••• 3 Jim Morrison May Gadd WILLIAM WELLS AND THE BAMPTON MORRIS An Interview ••••••••••••••••••• 9 AND COUNTRY DANCE AND SONG is pub­ TRIBUTE TO GEORG BIDSTRUP lished annually. Subscription is Raymond F. McLain .•••••••••••• 13 by membership in the Society. 30 DAYS WONDER: A DANCER'S TOUR THROUGH ENGLAND Members also receive three news­ J~ MOrrison •.•••.••.•••...••• 15 SONG letters each year. SOME THOUGHTS ON NOTATING FOLK DANCE Mireille Backer ••••••••••••••• 29 Annual dues are $8.00 NOTES FROM A FIDDLER Libraries, Educational Organiza­ Andrew Woolf ••••.••••••••••••• 35 tions, and Undergraduates $5.00 New Dances Please send inquiries and subscriptions to: TED'S TRIPLETS Ted Sannella ••..••.••.•.•••••. 31 Country Dance and Song Society, 55 Christopher Street, New HILL HOUSE ............................•.. 46 York, N. Y. 10014 I we are always glad to receive articles for publication in this Poems magazine dealing with the past, present or future of tradition­ SONNET Marshall Barron ••••••••••••••• 28 al dance and song in England and America, or on related topics Dudley Laufman •••••••••••••••• 34 of inte _at to country dancers. GULI..'3 & CROWS Photo Feature PHOTO CREDITS: P. 3 Suzanne Szasz P. 8 Courtesy of EFDSS DANCING ACROSS THE UNITED STATES ••••••••••••••••••••••• 23 P. 12 Courtesy of EFDSS P. 13 Courtesy of John c. Campbell Reviews Folk School P. 17 Kathleen Mitchell FOLK MUSIC OF BRITAIN AND BEYOND P. 23 (upper) Mildred Dickenson - -- - ReViewed by Judith Davidoff •••• 41 P. 23 (lower) Lyrl Peterson P. 24-25 1971 FOLK RECORDINGS IN RETROSPECT Lyrl Peterson Stan Leventhal •••••••••••••••• 42 P. 26 (upper) Suzanne Szasz P. 26 (lower) Lyrl Peterson P. 35 George Pickow The Contributors .......................... • • .. • · · · · • · • • · • · 2 P. 4o Stan Levy CDSS National Committee, Centers, and Representatives •• 44,45 Copyright 1972 Country Dance Society, Inc. Sales .................................................... 47 1 DOWN THE OUTSIDE THE CONTRIBUTORS DANCES of NEW ENGLAND TODAY DUDLEY LAUFMAN is a contra and quadrille caller from Canterbury, N.H. who has acquired a large following among dancers of all DUDLEY LAUFMAN ages in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Those who know Dudley as a caller and musician are sometimes surprised t o find that he is also a poet; the poem that appears in this One time old Frank Upton was issue was written last summer at Pinewoods Camp. dancing Chorus Jig in Nelson, New Hampshire, during prohi­ RAYMOND F. McLAIN, along with his wife Bicky, has for many years bition. On his last turn aa been associated with country dancing and the recreation movement active couple, he danced down in the Southern Mountains. Dr. McLain was a long-time friend the outside of the set, motion­ of Georg Bidstrup. ed his wife to her seat, and kept right on out the door to his car for a drink. MIREILLE BACKER has been a member of the Country Dance and Song Society for 25 years, and is currently serving on our Executive Usually Frank never danced that far down the outside, even for Committee. She ' has also been associated for many years with a drink. The book says eight steps down the outside and eight the Dance Notation Bureau; her labanotation of the d~ces of the back. Frank never took "eight steps" down or back. He danced , 16th century are found in the Dover edition of Arbeau s eight beats, maybe two down, four in place, jigging, and two Orchesography. back, and the same way down the center. TED SANNELLA is a well known Boston caller. In the past he has Going down the outside is one of ~ favorite parts of Chorus devised figures which involve multiple sets of dancers; in this Jig, or any other dance that employs that figure. Like old issue he offers mini-contras that have been a big hit at Pine­ Frank, I never dance all the way down the outside and back "'oods Camp and elsewhere in the past three years. (even for a drink). Usually I take two steps down, turn around, jig in place, flirt with the girls on the bench, or, if in the ANDY WOOLF is a very fine fiddler who practically grew up coming middle set, dance with the girl going down the outside of the to Pinewoods camp. Until recently he earned his living as an next set, and get ~self back just in time to sneak one leg English Teacher. into the center for the start of that part, taking both ~ partner's hands in both of mine, start down the center for JIM MORRISON has been working for the Country Dance and Song about 2! steps, dance in place for 4 counts, and get back just Society for over a year. In addition to his administrative in time. duties, he teaches English and American Dance, calls square dances, and plays fiddle for outside groups. The phrasing thing ••• 8 counts for this, 8 counts for that ••• is the way it appears in the book. In places where there has been a lapse in dancing for several generations, any revival must turn to the book for directions, so that there is a whole thing of dancers who learned from the book, or from somebody who learned from the book, and eight counts is interpreted to 2 3 But who am I or we to dictate our opinions to the crowd? Sure, the hilt ••• dance the full eight steps down and eight back--like maybe it sounds corny and Lawrence Welkish and Hollywoodish, soldiers. Only in places where the tradition hasn't been bro­ and maybe it isn't traditional, but who's to say it can't take ken, like in Nelson, N. H., has there been much variation from on new dimensions? The kids who clap, do so with joy, not the book. meanness. The kids who come to the dances in Southwestern New Hampshire How do you handle an even mixture of innocent beginners and a today, do not, for the most part, have the advantage of this sometimes rather arrogant group of experts in the same hall? variation to draw from in their own homes. But there are still A problem. I have no set rule ••• play each dance as a separate some old timers who come to the dances, and the kids have them entity ••• my devotion being to the entire feeling of the evening to emulate and enlarge upon, and create variations of their own. rather than to the preservation of Money Musk. If it seems that Take Lamplighter's Hornpipe for instance. By the time all the the success of the dance depends on the good experience obtained balancing and turning is done, there is only time for a four from it by the beginners, then I cater to them, and ask the count swing. Even if you step it up there is only time for an experts to have patience. Sometimes I will do a quickie for the eight count swing, but the way kids balance today, the whole "know bows" only to salve their frothings. I never seem to get thing is down to a three count swing. And they love to swing much static from the newcomers except their inability to be quiet too, so they keep right on swinging into the down the center while I explain things. For the most part they are a pretty good part, dancing down only four counts instead of eight, getting lot of kids, and they keep plugging away until they become back in time for the right and left four. Try to tell them to "experts". do it right and they holler "repression". Even when I stop prompting the changes to join the band, or get into the dance, Recently I learned the tune Prince William at Pinewoods. The they do it their own way, and always seem to come out on time. dance Prince William would be utterly impossible to do with most I would say that for the most part their timing is excellent. of the 300 long-haired freaky kids who crowd our tiny dance halls The fact that they extend their swing is really not of any in New Hampshire. Yet that glorious tune should be shared. I importance. So what! Let the kids innovate. They delight in use it for the Beaux of Albany, the Bucksaw Contra, & Washington , the joyousness of the music and dances. I know of places where Quickstep for knowledgeable dancers, and for a corrupt version the callers won't allow it, and the kids won't go. We have up of the Rifleman for stark beginners and little kids. Those who to 300 kids every Saturday night. Think about it. Money Musk have never heard it before are delighted. Those who have danced was once done to 32 measures of music, now is done to 24. it to its original figure, are horrified. What do you do? I Chorus Jig used to be triple minor, now is duple. Things change. opt for sharing the tune, and tradition be damned. Sometimes this presents problems. Like on what we sometimes Sometime ago I went to a dance in Montreal at the Salle Trinidad call clogging or stepping •••• formerly executed by the man, now on Rue St. Catherine. The ticket taker was listening to a done by the girls as well ••• derived from the Irish, Scottish, hockey game. The lights were low and the music was latin. The and English clogging and stepping ••• has been watered down over floor was crowded with very well dressed young men and women, the years to a sort of shuffle scuff.