Dance Tips: Writing

All power to those people who help keep the tradition alive by not only dancing, leading or organising dances, but also devising new social dances. The novice in the art of writing dances may be assisted by the thought that a dance needs to work in at least the following three dimensions:

physically (accessible, flowing, neither too full or two empty, too tight or too slack and with a structure and pace which fits that ofthe music),

intellectually (easy to learn and remember as you go, with with figures and combinations neither too cliched or too innovative - original dance ideas in traditional dance languages- and with a strong story-line) and

socially (with attention satisfactorily shared between partners, neighbours and others and with dancers' orientation and perspective constantly changing).

At the same time as attempting to achieve all the above it is wise to aim for that most elusive of qualities - simplicity, not necessarily in the sense of easy, but in the sense of uncluttered, neat, and recurring motifs. Indeed, you should not feel you have to put everything possible into the one dance. More is not necessarily better and fancier not necessarily more beautiful. Though your body of work as a whole may end up complex and rich each dance within that body of work should ideally have an individual character and integrity. Under Dance Terms you will find discussion on some of the possible formations, steps, figures and knots that might be utilised. These are the commonly recognised building blocks of a dance. But there is of course more to a dance than these. In addition to these there are several other dimensions in which a dance may vary - the 'development' used, the 'feel' and the 'story-line'.

'Development' is an almost invisible dimension to any social dance - but one in which it is vital for the dance to work well. There would be little physical, intellectual or social satisfaction in repeating a dance sequence in an unchanging context, and you will find that social dances are bound to develop by continually changing either:

tempo - everyone can stays in same relative order and relative orientation to the space, but the dance tempo changes. This development is often used for simple circles for which no partners are required and which involve actions which can be fun to speed up (such as stomping or clapping).
partner - as in a progressive circles or random mixers.
opposites - as in a contra (be it duple, triple minor or Beckett formation) or Sicilian circle, but also as in some random mixers in which you stay with you keep your partner, but find new people with whom to recommence,
position with respect to the dance space - as in a couples dance where the couple start the sequence again further around the l.o.d., or as in a quadrille round or other small inward-facing set where dancers might start each time from a point on the circumference and thus have a new perspective on the hall about them.
position with respect to other dancers - as in a longways set where you recommence each sequence facing the same partner and with your back to the same wall, but your relative distance from the top of the set or your numbering in the set, or your neighbours in the set, may be continually changing.
figures - as in a quadrille where all may return to original partner in original place but recommence with an entirely new sequence of figures.

Although many very satisfying dances will develope by changing only one of the above, many will change more than one each time. Thus a progressive circle dance may involve dancers both changing partners and recommencing from a different point on the circumference each time. A longways contra will involve not only changing opposites, but may also involve to a less obvious degree changing position with respect to other dancers, changing position with respect to the dance space, and changing figures (if the 1s are dancing figures very different to the 2s and/or 3s) - dancers often only appreciating the changes with respect the last 3 elements when they reach the end of the contra line, change sides, roles and direction and find themselves confused. Many sets will also have dancers simultaneously changing position with respect the space, position with respect other dancers and partners. In canons (and there are several on this site - e.g. Past Present and Future, The Choreographers Fancy, Where is Santa -2) the dance will certainly be developing in several ways simultaneously, and not for all dancers in the same way at the same time.

'Feel' is an even less tangible dimension that 'development'. You may be intending that some dances be meditative, others exuberant. Some orderly, others game-like. Some full of triumph, others full of whim. It helps to know what feel you are aiming for in any particular dance or any particular part of a dance - or to know if you are perhaps after a dance that can be danced with different feels in different social contexts - or danced with different feels at different stages in the same dancing - almost as a form of development. Its not just the music which will offer the feel - as important as the music is in this respect - it is all the other elements of the dance - and the combination of choices. A dance with a random progression to a new partner anywhere on the floor is going to have a game like quality. A dance with lots of gestures (hand shaking, finger waving, kissing etc) is going to have a whimsical quality. A dance with lines all marching in the same direction may rouse feelings of triumph, and one with lines greeting each other with bows feelings more of formal etiquitte. A dance with a combination of game/whim and triumph/formality may end up having an overall humorous or satyrical quality. Its your call!

'Story-line' is perhaps the most under appreciated of all the above dimensions. Everyone is conscious of the starting formation, the figures and steps. Some people will be conscious of the development and feel involved in a dance - or if not, may be made conscious of these by the dance leader. Few dancers, however, will pick up on a dance story line - and it is only occasionally that a dance leader may feel that story-line is an area in which to venture comment. This is not surprising as two people could easily read two entirely different stories into exactly the same dance (just as Henri Nagod is invariably offering two different interpretations - one based on informatants from the village of Dudelsac one based on informants from the village of Nenjira - of the dances found in Jan D'Honger's Pleasures for Four Season - see The Lost Dances and The Bordonians). It is also often the case that the original intention behind the dance has been forgotten and a new intention or meaning has come to be ascribed to it - just as a medieval drinking song, can become a renaissance spring-time carol and then the basis of a modern Christmas Carol. Which story-line should then inform your dancing (or singing)? You can go in so many directions in these circumstances- but when it comes to your own dances the choice is clearly yours. Whether the story is the inspiration for the dance, something you felt could be layed over the top of an alreay completed dance, or something that start to develop in tandum with a dance idea - each then helping to complete the other, a story-line is an important dimension to the dance. A clear (even if understate or unstated one) will not only add to the dancers enjoyment it will help them remember figures if it is simple, clear and offered to the dancers at the time of a walk through. It can even offer handy short-hand images to hang calling on. Indeed, some people suggest that humans are designed to remember things better in the form of stories than in any other form - and card-sharks will utilise this propensity of the mind when trying to memorise card sequences - creating quick stories in which to imbed the information.So go to it. Give your dance a strong story-line. Trace it through as many figures as possible. It may be as simple as a building intimacy between dancers as they move from glimpsing each other in a dsd, eye-ing each other in a gypsy, romancing each other in hand turns, to getting physical in a swing. It may be a more complicated tale. Whatever the indended story-line, capture it in the title if necessary and in a few of the recommended calls or instructions. If writing a set of tunes to go with the dance you can echo more of the story-line in the tune titles. If writing a dance to go to an existing piece of music that already has a story-line heavily associated with it (e.g. through the lyrics of an accompanying song), then try in the dance formation, figures, steps, tempo etc to compliment, echo, go along with (even parody) that story-line (see The Christmas Carol Dances. Even in the absence of story-like indicators in the title or lyric of associated music, indeed, even when a dance is not intended to go to any particular piece of music, there is one other important way in which you may want your dance story-line to compliment the music - and that is in basic structure. Most tunes are going to have an A part repeated and then a B part repeated. Even if you do not intend to tell a story in your dance, figures that have dances greeting each other will feel like they belong at the beginning of a sequence and thus a tune, and figures that progress you on to new opposites or partners will feel as if they belong at the end of a dance sequence/tune (despite so many notable exception of dances with greeting or progressions half-way through). Figures that are similar and in a similar context may warrant being repeated to the same piece of music - thus placed in an AA or BB. Figures that are mirror image of each other may warrant placing across the AB divide, so as the music turns so do the dancers' role. Besides the music, another almost invisible force informing, and to some degree offering parametres to, your dance and its story-line, is the 500 year old tradition of dance in which we are working. The dance language which has developed creats an expectation of a r.h. turn before l.h. turning the same, a promenade along the l.o.d. before one against l.o.d., a circle left before a circle right, that the W is left on the M's r.side after turning or swinging as a couple, etc. So given that the dance is being carried by tunes with a clear musical structure and by a tradition with certain syntactical conventions, a story is going to emerge from a dance whether you like it or not, and whether the dancers are conscious of it or not... and if a dance is not well conceived with respect to story-line, even if it works well in all other dimensions, it may be remembered by dancers only as being in someway ordinary, counter-intuitive or lacking.