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The folkdance has different structures by which the dancers
get more or less in touch with everybody else in the ballroom.
Here below the terms and different types of dances in
Danish folk dance are shortly reviewed. For more information you can see Danish
folk dance examples with description of dances including animation figures on
my website from 1999: http://www.lavigne.dk/oldfolkdance.
Couple dance
Man and wife dance together in all
the dance. You dance as couples one after another anti clockwise around
in the ballroom along the wall, in the line of dance. That is like in folk
dance. Or the dancers are all over the ballroom, and you find a spot where to
dance, and you don’t move far from this spot, as in more modern dance, also in
cha cha cha etc. Couple
dance has the advantage that you maybe dance with your favourite partner, and
that your partner is not left alone without a dance
partner. Free couple dance gives the possibility to select your special dance
figures, and have different figures among the couples.
Mixer dance - dance
in a big circle - everybody together.
We change partners with whom we then dance for a
while. Until everybody again at the same time change
partners, e.g. by walking in a big common chain in a big circle in the ballroom
along the wall. In this way we learn the dance steps and figures from
each other and get to know each other.
Quadrille dance =
square dance - 4 couples
Much used figure in folk dancing. You dance with your
own partner and with other in the quadrille. You stay in the quadrille and get into
contact only with the 3 other couples. For the dances we have composed here we
can only select the dance figures that fit with the quadrille structure. We
have the variation part called figures (with “mill” etc.), while the other
parts of the dance are repeated dancing the same with the same persons 5-6
times, happy recognition.
2 couples dance
in 2 lines
2 couples dance together for a while. Then the couples
move to meet a new opposite couple and dance with them. You dance couple dance
with shifting other partners for a short while but end up keeping your own
partner throughout the dance, (and for commencing the next dance). I use this
dance type rather often.
3 couples dance
Like the quadrille dance, but with only 3 couples
(instead of 4). I have included only one dance of this type, a cha-cha-cha,
with the possibility of changing to new combinations of 3 couples over and
over.
Country dance =
line dance in 2 lines
In a true country dance = line dance the gents stand
at one side and the ladies at the other side in the simple good type of line
dance. I have only included one line dance here, with cha-cha-cha and it has a
more complex system.
Folk dance has some terms and structures:
Couple dance: in
the line of dance
Start position: couples stand after one another in the
line of dance along the wall of the ballroom, Lady to the right of the Gent,
ready for walking forward anti clockwise (counter clockwise). You dance as a
couple in that line of dance, with natural turns = right turns and reverse
turns = left turns.
Circle
All the dancers stand in a big circle in the line of
dance, holding hands, Lady (L) to the right of her Gent (G). Walking in the
circle you start walking to the left, clockwise, and then the other way if
included in the description. The steps are often common walking steps, starting
on the left foot.
A quadrille dance = square = 4 couples, or 3 couples
dance, or 2 couples dance, often start with a circle, which is then a small
circle, very small circle for 2 couples, the small narrow circle line of dance
for couple dance and for chain.
Chain = grand right and left
You stand e.g. in the big circle G, L, G, L … The
Gents turn ¼ to the right, the Ladies turn ¼ to the left to face each other and
you give your right hand to your partner. Then you walk forward, G clockwise
and L anti clockwise, passing to the left of your partner. Then you give your
left hand to the next you meet and pass to the right of him/her. This continues
as long as this part of the music, ending in getting a new partner to have
couple dance with. The chain (= grand right and left) often is with walking
steps. By chain in a quadrille and especially in 2 couples you turn sharply,
and the chain usually ends by your own partner.
Half chain
Participants: 2 couples: own couple and the opposite
couple (in quadrilles, in 2 couple dance, in country dance). You give your
right hand to the opposite (G to opposite L) and walk to the opposite place,
here you turn to face your own oncoming partner giving partner your left hand,
and turn into the place in opposite corner of your start corner.
Variation
figures: mill, waist clasp circle
We have variation figures in quadrille dances, i.e. the
part that varies by repeating the dance e.g. 6 times.
We have a mill for the 4 ladies and next time for the
4 gents, first 1-hand mill the 2 hand mill.
We have waist clasp circle (basket of 8) with all 8
dancers, with gents’ arms around the waist of ladies and ladies’ hands on
shoulders of gents.
We have these variation figures only in a couple of
sailor dances here, so for further information I refer to the general folk
dance description (e.g. my website of 1999 dance of week 13).
Music
For the sailor dances here (seaman dances), the music
for dance in couples with basic steps and figures is usually made so that it
note for note corresponds with the steps to ease the learning, which e.g. means
the shift of time signature from 4/4 to 6/4. For the simple walking steps in
circle and chain these considerations are not so important giving the
possibility of more complex music.