Short Dance Research Articles

Backwards and forwards in space and time: Recalling dance movement from long-term memory

Recall of complex non-verbal motor sequences, such as contemporary dance, provides insights into the structure and mechanics of human memory — specifically, cues and associations in long-term memory (LTM). In this study, four dancers recalled material — eight exercises in the form of short dances — that they had not performed for between three and 31 years. The dancers initially recalled the exercises in silence, although each one had been learned to a particular piece of music. The exercises were recalled either immediately or after an unfilled delay and using self-motion or a mannequin. Recall rates were similar across immediate and delayed conditions; self versus mannequin motion had little impact on the length of material recalled. Qualitative data indicated that music and dancer movement were important cues to LTM; transitions were sometimes forgotten; images associated with movement recall were kinaesthetic, verbal, visual and auditory. The results are consistent with accounts of LTM for other temporal arts and suggest activation of multimodal associates and images.

Dance Biomechanics: A Tool for Controlling Health, Fitness, and Training

The need for superior performance in dance has impelled teachers and choreographers to use increasingly effective and sophisticated methods of preparation. To that end, such modalities of biomechanics as advanced motion-capture, muscle-function and muscle-strength techniques are being used to provide useful information about which of the dancers’ needs require special attention. This often involves improving aspects of dance technique, which, in turn, may help dancers to prevent disabling injuries, the most frequent cause of notoriously short dance careers. Biomechanics may also help dancers to assess fitness levels, to control overtraining or “burnout,” and assist them and their teachers in the effective scheduling of practice and exercise sessions.

The English Long Sword Dance: A Comparison between Two Contemporary Traditional Teams

Almost without exception, men's rituel and ceremonial dances in England are performed with implements (Cawte et al. 1960). Cecil Sharp started notating the morris dances in the early years of the twentieth century, and concentrated his attention on the morris dances of the South Midlands, in the counties of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire (Sharp, 1907, 1909, 1910, 1911a, 1913a). These dances were generally performed by sis men in the period around Whit Monday in May or June. The dancers performed with handkerchiefs or short sticks which were struck together during the dances. Sha.rp largely ignored the morris dances from other areas of England, such as the 'Border' morris from the counties on the border between England and Wales. These dances were performed at the Christmas and New Year period and the dancers used sticks which were struck together during the dances (Cawte, 1963). Sharp completely ignored the morris dances of the north-west of England, from the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. These dances were generally for eight men, danced in clogs or heavy shoes in a summertime procession. The dancers carried short sticks or pieces of cotton rope which they twirled during the dances (Howison and Bentley, 1960; Buckland, 1984). Although Sharp first saw morris dancing in 1899, he did not start to notate the dances until 1905. In 1910 he was told about the sword dances of the north of England, and in 1911 he published the first of three books of sword dance notations. In total, nine long sword dances and five short sword dances were published by Sharp (Sharp, 191 lb, 1912, 1913b). The long sword dances all came from the county of Yorkshire, from the area around Sheffield in South Yorkshire, from the Vale of York area and from the Cleveland EIills region. The swords are made from wood or rigid metal, about ninety centimetres long by three centimetres wide. The swords are not sharp and have a handle at one end. The short sword dances (the swords are

Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century. A Music Collection and Historical Study

When it first appeared in 1984, Scottish Fiddle Music in the Eighteenth Century was a trail-blazing book, exploring 100 years of completely unknown fiddle music leading up to the Perthshire maestro Niel Gow. Two decades later, the book is still essential reading for everyone concerned with Scots fiddling and its history - the influences on it of Corelli, Highland pipers, army trumpeters, the Church of Scotland, Purcell, the 1707 Act of Union - the tangled way it has been transmitted, both aurally and through written texts. For players, the book includes 90 pieces of music, scrupulously edited from eighteenth-century sources. These range from short dances to fiddle pibrochs and sonatas on Scots tunes, and include pieces by McGibbon, Munro, Oswald, McLean, Dow, Mackintosh, and Neil and Nathaniel Gow.

Reconstructing la cracovienne

Tlhe great popularity in the nineteenth century of short dances on national themes was spurred by the phenomenal success of Fanny Elssler's La Cachucha, first performed in Coralli's Le Diable bofteux in 1836, but frequently danced alone by Elssler and her many imitators. To capitalize on this great success, a similar character pas was introduced for Elssler in Mazilier's La Gipsy, produced at the Paris Opera on January 28, 1839.* This was La Cracovienne. Although the ballet is set in Scotland, this traditional Polish dance was performed in full Polish costume. Its fame soon grew to rival the Cachucha, and it, too, was imitated by dancers throughout Europe and the United States. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, these short dances had gone out of fashion and their choreography was forgotten. Fortunately, the Cachucha was preserved by Albert Zorn in his own notation and has recently been re-created by Ann Hutchinson Guest' and by Pierre Lacotte. Recently, while making a catalogue of the Bournonville papers in the Royal Library in Copenhagen, I found a hitherto unknown score containing La Cracovienne with a number of

Effect of Two Regulated Changes of Tempo upon Emotional Connotations in Dance

Abstract Films of a short dance study, performed and shown at three different tempos, to a control and an experimental group in order to determine emotional responses to the movement study at varied speeds, were analyzed to ascertain actual changes in the movement. The results of the group responses tended to enforce the concept that the effect of a change of tempo upon specific motion events was apparent in the actual performance of the motion events and upon the emotional connotation which these motion events might attempt to communicate. A single stimulus evoked similar associations, but the conformity of responses was dependent upon the individual's perceptive and empathic abilities. Variables in quality of movement, velocity of the specific body part viewed, and motivation also may have caused variations in responses to the same motion-event series. The distortion of actual movement caused by a change of tempo and the lack of that distortion in a mechanically varied speed seemed to make little differ...

A Selection of Short Dances

A Selection of Short Dances