Category: Scholarship
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The Lion on Dancing
We had a wonderful time at the Third Annual Eastertide Dance in Edinburgh last night. As always we began with the Prayer to Saint Michael and ended by singing Regina Caeli. There were eight ceilidh dances interspersed with six waltzes, and there was an opportunity for swing-dancing during the intermission. The Wisps o’ the Tay…
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Looking forward to Easter
Carnival is over, as is the Vienna ball season and, indeed, the activities of Mrs McLean’s Waltzing Party until Easter Sunday. I haven’t yet thought of a dancing event specific to Easter Sunday, but perhaps in the spirit of a friend who swigs spirits right after leaving Vigil Mass, I will cut a car park…
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Burning floors
Dancing was so much a part of Catholic social life in the 20th century West, and forbidding dancing so much associated with Anabaptist sects, that it came as a surprise to me to discover that there had existed, throughout the history of the Church, a number of Catholic pastors who objected to the practice. It…
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Dancing for Anders’ Army
As I’ve mentioned before, my principal hobby is not dancing but learning Polish. Last week I discussed with my Polish tutor the differences between celebrations of November 11 in the United Kingdom and in Poland. In the United Kingdom, as in Canada, it is Remembrance Day and melancholy. In Poland it is Dzień Niepodległości, i.e.…
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Totally waisted
One of the sad things about popular dancing in the West is that the “fast dances” gave way to partnerless flailing and ballroom became “slow dancing.” “Slow dancing”, when I was a teenager, was a kind of two-step performed in a loose hug. Girls put their hands on the boys’ shoulders and the boys put…
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“The Fair Assembly”: Social Dancing in Edinburgh from 1705
The best general history of social dancing in Scotland I have found so far is called Oh, How We Danced: The History of Ballroom Dancing in Scotland by Elizabeth Casciani (1994), and you will be able to find it in the Music department of the Edinburgh Central Library (GV1619) after I return it. Most, but…
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The Tea Party, Etc.
The regular crowd at Mrs McLean’s Waltzing Party have been invited to a tea party on October 25, and I will be giving there a brief address on the subject of the history of social dancing in Edinburgh. If you aren’t in the WhatsApp group, but should be, send me a message Père Tabouret For…
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Theologians of Dance
Every once in a while, a blogger should pick up an actual book on his or her topic. A book (in case you’ve forgotten) is a pile of paper pages with printing on them, sewn together and then sewed or glued into a foldable cardboard frame. The company that does the printing, sewing and glueing,…
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A Village or the Parish
I have been musing over the role of dance in friendship and so turned again to Michael Platt’s astonishing and insightful 2009 essay “A Different Drummer.” Actually a thoughtful jeremiad against rock music, Platt’s composition beautifully captures what social dancing was before rock atomised us all: Rock ‘n roll being danceable, if only in a loose, nay…
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Ancient Arts
In 63 BC, Cicero defended the Roman consul Lucius Licinius Murena against charges of electoral bribery. Cato was among the prosecutors, and inter alia he accused Murena of having a poor character, including being a pantomime dancer (saltator). Cicero addresses this supposed calumny in a speech that has come down to us as Pro Murena.…