Step Change: new views on traditional dance

Step Change
New Views on Traditional Dance

edited by Georgina Boyes

[picture of jacket] Francis Boutle, Publishers (May, 2001)
ISBN 1 903427 09 6
201 pages 21 illustrations in black and white

The study of traditional dance has changed dramatically over the last ten years, both in addressing previously ignored types of dance and in challenging the social and artistic assumptions of the early Folk Dance Revival. Step Change introduces the enthusiast and the general reader alike to seven views of English traditional dance, some controversial, that reflect this new approach: English sword dancing and the European context; Ladies' clog dance contests of the 1890s; ownership of the Britannia Coco-Nut dances of Bacup, Lancashire; the tradition of 'Molly' dances of East Anglian farm workers and its reinvention in the 1970s; the colorful life of nineteenth-century morris 'fool', William 'Old Mettle' Castle; the folk dance revival as seen through the Abbey School novels of Elsie J. Oxenham; and a fresh look at the achievements of folk dance collector, Maud Karpeles.

The papers in Step Change are aimed at interested dancers rather than specialist academics and are intended to give a snapshot of the changes that have recently taken place in research on traditional dance. The book contains a wealth of new material to interest anyone who wants to find out more about the dances they enjoy doing. Individual contributions reflect the concerns of a generation of researchers who have been prepared to challenge conventional thinking. Stephen Corrsin and Keith Chandler's papers replace the vague generalities of traditions rooted in pagan fertility rituals with detailed historical documentation (Keith Chandler's paper has already been nominated for a local history award). Elaine Bradtke and Caroline Radcliffe's works extend the boundaries of scholarship into forms of dance previously dismissed as 'popular' or 'degenerate' -- revealing the interaction of tradition and innovation that characterises all living traditions. Theresa Buckland and Keith Chandler answer the question "Who were the Folk" with information on real lives and attitudes among people who were and are, just like ourselves. And while the research presented by Allison Thompson and Georgina Boyes deals directly with the development of the Folk Dance Revival, the papers by Stephen Corrsin, Elaine Bradtke and Theresa Buckland all reflect the way the existence of a "Revival" has affected the past and present ideas about the role and function of traditional dances.

Steve Corrsin and Georgina Boyes' papers are also likely to be controversial. They highlight the influence of Nazi scholarship and ideology on English dance and dancers and suggest that some aspects of the Folk Dance Revival are far less innocent than they seem.