Like a Hand in a Glove
Fitting Folk Dance & Song Together in Complimentary Ways
Last month I wrote about the fun that folk dancing can be for our church and school communities. Here’s the link to that post if you didn’t see it. I have been encouraged by the feedback to the abovementioned post, “Dancing With, Not At One Another.” I wanted to follow up with some additional comments on folk dance song-pairing.
A Moving Picture of the Song
One of the neat joys of folk dancing is the way it animates music. By that, I mean that folk dancing done well can create a visual representation of what is happening in the music. Whether a Virginia Reel or The Spanish Waltz, the dance becomes a moving picture of the song. Many folk dances are suitably named after the tune they are danced to, such as the Gay Gordon. These dances are often purposefully constructed so that they complete a certain number of figures and repetitions right as the song concludes. Not only that, but the song opening frequently permits time to greet, bow, and honor your partner and others around you before starting the dance routine. Also, the musical flourishes in the piece will be mirrored by similarly ornamented dance steps in beautiful, fitting ways that are a joy to dance or watch happening from the sideline.
Misfit Dance Tunes
When we have informal and impromptu folk dances, there are endless music choices to pair with our dancing, even without the option of live music accompaniment. Sometimes folks will grab a tune that is known to the people and try to dance to that tune. Usually, the song is picked because it is a famous folk or pop tune with a strong, driving beat. At first, the music may seem to fit because that strong beat can be clapped along with pretty easily, and it may even be easy to sashay or count off dance steps to that same strong beat. This means that the dancers can go through the steps and mostly make it work until the caller/leader likely has to fade out the song to move on to the next dance. But whether new or old, music haphazardly applied to a particular dance will merely align the beats to some of the actions of the dance instead of the tune and dance mutually Amen-ing one another in fun and rewarding ways. I want to suggest that there’s much more fulfillment and enjoyment in dancing a dance when the song completely fits.
Please Don’t Rain on My…Promenade
I do not intend to be snobbish or elitist here. I do not desire to rain on anyone’s parade or promenade. Instead, I want to encourage folks not to give up on pairing dances with fitting tunes. Study the form of the song. What are the various sections of the dance? What are the beat counts of these sections of the dance? Do they repeat? Considering these things, does the pairing of song and dance fit beautifully like a hand in a glove? Some of these dances are two to three hundred years old. As mentioned earlier, many of these dances and songs were written to fit one another precisely.
Pastor Douglas Wilson often speaks of “get to” instead of “got to” in how to view opportunities we face. In this discussion, we should focus on finding the best fit songs to go with our dances rather than putting our focus on a list of songs that we should NOT dance the Virginia Reel to.
Always Saying Something
We should remind ourselves that music is not neutral. It is not an empty vessel for words. It has meaning and is constantly communicating something. It is, therefore, always relevant what music we use in our singing, dancing, movies, and elsewhere. Additionally, how we pair words and music together or song and dance together communicates something as well. Together they have a meaning. If paired well, that communicates something. If paired poorly, that also communicates something. The beauty and enjoyment of the arts are found in the paired, layered meaning built into poems, paintings, stories, songs, etc.
Of course, you could pair a nice steak with a soda and enjoy both. But when you have a similar steak paired with a glass of complimentary wine, you reach a different level of enjoyment and pleasure.
This can be the next level of fun for many people who enjoy folk dancing. It is gratifying to dance a dance that is well-paired with the music. Additionally, a well-paired dance and song have other less obvious benefits. A good pairing of dance and song can iron out the wrinkles of awkwardness and confusion that some partners have in how they comport with one another in folk dancing. Let me explain.
A well-paired dance and tune instruct the dancers about how to act as ladies and gentlemen in ways a misfitted dance really cannot do. Take a novice young gentleman, he may be tempted to whip the lady around rough like a rag doll when the dance is genteel, but the music is raucous. The mixed message of this disjointed pairing leads that young gentleman to morph quite literally into a jerk-man. We should want the music and the dance to agree and not work against each other in what it is communicating. We should not want mixed messages or miscommunication because of misfitted dances and tunes. Wisdom and maturity are found more in deciding what is better and best than it is in discerning what is right/wrong or good/bad.
Don’t Take My Word For It
If you are still thinking, “Jarrod, I think your pinky is still a bit too high in the air on this one,” or “maybe you are making a mountain out of a molehill,” seek out opportunities to folk dance with the folks that have this similar perspective when it comes to folk dancing. That will be more persuasive than mere words. Ultimately, much like talking about a juicy steak or a well-made cup of coffee only can take you so far, so can my encouragement. It is a thing of beauty when you experience thoughtful folk dancing, as described above. You have to taste it to experience how wonderful it can be.
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