Re: Fw: Klezmer dance

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

Is the couple?s bulgar always done in longways sets?  I?m asking because the 
instructions I have don?t mention a set formation, only the 2 couples facing 
each other.
Helen



----Original Message Follows----
From: "Jacob and Nancy Bloom" <bloom (at) gis(dot)net>
Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Subject: Fw: Klezmer dance
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 22:31:20 -0500
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Let me pose a theoretical question.  What would have happened if, in the
process of assimilation of Eastern European Jews into New England, a Boston
Jewish square dance caller had taken a dance from the old country, recast it
as a New England country dance, and set it to klezmer music which had
already been an American pop music hit?


   Okay, I admit that this isn't really a theoretical question.  I'm the
caller.  Here's the dance.

   The Rambler's Romp

   Formation: Becket contra

  With opposite couple, circle left   (4 bars)
  Circle right to place   (4 bars)
  As couples, side step right   (4 bars)
  Side step left to place   (4 bars)
  Two gents forward & back to each other   (4 bars)
  Gents cross & swing opposite lady  in her place   (4 bars)
  Ladies forward & back to each other   (4 bars)
  Ladies cross & swing partner   (4 bars)
  Couples promenade all the way around other couple (lady turns under her 
own
arm)   (4 bars)
  Couples promenade half way around other couple, then promenade up or down
the set until opposite a new couple, all swing partner   (4 bars)


The dance is based on the Couples Bulgar, which I learned from Willa
Horowitz, who got it from Michael Alpert.  The Couples Bulgar is done in
longways sets, with a couple on one side of the set facing another couple on
the other side of the set.  The dance takes 64 bars of music, and then
repeats for as long as the music keeps playing.  You do the dance over and
over with the same couple.  I modified this into what would be called a
"Becket-formation contra dance", which means that you still face another
couple across the set, but you dance with one couple after another.  I also
shortened the dance to 48 bars.  For music I used Der Stiller Bulgar, also
known as And The Angels Sing, played at bulgar tempo.  I eliminated the
repeats from the tune, so as to have three sections of 16 bars each.

  The side steps are done on your own side of the set so that you are moving
away from, and back to, the couple you are dancing  with.  At the end of the
first swing with your partner, you are across the set from the position that
you started in.  The  half promenade brings you back to your original
position, and you then progress up or down the set so that you are opposite
from the next couple you are going to dance with.  When you reach the ends
of the set, you wait out one time through the music, then come back in on
the other side of the set.

  I called this dance last month  for the annual Sukkot Barn Dance of Temple
Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts, where it was well received.  The band for
the Barn Dance is Temple Beth El's home-grown dance band, The Sudbury Valley
Ramblers, and the dance is named for them.

Jacob Bloom
bloom (at) gis(dot)net



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