The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #130963   Message #2950611
Posted By: Chris Partington
23-Jul-10 - 09:32 AM
Thread Name: English Country Dance Resources
Subject: RE: English Country Dance Resources
Yes, that is the sort of thing you would find on both sides of the pond at an "English Country Dance" or a "Playford Dance" (though it is neither, being a waltz), or an "Assembly Ball" or a "Dance for Dancers".
Not my cup of tea though, being MUCH too wholesome-looking!
You should know that dancing has famously been called the vertical expression of a horizontal desire, which may be wholesome or not depending on your point of view.
In order to shake off that rather prissy image, and separate the apples from the oranges, (or the wheat from the chaff as you rather unpleasantly put it), it has become the custom to refer to the same set of dances, but danced with more vigour (sweat involved), as "ceilidh, E-ceilidh (for English), even Barn Dancing, and to do it to live music.