“I am the party what has got those dances, I shall be proud to show them to you, yours to command.”
Eventually I went to see him, spent an afternoon in the bar parlour of a jolly little inn, and invited him and his brother up to London.
When they began to teach we found they had only one adjective between them and it was “perpendicular,” and this word had to do duty many times during the evening. We were told we must “dance perpendicular to one another,” “perpendicular to the music,” and finally that we had got the dance “quite perpendicular”!
But I think we got hold of the dance, and that our boys and girls dance it much better than if they had been taught it by a professional dancer with technical terms and a settled technique; anyway, they love the dance, and it is always encored when we give it in public.
What, then, is the natural way for these ever-changing, ever-evolving dances to be passed on? I unhesitatingly say that they should be learnt in the first instance from the traditional dancer and passed on in the same way. The written instructions are only useful as a reminder of steps and evolutions, and should never be made an unalterable and fixed standard. For if folk-dancing has been evolving through all these countless generations, who shall fix the exact moment when evolution ceased and the steps and evolutions became fixed and unalterable? So far as I have seen traditional dancers, I have noticed that not only does every side in every village dance a little differently, but each man has his own way with the steps, and still further, the same man may dance differently every time he does the dance. I am behind no one in the desire that these dances shall be as accurately transcribed and as carefully taught as possible, and that the general character and atmosphere shall be preserved, but it is just because of this desire that I would have the dances as far as possible left to the interpretation of those who are unhampered by technical knowledge and unconfined by technical terms and academic restrictions.
In September 1912, I had up to town from Bampton two traditional dancers who imparted three dances, “The Rose Tree,” “Glorisheers,” and “The Flowers of Edinburgh,” to a group of working boys and girls. About two months later these same boys and girls were teaching others the three dances. Looking on with great interest were six children, whose average age was eleven, all from elementary schools. These children had already learnt several of the Headington and Bidford dances, but had not seen the Bampton dances, the steps of which vary considerably from those of the two other places. In about an hour, as I thought it was rather dull for the children, I said, “Let me see if you can dance ‘The Rose Tree’ while the elder ones have a rest.” The children were delighted with the suggestion, and to my surprise went through the dance almost perfectly as to both step and evolution. A few corrections and two more attempts, and the dance was quite correctly danced. This being a fact of which this is only one of many proofs, it is quite evident that a series of demonstrations by those who know the dance is all that is needed to pass it on to those interested enough to watch. There seems to be in these traditional dance movements something natural and inevitable, so that it is more easy to dance them correctly than to do them wrongly, and I think it is in this spirit that they should be taught. There is nothing strained and difficult, nothing artificial or exotic; all is simple, dignified, vigorous, and joyful.
For this reason I have sometimes regretted that the folk-dance has become officially recognised as part of the school curriculum, and I regret too the necessity for books of instructions. I would rather the dances had remained in the memories of dancers and that the right atmosphere had been secured only by the verbal telling of folk-tale and legend. But books seem to be a necessity to-day, and lest again we lose our national heritage of dance, perhaps it is well that some records have been made.
Another point that should be emphasised is that there should be as much interest as possible aroused in the collecting of these dances, and as much publicity as possible about the places where they are danced, the time of year when they can be seen, and the dancers who still hold the tradition. Probably the best dances are already in print; still, surprises of treasure still undiscovered may await us, and even if every known dance is already collected and published, nothing but good will come of this being done again and again by different people at different times. This will keep the traditional dances from becoming set and rigid, and will give a delightful air of spontaneity if at any folk festival, while all dance correctly, each dances a little differently from the others. Nothing is less to be desired than that any school or any individual should take possession of this national treasure; let all who are interested give of their best, whether as collectors, teachers, organisers, or writers, to the preservation of our National Folk-Dance.