How true a mirror the folk-dances and the folk-songs have been and are in showing the racial differences in regard to beauty, is best to be seen if we take the reader from semi-tropical Spain into cold, conventional England, where æsthetic views have developed so differently. In this field we owe much to Cecil Sharp, whose careful works on English folk-dances are of exceptional service to the student of choreography.
The most typical of English folk-dances are the Morris Dances, the Country Dances, and the Sword Dances. All three lack the fire and boisterous passions of the Spanish Jotas, Boleros and Fandangos. They betray the traits of a more phlegmatic and more critical, perhaps more intellectual, but less emotional race. Take, for instance, the Morris Dance, and you find it to be a manifestation of vigor rather than of grace. The same you will find true of all the other English folk-dances. They are, in spirit, the organized, traditional expressions of virility and sound health—they smack of cudgel-play, of wrestling and of honest fisticuffs. There is nothing dreamy, nothing romantic, nothing coquettish about them. Speaking particularly of the Morris Dance, Mr. Sharp writes:
‘It is a formula based upon and arising out of the life of man, as it is lived by men who hold much speculation upon the mystery of our whence and whither to be unprofitable; by men of meagre fancy, but of great kindness to the weak; by men who fight their quarrels on the spot with naked hands, drink together when the fight is done, and forget it, or, if they remember, then the memory is a friendly one. It is the dance of folk who are slow to anger, but of great obstinacy—forthright of act and speech; to watch it in its thumping sturdiness is to hold such things as poniards and stilettos, the swordsman with the domino, the man who stabs in the back—as unimaginable things. The Morris Dance is a perfect expression in rhythm and movement of the English character.’
The Morris dancers wear bells strapped to their shins, and properly to ring them requires considerable kicking and stamping. This ringing is done to emphasize the fortissimo part of the music. The foot, when lifted, is never drawn back, but always thrust forward. The toe is never pointed in line with the leg, but held at a right angle to it, as in the standing position. The stepping foot is lifted as in walking, as if to step forward, then the leg is vigorously straightened to a kick, so as to make the bells ring. At the same instant that the forward leg is straightened, a hop is made on the rear foot; the dancer alights upon the toe, but lets the heel follow immediately and firmly, so that he stands upon the flat foot. The dancer jumps as high as his own foot, holding his legs and body straight while he is in the air, alighting upon the toes (but only so as to break the shock sufficiently), then letting the heels come firmly down. In alighting from the jump, the knees are bent just enough to save the dancer from injurious shock, and are straightened immediately. The Morris Dance is danced by men, usually six. Occasionally, but rarely, women have figured as performers. The music in early times was furnished by the bagpipe, whistle and tabor; but for a century or so a fiddle did the service. The dress of the dancers was a tall hat with a band of red, green and white ribbons, an elaborately frilled and pleated white shirt, fawn-shaded breeches with braces of white webbing, blue tie with the ends long and loose, substantial boots, and rough, gray wool stockings. All dancers carry a white handkerchief, the middle finger thrust through a hole in one corner.
Of somewhat different type is the Country Dance, which is performed by men and women together. Though less of a festival nature than the Morris, the Country Dance has been practised as the ordinary, every-day dance of the people. It is performed in couples and contains gestures that suggest flirtation. For this no special dress is needed. The figures and steps are simple and more graceful than those of the Morris Dance. Its step is of a springy walking nature, two to each bar, executed by women with a natural unaffected grace, and on the part of men with a complacent bearing and a certain jauntiness of manner. Like the Morris, the Country Dance never requires pointed toes, arched legs or affected swayings. The galop, waltz and polka steps are occasionally used. The movements are performed smoothly and quietly, the feet more sliding than walking. The figures are numerous and involve many repetitions.
Of a very spectacular character are the Sword Dances, which bear a stamp of high antiquity. During the mythologic era they may have been practised as war dances, as we find similar ones practised by all primitive tribes. The history of all nations speaks of sword dances of some kind. There is to be seen in the Berlin Museum a picture from the seventeenth century that shows two double rings of dancers in white shirts, holding up on a frame of interlaced swords two swordsmen clad entirely in colors. There are also, separately, seven sword-dancers, six in white shirts, the first only clothed in red, like one of the swordsmen. They dance in file toward the left, each sloping his own sword back over his left shoulder and grasping the sword-point of the men next in front of him. The last man only shoulders his sword.
In England there seem to have been six principal sword dances, three long and three short. The long-sword dance of Yorkshire requires six men dancers, the Captain, and the Fool. These are accompanied by a musician who plays either a fiddle, bagpipe or accordion. The dancers wear red tunics, cut soldier fashion and trimmed with white braid down the front and around the collar and sleeves; white trousers with a red stripe an inch or more wide down the side of each leg; brown canvas shoes, and tightly fitting cricket caps, quartered in red and white. Each dancer carries a sword; the leader, an ordinary military weapon, and the others swords forged by a village blacksmith. The Captain wears a blue coat of flowered cloth, ordinary trousers and a peaked cap of white flannel. He used to carry a drum, slung round his waist, upon which he accompanied the dance tunes. The Fool used to wear a cocked hat, decorated with peacock feathers. He wore a dinner-bell and a fox’s tail attached to the back buckle of his trousers, and he used to run among the spectators making humorous exclamations. The steps, a kind of leisurely tramp, or jog-trot, fall on the first and middle beats of each bar of the music, and the tramp of the feet should synchronize with the rhythm of the tune. The dancers move slowly round in a ring, clockwise, stepping in time with the music and clashing their swords together on the first and middle beats of each bar of the first strain of the music. The swords are held points up, hilts level with the chin, the blades nearly vertical, forming a cone immediately above the centre of the circle. Each dancer places his sword over his left shoulder and grasps the sword-point belonging to the dancer in front of him. He then faces the centre of the ring, passes his sword over his head and lets his arms fall naturally to his sides. The dance consists of eight different figures. In the last figure the dancers draw close together, linked by their swords, each crossing his right hand well over his head. Each man then drops the tip of his neighbor’s sword and, using both his hands, presses the hilt of his own sword under the point of the sword adjacent to it. In this way the swords are tightly meshed together in the form of a double triangle, or six-pointed star. The process of fastening the swords together is carried out as quickly and smartly as possible.
The writer saw a series of English folk-dances given at the MacDowell Festival at Peterboro, N. H., in 1914, among them the sword-dance described. The performance was exceedingly effective, though the instructor had only inexperienced young amateurs at his disposal. The character of the English folk-dances made rather the impression of a wholesome sport than of a social ceremonial. It seemed as if they were void of all emotional suggestions and their language was clever and realistic rather than fanciful and imaginative.
Though of the same order as the previously described Morris, Country and Sword Dances, yet of a more fantastic appearance is the Horn Dance, which the English have borrowed from the Finns, and greatly changed after their own taste. The English Horn Dance requires ten performers, six dancers, a fool, Maid Marian, a hobby-horse, and a boy carrying a bow and arrow. These are accompanied by a musician, who plays an accordion, and a boy with a triangle. Each dancer carries a pair of reindeer horns. The antlers borne by the first three dancers are painted a white or cream color, the remaining three a dark blue. The horns are set in a wooden counterfeit skull, from which depends a short wooden pole or handle about eighteen inches long. Each dancer bears the head in front of him, and supports it by grasping the handle with his right hand and balancing the horn with his left. The fool has a stick with a bladder attached to it; Maid Marian is impersonated by a man dressed in woman’s clothes and carries a wooden ladle which is used to collect money. The boy holds a bow and arrow which he clicks together in time with the music. The step is similar to the country dance step, an easy, rhythmical, graceful and springy walking movement.